July 24: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has given permission to hire Nepali workers for the World Cup Football Tournament to be held in Qatar in November later this…
July 24: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has given permission to hire Nepali workers for the World Cup Football Tournament to be held in Qatar in November later this…
July 24: Russia and Ukraine have reached an understanding to open the route to export grains through the Black Sea at a time when there is increasing concern that the food crisis will increase worldwide due to the…
July 24: Tatopani Customs Office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue in the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collection was double than the target set by the…
July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank has unveiled the monetary policy for the current fiscal year with special focus on availing loan to the productive…
July 22: Nepal imported 10 million cubic feet of timber during the last fiscal year.…
July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to tighten the screws on economic activities through the monetary policy amid high Balance of Payments, declining foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and lack of investible capital (liquidity crisis) in the banking system of…
July 22: The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme that started four years ago with the aim of providing employment to 200,000 people annually has failed to achieve this…
July 22: The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is preparing to launch a campaign against the exploitation of workers in the name of internship…
July 22: The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repaid loan of Rs 1.35 billion to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), which was taken to purchase aircraft for the national flag…
July 22: The House of Representatives (HoR) has extended the deadline of a special probe committee to investigate into the issues related to budget by a…
July 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to struggle exporting additional electricity to the Indian market due to lack of…
July 21: Investment commitment from domestic as well as foreign investors has increased after the threat of Covid-19 infection subsided.…
July 21: Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that he has candidly responded to most of the topics he was asked on by the parliamentary probe…
July 21: Daayitwa, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that envisions an enterprising Nepal, organized the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series on youth employment on…
July 21: Within four years of its establishment, Shree Steel has started exporting TMT steel from…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 24: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has given permission to hire Nepali workers for the World Cup Football Tournament to be held in Qatar in November later this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Various companies in Qatar have shown interest to hire Nepali workers for a short duration in view of the World Cup 2022. Accordingly, the government has decided to send Nepali workers after completing all the due procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary at the Ministry and Head of the Employment Management Division Rajiv Pokharel shared that since the workers will be sent for a short period it has been decided to send them only after granting them a work permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the decision of the ministry, the Embassy of Qatar will verify the demands proposed by the employers who are willing to take workers for a short period of time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, the employers will have to bear the entire expenses incurred in the recruitment process including the two-way air tickets of the workers. The working period of such workers in Qatar will be less than six months. Apart from the recruitment agencies, those who want to go for short-term employment individually will also be allowed to go if they have a visa and a work permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the law, the minimum duration of the work permit is two years but there is also a legal provision to grant work permit for short-term work opportunities and visas, said Joint Secretary Pokharel. The number of workers to be taken from Nepal for Qatar World Cup is not decided yet.-- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15415', 'image' => '20220724021312_QatarStadium-1444x710.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 14:12:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15673', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia Agrees to Release Million of Tons of Food Grains', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: Russia and Ukraine have reached an understanding to open the route to export grains through the Black Sea at a time when there is increasing concern that the food crisis will increase worldwide due to the war.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 24: Russia and Ukraine have reached an understanding to open the route to export grains through the Black Sea at a time when there is increasing concern that the food crisis will increase worldwide due to the war.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The two sides signed an agreement in Turkey on Friday allowing the export of 1 million tons of grains from Ukraine. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, the agreement will allow millions of tonnes of grain, currently trapped in Ukraine by the war, to be exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the agreement, Russia will gradually open the Ukrainian ports towards the Black Sea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The World Food Program has warned that a million people could die of starvation if Russia continues to block the ports to Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he is optimistic that the issue of Ukraine's grain exports can be resolved if the minefields laid by Ukraine in the waters around its port are removed. Ukraine is one of the world's leading grain exporters.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, one million people are at risk of starvation due to the halt in export of grains. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Al Jazeera, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, signed the deal separately on Friday, carefully avoiding sitting at the same table and avoiding shaking hands in Istanbul.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the information, the contract is said to last for 120 days in addition to the possibility of extension of agreement with the consent of both parties. The halt in Ukrainian grain supplies led to a global food crisis and the price of bread and pasta made from wheat skyrocketed. Apart from that, the prices of cooking oil and fertilizers also increased. The United States has also requested Russia to take immediate steps to implement the agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On Friday, the price of wheat in the world market fell by two percent, as the possibility of supplying more than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain surged.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In his Friday night speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his country has marketable grain worth about US$ 10 billion. He also mentioned that the United Nations is responsible for ensuring the agreement. Ukraine has been saying that the Russian navy is blocking the supply of grain and other imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ukraine alleged that Russian forces even stole grain from its agricultural fields. Due to the drought, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, some countries in the world are facing an extreme food crisis. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15414', 'image' => '20220724123223_wheatttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 12:31:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15672', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tatopani Customs Office Collects Rs 3.42 Billion Revenue ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: Tatopani Customs Office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue in the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collection was double than the target set by the office. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 24: Tatopani Customs Office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue in the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collection was double than the target set by the office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief Customs Officer of Tatopani Customs Office, Narad Gautam, said revenue collection increased by two folds in the last fiscal year despite various problems including coronavirus pandemic, landslide, flood and decline in import of Chinese goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue against the target of Rs 1.46 billion, he shared. Gautam further said that revenue collection was better than the expectation due to various reasons including import of goods, adherence to health safety protocols and training to businessmen. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In FY 2020/21, the office had set a target to collect Rs 4.50 billion but only Rs 1.02 billion was collected. Gautam added that a target has been set to collect Rs 4.63 billion in the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of containers carrying goods from China is very less. Around four to eight containers carrying goods from China enter Nepal via the check point every day. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15413', 'image' => '20220724115357_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 11:53:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15671', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Unveils Monetary Policy for Current Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank has unveiled the monetary policy for the current fiscal year with special focus on availing loan to the productive sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank has unveiled the monetary policy for the current fiscal year with special focus on availing loan to the productive sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the monetary policy made public by the central bank on Friday, the government will gradually reduce the facilities given to sectors affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. NRB informed that the policy to provide refinancing facility will be reviewed so that only the productive sectors such as agriculture and those badly affected by the pandemic will be given refinancing facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Instead of encouraging credit flow, the monetary policy will focus on disbursement of loan to the productive sector, reads a draft of the policy made public by the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy also focuses on increasing access to finance among small, cottage and middle-scale industries. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy admits that the current account deficit and Balance of Payments (BoP) will remain under pressure for some more time despite increase in number of tourists and rise in number of Nepali migrant works visiting foreign countries for employment. According to the central bank, the current account and BoP deficits might push the economy to crisis. Such a situation has posed challenge in attaining high economic growth rate, reads the document.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy states that the liquidity crisis and pressure on interest rate will remain until internal production is increased and there is improvement in foreign trade. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy has also focused on increasing digitalization of payment and transactions and increase access to finance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Considering the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and inflation, the central bank has increased the bank rate by 1.5 percentage point and fixed it at 8.5 percent while the policy rate has been fixed at 7 percent and deposit collection rate at 5.5 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank will also manage Open Market Transaction Stabilization Fund as announced in the budget and implement it for effective management of liquidity crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank noted that the price hike of petroleum products and food in the international market due to the Russia-Ukraine war will pose a challenge in attaining the target of economic growth in the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15412', 'image' => '20220722070527_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 19:04:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15670', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Imports Timber worth Millions while Domestic Products Rot in Forest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal imported 10 million cubic feet of timber during the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal imported 10 million cubic feet of timber during the last fiscal year. According to government data, the timber imported from various countries were worth Rs 4 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported timber from 20 countries including the United States of America. According to Manjil Babu Maskey, president of Nepal Forest Production Federation, the average price of imported timber is Rs 4,000 per cubic foot.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Interestingly, as the import of timber is increasing, the forest area where wood is produced is gradually increasing in Nepal. According to government data, in the year 2000 AD, 59,15,518 hectares of land in Nepal was covered by forest area. In 2019 AD, this area has increased to 61,66,766 hectares. Compared to the year 2000, the forest area has increased by 4.16 percent in 2019. At present, about 45.31 percent of the land area of the country is covered by forests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the migration from rural to the urban areas and the increase in number of Nepalis going abroad for employment, the arable land in the village is gradually turning into forests. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say that depletion of forests has declined as citizens have been abandoning firewood for cooking and have started using liquefied petroleum gas extensively. Similarly, with the government’s decision to scrap the procedure of scientific forest management has also contributed to a decline in consumption of wood. After the cancellation of the procedure, the use of wood from domestic forests has been stopped. Experts argue this is also one of the reasons for the increase in forest area.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">President Maskey shared that there is no doubt that the forest area is an important asset of Nepal, and it should be protected, but it is not appropriate to import timber worth billions of rupees from foreign countries while timber produced in the country is rotting in the forests. He argues that this trend has made the country’s economy inport-oriented while on the other hand the local resources are being wasted.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Maskey also said that if domestic resources are properly used, the economy will move towards self-sufficiency.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders share that the decision to abandon the scientific forest management policy contradicts with the government's policy of import substitution. They say that it is trying to make the country dependent on imported timber by wasting the local product.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say it has definitely protected the forest areas but the country has failed to benefit from the forests through proper utilization.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the Private Forest Users Federation Bishnu Gyawali says that it is more important to manage forests than to protect them.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15411', 'image' => '20220722060423_timber-harvesting-process.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 18:03:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15669', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank to Adopt Strict Measures through Monetary Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to tighten the screws on economic activities through the monetary policy amid high Balance of Payments, declining foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and lack of investible capital (liquidity crisis) in the banking system of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to tighten the screws on economic activities through the monetary policy amid high Balance of Payments, declining foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and lack of investible capital (liquidity crisis) in the banking system of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although the business community is expecting some concessions as the economy is struggling from the impacts of Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has hinted that the monetary policy will maintain strict fiscal discipline.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that the concessions given in the past were the reason for the economic crisis at present, officials of the central bank argue that they will take corrective measures through the monetary policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Although the economic activities have increased due to the liberal policy adopted by the central bank in the past, it has not helped in bringing the economy back on track,” said an NRB official, adding, “Now, the main objective of the monetary policy will be to take corrective measures.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB says that banks and financial institutions were aggressive in credit flow after in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic but most of the loans disbursed during that period were invested in unproductive sector. As a result, outflow of money from the country caused a decline in foreign exchange reserves as well as deposit collection of banks. Therefore, the monetary policy will now focus on increasing domestic production and reducing imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB is likely to reduce the interest rate on loans disbursed to the productive sector from the current fiscal year. The budget for the current fiscal year has also announced lower rates for loans to the productive sector and priority projects of national level and the monetary policy will further ensure these provisions are implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to sources at the central bank, the monetary policy will increase the bank rate and refinancing rate which in turn will increase the overall interest rates but it will also provide relief to the agriculture sector as well as small and medium scale industries by fixing premium rates in their favour.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB Spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatt informed that the monetary policy will be unveiled by the central bank on Friday (July 22) after the board meeting on Thursday decided to introduce the new monetary policy. According to media reports, the monetary policy will be unveiled at 4 pm today afternoon.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15410', 'image' => '20220722030250_1658445240.Clipboard21.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 15:01:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15668', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM’s Employment Programme Fails to Provide Jobs to 200,000 People Annually', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme that started four years ago with the aim of providing employment to 200,000 people annually has failed to achieve this objective.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme that started four years ago with the aim of providing employment to 200,000 people annually has failed to achieve this objective.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A total of 172,270 people were employed in the fiscal year 2018/19 under this programme conducted through the Ministry of Labor and Employment. In the fiscal year 2019/20, that number dropped to 105,626. In the fiscal year 2020/21, altogether 181,091 people were employed under this programme. According to the website of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme, the number of people who got employment in last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) stands at 136,384.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The programme not only failed to provide employment to the people as per its target but also failed to provide employment to the workers for the specified number of days.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this programme, there is a provision to provide employment to the workers for 100 days in a year. However, since the programme started, the target is yet to be fulfilled.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the available data, the workers were hired for an average of 13 days in FY 2018/19. A year later, that number increased to an average of 16 days. In the fiscal year 2020/721, that number increased sharply to 76 days and in the last fiscal year, that number was 75.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Why the Programme Failed</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Labor expert Som Luintel stated that the Prime Minister's Employment Programme failed to achieve its objective because this programme was introduced to create jobs for the youth who are planning to go abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Secretary of the Labour Ministry Ek Narayan Aryal admits that the government is facing problems in implementing the programme. In an event held in Kathmandu in the last week of June, he said that there is a problem in the implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme at the local level due to lack of coordination. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary Danduraj Ghimire, who is also the Executive Director of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme, did not pick up the phone when New Business Age tried to contact him to get more information about the programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">What to do now?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Labor immigration expert Luintel says the Prime Minister's Employment Programme needs effective restructuring. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“For this, the programme should be made attractive so that the youth are interested in it,” he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Luintel further said that this programme has become a political recruitment center.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The ministry has also shown interest in the need to revise the Prime Minister's Employment Programme. Secretary Aryal said that the ministry will emphasize on the skill development of the workers and a part of the budget allocated for the programme can be spent on the purchase of equipment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the programme held last June, Secretary Aryal said that it is necessary to link this programme with production. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The Prime Minister's Employment Programme should be interlinked with the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Programme. Vocational skills can fill the gap between these two programmes.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This programme started from the fiscal year 2018/19 after the government mentioned in the budget that it will create jobs in the country to prevent the labor force from going abroad for employment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15409', 'image' => '20220722013335_PMEP.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 13:32:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15667', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'GEFONT to Initiate Campaign Against Exploitation of Interns', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is preparing to launch a campaign against the exploitation of workers in the name of internship (training).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is preparing to launch a campaign against the exploitation of workers in the name of internship (training). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This is one of the main campaigns that GEFONT will conduct after its 8th National Congress. GEFONT believes that this will put an end to the exploitation in the labor market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">GEFONT held a press conference on Thursday to inform about the preparations for the 8th National Congress to be held from July 23 to 26.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the press meet, GEFONT Chairman Binod Shrestha said that not only are interns employed without money, but in some establishments they are charged fees, this trend is serious labor exploitation. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He shared that GEFONT will be starting the campaign with the concept that interns should also be remunerated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, since there is no data on how many workers there are in Nepal, GEFONT will also conduct a campaign to list the workers at the local level. For this, GEFONT said that at least three of its leaders will be mobilized in every municipality. GEFONT has planned to register workers at the local level through them. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“For this, the leaders of GEFONT will be mobilized in all 753 municipalities of the country,” said Shrestha.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15408', 'image' => '20220722125839_GFONT.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 12:57:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15666', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Airlines Corporation Repays Long-Pending Dues to EPF, CIT ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repaid loan of Rs 1.35 billion to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), which was taken to purchase aircraft for the national flag carrier.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 22: The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repaid loan of Rs 1.35 billion to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), which was taken to purchase aircraft for the national flag carrier. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The amount was credited to EPF and CIT on July 14. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The payment comes as part of NAC's installment to be paid to the EPF and CIT, which was pending for almost one and a half years. An NAC official said the state-owned airline company managed to repay the amount thanks to its economic growth. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is said the NAC succeeded in paying its fiscal liabilities after it saw robust business due to growth in flight occupancy rate since the past couple of months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of NAC Archana Khadka shared that the the NAC repaid Rs 900 million to the EPF, which was taken to purchase narrow body and wide body aircraft. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the NAC repaid Rs 450 million to CIT as an installment taken during the time of purchase of wide body aircraft for the NAC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NAC had failed to repay the installment amount in time after the COVID-19 outbreak due to reduced business. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15407', 'image' => '20220722081406_20220701121020_NAC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 08:13:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15665', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Parliamentary Probe Committee gets Seven More Days to Prepare its Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The House of Representatives (HoR) has extended the deadline of a special probe committee to investigate into the issues related to budget by a week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 22: The House of Representatives (HoR) has extended the deadline of a special probe committee to investigate into the issues related to budget by a week. </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"">Initially, the committee was given 10 days to prepare a report after investigating into the matter related to the entry of unauthorized persons into the Finance Ministry on the eve of budget announcement on May 28. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has been accused of allowing the unauthorized persons to enter the ministry allegedly to influence the tax rate in favour of certain business groups.</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"">A meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Thursday unanimously passed a motion to extend the committee's timeframe for one more week, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota had tabled a proposal for the deadline extension of the committee as per the Rule 166 of the HoR Regulations-2075. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 11-member parliamentary probe committee is struggling to prepare its report on time due to non-cooperation from finance ministry officials. The ministry has also failed to submit CCTV footage of the incident stating that it cannot store the videos for more than 13 days. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15406', 'image' => '20220722080729_20201227124222_1609025666.Clipboard10.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 08:06:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15664', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Lacks Infrastructure to Export More Electricity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to struggle exporting additional electricity to the Indian market due to lack of infrastructure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to struggle exporting additional electricity to the Indian market due to lack of infrastructure.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Currently, 364 MW of electricity is being exported from Nepal through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 KV transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the demand for hydroelectricity in the Indian market is increasing, there will be a problem in exporting more electricity due to the lack of large-capacity transmission lines in Nepal, says Prabal Adhikari, head of the Electricity Trade Department of the Nepal Electricity Authority.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The official made such remark while speaking at a workshop organized by Urja Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> "It is impossible to exchange much electricity when the capacity of the international transmission line is low," the official said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This year, production will reach 3,000 MW. Currently, about 2,200 megawatts of electricity is being produced in Nepal. Within the current fiscal year, the NEA has projected that 3,000 megawatts of electricity will be produced in the country after an additional 800 MW electricity gets added to the national transmission system. However, the infrastructure for transmission of electricity is old and dilapidated. Due to this, the electricity produced in the future will neither be easy to consume domestically nor can it be exported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The current production capacity of Nepal is 2200 MW. Hydropower projects with a total capacity of 3,289 megawatts are under construction. Other projects with capacity of 1,553 megawatts are under progressed in various stages. Therefore, the total capacity of electricity production in the near future will be around 7,320 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the capacity of Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line is 1000 MW, Nepal has been able to import/export not more than 600 MW electricity from this line. However, NEA has been paying various charges for 1000 MW electricity. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say that if the government had opted for quad technology conductors while constructing the transmission line, its capacity would have been 2,000 megawatts, and more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity could have been easily exported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until 2017/18, Nepal's electricity production was only 1,074 megawatts. By 2022/34, electricity production is projected to reach 3,001 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">By 2020/21, Nepal's electricity production, reached 2,090 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Construction of the New Butwal Gorakhpur transmission line will take another 3 years</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although contracts have been awarded in various sections, the amount of investment needed to build the transmission line has not yet been made.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Discussions are underway with foreign donors for loans. However, NEA officials say that a final decision has not yet been reached. Currently, hydropower projects in Nepal are designed in Q40. This means that only 60 percent of the water flowing in the river can be used. If designed in Q25, electricity can be produced at less than 4 cents per unit. According to the official, when the electricity export to India, Bangladesh, or any other country is guaranteed, the electricity project can be designed in Q25 and produced at a competitive price.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15405', 'image' => '20220721061028_1658357655.Clipboard12.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 18:08:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15663', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Commitment Increases by 120 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Investment commitment from domestic as well as foreign investors has increased after the threat of Covid-19 infection subsided. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hima BK</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 21: Investment commitment from domestic as well as foreign investors has increased after the threat of Covid-19 infection subsided. After a decline in investment commitment for two years due to the onset of the pandemic, it has increased by 120 percent in fiscal year 2021/22.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Industry confirmed that the investment commitment increased by 120 percent in FY 2021/22 compared to the previous two fiscal years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the review year, domestic and foreign investors registered 309 industries with a commitment to invest Rs 343 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In Fiscal Year 2020/21, a total of 201 industries were registered with the department with investment commitment of Rs 156 billion. Although the risk of Covid-19 is not yet fully over, the investment commitment increased during the last fiscal year after the threat subsided to a great extent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the investment commitment in the Fiscal Year 2018/19 was worth Rs 285 billion. According to the Department of Industry, the investors had registered 441 industries back then. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General of the department Ram Chandar Tiwari says that the investment commitment which declined during the period of Covid-19 increased once again during the last fiscal year. However, he says that the increase in investment commitment is also due to other factors beside the decline in rate of infection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We had been making efforts to create an investment-friendly environment and to attract the investors by formulating new laws and amending old regulations. We also focused on administrative reforms,” said Tiwari, adding, “This also helped in improving investment commitment.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, registration of industries and commitment from the investors does not ensure that the investment will be made immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We should not be disheartened if the investment is not made as per the commitment. We are hopeful if the investment commitment increases that increases the prospect of actual investment,” said Tiwari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General Tiwari claimed that the actual investment is around 50 to 60 percent of the commitment made by the investors in recent years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has not worked extensively to ensure that the investment commitment is actually invested.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal ranked 110<sup>th</sup> in the Doing Business Report published by the World Bank in 2019. The next year, Nepal ranked 94<sup>th</sup> in the Doing Business Report due to improvement in investment-friendly environment. The then finance minister Yubaraj Khatiwada had objected to the World Bank report that placed Nepal in the 110<sup>th</sup> position in the Doing Business ranking. Although there has been an improvement in creating a conducive environment for business, Nepal’s trade deficit is high.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Indtead of increasing exports and consumption of domestic goods, imports have increased. According to the Department of Customs, Nepal’s trade deficit in the past 11 months stood at Rs 15.77 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15404', 'image' => '20220721041832_Foreign investment.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 16:17:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15662', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'No Unauthorized Person is Involved in Budget Formulation: Former Finance Minister Sharma ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that he has candidly responded to most of the topics he was asked on by the parliamentary probe committee. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 21: Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that he has candidly responded to most of the topics he was asked on by the parliamentary probe committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Parliamentary Investigation Special Committee formed by the House of Representatives had questioned former Finance Minister Sharma regarding his alleged involvement in bringing unauthorized persons into the finance ministry in course of finalizing the budget for the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharma said he gave clear answers to the queries put by the committee. "I have replied to each and every question they asked," the former Finance Minister said after attending the Parliamentary committee's meeting today (July 21). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, Sharma asserted that no unauthorized person was brought in and no illegal work has been done in course of preparing the budget. He argued that he himself in the capacity of finance minister had changed the rate of tax and no unauthorized person was involved in it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the charge labeled against him is baseless, former Finance Minister Sharma said that he decided upon the budget by remaining within the due process, laws and procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following widespread criticism from all sides, the House of Representatives on July 6 constituted an 11-member parliamentary investigation committee. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has given 10 days to the parliamentary investigation committee to carry out its works and submit a report. -- RSS </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15403', 'image' => '20220721033413_finnnnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 15:33:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15661', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Second Policy Dialogue of the ECO Talk Series Focuses on Retaining Youth Forces in the Country', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Daayitwa, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that envisions an enterprising Nepal, organized the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series on youth employment on Tuesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 21: Daayitwa, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that envisions an enterprising Nepal, organized the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series on youth employment on Tuesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The second edition of the talk series featuring Member of Parliament and former Labour Minister Gokarna Bista advocated for creating employment opportunities to retain the youth labor force in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A panel discussion among prominent figures of the society examined the social challenges and innovative ways of mobilization the human resources, reads a statement issued by Daayitwa. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It also made some recommendations to take parliamentary actions to promote employment opportunities to retain the youth labor force in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Jiblal Bhusal; Amun Thapa, president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries Young Entrepreneurs Forum as well as the founder and CEO of Sasto Deal Pvt Ltd; Moushumi Shrestha, director of Shreenagar Agro Group and Dr Kalpana Khanal, senior research fellow at the Policy Research Institute participated in the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The need to address the gap between planning and implementation of enterprise-based policies and the challenges experienced by the start-up and innovation industry due to lack of proper policies and expertise of the government were some of the major issues discussed during the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Other important issues discussed during the dialogue included the urgency to shift Nepal’s remittance and trade-based economy to production-oriented economy, the importance of decreasing the cost of living in Nepal to retain youth labor force, and the gap between the industry needs and the skills equipped by our academic institution.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the discussion, former minister Gokarna Bista highlighted the need of addressing the policy issues of Nepal in innovative ways. “Human resource and capital are the most important factors to be considered while discussing the development of Nepal. Unfortunately, the government does not possess the exact data, however, the average estimate of the labor force that has gone from Nepal in search of foreign employment is over 6 million. Creating sustainable employment opportunities within the nation is the only way to retain the youth labor force in Nepal. But, as long as we don't prioritize production over trade, this problem will not be addressed,” said Bista.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Nirmal Dhakal was of the view that the high cost of living is the main reason why the youth labor force is going abroad cannot be retained in Nepal. “The young human resource that we’ve lost to foreign countries cannot be brought back and the reason is the cost of living in Nepal is higher than that of the other countries. Unless we resolve this, we cannot retain the youth labor force in the country,”said Dhakal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Pukar Malla, founder and chairperson of Daayitwa, shared that the youths are resorting to better opportunities abroad while Nepal’s economic situation is rapidly degrading. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the organisers, the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series successfully built a strong base for the policy recommendations to achieve the maximum economic growth potential in this demographic window.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement said that the event brought together more than 60 policymakers, CSOs, private companies, journalists and other relevant policy stakeholders. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The inaugural dialogue of the series was held in June which focused on women's economic empowerment. Four more similar dialogues will be held under the ECO Talks Series, the statement added. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15402', 'image' => '20220721022607_DSC_0391.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 14:25:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15660', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shree Steel Starts Exporting Iron Rods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Within four years of its establishment, Shree Steel has started exporting TMT steel from Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 21: Within four years of its establishment, Shree Steel has started exporting TMT steel from Nepal. Shree Steel, an iron-rod producing company with investment of Rs 3 billion, officially started exporting steel on Wednesday (July 20).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Rajesh Agarwal, the owner of the industry, informed that Shree Steel is producing 800 metric tons of rods daily, and has exported rods worth around Rs 2.4 million to India.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that more than Rs 2 billion was invested when the industry was established in 2018, and the total investment has now reached Rs 3 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the company has started exporting steel officially, it had decided to export the product regularly only after the government implements its decision of providing 8 per cent cash subsidy on exports.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We were preparing for export from the beginning," Agarwal said, "Because the cost of steel production was high, we were not in a position to export, but due to the government's policy, the process for export has begun. If the export is to be regular, the government must introduce a work procedure,” he adds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After the government included steel in the list of items that will get cash subsidy for export in the budget of the current fiscal year, rod producers are eager to export their product.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shree Steel had to wait for more than 15 months for quality certification from the Indian government. Such quality certificates are mandatory for export to India. Shree Steel's factory employs 500 people at Semerhawa in Rupandehi. The industry uses Japanese technology for producing steel. The industry has been producing steel from quality prime billets. The industry claims that steel made with Japanese technology is also earthquake resistant.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Agrawal, the billet, which is made from sponge iron, is used to produce TMT rods. The government has given a considerable discount on the import of sponge iron and scrap. Agarwal said that if the government provides cash subsidies for exports, the cost of production can be reduced by at least 2 to 3 per cent. He said that due to this, the price can be competitive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government plans to give an 8 per cent cash subsidy to cement and clinker exporters, and Palpa Cement has already started exporting cement. Shree Steel claims to be the first company to export steel. Various business houses have invested in the industry. Kedia Organization, Siddharth Group and Uma Group of Industries have a joint investment in this industry. Especially after the earthquake of 2072, there has been a significant increase in investment in the cement and iron rod industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to this, the production capacity of industries is more than the domestic demand of Nepal. Export of cement and rod is taking place even when the industries have not been able to operate at full capacity. According to Nepal Rolling Mills Association, there are 32 rod industries in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15401', 'image' => '20220721123531_1658357560.Shree Steel 222.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 12:34:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15674', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Workers to be Hired for Qatar World Cup ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has given permission to hire Nepali workers for the World Cup Football Tournament to be held in Qatar in November later this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 24: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has given permission to hire Nepali workers for the World Cup Football Tournament to be held in Qatar in November later this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Various companies in Qatar have shown interest to hire Nepali workers for a short duration in view of the World Cup 2022. Accordingly, the government has decided to send Nepali workers after completing all the due procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary at the Ministry and Head of the Employment Management Division Rajiv Pokharel shared that since the workers will be sent for a short period it has been decided to send them only after granting them a work permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the decision of the ministry, the Embassy of Qatar will verify the demands proposed by the employers who are willing to take workers for a short period of time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, the employers will have to bear the entire expenses incurred in the recruitment process including the two-way air tickets of the workers. The working period of such workers in Qatar will be less than six months. Apart from the recruitment agencies, those who want to go for short-term employment individually will also be allowed to go if they have a visa and a work permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the law, the minimum duration of the work permit is two years but there is also a legal provision to grant work permit for short-term work opportunities and visas, said Joint Secretary Pokharel. The number of workers to be taken from Nepal for Qatar World Cup is not decided yet.-- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15415', 'image' => '20220724021312_QatarStadium-1444x710.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 14:12:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15673', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia Agrees to Release Million of Tons of Food Grains', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: Russia and Ukraine have reached an understanding to open the route to export grains through the Black Sea at a time when there is increasing concern that the food crisis will increase worldwide due to the war.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 24: Russia and Ukraine have reached an understanding to open the route to export grains through the Black Sea at a time when there is increasing concern that the food crisis will increase worldwide due to the war.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The two sides signed an agreement in Turkey on Friday allowing the export of 1 million tons of grains from Ukraine. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, the agreement will allow millions of tonnes of grain, currently trapped in Ukraine by the war, to be exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the agreement, Russia will gradually open the Ukrainian ports towards the Black Sea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The World Food Program has warned that a million people could die of starvation if Russia continues to block the ports to Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he is optimistic that the issue of Ukraine's grain exports can be resolved if the minefields laid by Ukraine in the waters around its port are removed. Ukraine is one of the world's leading grain exporters.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, one million people are at risk of starvation due to the halt in export of grains. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Al Jazeera, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, signed the deal separately on Friday, carefully avoiding sitting at the same table and avoiding shaking hands in Istanbul.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the information, the contract is said to last for 120 days in addition to the possibility of extension of agreement with the consent of both parties. The halt in Ukrainian grain supplies led to a global food crisis and the price of bread and pasta made from wheat skyrocketed. Apart from that, the prices of cooking oil and fertilizers also increased. The United States has also requested Russia to take immediate steps to implement the agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On Friday, the price of wheat in the world market fell by two percent, as the possibility of supplying more than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain surged.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In his Friday night speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his country has marketable grain worth about US$ 10 billion. He also mentioned that the United Nations is responsible for ensuring the agreement. Ukraine has been saying that the Russian navy is blocking the supply of grain and other imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ukraine alleged that Russian forces even stole grain from its agricultural fields. Due to the drought, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, some countries in the world are facing an extreme food crisis. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15414', 'image' => '20220724123223_wheatttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 12:31:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15672', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tatopani Customs Office Collects Rs 3.42 Billion Revenue ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: Tatopani Customs Office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue in the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collection was double than the target set by the office. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 24: Tatopani Customs Office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue in the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collection was double than the target set by the office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief Customs Officer of Tatopani Customs Office, Narad Gautam, said revenue collection increased by two folds in the last fiscal year despite various problems including coronavirus pandemic, landslide, flood and decline in import of Chinese goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue against the target of Rs 1.46 billion, he shared. Gautam further said that revenue collection was better than the expectation due to various reasons including import of goods, adherence to health safety protocols and training to businessmen. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In FY 2020/21, the office had set a target to collect Rs 4.50 billion but only Rs 1.02 billion was collected. Gautam added that a target has been set to collect Rs 4.63 billion in the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of containers carrying goods from China is very less. Around four to eight containers carrying goods from China enter Nepal via the check point every day. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15413', 'image' => '20220724115357_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 11:53:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15671', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Unveils Monetary Policy for Current Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank has unveiled the monetary policy for the current fiscal year with special focus on availing loan to the productive sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank has unveiled the monetary policy for the current fiscal year with special focus on availing loan to the productive sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the monetary policy made public by the central bank on Friday, the government will gradually reduce the facilities given to sectors affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. NRB informed that the policy to provide refinancing facility will be reviewed so that only the productive sectors such as agriculture and those badly affected by the pandemic will be given refinancing facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Instead of encouraging credit flow, the monetary policy will focus on disbursement of loan to the productive sector, reads a draft of the policy made public by the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy also focuses on increasing access to finance among small, cottage and middle-scale industries. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy admits that the current account deficit and Balance of Payments (BoP) will remain under pressure for some more time despite increase in number of tourists and rise in number of Nepali migrant works visiting foreign countries for employment. According to the central bank, the current account and BoP deficits might push the economy to crisis. Such a situation has posed challenge in attaining high economic growth rate, reads the document.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy states that the liquidity crisis and pressure on interest rate will remain until internal production is increased and there is improvement in foreign trade. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy has also focused on increasing digitalization of payment and transactions and increase access to finance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Considering the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and inflation, the central bank has increased the bank rate by 1.5 percentage point and fixed it at 8.5 percent while the policy rate has been fixed at 7 percent and deposit collection rate at 5.5 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank will also manage Open Market Transaction Stabilization Fund as announced in the budget and implement it for effective management of liquidity crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank noted that the price hike of petroleum products and food in the international market due to the Russia-Ukraine war will pose a challenge in attaining the target of economic growth in the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15412', 'image' => '20220722070527_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 19:04:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15670', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Imports Timber worth Millions while Domestic Products Rot in Forest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal imported 10 million cubic feet of timber during the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal imported 10 million cubic feet of timber during the last fiscal year. According to government data, the timber imported from various countries were worth Rs 4 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported timber from 20 countries including the United States of America. According to Manjil Babu Maskey, president of Nepal Forest Production Federation, the average price of imported timber is Rs 4,000 per cubic foot.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Interestingly, as the import of timber is increasing, the forest area where wood is produced is gradually increasing in Nepal. According to government data, in the year 2000 AD, 59,15,518 hectares of land in Nepal was covered by forest area. In 2019 AD, this area has increased to 61,66,766 hectares. Compared to the year 2000, the forest area has increased by 4.16 percent in 2019. At present, about 45.31 percent of the land area of the country is covered by forests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the migration from rural to the urban areas and the increase in number of Nepalis going abroad for employment, the arable land in the village is gradually turning into forests. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say that depletion of forests has declined as citizens have been abandoning firewood for cooking and have started using liquefied petroleum gas extensively. Similarly, with the government’s decision to scrap the procedure of scientific forest management has also contributed to a decline in consumption of wood. After the cancellation of the procedure, the use of wood from domestic forests has been stopped. Experts argue this is also one of the reasons for the increase in forest area.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">President Maskey shared that there is no doubt that the forest area is an important asset of Nepal, and it should be protected, but it is not appropriate to import timber worth billions of rupees from foreign countries while timber produced in the country is rotting in the forests. He argues that this trend has made the country’s economy inport-oriented while on the other hand the local resources are being wasted.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Maskey also said that if domestic resources are properly used, the economy will move towards self-sufficiency.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders share that the decision to abandon the scientific forest management policy contradicts with the government's policy of import substitution. They say that it is trying to make the country dependent on imported timber by wasting the local product.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say it has definitely protected the forest areas but the country has failed to benefit from the forests through proper utilization.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the Private Forest Users Federation Bishnu Gyawali says that it is more important to manage forests than to protect them.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15411', 'image' => '20220722060423_timber-harvesting-process.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 18:03:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15669', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank to Adopt Strict Measures through Monetary Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to tighten the screws on economic activities through the monetary policy amid high Balance of Payments, declining foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and lack of investible capital (liquidity crisis) in the banking system of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to tighten the screws on economic activities through the monetary policy amid high Balance of Payments, declining foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and lack of investible capital (liquidity crisis) in the banking system of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although the business community is expecting some concessions as the economy is struggling from the impacts of Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has hinted that the monetary policy will maintain strict fiscal discipline.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that the concessions given in the past were the reason for the economic crisis at present, officials of the central bank argue that they will take corrective measures through the monetary policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Although the economic activities have increased due to the liberal policy adopted by the central bank in the past, it has not helped in bringing the economy back on track,” said an NRB official, adding, “Now, the main objective of the monetary policy will be to take corrective measures.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB says that banks and financial institutions were aggressive in credit flow after in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic but most of the loans disbursed during that period were invested in unproductive sector. As a result, outflow of money from the country caused a decline in foreign exchange reserves as well as deposit collection of banks. Therefore, the monetary policy will now focus on increasing domestic production and reducing imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB is likely to reduce the interest rate on loans disbursed to the productive sector from the current fiscal year. The budget for the current fiscal year has also announced lower rates for loans to the productive sector and priority projects of national level and the monetary policy will further ensure these provisions are implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to sources at the central bank, the monetary policy will increase the bank rate and refinancing rate which in turn will increase the overall interest rates but it will also provide relief to the agriculture sector as well as small and medium scale industries by fixing premium rates in their favour.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB Spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatt informed that the monetary policy will be unveiled by the central bank on Friday (July 22) after the board meeting on Thursday decided to introduce the new monetary policy. According to media reports, the monetary policy will be unveiled at 4 pm today afternoon.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15410', 'image' => '20220722030250_1658445240.Clipboard21.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 15:01:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15668', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM’s Employment Programme Fails to Provide Jobs to 200,000 People Annually', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme that started four years ago with the aim of providing employment to 200,000 people annually has failed to achieve this objective.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme that started four years ago with the aim of providing employment to 200,000 people annually has failed to achieve this objective.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A total of 172,270 people were employed in the fiscal year 2018/19 under this programme conducted through the Ministry of Labor and Employment. In the fiscal year 2019/20, that number dropped to 105,626. In the fiscal year 2020/21, altogether 181,091 people were employed under this programme. According to the website of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme, the number of people who got employment in last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) stands at 136,384.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The programme not only failed to provide employment to the people as per its target but also failed to provide employment to the workers for the specified number of days.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this programme, there is a provision to provide employment to the workers for 100 days in a year. However, since the programme started, the target is yet to be fulfilled.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the available data, the workers were hired for an average of 13 days in FY 2018/19. A year later, that number increased to an average of 16 days. In the fiscal year 2020/721, that number increased sharply to 76 days and in the last fiscal year, that number was 75.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Why the Programme Failed</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Labor expert Som Luintel stated that the Prime Minister's Employment Programme failed to achieve its objective because this programme was introduced to create jobs for the youth who are planning to go abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Secretary of the Labour Ministry Ek Narayan Aryal admits that the government is facing problems in implementing the programme. In an event held in Kathmandu in the last week of June, he said that there is a problem in the implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme at the local level due to lack of coordination. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary Danduraj Ghimire, who is also the Executive Director of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme, did not pick up the phone when New Business Age tried to contact him to get more information about the programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">What to do now?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Labor immigration expert Luintel says the Prime Minister's Employment Programme needs effective restructuring. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“For this, the programme should be made attractive so that the youth are interested in it,” he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Luintel further said that this programme has become a political recruitment center.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The ministry has also shown interest in the need to revise the Prime Minister's Employment Programme. Secretary Aryal said that the ministry will emphasize on the skill development of the workers and a part of the budget allocated for the programme can be spent on the purchase of equipment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the programme held last June, Secretary Aryal said that it is necessary to link this programme with production. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The Prime Minister's Employment Programme should be interlinked with the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Programme. Vocational skills can fill the gap between these two programmes.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This programme started from the fiscal year 2018/19 after the government mentioned in the budget that it will create jobs in the country to prevent the labor force from going abroad for employment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15409', 'image' => '20220722013335_PMEP.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 13:32:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15667', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'GEFONT to Initiate Campaign Against Exploitation of Interns', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is preparing to launch a campaign against the exploitation of workers in the name of internship (training).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is preparing to launch a campaign against the exploitation of workers in the name of internship (training). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This is one of the main campaigns that GEFONT will conduct after its 8th National Congress. GEFONT believes that this will put an end to the exploitation in the labor market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">GEFONT held a press conference on Thursday to inform about the preparations for the 8th National Congress to be held from July 23 to 26.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the press meet, GEFONT Chairman Binod Shrestha said that not only are interns employed without money, but in some establishments they are charged fees, this trend is serious labor exploitation. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He shared that GEFONT will be starting the campaign with the concept that interns should also be remunerated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, since there is no data on how many workers there are in Nepal, GEFONT will also conduct a campaign to list the workers at the local level. For this, GEFONT said that at least three of its leaders will be mobilized in every municipality. GEFONT has planned to register workers at the local level through them. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“For this, the leaders of GEFONT will be mobilized in all 753 municipalities of the country,” said Shrestha.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15408', 'image' => '20220722125839_GFONT.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 12:57:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15666', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Airlines Corporation Repays Long-Pending Dues to EPF, CIT ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repaid loan of Rs 1.35 billion to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), which was taken to purchase aircraft for the national flag carrier.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 22: The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repaid loan of Rs 1.35 billion to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), which was taken to purchase aircraft for the national flag carrier. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The amount was credited to EPF and CIT on July 14. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The payment comes as part of NAC's installment to be paid to the EPF and CIT, which was pending for almost one and a half years. An NAC official said the state-owned airline company managed to repay the amount thanks to its economic growth. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is said the NAC succeeded in paying its fiscal liabilities after it saw robust business due to growth in flight occupancy rate since the past couple of months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of NAC Archana Khadka shared that the the NAC repaid Rs 900 million to the EPF, which was taken to purchase narrow body and wide body aircraft. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the NAC repaid Rs 450 million to CIT as an installment taken during the time of purchase of wide body aircraft for the NAC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NAC had failed to repay the installment amount in time after the COVID-19 outbreak due to reduced business. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15407', 'image' => '20220722081406_20220701121020_NAC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 08:13:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15665', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Parliamentary Probe Committee gets Seven More Days to Prepare its Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The House of Representatives (HoR) has extended the deadline of a special probe committee to investigate into the issues related to budget by a week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 22: The House of Representatives (HoR) has extended the deadline of a special probe committee to investigate into the issues related to budget by a week. </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"">Initially, the committee was given 10 days to prepare a report after investigating into the matter related to the entry of unauthorized persons into the Finance Ministry on the eve of budget announcement on May 28. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has been accused of allowing the unauthorized persons to enter the ministry allegedly to influence the tax rate in favour of certain business groups.</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"">A meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Thursday unanimously passed a motion to extend the committee's timeframe for one more week, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota had tabled a proposal for the deadline extension of the committee as per the Rule 166 of the HoR Regulations-2075. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 11-member parliamentary probe committee is struggling to prepare its report on time due to non-cooperation from finance ministry officials. The ministry has also failed to submit CCTV footage of the incident stating that it cannot store the videos for more than 13 days. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15406', 'image' => '20220722080729_20201227124222_1609025666.Clipboard10.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 08:06:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15664', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Lacks Infrastructure to Export More Electricity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to struggle exporting additional electricity to the Indian market due to lack of infrastructure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to struggle exporting additional electricity to the Indian market due to lack of infrastructure.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Currently, 364 MW of electricity is being exported from Nepal through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 KV transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the demand for hydroelectricity in the Indian market is increasing, there will be a problem in exporting more electricity due to the lack of large-capacity transmission lines in Nepal, says Prabal Adhikari, head of the Electricity Trade Department of the Nepal Electricity Authority.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The official made such remark while speaking at a workshop organized by Urja Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> "It is impossible to exchange much electricity when the capacity of the international transmission line is low," the official said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This year, production will reach 3,000 MW. Currently, about 2,200 megawatts of electricity is being produced in Nepal. Within the current fiscal year, the NEA has projected that 3,000 megawatts of electricity will be produced in the country after an additional 800 MW electricity gets added to the national transmission system. However, the infrastructure for transmission of electricity is old and dilapidated. Due to this, the electricity produced in the future will neither be easy to consume domestically nor can it be exported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The current production capacity of Nepal is 2200 MW. Hydropower projects with a total capacity of 3,289 megawatts are under construction. Other projects with capacity of 1,553 megawatts are under progressed in various stages. Therefore, the total capacity of electricity production in the near future will be around 7,320 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the capacity of Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line is 1000 MW, Nepal has been able to import/export not more than 600 MW electricity from this line. However, NEA has been paying various charges for 1000 MW electricity. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say that if the government had opted for quad technology conductors while constructing the transmission line, its capacity would have been 2,000 megawatts, and more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity could have been easily exported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until 2017/18, Nepal's electricity production was only 1,074 megawatts. By 2022/34, electricity production is projected to reach 3,001 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">By 2020/21, Nepal's electricity production, reached 2,090 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Construction of the New Butwal Gorakhpur transmission line will take another 3 years</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although contracts have been awarded in various sections, the amount of investment needed to build the transmission line has not yet been made.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Discussions are underway with foreign donors for loans. However, NEA officials say that a final decision has not yet been reached. Currently, hydropower projects in Nepal are designed in Q40. This means that only 60 percent of the water flowing in the river can be used. If designed in Q25, electricity can be produced at less than 4 cents per unit. According to the official, when the electricity export to India, Bangladesh, or any other country is guaranteed, the electricity project can be designed in Q25 and produced at a competitive price.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15405', 'image' => '20220721061028_1658357655.Clipboard12.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 18:08:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15663', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Commitment Increases by 120 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Investment commitment from domestic as well as foreign investors has increased after the threat of Covid-19 infection subsided. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hima BK</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 21: Investment commitment from domestic as well as foreign investors has increased after the threat of Covid-19 infection subsided. After a decline in investment commitment for two years due to the onset of the pandemic, it has increased by 120 percent in fiscal year 2021/22.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Industry confirmed that the investment commitment increased by 120 percent in FY 2021/22 compared to the previous two fiscal years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the review year, domestic and foreign investors registered 309 industries with a commitment to invest Rs 343 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In Fiscal Year 2020/21, a total of 201 industries were registered with the department with investment commitment of Rs 156 billion. Although the risk of Covid-19 is not yet fully over, the investment commitment increased during the last fiscal year after the threat subsided to a great extent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the investment commitment in the Fiscal Year 2018/19 was worth Rs 285 billion. According to the Department of Industry, the investors had registered 441 industries back then. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General of the department Ram Chandar Tiwari says that the investment commitment which declined during the period of Covid-19 increased once again during the last fiscal year. However, he says that the increase in investment commitment is also due to other factors beside the decline in rate of infection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We had been making efforts to create an investment-friendly environment and to attract the investors by formulating new laws and amending old regulations. We also focused on administrative reforms,” said Tiwari, adding, “This also helped in improving investment commitment.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, registration of industries and commitment from the investors does not ensure that the investment will be made immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We should not be disheartened if the investment is not made as per the commitment. We are hopeful if the investment commitment increases that increases the prospect of actual investment,” said Tiwari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General Tiwari claimed that the actual investment is around 50 to 60 percent of the commitment made by the investors in recent years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has not worked extensively to ensure that the investment commitment is actually invested.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal ranked 110<sup>th</sup> in the Doing Business Report published by the World Bank in 2019. The next year, Nepal ranked 94<sup>th</sup> in the Doing Business Report due to improvement in investment-friendly environment. The then finance minister Yubaraj Khatiwada had objected to the World Bank report that placed Nepal in the 110<sup>th</sup> position in the Doing Business ranking. Although there has been an improvement in creating a conducive environment for business, Nepal’s trade deficit is high.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Indtead of increasing exports and consumption of domestic goods, imports have increased. According to the Department of Customs, Nepal’s trade deficit in the past 11 months stood at Rs 15.77 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15404', 'image' => '20220721041832_Foreign investment.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 16:17:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15662', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'No Unauthorized Person is Involved in Budget Formulation: Former Finance Minister Sharma ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that he has candidly responded to most of the topics he was asked on by the parliamentary probe committee. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 21: Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that he has candidly responded to most of the topics he was asked on by the parliamentary probe committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Parliamentary Investigation Special Committee formed by the House of Representatives had questioned former Finance Minister Sharma regarding his alleged involvement in bringing unauthorized persons into the finance ministry in course of finalizing the budget for the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharma said he gave clear answers to the queries put by the committee. "I have replied to each and every question they asked," the former Finance Minister said after attending the Parliamentary committee's meeting today (July 21). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, Sharma asserted that no unauthorized person was brought in and no illegal work has been done in course of preparing the budget. He argued that he himself in the capacity of finance minister had changed the rate of tax and no unauthorized person was involved in it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the charge labeled against him is baseless, former Finance Minister Sharma said that he decided upon the budget by remaining within the due process, laws and procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following widespread criticism from all sides, the House of Representatives on July 6 constituted an 11-member parliamentary investigation committee. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has given 10 days to the parliamentary investigation committee to carry out its works and submit a report. -- RSS </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15403', 'image' => '20220721033413_finnnnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 15:33:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15661', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Second Policy Dialogue of the ECO Talk Series Focuses on Retaining Youth Forces in the Country', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Daayitwa, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that envisions an enterprising Nepal, organized the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series on youth employment on Tuesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 21: Daayitwa, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that envisions an enterprising Nepal, organized the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series on youth employment on Tuesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The second edition of the talk series featuring Member of Parliament and former Labour Minister Gokarna Bista advocated for creating employment opportunities to retain the youth labor force in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A panel discussion among prominent figures of the society examined the social challenges and innovative ways of mobilization the human resources, reads a statement issued by Daayitwa. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It also made some recommendations to take parliamentary actions to promote employment opportunities to retain the youth labor force in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Jiblal Bhusal; Amun Thapa, president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries Young Entrepreneurs Forum as well as the founder and CEO of Sasto Deal Pvt Ltd; Moushumi Shrestha, director of Shreenagar Agro Group and Dr Kalpana Khanal, senior research fellow at the Policy Research Institute participated in the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The need to address the gap between planning and implementation of enterprise-based policies and the challenges experienced by the start-up and innovation industry due to lack of proper policies and expertise of the government were some of the major issues discussed during the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Other important issues discussed during the dialogue included the urgency to shift Nepal’s remittance and trade-based economy to production-oriented economy, the importance of decreasing the cost of living in Nepal to retain youth labor force, and the gap between the industry needs and the skills equipped by our academic institution.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the discussion, former minister Gokarna Bista highlighted the need of addressing the policy issues of Nepal in innovative ways. “Human resource and capital are the most important factors to be considered while discussing the development of Nepal. Unfortunately, the government does not possess the exact data, however, the average estimate of the labor force that has gone from Nepal in search of foreign employment is over 6 million. Creating sustainable employment opportunities within the nation is the only way to retain the youth labor force in Nepal. But, as long as we don't prioritize production over trade, this problem will not be addressed,” said Bista.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Nirmal Dhakal was of the view that the high cost of living is the main reason why the youth labor force is going abroad cannot be retained in Nepal. “The young human resource that we’ve lost to foreign countries cannot be brought back and the reason is the cost of living in Nepal is higher than that of the other countries. Unless we resolve this, we cannot retain the youth labor force in the country,”said Dhakal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Pukar Malla, founder and chairperson of Daayitwa, shared that the youths are resorting to better opportunities abroad while Nepal’s economic situation is rapidly degrading. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the organisers, the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series successfully built a strong base for the policy recommendations to achieve the maximum economic growth potential in this demographic window.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement said that the event brought together more than 60 policymakers, CSOs, private companies, journalists and other relevant policy stakeholders. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The inaugural dialogue of the series was held in June which focused on women's economic empowerment. Four more similar dialogues will be held under the ECO Talks Series, the statement added. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15402', 'image' => '20220721022607_DSC_0391.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 14:25:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15660', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shree Steel Starts Exporting Iron Rods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Within four years of its establishment, Shree Steel has started exporting TMT steel from Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 21: Within four years of its establishment, Shree Steel has started exporting TMT steel from Nepal. Shree Steel, an iron-rod producing company with investment of Rs 3 billion, officially started exporting steel on Wednesday (July 20).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Rajesh Agarwal, the owner of the industry, informed that Shree Steel is producing 800 metric tons of rods daily, and has exported rods worth around Rs 2.4 million to India.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that more than Rs 2 billion was invested when the industry was established in 2018, and the total investment has now reached Rs 3 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the company has started exporting steel officially, it had decided to export the product regularly only after the government implements its decision of providing 8 per cent cash subsidy on exports.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We were preparing for export from the beginning," Agarwal said, "Because the cost of steel production was high, we were not in a position to export, but due to the government's policy, the process for export has begun. If the export is to be regular, the government must introduce a work procedure,” he adds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After the government included steel in the list of items that will get cash subsidy for export in the budget of the current fiscal year, rod producers are eager to export their product.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shree Steel had to wait for more than 15 months for quality certification from the Indian government. Such quality certificates are mandatory for export to India. Shree Steel's factory employs 500 people at Semerhawa in Rupandehi. The industry uses Japanese technology for producing steel. The industry has been producing steel from quality prime billets. The industry claims that steel made with Japanese technology is also earthquake resistant.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Agrawal, the billet, which is made from sponge iron, is used to produce TMT rods. The government has given a considerable discount on the import of sponge iron and scrap. Agarwal said that if the government provides cash subsidies for exports, the cost of production can be reduced by at least 2 to 3 per cent. He said that due to this, the price can be competitive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government plans to give an 8 per cent cash subsidy to cement and clinker exporters, and Palpa Cement has already started exporting cement. Shree Steel claims to be the first company to export steel. Various business houses have invested in the industry. Kedia Organization, Siddharth Group and Uma Group of Industries have a joint investment in this industry. Especially after the earthquake of 2072, there has been a significant increase in investment in the cement and iron rod industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to this, the production capacity of industries is more than the domestic demand of Nepal. Export of cement and rod is taking place even when the industries have not been able to operate at full capacity. According to Nepal Rolling Mills Association, there are 32 rod industries in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15401', 'image' => '20220721123531_1658357560.Shree Steel 222.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 12:34:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15674', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepali Workers to be Hired for Qatar World Cup ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has given permission to hire Nepali workers for the World Cup Football Tournament to be held in Qatar in November later this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 24: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has given permission to hire Nepali workers for the World Cup Football Tournament to be held in Qatar in November later this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Various companies in Qatar have shown interest to hire Nepali workers for a short duration in view of the World Cup 2022. Accordingly, the government has decided to send Nepali workers after completing all the due procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary at the Ministry and Head of the Employment Management Division Rajiv Pokharel shared that since the workers will be sent for a short period it has been decided to send them only after granting them a work permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the decision of the ministry, the Embassy of Qatar will verify the demands proposed by the employers who are willing to take workers for a short period of time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, the employers will have to bear the entire expenses incurred in the recruitment process including the two-way air tickets of the workers. The working period of such workers in Qatar will be less than six months. Apart from the recruitment agencies, those who want to go for short-term employment individually will also be allowed to go if they have a visa and a work permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the law, the minimum duration of the work permit is two years but there is also a legal provision to grant work permit for short-term work opportunities and visas, said Joint Secretary Pokharel. The number of workers to be taken from Nepal for Qatar World Cup is not decided yet.-- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15415', 'image' => '20220724021312_QatarStadium-1444x710.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 14:12:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15673', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia Agrees to Release Million of Tons of Food Grains', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: Russia and Ukraine have reached an understanding to open the route to export grains through the Black Sea at a time when there is increasing concern that the food crisis will increase worldwide due to the war.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 24: Russia and Ukraine have reached an understanding to open the route to export grains through the Black Sea at a time when there is increasing concern that the food crisis will increase worldwide due to the war.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The two sides signed an agreement in Turkey on Friday allowing the export of 1 million tons of grains from Ukraine. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, the agreement will allow millions of tonnes of grain, currently trapped in Ukraine by the war, to be exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the agreement, Russia will gradually open the Ukrainian ports towards the Black Sea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The World Food Program has warned that a million people could die of starvation if Russia continues to block the ports to Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he is optimistic that the issue of Ukraine's grain exports can be resolved if the minefields laid by Ukraine in the waters around its port are removed. Ukraine is one of the world's leading grain exporters.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, one million people are at risk of starvation due to the halt in export of grains. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Al Jazeera, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, signed the deal separately on Friday, carefully avoiding sitting at the same table and avoiding shaking hands in Istanbul.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the information, the contract is said to last for 120 days in addition to the possibility of extension of agreement with the consent of both parties. The halt in Ukrainian grain supplies led to a global food crisis and the price of bread and pasta made from wheat skyrocketed. Apart from that, the prices of cooking oil and fertilizers also increased. The United States has also requested Russia to take immediate steps to implement the agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On Friday, the price of wheat in the world market fell by two percent, as the possibility of supplying more than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain surged.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In his Friday night speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his country has marketable grain worth about US$ 10 billion. He also mentioned that the United Nations is responsible for ensuring the agreement. Ukraine has been saying that the Russian navy is blocking the supply of grain and other imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ukraine alleged that Russian forces even stole grain from its agricultural fields. Due to the drought, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, some countries in the world are facing an extreme food crisis. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15414', 'image' => '20220724123223_wheatttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 12:31:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15672', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tatopani Customs Office Collects Rs 3.42 Billion Revenue ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: Tatopani Customs Office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue in the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collection was double than the target set by the office. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 24: Tatopani Customs Office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue in the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collection was double than the target set by the office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief Customs Officer of Tatopani Customs Office, Narad Gautam, said revenue collection increased by two folds in the last fiscal year despite various problems including coronavirus pandemic, landslide, flood and decline in import of Chinese goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue against the target of Rs 1.46 billion, he shared. Gautam further said that revenue collection was better than the expectation due to various reasons including import of goods, adherence to health safety protocols and training to businessmen. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In FY 2020/21, the office had set a target to collect Rs 4.50 billion but only Rs 1.02 billion was collected. Gautam added that a target has been set to collect Rs 4.63 billion in the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of containers carrying goods from China is very less. Around four to eight containers carrying goods from China enter Nepal via the check point every day. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15413', 'image' => '20220724115357_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 11:53:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15671', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Unveils Monetary Policy for Current Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank has unveiled the monetary policy for the current fiscal year with special focus on availing loan to the productive sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank has unveiled the monetary policy for the current fiscal year with special focus on availing loan to the productive sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the monetary policy made public by the central bank on Friday, the government will gradually reduce the facilities given to sectors affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. NRB informed that the policy to provide refinancing facility will be reviewed so that only the productive sectors such as agriculture and those badly affected by the pandemic will be given refinancing facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Instead of encouraging credit flow, the monetary policy will focus on disbursement of loan to the productive sector, reads a draft of the policy made public by the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy also focuses on increasing access to finance among small, cottage and middle-scale industries. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy admits that the current account deficit and Balance of Payments (BoP) will remain under pressure for some more time despite increase in number of tourists and rise in number of Nepali migrant works visiting foreign countries for employment. According to the central bank, the current account and BoP deficits might push the economy to crisis. Such a situation has posed challenge in attaining high economic growth rate, reads the document.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy states that the liquidity crisis and pressure on interest rate will remain until internal production is increased and there is improvement in foreign trade. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy has also focused on increasing digitalization of payment and transactions and increase access to finance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Considering the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and inflation, the central bank has increased the bank rate by 1.5 percentage point and fixed it at 8.5 percent while the policy rate has been fixed at 7 percent and deposit collection rate at 5.5 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank will also manage Open Market Transaction Stabilization Fund as announced in the budget and implement it for effective management of liquidity crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank noted that the price hike of petroleum products and food in the international market due to the Russia-Ukraine war will pose a challenge in attaining the target of economic growth in the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15412', 'image' => '20220722070527_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 19:04:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15670', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Imports Timber worth Millions while Domestic Products Rot in Forest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal imported 10 million cubic feet of timber during the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal imported 10 million cubic feet of timber during the last fiscal year. According to government data, the timber imported from various countries were worth Rs 4 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported timber from 20 countries including the United States of America. According to Manjil Babu Maskey, president of Nepal Forest Production Federation, the average price of imported timber is Rs 4,000 per cubic foot.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Interestingly, as the import of timber is increasing, the forest area where wood is produced is gradually increasing in Nepal. According to government data, in the year 2000 AD, 59,15,518 hectares of land in Nepal was covered by forest area. In 2019 AD, this area has increased to 61,66,766 hectares. Compared to the year 2000, the forest area has increased by 4.16 percent in 2019. At present, about 45.31 percent of the land area of the country is covered by forests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the migration from rural to the urban areas and the increase in number of Nepalis going abroad for employment, the arable land in the village is gradually turning into forests. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say that depletion of forests has declined as citizens have been abandoning firewood for cooking and have started using liquefied petroleum gas extensively. Similarly, with the government’s decision to scrap the procedure of scientific forest management has also contributed to a decline in consumption of wood. After the cancellation of the procedure, the use of wood from domestic forests has been stopped. Experts argue this is also one of the reasons for the increase in forest area.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">President Maskey shared that there is no doubt that the forest area is an important asset of Nepal, and it should be protected, but it is not appropriate to import timber worth billions of rupees from foreign countries while timber produced in the country is rotting in the forests. He argues that this trend has made the country’s economy inport-oriented while on the other hand the local resources are being wasted.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Maskey also said that if domestic resources are properly used, the economy will move towards self-sufficiency.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders share that the decision to abandon the scientific forest management policy contradicts with the government's policy of import substitution. They say that it is trying to make the country dependent on imported timber by wasting the local product.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say it has definitely protected the forest areas but the country has failed to benefit from the forests through proper utilization.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the Private Forest Users Federation Bishnu Gyawali says that it is more important to manage forests than to protect them.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15411', 'image' => '20220722060423_timber-harvesting-process.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 18:03:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15669', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank to Adopt Strict Measures through Monetary Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to tighten the screws on economic activities through the monetary policy amid high Balance of Payments, declining foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and lack of investible capital (liquidity crisis) in the banking system of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to tighten the screws on economic activities through the monetary policy amid high Balance of Payments, declining foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and lack of investible capital (liquidity crisis) in the banking system of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although the business community is expecting some concessions as the economy is struggling from the impacts of Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has hinted that the monetary policy will maintain strict fiscal discipline.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that the concessions given in the past were the reason for the economic crisis at present, officials of the central bank argue that they will take corrective measures through the monetary policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Although the economic activities have increased due to the liberal policy adopted by the central bank in the past, it has not helped in bringing the economy back on track,” said an NRB official, adding, “Now, the main objective of the monetary policy will be to take corrective measures.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB says that banks and financial institutions were aggressive in credit flow after in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic but most of the loans disbursed during that period were invested in unproductive sector. As a result, outflow of money from the country caused a decline in foreign exchange reserves as well as deposit collection of banks. Therefore, the monetary policy will now focus on increasing domestic production and reducing imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB is likely to reduce the interest rate on loans disbursed to the productive sector from the current fiscal year. The budget for the current fiscal year has also announced lower rates for loans to the productive sector and priority projects of national level and the monetary policy will further ensure these provisions are implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to sources at the central bank, the monetary policy will increase the bank rate and refinancing rate which in turn will increase the overall interest rates but it will also provide relief to the agriculture sector as well as small and medium scale industries by fixing premium rates in their favour.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB Spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatt informed that the monetary policy will be unveiled by the central bank on Friday (July 22) after the board meeting on Thursday decided to introduce the new monetary policy. According to media reports, the monetary policy will be unveiled at 4 pm today afternoon.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15410', 'image' => '20220722030250_1658445240.Clipboard21.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 15:01:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15668', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM’s Employment Programme Fails to Provide Jobs to 200,000 People Annually', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme that started four years ago with the aim of providing employment to 200,000 people annually has failed to achieve this objective.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme that started four years ago with the aim of providing employment to 200,000 people annually has failed to achieve this objective.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A total of 172,270 people were employed in the fiscal year 2018/19 under this programme conducted through the Ministry of Labor and Employment. In the fiscal year 2019/20, that number dropped to 105,626. In the fiscal year 2020/21, altogether 181,091 people were employed under this programme. According to the website of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme, the number of people who got employment in last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) stands at 136,384.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The programme not only failed to provide employment to the people as per its target but also failed to provide employment to the workers for the specified number of days.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this programme, there is a provision to provide employment to the workers for 100 days in a year. However, since the programme started, the target is yet to be fulfilled.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the available data, the workers were hired for an average of 13 days in FY 2018/19. A year later, that number increased to an average of 16 days. In the fiscal year 2020/721, that number increased sharply to 76 days and in the last fiscal year, that number was 75.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Why the Programme Failed</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Labor expert Som Luintel stated that the Prime Minister's Employment Programme failed to achieve its objective because this programme was introduced to create jobs for the youth who are planning to go abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Secretary of the Labour Ministry Ek Narayan Aryal admits that the government is facing problems in implementing the programme. In an event held in Kathmandu in the last week of June, he said that there is a problem in the implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme at the local level due to lack of coordination. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary Danduraj Ghimire, who is also the Executive Director of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme, did not pick up the phone when New Business Age tried to contact him to get more information about the programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">What to do now?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Labor immigration expert Luintel says the Prime Minister's Employment Programme needs effective restructuring. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“For this, the programme should be made attractive so that the youth are interested in it,” he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Luintel further said that this programme has become a political recruitment center.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The ministry has also shown interest in the need to revise the Prime Minister's Employment Programme. Secretary Aryal said that the ministry will emphasize on the skill development of the workers and a part of the budget allocated for the programme can be spent on the purchase of equipment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the programme held last June, Secretary Aryal said that it is necessary to link this programme with production. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The Prime Minister's Employment Programme should be interlinked with the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Programme. Vocational skills can fill the gap between these two programmes.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This programme started from the fiscal year 2018/19 after the government mentioned in the budget that it will create jobs in the country to prevent the labor force from going abroad for employment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15409', 'image' => '20220722013335_PMEP.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 13:32:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15667', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'GEFONT to Initiate Campaign Against Exploitation of Interns', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is preparing to launch a campaign against the exploitation of workers in the name of internship (training).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is preparing to launch a campaign against the exploitation of workers in the name of internship (training). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This is one of the main campaigns that GEFONT will conduct after its 8th National Congress. GEFONT believes that this will put an end to the exploitation in the labor market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">GEFONT held a press conference on Thursday to inform about the preparations for the 8th National Congress to be held from July 23 to 26.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the press meet, GEFONT Chairman Binod Shrestha said that not only are interns employed without money, but in some establishments they are charged fees, this trend is serious labor exploitation. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He shared that GEFONT will be starting the campaign with the concept that interns should also be remunerated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, since there is no data on how many workers there are in Nepal, GEFONT will also conduct a campaign to list the workers at the local level. For this, GEFONT said that at least three of its leaders will be mobilized in every municipality. GEFONT has planned to register workers at the local level through them. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“For this, the leaders of GEFONT will be mobilized in all 753 municipalities of the country,” said Shrestha.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15408', 'image' => '20220722125839_GFONT.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 12:57:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15666', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Airlines Corporation Repays Long-Pending Dues to EPF, CIT ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repaid loan of Rs 1.35 billion to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), which was taken to purchase aircraft for the national flag carrier.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 22: The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repaid loan of Rs 1.35 billion to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), which was taken to purchase aircraft for the national flag carrier. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The amount was credited to EPF and CIT on July 14. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The payment comes as part of NAC's installment to be paid to the EPF and CIT, which was pending for almost one and a half years. An NAC official said the state-owned airline company managed to repay the amount thanks to its economic growth. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is said the NAC succeeded in paying its fiscal liabilities after it saw robust business due to growth in flight occupancy rate since the past couple of months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of NAC Archana Khadka shared that the the NAC repaid Rs 900 million to the EPF, which was taken to purchase narrow body and wide body aircraft. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the NAC repaid Rs 450 million to CIT as an installment taken during the time of purchase of wide body aircraft for the NAC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NAC had failed to repay the installment amount in time after the COVID-19 outbreak due to reduced business. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15407', 'image' => '20220722081406_20220701121020_NAC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 08:13:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15665', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Parliamentary Probe Committee gets Seven More Days to Prepare its Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The House of Representatives (HoR) has extended the deadline of a special probe committee to investigate into the issues related to budget by a week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 22: The House of Representatives (HoR) has extended the deadline of a special probe committee to investigate into the issues related to budget by a week. </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"">Initially, the committee was given 10 days to prepare a report after investigating into the matter related to the entry of unauthorized persons into the Finance Ministry on the eve of budget announcement on May 28. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has been accused of allowing the unauthorized persons to enter the ministry allegedly to influence the tax rate in favour of certain business groups.</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"">A meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Thursday unanimously passed a motion to extend the committee's timeframe for one more week, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota had tabled a proposal for the deadline extension of the committee as per the Rule 166 of the HoR Regulations-2075. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 11-member parliamentary probe committee is struggling to prepare its report on time due to non-cooperation from finance ministry officials. The ministry has also failed to submit CCTV footage of the incident stating that it cannot store the videos for more than 13 days. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15406', 'image' => '20220722080729_20201227124222_1609025666.Clipboard10.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 08:06:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15664', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Lacks Infrastructure to Export More Electricity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to struggle exporting additional electricity to the Indian market due to lack of infrastructure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to struggle exporting additional electricity to the Indian market due to lack of infrastructure.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Currently, 364 MW of electricity is being exported from Nepal through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 KV transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the demand for hydroelectricity in the Indian market is increasing, there will be a problem in exporting more electricity due to the lack of large-capacity transmission lines in Nepal, says Prabal Adhikari, head of the Electricity Trade Department of the Nepal Electricity Authority.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The official made such remark while speaking at a workshop organized by Urja Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> "It is impossible to exchange much electricity when the capacity of the international transmission line is low," the official said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This year, production will reach 3,000 MW. Currently, about 2,200 megawatts of electricity is being produced in Nepal. Within the current fiscal year, the NEA has projected that 3,000 megawatts of electricity will be produced in the country after an additional 800 MW electricity gets added to the national transmission system. However, the infrastructure for transmission of electricity is old and dilapidated. Due to this, the electricity produced in the future will neither be easy to consume domestically nor can it be exported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The current production capacity of Nepal is 2200 MW. Hydropower projects with a total capacity of 3,289 megawatts are under construction. Other projects with capacity of 1,553 megawatts are under progressed in various stages. Therefore, the total capacity of electricity production in the near future will be around 7,320 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the capacity of Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line is 1000 MW, Nepal has been able to import/export not more than 600 MW electricity from this line. However, NEA has been paying various charges for 1000 MW electricity. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say that if the government had opted for quad technology conductors while constructing the transmission line, its capacity would have been 2,000 megawatts, and more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity could have been easily exported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until 2017/18, Nepal's electricity production was only 1,074 megawatts. By 2022/34, electricity production is projected to reach 3,001 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">By 2020/21, Nepal's electricity production, reached 2,090 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Construction of the New Butwal Gorakhpur transmission line will take another 3 years</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although contracts have been awarded in various sections, the amount of investment needed to build the transmission line has not yet been made.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Discussions are underway with foreign donors for loans. However, NEA officials say that a final decision has not yet been reached. Currently, hydropower projects in Nepal are designed in Q40. This means that only 60 percent of the water flowing in the river can be used. If designed in Q25, electricity can be produced at less than 4 cents per unit. According to the official, when the electricity export to India, Bangladesh, or any other country is guaranteed, the electricity project can be designed in Q25 and produced at a competitive price.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15405', 'image' => '20220721061028_1658357655.Clipboard12.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 18:08:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15663', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Commitment Increases by 120 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Investment commitment from domestic as well as foreign investors has increased after the threat of Covid-19 infection subsided. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hima BK</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 21: Investment commitment from domestic as well as foreign investors has increased after the threat of Covid-19 infection subsided. After a decline in investment commitment for two years due to the onset of the pandemic, it has increased by 120 percent in fiscal year 2021/22.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Industry confirmed that the investment commitment increased by 120 percent in FY 2021/22 compared to the previous two fiscal years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the review year, domestic and foreign investors registered 309 industries with a commitment to invest Rs 343 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In Fiscal Year 2020/21, a total of 201 industries were registered with the department with investment commitment of Rs 156 billion. Although the risk of Covid-19 is not yet fully over, the investment commitment increased during the last fiscal year after the threat subsided to a great extent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the investment commitment in the Fiscal Year 2018/19 was worth Rs 285 billion. According to the Department of Industry, the investors had registered 441 industries back then. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General of the department Ram Chandar Tiwari says that the investment commitment which declined during the period of Covid-19 increased once again during the last fiscal year. However, he says that the increase in investment commitment is also due to other factors beside the decline in rate of infection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We had been making efforts to create an investment-friendly environment and to attract the investors by formulating new laws and amending old regulations. We also focused on administrative reforms,” said Tiwari, adding, “This also helped in improving investment commitment.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, registration of industries and commitment from the investors does not ensure that the investment will be made immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We should not be disheartened if the investment is not made as per the commitment. We are hopeful if the investment commitment increases that increases the prospect of actual investment,” said Tiwari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General Tiwari claimed that the actual investment is around 50 to 60 percent of the commitment made by the investors in recent years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has not worked extensively to ensure that the investment commitment is actually invested.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal ranked 110<sup>th</sup> in the Doing Business Report published by the World Bank in 2019. The next year, Nepal ranked 94<sup>th</sup> in the Doing Business Report due to improvement in investment-friendly environment. The then finance minister Yubaraj Khatiwada had objected to the World Bank report that placed Nepal in the 110<sup>th</sup> position in the Doing Business ranking. Although there has been an improvement in creating a conducive environment for business, Nepal’s trade deficit is high.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Indtead of increasing exports and consumption of domestic goods, imports have increased. According to the Department of Customs, Nepal’s trade deficit in the past 11 months stood at Rs 15.77 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15404', 'image' => '20220721041832_Foreign investment.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 16:17:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15662', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'No Unauthorized Person is Involved in Budget Formulation: Former Finance Minister Sharma ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that he has candidly responded to most of the topics he was asked on by the parliamentary probe committee. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 21: Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that he has candidly responded to most of the topics he was asked on by the parliamentary probe committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Parliamentary Investigation Special Committee formed by the House of Representatives had questioned former Finance Minister Sharma regarding his alleged involvement in bringing unauthorized persons into the finance ministry in course of finalizing the budget for the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharma said he gave clear answers to the queries put by the committee. "I have replied to each and every question they asked," the former Finance Minister said after attending the Parliamentary committee's meeting today (July 21). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, Sharma asserted that no unauthorized person was brought in and no illegal work has been done in course of preparing the budget. He argued that he himself in the capacity of finance minister had changed the rate of tax and no unauthorized person was involved in it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the charge labeled against him is baseless, former Finance Minister Sharma said that he decided upon the budget by remaining within the due process, laws and procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following widespread criticism from all sides, the House of Representatives on July 6 constituted an 11-member parliamentary investigation committee. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has given 10 days to the parliamentary investigation committee to carry out its works and submit a report. -- RSS </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15403', 'image' => '20220721033413_finnnnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 15:33:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15661', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Second Policy Dialogue of the ECO Talk Series Focuses on Retaining Youth Forces in the Country', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Daayitwa, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that envisions an enterprising Nepal, organized the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series on youth employment on Tuesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 21: Daayitwa, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that envisions an enterprising Nepal, organized the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series on youth employment on Tuesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The second edition of the talk series featuring Member of Parliament and former Labour Minister Gokarna Bista advocated for creating employment opportunities to retain the youth labor force in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A panel discussion among prominent figures of the society examined the social challenges and innovative ways of mobilization the human resources, reads a statement issued by Daayitwa. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It also made some recommendations to take parliamentary actions to promote employment opportunities to retain the youth labor force in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Jiblal Bhusal; Amun Thapa, president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries Young Entrepreneurs Forum as well as the founder and CEO of Sasto Deal Pvt Ltd; Moushumi Shrestha, director of Shreenagar Agro Group and Dr Kalpana Khanal, senior research fellow at the Policy Research Institute participated in the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The need to address the gap between planning and implementation of enterprise-based policies and the challenges experienced by the start-up and innovation industry due to lack of proper policies and expertise of the government were some of the major issues discussed during the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Other important issues discussed during the dialogue included the urgency to shift Nepal’s remittance and trade-based economy to production-oriented economy, the importance of decreasing the cost of living in Nepal to retain youth labor force, and the gap between the industry needs and the skills equipped by our academic institution.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the discussion, former minister Gokarna Bista highlighted the need of addressing the policy issues of Nepal in innovative ways. “Human resource and capital are the most important factors to be considered while discussing the development of Nepal. Unfortunately, the government does not possess the exact data, however, the average estimate of the labor force that has gone from Nepal in search of foreign employment is over 6 million. Creating sustainable employment opportunities within the nation is the only way to retain the youth labor force in Nepal. But, as long as we don't prioritize production over trade, this problem will not be addressed,” said Bista.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Nirmal Dhakal was of the view that the high cost of living is the main reason why the youth labor force is going abroad cannot be retained in Nepal. “The young human resource that we’ve lost to foreign countries cannot be brought back and the reason is the cost of living in Nepal is higher than that of the other countries. Unless we resolve this, we cannot retain the youth labor force in the country,”said Dhakal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Pukar Malla, founder and chairperson of Daayitwa, shared that the youths are resorting to better opportunities abroad while Nepal’s economic situation is rapidly degrading. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the organisers, the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series successfully built a strong base for the policy recommendations to achieve the maximum economic growth potential in this demographic window.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement said that the event brought together more than 60 policymakers, CSOs, private companies, journalists and other relevant policy stakeholders. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The inaugural dialogue of the series was held in June which focused on women's economic empowerment. Four more similar dialogues will be held under the ECO Talks Series, the statement added. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15402', 'image' => '20220721022607_DSC_0391.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 14:25:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15660', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shree Steel Starts Exporting Iron Rods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Within four years of its establishment, Shree Steel has started exporting TMT steel from Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 21: Within four years of its establishment, Shree Steel has started exporting TMT steel from Nepal. Shree Steel, an iron-rod producing company with investment of Rs 3 billion, officially started exporting steel on Wednesday (July 20).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Rajesh Agarwal, the owner of the industry, informed that Shree Steel is producing 800 metric tons of rods daily, and has exported rods worth around Rs 2.4 million to India.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that more than Rs 2 billion was invested when the industry was established in 2018, and the total investment has now reached Rs 3 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the company has started exporting steel officially, it had decided to export the product regularly only after the government implements its decision of providing 8 per cent cash subsidy on exports.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We were preparing for export from the beginning," Agarwal said, "Because the cost of steel production was high, we were not in a position to export, but due to the government's policy, the process for export has begun. If the export is to be regular, the government must introduce a work procedure,” he adds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After the government included steel in the list of items that will get cash subsidy for export in the budget of the current fiscal year, rod producers are eager to export their product.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shree Steel had to wait for more than 15 months for quality certification from the Indian government. Such quality certificates are mandatory for export to India. Shree Steel's factory employs 500 people at Semerhawa in Rupandehi. The industry uses Japanese technology for producing steel. The industry has been producing steel from quality prime billets. The industry claims that steel made with Japanese technology is also earthquake resistant.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Agrawal, the billet, which is made from sponge iron, is used to produce TMT rods. The government has given a considerable discount on the import of sponge iron and scrap. Agarwal said that if the government provides cash subsidies for exports, the cost of production can be reduced by at least 2 to 3 per cent. He said that due to this, the price can be competitive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government plans to give an 8 per cent cash subsidy to cement and clinker exporters, and Palpa Cement has already started exporting cement. Shree Steel claims to be the first company to export steel. Various business houses have invested in the industry. Kedia Organization, Siddharth Group and Uma Group of Industries have a joint investment in this industry. Especially after the earthquake of 2072, there has been a significant increase in investment in the cement and iron rod industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to this, the production capacity of industries is more than the domestic demand of Nepal. Export of cement and rod is taking place even when the industries have not been able to operate at full capacity. According to Nepal Rolling Mills Association, there are 32 rod industries in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15401', 'image' => '20220721123531_1658357560.Shree Steel 222.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 12:34:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 24: The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has given permission to hire Nepali workers for the World Cup Football Tournament to be held in Qatar in November later this year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Various companies in Qatar have shown interest to hire Nepali workers for a short duration in view of the World Cup 2022. Accordingly, the government has decided to send Nepali workers after completing all the due procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary at the Ministry and Head of the Employment Management Division Rajiv Pokharel shared that since the workers will be sent for a short period it has been decided to send them only after granting them a work permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the decision of the ministry, the Embassy of Qatar will verify the demands proposed by the employers who are willing to take workers for a short period of time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the ministry, the employers will have to bear the entire expenses incurred in the recruitment process including the two-way air tickets of the workers. The working period of such workers in Qatar will be less than six months. Apart from the recruitment agencies, those who want to go for short-term employment individually will also be allowed to go if they have a visa and a work permit. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As per the law, the minimum duration of the work permit is two years but there is also a legal provision to grant work permit for short-term work opportunities and visas, said Joint Secretary Pokharel. The number of workers to be taken from Nepal for Qatar World Cup is not decided yet.-- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15415', 'image' => '20220724021312_QatarStadium-1444x710.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 14:12:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15673', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Russia Agrees to Release Million of Tons of Food Grains', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: Russia and Ukraine have reached an understanding to open the route to export grains through the Black Sea at a time when there is increasing concern that the food crisis will increase worldwide due to the war.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 24: Russia and Ukraine have reached an understanding to open the route to export grains through the Black Sea at a time when there is increasing concern that the food crisis will increase worldwide due to the war.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The two sides signed an agreement in Turkey on Friday allowing the export of 1 million tons of grains from Ukraine. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the BBC, the agreement will allow millions of tonnes of grain, currently trapped in Ukraine by the war, to be exported.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the agreement, Russia will gradually open the Ukrainian ports towards the Black Sea.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The World Food Program has warned that a million people could die of starvation if Russia continues to block the ports to Ukraine.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he is optimistic that the issue of Ukraine's grain exports can be resolved if the minefields laid by Ukraine in the waters around its port are removed. Ukraine is one of the world's leading grain exporters.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">With Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, one million people are at risk of starvation due to the halt in export of grains. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to Al Jazeera, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, signed the deal separately on Friday, carefully avoiding sitting at the same table and avoiding shaking hands in Istanbul.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">As per the information, the contract is said to last for 120 days in addition to the possibility of extension of agreement with the consent of both parties. The halt in Ukrainian grain supplies led to a global food crisis and the price of bread and pasta made from wheat skyrocketed. Apart from that, the prices of cooking oil and fertilizers also increased. The United States has also requested Russia to take immediate steps to implement the agreement.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">On Friday, the price of wheat in the world market fell by two percent, as the possibility of supplying more than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain surged.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In his Friday night speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his country has marketable grain worth about US$ 10 billion. He also mentioned that the United Nations is responsible for ensuring the agreement. Ukraine has been saying that the Russian navy is blocking the supply of grain and other imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Ukraine alleged that Russian forces even stole grain from its agricultural fields. Due to the drought, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, some countries in the world are facing an extreme food crisis. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15414', 'image' => '20220724123223_wheatttttt.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 12:31:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15672', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Tatopani Customs Office Collects Rs 3.42 Billion Revenue ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 24: Tatopani Customs Office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue in the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collection was double than the target set by the office. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 24: Tatopani Customs Office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue in the last fiscal year 2021/22. The revenue collection was double than the target set by the office. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Chief Customs Officer of Tatopani Customs Office, Narad Gautam, said revenue collection increased by two folds in the last fiscal year despite various problems including coronavirus pandemic, landslide, flood and decline in import of Chinese goods. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The office collected Rs 3.42 billion revenue against the target of Rs 1.46 billion, he shared. Gautam further said that revenue collection was better than the expectation due to various reasons including import of goods, adherence to health safety protocols and training to businessmen. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In FY 2020/21, the office had set a target to collect Rs 4.50 billion but only Rs 1.02 billion was collected. Gautam added that a target has been set to collect Rs 4.63 billion in the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The arrival of containers carrying goods from China is very less. Around four to eight containers carrying goods from China enter Nepal via the check point every day. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-24', 'modified' => '2022-07-24', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15413', 'image' => '20220724115357_Tatopani.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-24 11:53:06', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15671', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank Unveils Monetary Policy for Current Fiscal Year', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank has unveiled the monetary policy for the current fiscal year with special focus on availing loan to the productive sector.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank has unveiled the monetary policy for the current fiscal year with special focus on availing loan to the productive sector.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the monetary policy made public by the central bank on Friday, the government will gradually reduce the facilities given to sectors affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. NRB informed that the policy to provide refinancing facility will be reviewed so that only the productive sectors such as agriculture and those badly affected by the pandemic will be given refinancing facility.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Instead of encouraging credit flow, the monetary policy will focus on disbursement of loan to the productive sector, reads a draft of the policy made public by the central bank.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy also focuses on increasing access to finance among small, cottage and middle-scale industries. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy admits that the current account deficit and Balance of Payments (BoP) will remain under pressure for some more time despite increase in number of tourists and rise in number of Nepali migrant works visiting foreign countries for employment. According to the central bank, the current account and BoP deficits might push the economy to crisis. Such a situation has posed challenge in attaining high economic growth rate, reads the document.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy states that the liquidity crisis and pressure on interest rate will remain until internal production is increased and there is improvement in foreign trade. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The monetary policy has also focused on increasing digitalization of payment and transactions and increase access to finance.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Considering the pressure on foreign exchange reserves and inflation, the central bank has increased the bank rate by 1.5 percentage point and fixed it at 8.5 percent while the policy rate has been fixed at 7 percent and deposit collection rate at 5.5 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank will also manage Open Market Transaction Stabilization Fund as announced in the budget and implement it for effective management of liquidity crisis.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The central bank noted that the price hike of petroleum products and food in the international market due to the Russia-Ukraine war will pose a challenge in attaining the target of economic growth in the current fiscal year.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15412', 'image' => '20220722070527_Nepal_Rastra_Bank2 2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 19:04:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15670', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Imports Timber worth Millions while Domestic Products Rot in Forest ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal imported 10 million cubic feet of timber during the last fiscal year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal imported 10 million cubic feet of timber during the last fiscal year. According to government data, the timber imported from various countries were worth Rs 4 billion.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nepal imported timber from 20 countries including the United States of America. According to Manjil Babu Maskey, president of Nepal Forest Production Federation, the average price of imported timber is Rs 4,000 per cubic foot.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Interestingly, as the import of timber is increasing, the forest area where wood is produced is gradually increasing in Nepal. According to government data, in the year 2000 AD, 59,15,518 hectares of land in Nepal was covered by forest area. In 2019 AD, this area has increased to 61,66,766 hectares. Compared to the year 2000, the forest area has increased by 4.16 percent in 2019. At present, about 45.31 percent of the land area of the country is covered by forests.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to the migration from rural to the urban areas and the increase in number of Nepalis going abroad for employment, the arable land in the village is gradually turning into forests. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say that depletion of forests has declined as citizens have been abandoning firewood for cooking and have started using liquefied petroleum gas extensively. Similarly, with the government’s decision to scrap the procedure of scientific forest management has also contributed to a decline in consumption of wood. After the cancellation of the procedure, the use of wood from domestic forests has been stopped. Experts argue this is also one of the reasons for the increase in forest area.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">President Maskey shared that there is no doubt that the forest area is an important asset of Nepal, and it should be protected, but it is not appropriate to import timber worth billions of rupees from foreign countries while timber produced in the country is rotting in the forests. He argues that this trend has made the country’s economy inport-oriented while on the other hand the local resources are being wasted.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Maskey also said that if domestic resources are properly used, the economy will move towards self-sufficiency.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Stakeholders share that the decision to abandon the scientific forest management policy contradicts with the government's policy of import substitution. They say that it is trying to make the country dependent on imported timber by wasting the local product.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say it has definitely protected the forest areas but the country has failed to benefit from the forests through proper utilization.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Chairman of the Private Forest Users Federation Bishnu Gyawali says that it is more important to manage forests than to protect them.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15411', 'image' => '20220722060423_timber-harvesting-process.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 18:03:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15669', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Central Bank to Adopt Strict Measures through Monetary Policy', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to tighten the screws on economic activities through the monetary policy amid high Balance of Payments, declining foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and lack of investible capital (liquidity crisis) in the banking system of Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 22: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is preparing to tighten the screws on economic activities through the monetary policy amid high Balance of Payments, declining foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and lack of investible capital (liquidity crisis) in the banking system of Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Although the business community is expecting some concessions as the economy is struggling from the impacts of Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War, the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has hinted that the monetary policy will maintain strict fiscal discipline.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Stating that the concessions given in the past were the reason for the economic crisis at present, officials of the central bank argue that they will take corrective measures through the monetary policy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“Although the economic activities have increased due to the liberal policy adopted by the central bank in the past, it has not helped in bringing the economy back on track,” said an NRB official, adding, “Now, the main objective of the monetary policy will be to take corrective measures.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB says that banks and financial institutions were aggressive in credit flow after in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic but most of the loans disbursed during that period were invested in unproductive sector. As a result, outflow of money from the country caused a decline in foreign exchange reserves as well as deposit collection of banks. Therefore, the monetary policy will now focus on increasing domestic production and reducing imports.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB is likely to reduce the interest rate on loans disbursed to the productive sector from the current fiscal year. The budget for the current fiscal year has also announced lower rates for loans to the productive sector and priority projects of national level and the monetary policy will further ensure these provisions are implemented.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to sources at the central bank, the monetary policy will increase the bank rate and refinancing rate which in turn will increase the overall interest rates but it will also provide relief to the agriculture sector as well as small and medium scale industries by fixing premium rates in their favour.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">NRB Spokesperson Dr Gunakar Bhatt informed that the monetary policy will be unveiled by the central bank on Friday (July 22) after the board meeting on Thursday decided to introduce the new monetary policy. According to media reports, the monetary policy will be unveiled at 4 pm today afternoon.</span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15410', 'image' => '20220722030250_1658445240.Clipboard21.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 15:01:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15668', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'PM’s Employment Programme Fails to Provide Jobs to 200,000 People Annually', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme that started four years ago with the aim of providing employment to 200,000 people annually has failed to achieve this objective.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: The Prime Minister’s Employment Programme that started four years ago with the aim of providing employment to 200,000 people annually has failed to achieve this objective.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">A total of 172,270 people were employed in the fiscal year 2018/19 under this programme conducted through the Ministry of Labor and Employment. In the fiscal year 2019/20, that number dropped to 105,626. In the fiscal year 2020/21, altogether 181,091 people were employed under this programme. According to the website of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme, the number of people who got employment in last fiscal year (FY 2021/22) stands at 136,384.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The programme not only failed to provide employment to the people as per its target but also failed to provide employment to the workers for the specified number of days.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Under this programme, there is a provision to provide employment to the workers for 100 days in a year. However, since the programme started, the target is yet to be fulfilled.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to the available data, the workers were hired for an average of 13 days in FY 2018/19. A year later, that number increased to an average of 16 days. In the fiscal year 2020/721, that number increased sharply to 76 days and in the last fiscal year, that number was 75.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Why the Programme Failed</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Labor expert Som Luintel stated that the Prime Minister's Employment Programme failed to achieve its objective because this programme was introduced to create jobs for the youth who are planning to go abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Secretary of the Labour Ministry Ek Narayan Aryal admits that the government is facing problems in implementing the programme. In an event held in Kathmandu in the last week of June, he said that there is a problem in the implementation of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme at the local level due to lack of coordination. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Joint Secretary Danduraj Ghimire, who is also the Executive Director of the Prime Minister's Employment Programme, did not pick up the phone when New Business Age tried to contact him to get more information about the programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">What to do now?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Labor immigration expert Luintel says the Prime Minister's Employment Programme needs effective restructuring. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“For this, the programme should be made attractive so that the youth are interested in it,” he said. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Luintel further said that this programme has become a political recruitment center.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The ministry has also shown interest in the need to revise the Prime Minister's Employment Programme. Secretary Aryal said that the ministry will emphasize on the skill development of the workers and a part of the budget allocated for the programme can be spent on the purchase of equipment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">In the programme held last June, Secretary Aryal said that it is necessary to link this programme with production. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“The Prime Minister's Employment Programme should be interlinked with the Prime Minister's Agriculture Modernization Programme. Vocational skills can fill the gap between these two programmes.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This programme started from the fiscal year 2018/19 after the government mentioned in the budget that it will create jobs in the country to prevent the labor force from going abroad for employment.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15409', 'image' => '20220722013335_PMEP.jpeg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 13:32:54', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15667', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'GEFONT to Initiate Campaign Against Exploitation of Interns', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is preparing to launch a campaign against the exploitation of workers in the name of internship (training).', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 22: The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) is preparing to launch a campaign against the exploitation of workers in the name of internship (training). </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This is one of the main campaigns that GEFONT will conduct after its 8th National Congress. GEFONT believes that this will put an end to the exploitation in the labor market.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">GEFONT held a press conference on Thursday to inform about the preparations for the 8th National Congress to be held from July 23 to 26.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">During the press meet, GEFONT Chairman Binod Shrestha said that not only are interns employed without money, but in some establishments they are charged fees, this trend is serious labor exploitation. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He shared that GEFONT will be starting the campaign with the concept that interns should also be remunerated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, since there is no data on how many workers there are in Nepal, GEFONT will also conduct a campaign to list the workers at the local level. For this, GEFONT said that at least three of its leaders will be mobilized in every municipality. GEFONT has planned to register workers at the local level through them. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“For this, the leaders of GEFONT will be mobilized in all 753 municipalities of the country,” said Shrestha.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15408', 'image' => '20220722125839_GFONT.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 12:57:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15666', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal Airlines Corporation Repays Long-Pending Dues to EPF, CIT ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repaid loan of Rs 1.35 billion to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), which was taken to purchase aircraft for the national flag carrier.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 22: The Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has repaid loan of Rs 1.35 billion to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT), which was taken to purchase aircraft for the national flag carrier. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The amount was credited to EPF and CIT on July 14. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The payment comes as part of NAC's installment to be paid to the EPF and CIT, which was pending for almost one and a half years. An NAC official said the state-owned airline company managed to repay the amount thanks to its economic growth. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is said the NAC succeeded in paying its fiscal liabilities after it saw robust business due to growth in flight occupancy rate since the past couple of months. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson of NAC Archana Khadka shared that the the NAC repaid Rs 900 million to the EPF, which was taken to purchase narrow body and wide body aircraft. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the NAC repaid Rs 450 million to CIT as an installment taken during the time of purchase of wide body aircraft for the NAC. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The NAC had failed to repay the installment amount in time after the COVID-19 outbreak due to reduced business. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15407', 'image' => '20220722081406_20220701121020_NAC.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 08:13:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15665', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Parliamentary Probe Committee gets Seven More Days to Prepare its Report ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 22: The House of Representatives (HoR) has extended the deadline of a special probe committee to investigate into the issues related to budget by a week.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 22: The House of Representatives (HoR) has extended the deadline of a special probe committee to investigate into the issues related to budget by a week. </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"">Initially, the committee was given 10 days to prepare a report after investigating into the matter related to the entry of unauthorized persons into the Finance Ministry on the eve of budget announcement on May 28. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has been accused of allowing the unauthorized persons to enter the ministry allegedly to influence the tax rate in favour of certain business groups.</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"">A meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Thursday unanimously passed a motion to extend the committee's timeframe for one more week, the state-owned national news agency RSS reported. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota had tabled a proposal for the deadline extension of the committee as per the Rule 166 of the HoR Regulations-2075. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 11-member parliamentary probe committee is struggling to prepare its report on time due to non-cooperation from finance ministry officials. The ministry has also failed to submit CCTV footage of the incident stating that it cannot store the videos for more than 13 days. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-22', 'modified' => '2022-07-22', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15406', 'image' => '20220722080729_20201227124222_1609025666.Clipboard10.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-22 08:06:15', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15664', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Lacks Infrastructure to Export More Electricity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to struggle exporting additional electricity to the Indian market due to lack of infrastructure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 21: Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is likely to struggle exporting additional electricity to the Indian market due to lack of infrastructure.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Currently, 364 MW of electricity is being exported from Nepal through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur 400 KV transmission line.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the demand for hydroelectricity in the Indian market is increasing, there will be a problem in exporting more electricity due to the lack of large-capacity transmission lines in Nepal, says Prabal Adhikari, head of the Electricity Trade Department of the Nepal Electricity Authority.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The official made such remark while speaking at a workshop organized by Urja Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> "It is impossible to exchange much electricity when the capacity of the international transmission line is low," the official said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This year, production will reach 3,000 MW. Currently, about 2,200 megawatts of electricity is being produced in Nepal. Within the current fiscal year, the NEA has projected that 3,000 megawatts of electricity will be produced in the country after an additional 800 MW electricity gets added to the national transmission system. However, the infrastructure for transmission of electricity is old and dilapidated. Due to this, the electricity produced in the future will neither be easy to consume domestically nor can it be exported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The current production capacity of Nepal is 2200 MW. Hydropower projects with a total capacity of 3,289 megawatts are under construction. Other projects with capacity of 1,553 megawatts are under progressed in various stages. Therefore, the total capacity of electricity production in the near future will be around 7,320 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the capacity of Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line is 1000 MW, Nepal has been able to import/export not more than 600 MW electricity from this line. However, NEA has been paying various charges for 1000 MW electricity. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Experts say that if the government had opted for quad technology conductors while constructing the transmission line, its capacity would have been 2,000 megawatts, and more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity could have been easily exported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Until 2017/18, Nepal's electricity production was only 1,074 megawatts. By 2022/34, electricity production is projected to reach 3,001 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">By 2020/21, Nepal's electricity production, reached 2,090 megawatts.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Construction of the New Butwal Gorakhpur transmission line will take another 3 years</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although contracts have been awarded in various sections, the amount of investment needed to build the transmission line has not yet been made.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Discussions are underway with foreign donors for loans. However, NEA officials say that a final decision has not yet been reached. Currently, hydropower projects in Nepal are designed in Q40. This means that only 60 percent of the water flowing in the river can be used. If designed in Q25, electricity can be produced at less than 4 cents per unit. According to the official, when the electricity export to India, Bangladesh, or any other country is guaranteed, the electricity project can be designed in Q25 and produced at a competitive price.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15405', 'image' => '20220721061028_1658357655.Clipboard12.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 18:08:48', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15663', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Commitment Increases by 120 Percent', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Investment commitment from domestic as well as foreign investors has increased after the threat of Covid-19 infection subsided. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Hima BK</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 21: Investment commitment from domestic as well as foreign investors has increased after the threat of Covid-19 infection subsided. After a decline in investment commitment for two years due to the onset of the pandemic, it has increased by 120 percent in fiscal year 2021/22.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The Department of Industry confirmed that the investment commitment increased by 120 percent in FY 2021/22 compared to the previous two fiscal years.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the review year, domestic and foreign investors registered 309 industries with a commitment to invest Rs 343 billion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">In Fiscal Year 2020/21, a total of 201 industries were registered with the department with investment commitment of Rs 156 billion. Although the risk of Covid-19 is not yet fully over, the investment commitment increased during the last fiscal year after the threat subsided to a great extent.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the investment commitment in the Fiscal Year 2018/19 was worth Rs 285 billion. According to the Department of Industry, the investors had registered 441 industries back then. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General of the department Ram Chandar Tiwari says that the investment commitment which declined during the period of Covid-19 increased once again during the last fiscal year. However, he says that the increase in investment commitment is also due to other factors beside the decline in rate of infection.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We had been making efforts to create an investment-friendly environment and to attract the investors by formulating new laws and amending old regulations. We also focused on administrative reforms,” said Tiwari, adding, “This also helped in improving investment commitment.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">However, registration of industries and commitment from the investors does not ensure that the investment will be made immediately.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">“We should not be disheartened if the investment is not made as per the commitment. We are hopeful if the investment commitment increases that increases the prospect of actual investment,” said Tiwari.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Director General Tiwari claimed that the actual investment is around 50 to 60 percent of the commitment made by the investors in recent years. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The government has not worked extensively to ensure that the investment commitment is actually invested.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Nepal ranked 110<sup>th</sup> in the Doing Business Report published by the World Bank in 2019. The next year, Nepal ranked 94<sup>th</sup> in the Doing Business Report due to improvement in investment-friendly environment. The then finance minister Yubaraj Khatiwada had objected to the World Bank report that placed Nepal in the 110<sup>th</sup> position in the Doing Business ranking. Although there has been an improvement in creating a conducive environment for business, Nepal’s trade deficit is high.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Indtead of increasing exports and consumption of domestic goods, imports have increased. According to the Department of Customs, Nepal’s trade deficit in the past 11 months stood at Rs 15.77 billion.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15404', 'image' => '20220721041832_Foreign investment.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 16:17:51', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15662', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'No Unauthorized Person is Involved in Budget Formulation: Former Finance Minister Sharma ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that he has candidly responded to most of the topics he was asked on by the parliamentary probe committee. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">July 21: Former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that he has candidly responded to most of the topics he was asked on by the parliamentary probe committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Parliamentary Investigation Special Committee formed by the House of Representatives had questioned former Finance Minister Sharma regarding his alleged involvement in bringing unauthorized persons into the finance ministry in course of finalizing the budget for the current fiscal year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sharma said he gave clear answers to the queries put by the committee. "I have replied to each and every question they asked," the former Finance Minister said after attending the Parliamentary committee's meeting today (July 21). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During the meeting, Sharma asserted that no unauthorized person was brought in and no illegal work has been done in course of preparing the budget. He argued that he himself in the capacity of finance minister had changed the rate of tax and no unauthorized person was involved in it. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Stating that the charge labeled against him is baseless, former Finance Minister Sharma said that he decided upon the budget by remaining within the due process, laws and procedures. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Following widespread criticism from all sides, the House of Representatives on July 6 constituted an 11-member parliamentary investigation committee. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has given 10 days to the parliamentary investigation committee to carry out its works and submit a report. -- RSS </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">--- </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15403', 'image' => '20220721033413_finnnnn.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 15:33:28', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15661', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Second Policy Dialogue of the ECO Talk Series Focuses on Retaining Youth Forces in the Country', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Daayitwa, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that envisions an enterprising Nepal, organized the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series on youth employment on Tuesday.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">July 21: Daayitwa, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that envisions an enterprising Nepal, organized the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series on youth employment on Tuesday. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The second edition of the talk series featuring Member of Parliament and former Labour Minister Gokarna Bista advocated for creating employment opportunities to retain the youth labor force in Nepal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">A panel discussion among prominent figures of the society examined the social challenges and innovative ways of mobilization the human resources, reads a statement issued by Daayitwa. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">It also made some recommendations to take parliamentary actions to promote employment opportunities to retain the youth labor force in Nepal.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Jiblal Bhusal; Amun Thapa, president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries Young Entrepreneurs Forum as well as the founder and CEO of Sasto Deal Pvt Ltd; Moushumi Shrestha, director of Shreenagar Agro Group and Dr Kalpana Khanal, senior research fellow at the Policy Research Institute participated in the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The need to address the gap between planning and implementation of enterprise-based policies and the challenges experienced by the start-up and innovation industry due to lack of proper policies and expertise of the government were some of the major issues discussed during the panel discussion.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Other important issues discussed during the dialogue included the urgency to shift Nepal’s remittance and trade-based economy to production-oriented economy, the importance of decreasing the cost of living in Nepal to retain youth labor force, and the gap between the industry needs and the skills equipped by our academic institution.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">During the discussion, former minister Gokarna Bista highlighted the need of addressing the policy issues of Nepal in innovative ways. “Human resource and capital are the most important factors to be considered while discussing the development of Nepal. Unfortunately, the government does not possess the exact data, however, the average estimate of the labor force that has gone from Nepal in search of foreign employment is over 6 million. Creating sustainable employment opportunities within the nation is the only way to retain the youth labor force in Nepal. But, as long as we don't prioritize production over trade, this problem will not be addressed,” said Bista.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Under Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Nirmal Dhakal was of the view that the high cost of living is the main reason why the youth labor force is going abroad cannot be retained in Nepal. “The young human resource that we’ve lost to foreign countries cannot be brought back and the reason is the cost of living in Nepal is higher than that of the other countries. Unless we resolve this, we cannot retain the youth labor force in the country,”said Dhakal. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">Dr Pukar Malla, founder and chairperson of Daayitwa, shared that the youths are resorting to better opportunities abroad while Nepal’s economic situation is rapidly degrading. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">According to the organisers, the second policy dialogue of the ECO Talks Series successfully built a strong base for the policy recommendations to achieve the maximum economic growth potential in this demographic window.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The statement said that the event brought together more than 60 policymakers, CSOs, private companies, journalists and other relevant policy stakeholders. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif"">The inaugural dialogue of the series was held in June which focused on women's economic empowerment. Four more similar dialogues will be held under the ECO Talks Series, the statement added. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15402', 'image' => '20220721022607_DSC_0391.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 14:25:26', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '15660', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Shree Steel Starts Exporting Iron Rods', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'July 21: Within four years of its establishment, Shree Steel has started exporting TMT steel from Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">July 21: Within four years of its establishment, Shree Steel has started exporting TMT steel from Nepal. Shree Steel, an iron-rod producing company with investment of Rs 3 billion, officially started exporting steel on Wednesday (July 20).</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Rajesh Agarwal, the owner of the industry, informed that Shree Steel is producing 800 metric tons of rods daily, and has exported rods worth around Rs 2.4 million to India.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">He said that more than Rs 2 billion was invested when the industry was established in 2018, and the total investment has now reached Rs 3 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Although the company has started exporting steel officially, it had decided to export the product regularly only after the government implements its decision of providing 8 per cent cash subsidy on exports.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">"We were preparing for export from the beginning," Agarwal said, "Because the cost of steel production was high, we were not in a position to export, but due to the government's policy, the process for export has begun. If the export is to be regular, the government must introduce a work procedure,” he adds.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">After the government included steel in the list of items that will get cash subsidy for export in the budget of the current fiscal year, rod producers are eager to export their product.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Shree Steel had to wait for more than 15 months for quality certification from the Indian government. Such quality certificates are mandatory for export to India. Shree Steel's factory employs 500 people at Semerhawa in Rupandehi. The industry uses Japanese technology for producing steel. The industry has been producing steel from quality prime billets. The industry claims that steel made with Japanese technology is also earthquake resistant.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">According to Agrawal, the billet, which is made from sponge iron, is used to produce TMT rods. The government has given a considerable discount on the import of sponge iron and scrap. Agarwal said that if the government provides cash subsidies for exports, the cost of production can be reduced by at least 2 to 3 per cent. He said that due to this, the price can be competitive.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The government plans to give an 8 per cent cash subsidy to cement and clinker exporters, and Palpa Cement has already started exporting cement. Shree Steel claims to be the first company to export steel. Various business houses have invested in the industry. Kedia Organization, Siddharth Group and Uma Group of Industries have a joint investment in this industry. Especially after the earthquake of 2072, there has been a significant increase in investment in the cement and iron rod industry.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Due to this, the production capacity of industries is more than the domestic demand of Nepal. Export of cement and rod is taking place even when the industries have not been able to operate at full capacity. According to Nepal Rolling Mills Association, there are 32 rod industries in Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2022-07-21', 'modified' => '2022-07-21', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '15401', 'image' => '20220721123531_1658357560.Shree Steel 222.jpg', 'article_date' => '2022-07-21 12:34:42', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
