October 12: Fulpati, the seventh day of Bada Dashain festival is being observed today (October 12).…
October 12: Fulpati, the seventh day of Bada Dashain festival is being observed today (October 12).…
October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals.…
October 11: Nepal and India have agreed to conduct a detailed study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway almost three and a half years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a cross-border railway line between the two…
October 11: Telephone service provided by Nepal Telecom at Simkot Rural Municipality-3 in Humla district has remained obstructed for the past one month.…
October 11: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has expressed her commitment to provide electricity as per the demand to industries and transportation sector as soon as…
October 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the contract for public construction would have an additional provision with condition to implementation the projects in two…
October 11: Top officials of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have expressed their commitment for continued support to Nepal’s tourism…
October 10: The number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, the greatest festival of Hindus in Nepal, has started…
October 10: The industrialists of Biratnagar have submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising in order to improve the quality of electricity.…
October 10: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has sold goats worth more than Rs 10 million on the first day of sale for the Dashain festival.…
October 10: The Department of Transport Management has suspended route permits for public vehicles to facilitate passengers during the festive…
October 10: The government has been announcing concessional loans to start-up businesses for almost a decade but is still struggling with the…
October 10: Stakeholders have stressed the need for adopting modern agriculture technology so as to increase production.…
October 10: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has approved investment worth around Rs 73 billion for the construction and development of two hydropower projects.…
October 8: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expanded the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur…
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">October 12: Fulpati, the seventh day of Bada Dashain festival is being observed today (October 12). On the occasion, the Fulpati, a collection of flowers, leaves and fruits of different plants considered auspicious, is taken into the homes throughout the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per the tradition, nine different varieties of flowers brought from Gorkha Durbar are kept at the Dashain Ghar in the capital on this day. Six priests of the Magar community carry the flowers from Gorkha to Kathmandu via Dhading. The auspicious flowers and the priests are greeted with gun salute by the Nepalese Army at the Army Pavillion in Tundikhel before the flowers are taken to the Dashain Ghar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This day is celebrated by worshipping Goddess Saraswati, who is the embodiment of knowledge. It is believed that Goddess Bhavani took the form of Goddess Saraswati on this day to end ignorance through knowledge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Worshipping Goddess Saraswati is expected to remove all the obstacles that cloud the judgement of the devotees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The blessings of Goddess Saraswati is vital for all devotees because it is not possible to attain liberation without knowledge. She bestows knowledge and ability to judge in a fair manner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Goddess Saraswati is worshipped in spring and autumn seasons. Devotees especially worship Goddess Saraswati in autumn to attain power through the means of knowledge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">She is offered with white flowers by the devotees in the morning while they collect nine different flora in the evening at the altar in every home. Therefore this day is also known as Fulpati, a name which derives from flowers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although the Dashain festival begins from Ghatasthapana, the first day of the bright half of the lunar calendar in the month of Ashwin (mid-September to mid-October), the festival sees special fervor from the day of Fulpati. By this day, all government and private offices are closed and most of the people leave the capital to celebrate the festival at their ancestral home.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On the occasion of Fulpati, the Nepalese Army organises a parade at Tundikhel ground that includes gun firing. The army parade is observed by the head of the state and other government officials every year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><em>(With inputs from RSS)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-12', 'modified' => '2021-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13871', 'image' => '20211012080745_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-12 08:07:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14125', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banking Sector Comes up with Various Festive Offers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals. Such offers have been brought forward by banks, financial institutions, payment service providers as well as remittance companies. Especially banks have announced discount offers in association with different business organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nabil Bank has brought the “Dashain Dhamaka Offer” under which, cashback has been arranged for online payment for shopping at BigMart, Daraz and Kirana. Customers can get 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 300 for online payment to BigMart. Similarly, Daraz has offered a 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 500 for online shopping every Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanima Bank has announced the “Dashain Dhamaka” plan. The bank informed that this plan has been brought to give discounts while shopping via online portal Daraz. Customers can get a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,000 while shopping with their debit cards and a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,500 while shopping with their credit card.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion of Dashain, Rastriya Banijya Bank has broughtcash offers for transactions through Point of Sale (POS) machines. The offer brought by the bank gives cashback on card swiped for every transaction worth Rs 1,000 or more via the POS machine. The bank introduced such an offer in order to encourage electronic transactions during this festive season. This scheme includes a maximum discount of 5 percent or cashback of Rs 500 for card swiped 3 to 5 times, maximum discount of 10 percent or cashback of Rs 750 for card swiped 6 to 10 times. For card swiped for 11 to 15 times, customers can get a maximum discount of 15 percent or a refund for purchases equal to an amount less than Rs 1,000.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NIC Asia Bank has launched “NIC Asia Viber Quiz Buzz”, in which Viber users can participate daily and win attractive gifts on a daily and weekly basis. The scheme, which started on September 20, will be valid till October 27. According to the company, one person who participates in Quiz Buzz daily and gives the correct answer can win an attractive smartwatch on a weekly basis and four people can win a mobile topup of Rs 500 every day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Kumari Bank has entered into an agreement with Daraz for giving special discounts to customers making purchases using the bank’s debit and credit cards.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Muktinath Development Bank has brought a discount offer to Visa Debit Card and Mobile Banking users at the Agantuk Resort in Dhulikhel. There, customers will be given special discounts on accommodation and food. Also, the bank has introduced the facility of using the ATM card to withdraw money free of cost from the ATM machines of any other bank affiliated to the Visa network across Nepal as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Other banks and financial institutions have come up with various offers on the occasion of Dashain. Bankers say that the festive offers have helped their business grow.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the same way, Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), a payment service provider, has made it possible to load funds into the mobile wallet free of cost through the Connect IPS mobile app. The company informed that there would be no charges applied for transferring funds through Connect IPS and Connect IPS fund transfer through mobile banking of banks and financial institutions. This offer started on October 6 and will continue till November 11.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">E-sewa has also brought various offers targeting the Dashain and Tihar festivals. The offer, which started from Ghatasthapana, will run till November 11. During this period, money can be transferred from e-Sewa to any bank account free of cost. It has also been informed that one person would get a scooter in the bumper offer. Similarly, one winner will receive an attractive gift and cashback of up to 10 percent or Rs 50 on mobile recharge per week.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">IME Pay, promoted by IME Digital Solutions Limited, has introduced the “Dashain ko Jhatka” plan. Under this plan, customers can receive up to 50 percent cashback on purchase of air tickets from IME Pay Wallet. Other payment service providers have also come up with various offers targeting Dashain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Remittance companies have not fallen behind in launching various Dashian schemes. IME has brought a “Double ko Double ko Double Offer”. The offer which started on September 17 would be valid till November 12. Under the offer, prizes can be won up to eight times the amount sent from abroad. In addition, the company has said that two people would be rewarded twice the amount sent each week and four times the amount sent each month. Similarly, if remittance is received in IME-Pay, an arrangement has been made to get an additional bonus of Rs 200.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Kumari Capital has come up with a plan “Utsav Lai Mahautsav Banaune”. Such a scheme has been introduced with the objective of increasing the access to beneficiary accounts. In this scheme, a free beneficiary account can be opened under the government's “One Nepali: One Demat Account” campaign.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prabhu Capital has also come up with a “Double Dhamaka” offer in this festive season. Under this scheme, Demat accounts can be opened for Re 1 only. Prabhu Capital informed that free expert training related to stock market will also be provided. Out of the daily Demat account opened in Prabhu Capital, 10 lucky customers will be selected as winners under this scheme. The list of daily winners will be made public a day later through Prabhu Capital's Facebook page and Viber Community. After the selected customers open their accounts, 25 percent TDS would be deducted at Rs 199 and the remaining amount would be returned to the customer's wallet, according to the company.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13870', 'image' => '20211011030857_Festive-offers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 15:08:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14124', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Indian Team to Conduct Detailed Study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway after Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Nepal and India have agreed to conduct a detailed study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway almost three and a half years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a cross-border railway line between the two countries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: Nepal and India have agreed to conduct a detailed study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway almost three and a half years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a cross-border railway line between the two countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Following the recent agreement, officials of the Konkan Railway Corporation of India will come to Nepal immediately after Dashain for the study. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of the Nepal-India Cross Border Railway Taskforce held in India on Wednesday and Thursday has agreed to complete the study in 18 months. Keshav Kumar Sharma, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, who led the Nepali delegation during the meeting, informed that the officials of the Indian company would visit Nepal after Dashain and start their study. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A MoU was signed between the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in March 2018 to move the project forward. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study of the railway will be conducted under grant assistance from India. The Indian side has not informed Nepal about the cost of the study.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Indian team will prepare its report after studying the route from Raxaul-Jitpur-Nijgadh-Shikharpur-Sisneri-Satikhel to Kathmandu. According to a preliminary study, the distance of the railway will be 136 km and the cost estimate is expected to be Rs 300 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director General of the Department of Railway Deepak Kumar Bhattarai informed that the final report will be prepared by the Indian side after a detailed study which will include aspects of engineering, finance and technology. Once the report is ready, the Government of India will be requested for investment. Nepal will have to manage other sources of investment if assistance from the Indian government is not received. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a time when the country is struggling to manage investment for the East-West electric railway, Nepal faces a mounting challenge to mobilize resources to invest in the cross-border railways. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13869', 'image' => '20211011024841_20210421044248_20190325112130_Clipboard43-5.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 14:47:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14123', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Telephone Service Disrupted in Simkot Rural Municipality Since 1 Month ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Telephone service provided by Nepal Telecom at Simkot Rural Municipality-3 in Humla district has remained obstructed for the past one month. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Telephone service provided by Nepal Telecom at Simkot Rural Municipality-3 in Humla district has remained obstructed for the past one month. But concerned authority seems least bothered about the service disruption. The problem has aggravated at a time when festivals including Dashain and Tihar are just around the corner. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Obstruction in the power supply provided by a local small hydropower project in Heldung has resulted in the discontinuation of the telecom service. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As a result, hundreds of locals have been affected in many ways. </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"">"We are prevented from sending best wishes through messages on the occasion of Dashain and Tihar festivals without telephone service," said a local resident Hemanta Bohara. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The locals have demanded installation of solar panels for reliable operation of telephone network. Nepal Telecom has said that it was at work to increase the capacity of its network. Nepal Telecom added that it has provided the service to some areas in the district through the use of generators. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13868', 'image' => '20211011010557_Simikot_N.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 13:04:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14122', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Energy Minister vows to Supply Electricity to Industries as Required ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has expressed her commitment to provide electricity as per the demand to industries and transportation sector as soon as possible.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has expressed her commitment to provide electricity as per the demand to industries and transportation sector as soon as possible. Nepal's transport sector and industries have not yet been able to get electricity as per the demand, admitted Minister Bhusal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Addressing a programme organized by Mahalakshmi Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lalitpur on October 10, she said that the transport entrepreneurs and industrialists will get the required energy in the coming days. Minister Bhusal has said that electricity will be provided to those sectors by constructing the necessary infrastructure. Those sectors have not been able to get electricity as demanded due to the lack of infrastructure like transmission lines, she added. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal said that the process of reducing the electricity tariff is in progress.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have already started the process of reducing electricity tariff through the concerned agencies. We are reducing tariff for domestic purposes. Now it is cheaper to cook on electric stoves than on LP gas,” she said. She added that hydropower should be used not only in kitchens but everywhere.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She urged one and all to use an electric stove to replace cooking gas bought from abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Let's continue to build structures to use electric stoves and make maximum use of our country's hydropower," she said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal added that the country should move ahead towards the use of hydropower by displacing other sources of energy. “The basis of social and economic transformation is the availability of energy, roads, and drinking water,” she stated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In this situation, it is time to increase the use of hydropower by displacing all kinds of energy sources,” Minister Bhusal added.</span></span></span></span><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13867', 'image' => '20211011125359_Transmission.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 12:52:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14121', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Double Shift for Development Projects: Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the contract for public construction would have an additional provision with condition to implementation the projects in two shifts. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the contract for public construction would have an additional provision with condition to implementation the projects in two shifts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting with the concerned bodies on Sunday for discussions about budget implementation, Finance Minister Sharma said that capital expenditure could not be increased through single-shift work and no rise in capital expenditures would cause a hurdle in meeting the target of economic growth. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Development projects rarely meet deadlines, and therefore a double shift is needed to complete the work on time,” he insisted. </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"">He added that the government would pursue a policy of discouraging the culture of intentional dillydallying in the implementation of development projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The finance minister said that preparations are underway to reopen inoperative state-owned industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, a work procedure granting the permission of seeking the contract of public construction project upto Rs 100 million through labour cooperatives would be finalized soon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also speaking on the occasion, National Planning Commission vice chair Bishwanath Poudel presented an idea of testing the real capacity of contractors before awarding the contract. The trend of awarding 70 percent of projects to a handful of people should be eliminated to step up development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting stressed the need of increasing public expenditures and the effective implementation of budget to secure the target of a seven-percent economic growth projected in the replacement budget. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13866', 'image' => '20211011084727_IMG_3818.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 08:46:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14120', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UNWTO Officials Assure Support to Nepal’s Tourism Development ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Top officials of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have expressed their commitment for continued support to Nepal’s tourism development. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Top officials of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have expressed their commitment for continued support to Nepal’s tourism development. </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"">According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the top-level officials of the UNWTO assured of continued support to Nepal’s tourism development during a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board Dr Dhananjay Regmi at a programme on Asia Pacific Region’s Tourism Policy and Strategy organised recently in the Maldives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB's CEO Regmi met with UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili and Director of Regional Department for Asia and the Pacific Harry Hwang in the Maldives and discussed issues related to tourism recovery and other pressing issues of tourism in the post-COVID-19 era, the NTB said in a press statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dr Regmi reportedly said that the UNWTO officials were willing to support Nepal’s sustainable tourism development, mountaineering tourism development and institutional capacity enhancement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Different countries are receiving various types of support from the UNWTO. They have received direct benefit too. In this context, the meetings with them in regard to support to Nepal remained fruitful,” the statement quoted CEO Regmi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The UNWTO officials have also expressed commitment to organise some programmes of Asia Pacific Region in Nepal in 2023, the NTB statement added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dr Regmi also met with Maldivian Foreign Minister and discussed issues related to tourism promotion and mutual cooperation between the two countries, according to NTB. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13865', 'image' => '20211011082710_20180513122353_tourism.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 08:26:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14119', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of People Leaving Kathmandu Valley for Dashain Increasing ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, the greatest festival of Hindus in Nepal, has started increasing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: The number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, the greatest festival of Hindus in Nepal, has started increasing. The number of travellers entering and leaving the valley from October 1 to 7 was almost equal. At present, the number of outbound passengers is increasing, according to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, more than 100,000 people have officially left Kathmandu, as per the police record. Chief of the Division, Senior Superintendent of Police, Janak Bhattarai, said that the number of outbound passengers was gradually increasing and that the number would increase after the start of public holiday on Tuesday (October 12). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Until September 30, the average number of people entering the valley was 42,226 and the number of people leaving Kathmandu was 41,484. After that, the pressure of outbound passengers has increased. The number of outbound passengers had increased to 43,439 from 38,749 on September 30. After that, the number of outbound passengers has been gradually increasing. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On October 7, a total of 45,362 passengers left Kathmandu in 7,814 vehicles. According to the statistics provided by the Division, 32,984 passengers had entered the valley in 6,778 vehicles on Friday (October 8). On the same day, about 52,000 passengers left the valley in 7,315 vehicles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Police Inspector Jitesh Dahal shared that the trend of reserving small vehicles with friends or family and going home has increased this time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This time, advance ticket sales for the passenger bus was opened on September 25. Even now, the pressure of passengers to buy tickets online or in person is high. Police have set up passenger help desks at the main intersections of the Kathmandu Valley. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nepal Police has implemented special security plan in all 77 districts to monitor the festival and maintain law and order as it can reduce theft and criminal activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Police Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Basanta Bahadur Kunwar said that the police have been deployed in plain clothes as well to control fraud, black marketing, theft and other criminal activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Police Headquarters has requested all to be careful during the festival and contact the nearest police office in case of any problem. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13864', 'image' => '20211010010947_20190922022.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 13:08:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14118', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists of Biratnagar Call for Regular Supply of Electricity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The industrialists of Biratnagar have submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising in order to improve the quality of electricity. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The industrialists of Biratnagar have submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising in order to improve the quality of electricity. They submitted the letter while Ghising was on a visit to take stock of electricity supplied in eastern Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industries of Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have been facing losses up to 70 million a day due to power outage without any prior notice. The power outage has been taking place for more than four times a day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Morang Merchants’ Association (MMA) submitted the eight-point memorandum to Ghising urging him to make arrangements for regular supply of electricity. Chairman of the association, Prakash Mundada handed over the memorandum to Executive Director Ghising and Director of NEA State 1 Office.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although 33 KVA lines are connected in the surrounding areas including Kataari under the Morang-Sunsari Industrial Corridor, tripping of power supply, low quality and irregular supply have made it difficult for the industries to operate. The power outage has compelled industrialists to cut the scale of production. The low quality and irregular electricity supply has damaged equipment while raw materials have been getting wasted, said Chairman Mundada. As a result, millions of rupees are being lost and the NEA has been requested to focus on improving the quality of electricity as soon as possible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the industrialists have also demanded reduction of electricity tariff as it is quite expensive. The association has suggested that the move would help in the promotion of domestic industries. The association has also requested the authority to take immediate steps towards making technical improvements in order to reduce the loss occurring during electricity transmission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association has also requested the authority to implement the 'My Country, My Product' campaign that is run by the MMA. The campaign had been launched to encourage the consumption of home-grown products. Moreover, the association has drawn the attention of the NEA to stop the practice of collecting lump sum in the name of discount. The association has drawn the attention of NEA to end the trend of negligence and error of employees in meter reading. </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13863', 'image' => '20211010124823_elec.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 12:47:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14117', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'State-owned FMTC sells Goats worth Rs 10 million for Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has sold goats worth more than Rs 10 million on the first day of sale for the Dashain festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has sold goats worth more than Rs 10 million on the first day of sale for the Dashain festival. With the aim of selling 2,000 goats in Dashain, the company has started selling goats at affordable prices from its office in Kathmandu from Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company sold 625 goats worth Rs 16.4 million on the first day of sale on Saturday. The market price of goats has been fixed at Rs 650 per kg this year. The company is selling goats at Rs 640 per kg with a discount of Rs 10. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sharmila Neupane Subedi, information officer of the company, told New Business Age that the company had imported 730 goats in the first phase till Friday and another 329 goats on Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to her, the company has sold goats at a discounted rate to control the unnatural price hike during the festive season and to provide convenience to the consumers. Considering the risk of Covid-19 pandemic, the company has managed the customers coming to buy goats through token system. A large crowd of consumers had gathered at the sales hall in Thapathali to buy goats sold by the company on Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has so far sold about 600 quintals of food from the fair price shops in the Kathmandu Valley. The company is selling pulses, rice, beans, sugar, ghee and other food items from the fair price shops opened at different places especially for the festivals. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13862', 'image' => '20211010123446_20151012034645_cs.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 12:33:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14116', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Removes Route Permits for Public Vehicles during the Festive Season', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The Department of Transport Management has suspended route permits for public vehicles to facilitate passengers during the festive season.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 10: The Department of Transport Management has suspended route permits for public vehicles to facilitate passengers during the festive season.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">With the onset of Dashan, the main festival of Nepal, and Tihar also approaching, the department has eased the route permits to make the travel of passengers safe and comfortable.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">With the suspension of the route permits, any public vehicle will be able to go anywhere in the country without a permit. This will ensure that the vehicle do not need to go through the hassles to get a permit to take the passenger to and from the destination.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">This is expected to facilitate the mass exodus of people from Kathmandu to their hometowns and villages to celebrate the festivals.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Advance ticket booking for public transport was opened on September 25 while the traffic police have set up help desks at various places to help commuters.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13861', 'image' => '20211010115400_download.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 11:53:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14115', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'A Decade on, Govt’s Plan to Provide Subsidized Loans to Startups Remains Unimplemented', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The government has been announcing concessional loans to start-up businesses for almost a decade but is still struggling with the procedure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The government has been announcing concessional loans to start-up businesses for almost a decade but is still struggling with the procedure.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Inspired by neighboring India, the government had announced to provide concessional loans under the innovative work by selecting entrepreneurs to create high-quality inventions and to develop systems using less time, cost, and resources through new technology. However, those seeking to do so have not yet been able to obtain loan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The program has not been implemented due to a lack of clear definition of start-up business, lack of timely formulation of work procedure, lack of coordination among government agencies for the formulation of work procedure and program operation, as well as confusion over grant and subsidized loans for start-ups in the government’s budget programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been two years since the government received around 700 applications for the grant announced to encourage startups. The government then changed the programme of providing grant to subsidized loans instead. However, those trying to start a business have not been able to get cash incentives from the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meghraj Magar, a resident of Koteshwor in Kathmandu, originally from Rukum West, says that he has not yet received the grant even though he has applied for it based on an advertisement that says the government will provide grant to innovative start-ups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He returned to Nepal after working in South Korea for five years and intends to modernize the agriculture of Nepal using Korean technology and knowledge he acquired during his overseas stay He, however says, he could not acquire loan from the and is not able to initiate the start-up alone as he does not have money to start the project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hundreds of young people like Magar have not been able to move their startup plans forward as the government is often confused about whether to give concessional loans or grant to startups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had introduced the programme to provide grants to startup business in Nepal from FY 2076/77.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, the National Planning Commission had also collected applications by formulating work procedures related to grants. According to the Commission, 699 people had applied for grants under the programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the previous government had introduced a programme to provide startup loans at a 2 percent interest rate in the fiscal year 2077/78, but it could not be implemented. In the current Fiscal Year, the present government has allocated Rs 1 billion for startups through the Replacement Bill.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Government officials, who have been confused regarding the work procedure for nearly a decade, held a discussion on Friday to resolve the problem. During the discussion held at the Ministry of Finance on Friday (October 8) regarding the formulation of startup loan procedures, stakeholders reached a conclusion that ambiguous work procedure itself was a hurdle to promote start-ups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Participants of the meeting realized the need to formulate a simple and quick procedure to facilitate start-up businesses.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma directed the concerned bodies to formulate work procedure so that even the youths of remote areas could easily get start-up business loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Let's not create a cumbersome procedure where young people who want to start a new business get frustrated just by looking at the paper. Let's implement the program by making a concise and simple procedure," Minister Sharma urged during the meeting.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Member of National Planning Commission Dr Ram Kumar Phuyal said that since start-up business is a new program for Nepal, simple procedures should be made by paying attention to its principles and international practices. Member Secretary of the National Planning Commission, Kewal Prasad Bhandari, stressed the need to formulate a simple procedure to make start-up loans easily available to enthusiastic youths with new concepts. Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar said that procedures should be formulated targeting new entrepreneurs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13860', 'image' => '20211010113314_IMG_3832 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 11:31:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14114', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Call for Adopting Modern Agro Tech to Boost Production ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: Stakeholders have stressed the need for adopting modern agriculture technology so as to increase production. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: Stakeholders have stressed the need for adopting modern agriculture technology so as to increase production. They underlined that local resources should be utilised and a research on growing crops according to the country’s weather and geography be carried out. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers could boost production and earn more income by adopting ‘smart agriculture’ after being equipped with modern agriculture technology, skills and education, the speakers noted at an interaction entitled ‘entrepreneurship-friendly smart agriculture technology’ organised virtually on Friday by the Nepal Agro Live Pvt Ltd. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Established in 2017, Nepal Agro Live is an independent, non-political and service-oriented organisation focused on carrying out research and consulting services. The organization aims to enhance livelihood of rural people through technical support in promoting different types of technology and capacity enhancement of the farmers. </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"">On the occasion, irrigation expert Basu Dev Lohani stressed the need for growing crops through the use of modern technology in accordance with the climate and soil of a particular area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, crop expert Dr Kumar Lama underscored the need for focusing on providing ways for farmers to earn maximum income instead of shedding light merely on boosting production. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was attended by representatives of approximately 40 organisations working in agriculture and stakeholders from across the country, informed Nepal Agro Live coordinator Sarthak Gaire. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13859', 'image' => '20211010081123_20210106123441_20201105020829_cover.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 08:10:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14113', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Board Approves Rs 73 Billion for 2 Hydropower Projects', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has approved investment worth around Rs 73 billion for the construction and development of two hydropower projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has approved investment worth around Rs 73 billion for the construction and development of two hydropower projects. The 48th meeting of the Investment Board presided over by its chairperson and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took a decision to this effect on October 9. </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"">As per the decision, the board has approved the promoters of the 900-megawatt Arun III hydropower project based in Sankhuwasabha district to make an additional investment of Rs 62.26 billion in the project. </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 project is being undertaken by the Sutlej Hydropower Company owned by the Government of India. Sutlej Hydropower Company has set up a subsidiary named SJBN Arun III Hydropower Development Company in Nepal to carry out the construction works of the project.</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"">Altogether six banks of Nepal and India have already invested Rs 101.6 billion for the project and still requires additional investment.</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 board has also approved an investment of Rs 10.5 billion for the 56-megawatt Jumkhola hydropower project based in Dolakha.</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"">Likewise, the meeting has decided to form a high-level study committee under the coordination of IBN vice chairperson to prepare a report relating to the 900-megawatt Upper Karnali hydropower project and submit it within 45 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The committee comprises representatives from the ministries of finance, energy and law as well as IBN chief executive officer and an expert. IBN joint secretary is the member secretary of the committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the meeting also decided to approve the annual budget and programmes of the IBN for the Fiscal Year 2021/22 and approve the share purchase and sale agreement of Samrat Cement and the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, PM Deuba directed all concerned sectors to make a long-term plan relating to increasing electricity consumption and to create conducive environment for investment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><em><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">(With inputs from RSS) </span></em></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13858', 'image' => '20211010080208_20150823012330_ep1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 08:00:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14112', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Bhandari Expands Council of Ministers', 'sub_title' => 'Newly appointed ministers take oath of office and secrecy ', 'summary' => 'October 8: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expanded the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 8: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expanded the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The newly expanded cabinet has 11 new faces. </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 Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba includes Bal Krishna Khand as Minister for Home Affairs, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki as Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Pampha Bhusal as Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, and Rajendra Prasad Shrestha as Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration. </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"">Similarly, Birodh Khatiwada has been appointed as Minister for Health and Population while Janardan Sharma continues his job as Finance Minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Other faces in the Deuba-led cabinet are Dr Minendra Prasad Rijal, who has been assigned the Defence portfolio, Umakant Chaudhary (Water Supplies), Dr Narayan Khadka (Foreign Affairs), Renu Kumari Yadav (Physical Infrastructure and Transport), Prem Bahadur Ale (Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation), Dilendra Prasad Badu (Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs) and Devendra Poudel (Education, Science and Technology). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Mahendra Raya Yadav (Agriculture and Livestock Development), Uma Regmi (Women, Children and Senior Citizens), Shashi Shrestha (Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation), Ram Kumari Jhankri (Urban Development), Gajendra Bahadur Hamal (Industry, Commerce and Supplies), Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav (Forest and Environment), Krishna Kumar Shrestha (Labour, Employment and Social Security), Maheshwor Jung Gahatraj (Youth and Sports) have been inducted in the Council of Ministers. </span><br /> The <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">newly appointed ministers took oath of office and secrecy amid a function organized at the President’s House on Friday (October 8) itself. President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to them amid a special function</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 government formed under the leadership of Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has been expanded for the fourth time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of nine ministers including one state minister from NC, six ministers including one state minister from CPN (Maoist Centre), five ministers including one state minister from CPN (Unified Socialist), and four ministers from Janata Samajbadi Party are in the cabinet. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-08', 'modified' => '2021-10-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13857', 'image' => '20211008103626_Sheetal-Niwas-1-scaled-1536x700 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-08 22:34:42', '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
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', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">October 12: Fulpati, the seventh day of Bada Dashain festival is being observed today (October 12). On the occasion, the Fulpati, a collection of flowers, leaves and fruits of different plants considered auspicious, is taken into the homes throughout the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per the tradition, nine different varieties of flowers brought from Gorkha Durbar are kept at the Dashain Ghar in the capital on this day. Six priests of the Magar community carry the flowers from Gorkha to Kathmandu via Dhading. The auspicious flowers and the priests are greeted with gun salute by the Nepalese Army at the Army Pavillion in Tundikhel before the flowers are taken to the Dashain Ghar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This day is celebrated by worshipping Goddess Saraswati, who is the embodiment of knowledge. It is believed that Goddess Bhavani took the form of Goddess Saraswati on this day to end ignorance through knowledge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Worshipping Goddess Saraswati is expected to remove all the obstacles that cloud the judgement of the devotees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The blessings of Goddess Saraswati is vital for all devotees because it is not possible to attain liberation without knowledge. She bestows knowledge and ability to judge in a fair manner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Goddess Saraswati is worshipped in spring and autumn seasons. Devotees especially worship Goddess Saraswati in autumn to attain power through the means of knowledge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">She is offered with white flowers by the devotees in the morning while they collect nine different flora in the evening at the altar in every home. Therefore this day is also known as Fulpati, a name which derives from flowers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although the Dashain festival begins from Ghatasthapana, the first day of the bright half of the lunar calendar in the month of Ashwin (mid-September to mid-October), the festival sees special fervor from the day of Fulpati. By this day, all government and private offices are closed and most of the people leave the capital to celebrate the festival at their ancestral home.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On the occasion of Fulpati, the Nepalese Army organises a parade at Tundikhel ground that includes gun firing. The army parade is observed by the head of the state and other government officials every year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><em>(With inputs from RSS)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-12', 'modified' => '2021-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13871', 'image' => '20211012080745_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-12 08:07:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14125', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banking Sector Comes up with Various Festive Offers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals. Such offers have been brought forward by banks, financial institutions, payment service providers as well as remittance companies. Especially banks have announced discount offers in association with different business organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nabil Bank has brought the “Dashain Dhamaka Offer” under which, cashback has been arranged for online payment for shopping at BigMart, Daraz and Kirana. Customers can get 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 300 for online payment to BigMart. Similarly, Daraz has offered a 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 500 for online shopping every Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanima Bank has announced the “Dashain Dhamaka” plan. The bank informed that this plan has been brought to give discounts while shopping via online portal Daraz. Customers can get a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,000 while shopping with their debit cards and a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,500 while shopping with their credit card.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion of Dashain, Rastriya Banijya Bank has broughtcash offers for transactions through Point of Sale (POS) machines. The offer brought by the bank gives cashback on card swiped for every transaction worth Rs 1,000 or more via the POS machine. The bank introduced such an offer in order to encourage electronic transactions during this festive season. This scheme includes a maximum discount of 5 percent or cashback of Rs 500 for card swiped 3 to 5 times, maximum discount of 10 percent or cashback of Rs 750 for card swiped 6 to 10 times. For card swiped for 11 to 15 times, customers can get a maximum discount of 15 percent or a refund for purchases equal to an amount less than Rs 1,000.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NIC Asia Bank has launched “NIC Asia Viber Quiz Buzz”, in which Viber users can participate daily and win attractive gifts on a daily and weekly basis. The scheme, which started on September 20, will be valid till October 27. According to the company, one person who participates in Quiz Buzz daily and gives the correct answer can win an attractive smartwatch on a weekly basis and four people can win a mobile topup of Rs 500 every day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Kumari Bank has entered into an agreement with Daraz for giving special discounts to customers making purchases using the bank’s debit and credit cards.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Muktinath Development Bank has brought a discount offer to Visa Debit Card and Mobile Banking users at the Agantuk Resort in Dhulikhel. There, customers will be given special discounts on accommodation and food. Also, the bank has introduced the facility of using the ATM card to withdraw money free of cost from the ATM machines of any other bank affiliated to the Visa network across Nepal as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Other banks and financial institutions have come up with various offers on the occasion of Dashain. Bankers say that the festive offers have helped their business grow.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the same way, Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), a payment service provider, has made it possible to load funds into the mobile wallet free of cost through the Connect IPS mobile app. The company informed that there would be no charges applied for transferring funds through Connect IPS and Connect IPS fund transfer through mobile banking of banks and financial institutions. This offer started on October 6 and will continue till November 11.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">E-sewa has also brought various offers targeting the Dashain and Tihar festivals. The offer, which started from Ghatasthapana, will run till November 11. During this period, money can be transferred from e-Sewa to any bank account free of cost. It has also been informed that one person would get a scooter in the bumper offer. Similarly, one winner will receive an attractive gift and cashback of up to 10 percent or Rs 50 on mobile recharge per week.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">IME Pay, promoted by IME Digital Solutions Limited, has introduced the “Dashain ko Jhatka” plan. Under this plan, customers can receive up to 50 percent cashback on purchase of air tickets from IME Pay Wallet. Other payment service providers have also come up with various offers targeting Dashain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Remittance companies have not fallen behind in launching various Dashian schemes. IME has brought a “Double ko Double ko Double Offer”. The offer which started on September 17 would be valid till November 12. Under the offer, prizes can be won up to eight times the amount sent from abroad. In addition, the company has said that two people would be rewarded twice the amount sent each week and four times the amount sent each month. Similarly, if remittance is received in IME-Pay, an arrangement has been made to get an additional bonus of Rs 200.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Kumari Capital has come up with a plan “Utsav Lai Mahautsav Banaune”. Such a scheme has been introduced with the objective of increasing the access to beneficiary accounts. In this scheme, a free beneficiary account can be opened under the government's “One Nepali: One Demat Account” campaign.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prabhu Capital has also come up with a “Double Dhamaka” offer in this festive season. Under this scheme, Demat accounts can be opened for Re 1 only. Prabhu Capital informed that free expert training related to stock market will also be provided. Out of the daily Demat account opened in Prabhu Capital, 10 lucky customers will be selected as winners under this scheme. The list of daily winners will be made public a day later through Prabhu Capital's Facebook page and Viber Community. After the selected customers open their accounts, 25 percent TDS would be deducted at Rs 199 and the remaining amount would be returned to the customer's wallet, according to the company.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13870', 'image' => '20211011030857_Festive-offers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 15:08:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14124', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Indian Team to Conduct Detailed Study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway after Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Nepal and India have agreed to conduct a detailed study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway almost three and a half years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a cross-border railway line between the two countries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: Nepal and India have agreed to conduct a detailed study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway almost three and a half years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a cross-border railway line between the two countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Following the recent agreement, officials of the Konkan Railway Corporation of India will come to Nepal immediately after Dashain for the study. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of the Nepal-India Cross Border Railway Taskforce held in India on Wednesday and Thursday has agreed to complete the study in 18 months. Keshav Kumar Sharma, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, who led the Nepali delegation during the meeting, informed that the officials of the Indian company would visit Nepal after Dashain and start their study. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A MoU was signed between the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in March 2018 to move the project forward. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study of the railway will be conducted under grant assistance from India. The Indian side has not informed Nepal about the cost of the study.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Indian team will prepare its report after studying the route from Raxaul-Jitpur-Nijgadh-Shikharpur-Sisneri-Satikhel to Kathmandu. According to a preliminary study, the distance of the railway will be 136 km and the cost estimate is expected to be Rs 300 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director General of the Department of Railway Deepak Kumar Bhattarai informed that the final report will be prepared by the Indian side after a detailed study which will include aspects of engineering, finance and technology. Once the report is ready, the Government of India will be requested for investment. Nepal will have to manage other sources of investment if assistance from the Indian government is not received. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a time when the country is struggling to manage investment for the East-West electric railway, Nepal faces a mounting challenge to mobilize resources to invest in the cross-border railways. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13869', 'image' => '20211011024841_20210421044248_20190325112130_Clipboard43-5.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 14:47:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14123', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Telephone Service Disrupted in Simkot Rural Municipality Since 1 Month ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Telephone service provided by Nepal Telecom at Simkot Rural Municipality-3 in Humla district has remained obstructed for the past one month. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Telephone service provided by Nepal Telecom at Simkot Rural Municipality-3 in Humla district has remained obstructed for the past one month. But concerned authority seems least bothered about the service disruption. The problem has aggravated at a time when festivals including Dashain and Tihar are just around the corner. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Obstruction in the power supply provided by a local small hydropower project in Heldung has resulted in the discontinuation of the telecom service. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As a result, hundreds of locals have been affected in many ways. </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"">"We are prevented from sending best wishes through messages on the occasion of Dashain and Tihar festivals without telephone service," said a local resident Hemanta Bohara. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The locals have demanded installation of solar panels for reliable operation of telephone network. Nepal Telecom has said that it was at work to increase the capacity of its network. Nepal Telecom added that it has provided the service to some areas in the district through the use of generators. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13868', 'image' => '20211011010557_Simikot_N.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 13:04:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14122', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Energy Minister vows to Supply Electricity to Industries as Required ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has expressed her commitment to provide electricity as per the demand to industries and transportation sector as soon as possible.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has expressed her commitment to provide electricity as per the demand to industries and transportation sector as soon as possible. Nepal's transport sector and industries have not yet been able to get electricity as per the demand, admitted Minister Bhusal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Addressing a programme organized by Mahalakshmi Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lalitpur on October 10, she said that the transport entrepreneurs and industrialists will get the required energy in the coming days. Minister Bhusal has said that electricity will be provided to those sectors by constructing the necessary infrastructure. Those sectors have not been able to get electricity as demanded due to the lack of infrastructure like transmission lines, she added. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal said that the process of reducing the electricity tariff is in progress.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have already started the process of reducing electricity tariff through the concerned agencies. We are reducing tariff for domestic purposes. Now it is cheaper to cook on electric stoves than on LP gas,” she said. She added that hydropower should be used not only in kitchens but everywhere.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She urged one and all to use an electric stove to replace cooking gas bought from abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Let's continue to build structures to use electric stoves and make maximum use of our country's hydropower," she said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal added that the country should move ahead towards the use of hydropower by displacing other sources of energy. “The basis of social and economic transformation is the availability of energy, roads, and drinking water,” she stated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In this situation, it is time to increase the use of hydropower by displacing all kinds of energy sources,” Minister Bhusal added.</span></span></span></span><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13867', 'image' => '20211011125359_Transmission.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 12:52:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14121', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Double Shift for Development Projects: Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the contract for public construction would have an additional provision with condition to implementation the projects in two shifts. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the contract for public construction would have an additional provision with condition to implementation the projects in two shifts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting with the concerned bodies on Sunday for discussions about budget implementation, Finance Minister Sharma said that capital expenditure could not be increased through single-shift work and no rise in capital expenditures would cause a hurdle in meeting the target of economic growth. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Development projects rarely meet deadlines, and therefore a double shift is needed to complete the work on time,” he insisted. </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"">He added that the government would pursue a policy of discouraging the culture of intentional dillydallying in the implementation of development projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The finance minister said that preparations are underway to reopen inoperative state-owned industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, a work procedure granting the permission of seeking the contract of public construction project upto Rs 100 million through labour cooperatives would be finalized soon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also speaking on the occasion, National Planning Commission vice chair Bishwanath Poudel presented an idea of testing the real capacity of contractors before awarding the contract. The trend of awarding 70 percent of projects to a handful of people should be eliminated to step up development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting stressed the need of increasing public expenditures and the effective implementation of budget to secure the target of a seven-percent economic growth projected in the replacement budget. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13866', 'image' => '20211011084727_IMG_3818.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 08:46:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14120', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UNWTO Officials Assure Support to Nepal’s Tourism Development ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Top officials of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have expressed their commitment for continued support to Nepal’s tourism development. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Top officials of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have expressed their commitment for continued support to Nepal’s tourism development. </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"">According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the top-level officials of the UNWTO assured of continued support to Nepal’s tourism development during a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board Dr Dhananjay Regmi at a programme on Asia Pacific Region’s Tourism Policy and Strategy organised recently in the Maldives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB's CEO Regmi met with UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili and Director of Regional Department for Asia and the Pacific Harry Hwang in the Maldives and discussed issues related to tourism recovery and other pressing issues of tourism in the post-COVID-19 era, the NTB said in a press statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dr Regmi reportedly said that the UNWTO officials were willing to support Nepal’s sustainable tourism development, mountaineering tourism development and institutional capacity enhancement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Different countries are receiving various types of support from the UNWTO. They have received direct benefit too. In this context, the meetings with them in regard to support to Nepal remained fruitful,” the statement quoted CEO Regmi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The UNWTO officials have also expressed commitment to organise some programmes of Asia Pacific Region in Nepal in 2023, the NTB statement added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dr Regmi also met with Maldivian Foreign Minister and discussed issues related to tourism promotion and mutual cooperation between the two countries, according to NTB. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13865', 'image' => '20211011082710_20180513122353_tourism.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 08:26:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14119', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of People Leaving Kathmandu Valley for Dashain Increasing ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, the greatest festival of Hindus in Nepal, has started increasing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: The number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, the greatest festival of Hindus in Nepal, has started increasing. The number of travellers entering and leaving the valley from October 1 to 7 was almost equal. At present, the number of outbound passengers is increasing, according to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, more than 100,000 people have officially left Kathmandu, as per the police record. Chief of the Division, Senior Superintendent of Police, Janak Bhattarai, said that the number of outbound passengers was gradually increasing and that the number would increase after the start of public holiday on Tuesday (October 12). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Until September 30, the average number of people entering the valley was 42,226 and the number of people leaving Kathmandu was 41,484. After that, the pressure of outbound passengers has increased. The number of outbound passengers had increased to 43,439 from 38,749 on September 30. After that, the number of outbound passengers has been gradually increasing. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On October 7, a total of 45,362 passengers left Kathmandu in 7,814 vehicles. According to the statistics provided by the Division, 32,984 passengers had entered the valley in 6,778 vehicles on Friday (October 8). On the same day, about 52,000 passengers left the valley in 7,315 vehicles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Police Inspector Jitesh Dahal shared that the trend of reserving small vehicles with friends or family and going home has increased this time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This time, advance ticket sales for the passenger bus was opened on September 25. Even now, the pressure of passengers to buy tickets online or in person is high. Police have set up passenger help desks at the main intersections of the Kathmandu Valley. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nepal Police has implemented special security plan in all 77 districts to monitor the festival and maintain law and order as it can reduce theft and criminal activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Police Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Basanta Bahadur Kunwar said that the police have been deployed in plain clothes as well to control fraud, black marketing, theft and other criminal activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Police Headquarters has requested all to be careful during the festival and contact the nearest police office in case of any problem. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13864', 'image' => '20211010010947_20190922022.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 13:08:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14118', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists of Biratnagar Call for Regular Supply of Electricity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The industrialists of Biratnagar have submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising in order to improve the quality of electricity. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The industrialists of Biratnagar have submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising in order to improve the quality of electricity. They submitted the letter while Ghising was on a visit to take stock of electricity supplied in eastern Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industries of Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have been facing losses up to 70 million a day due to power outage without any prior notice. The power outage has been taking place for more than four times a day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Morang Merchants’ Association (MMA) submitted the eight-point memorandum to Ghising urging him to make arrangements for regular supply of electricity. Chairman of the association, Prakash Mundada handed over the memorandum to Executive Director Ghising and Director of NEA State 1 Office.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although 33 KVA lines are connected in the surrounding areas including Kataari under the Morang-Sunsari Industrial Corridor, tripping of power supply, low quality and irregular supply have made it difficult for the industries to operate. The power outage has compelled industrialists to cut the scale of production. The low quality and irregular electricity supply has damaged equipment while raw materials have been getting wasted, said Chairman Mundada. As a result, millions of rupees are being lost and the NEA has been requested to focus on improving the quality of electricity as soon as possible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the industrialists have also demanded reduction of electricity tariff as it is quite expensive. The association has suggested that the move would help in the promotion of domestic industries. The association has also requested the authority to take immediate steps towards making technical improvements in order to reduce the loss occurring during electricity transmission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association has also requested the authority to implement the 'My Country, My Product' campaign that is run by the MMA. The campaign had been launched to encourage the consumption of home-grown products. Moreover, the association has drawn the attention of the NEA to stop the practice of collecting lump sum in the name of discount. The association has drawn the attention of NEA to end the trend of negligence and error of employees in meter reading. </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13863', 'image' => '20211010124823_elec.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 12:47:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14117', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'State-owned FMTC sells Goats worth Rs 10 million for Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has sold goats worth more than Rs 10 million on the first day of sale for the Dashain festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has sold goats worth more than Rs 10 million on the first day of sale for the Dashain festival. With the aim of selling 2,000 goats in Dashain, the company has started selling goats at affordable prices from its office in Kathmandu from Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company sold 625 goats worth Rs 16.4 million on the first day of sale on Saturday. The market price of goats has been fixed at Rs 650 per kg this year. The company is selling goats at Rs 640 per kg with a discount of Rs 10. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sharmila Neupane Subedi, information officer of the company, told New Business Age that the company had imported 730 goats in the first phase till Friday and another 329 goats on Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to her, the company has sold goats at a discounted rate to control the unnatural price hike during the festive season and to provide convenience to the consumers. Considering the risk of Covid-19 pandemic, the company has managed the customers coming to buy goats through token system. A large crowd of consumers had gathered at the sales hall in Thapathali to buy goats sold by the company on Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has so far sold about 600 quintals of food from the fair price shops in the Kathmandu Valley. The company is selling pulses, rice, beans, sugar, ghee and other food items from the fair price shops opened at different places especially for the festivals. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13862', 'image' => '20211010123446_20151012034645_cs.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 12:33:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14116', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Removes Route Permits for Public Vehicles during the Festive Season', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The Department of Transport Management has suspended route permits for public vehicles to facilitate passengers during the festive season.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 10: The Department of Transport Management has suspended route permits for public vehicles to facilitate passengers during the festive season.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">With the onset of Dashan, the main festival of Nepal, and Tihar also approaching, the department has eased the route permits to make the travel of passengers safe and comfortable.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">With the suspension of the route permits, any public vehicle will be able to go anywhere in the country without a permit. This will ensure that the vehicle do not need to go through the hassles to get a permit to take the passenger to and from the destination.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">This is expected to facilitate the mass exodus of people from Kathmandu to their hometowns and villages to celebrate the festivals.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Advance ticket booking for public transport was opened on September 25 while the traffic police have set up help desks at various places to help commuters.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13861', 'image' => '20211010115400_download.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 11:53:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14115', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'A Decade on, Govt’s Plan to Provide Subsidized Loans to Startups Remains Unimplemented', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The government has been announcing concessional loans to start-up businesses for almost a decade but is still struggling with the procedure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The government has been announcing concessional loans to start-up businesses for almost a decade but is still struggling with the procedure.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Inspired by neighboring India, the government had announced to provide concessional loans under the innovative work by selecting entrepreneurs to create high-quality inventions and to develop systems using less time, cost, and resources through new technology. However, those seeking to do so have not yet been able to obtain loan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The program has not been implemented due to a lack of clear definition of start-up business, lack of timely formulation of work procedure, lack of coordination among government agencies for the formulation of work procedure and program operation, as well as confusion over grant and subsidized loans for start-ups in the government’s budget programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been two years since the government received around 700 applications for the grant announced to encourage startups. The government then changed the programme of providing grant to subsidized loans instead. However, those trying to start a business have not been able to get cash incentives from the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meghraj Magar, a resident of Koteshwor in Kathmandu, originally from Rukum West, says that he has not yet received the grant even though he has applied for it based on an advertisement that says the government will provide grant to innovative start-ups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He returned to Nepal after working in South Korea for five years and intends to modernize the agriculture of Nepal using Korean technology and knowledge he acquired during his overseas stay He, however says, he could not acquire loan from the and is not able to initiate the start-up alone as he does not have money to start the project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hundreds of young people like Magar have not been able to move their startup plans forward as the government is often confused about whether to give concessional loans or grant to startups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had introduced the programme to provide grants to startup business in Nepal from FY 2076/77.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, the National Planning Commission had also collected applications by formulating work procedures related to grants. According to the Commission, 699 people had applied for grants under the programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the previous government had introduced a programme to provide startup loans at a 2 percent interest rate in the fiscal year 2077/78, but it could not be implemented. In the current Fiscal Year, the present government has allocated Rs 1 billion for startups through the Replacement Bill.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Government officials, who have been confused regarding the work procedure for nearly a decade, held a discussion on Friday to resolve the problem. During the discussion held at the Ministry of Finance on Friday (October 8) regarding the formulation of startup loan procedures, stakeholders reached a conclusion that ambiguous work procedure itself was a hurdle to promote start-ups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Participants of the meeting realized the need to formulate a simple and quick procedure to facilitate start-up businesses.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma directed the concerned bodies to formulate work procedure so that even the youths of remote areas could easily get start-up business loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Let's not create a cumbersome procedure where young people who want to start a new business get frustrated just by looking at the paper. Let's implement the program by making a concise and simple procedure," Minister Sharma urged during the meeting.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Member of National Planning Commission Dr Ram Kumar Phuyal said that since start-up business is a new program for Nepal, simple procedures should be made by paying attention to its principles and international practices. Member Secretary of the National Planning Commission, Kewal Prasad Bhandari, stressed the need to formulate a simple procedure to make start-up loans easily available to enthusiastic youths with new concepts. Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar said that procedures should be formulated targeting new entrepreneurs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13860', 'image' => '20211010113314_IMG_3832 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 11:31:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14114', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Call for Adopting Modern Agro Tech to Boost Production ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: Stakeholders have stressed the need for adopting modern agriculture technology so as to increase production. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: Stakeholders have stressed the need for adopting modern agriculture technology so as to increase production. They underlined that local resources should be utilised and a research on growing crops according to the country’s weather and geography be carried out. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers could boost production and earn more income by adopting ‘smart agriculture’ after being equipped with modern agriculture technology, skills and education, the speakers noted at an interaction entitled ‘entrepreneurship-friendly smart agriculture technology’ organised virtually on Friday by the Nepal Agro Live Pvt Ltd. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Established in 2017, Nepal Agro Live is an independent, non-political and service-oriented organisation focused on carrying out research and consulting services. The organization aims to enhance livelihood of rural people through technical support in promoting different types of technology and capacity enhancement of the farmers. </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"">On the occasion, irrigation expert Basu Dev Lohani stressed the need for growing crops through the use of modern technology in accordance with the climate and soil of a particular area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, crop expert Dr Kumar Lama underscored the need for focusing on providing ways for farmers to earn maximum income instead of shedding light merely on boosting production. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was attended by representatives of approximately 40 organisations working in agriculture and stakeholders from across the country, informed Nepal Agro Live coordinator Sarthak Gaire. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13859', 'image' => '20211010081123_20210106123441_20201105020829_cover.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 08:10:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14113', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Board Approves Rs 73 Billion for 2 Hydropower Projects', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has approved investment worth around Rs 73 billion for the construction and development of two hydropower projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has approved investment worth around Rs 73 billion for the construction and development of two hydropower projects. The 48th meeting of the Investment Board presided over by its chairperson and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took a decision to this effect on October 9. </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"">As per the decision, the board has approved the promoters of the 900-megawatt Arun III hydropower project based in Sankhuwasabha district to make an additional investment of Rs 62.26 billion in the project. </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 project is being undertaken by the Sutlej Hydropower Company owned by the Government of India. Sutlej Hydropower Company has set up a subsidiary named SJBN Arun III Hydropower Development Company in Nepal to carry out the construction works of the project.</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"">Altogether six banks of Nepal and India have already invested Rs 101.6 billion for the project and still requires additional investment.</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 board has also approved an investment of Rs 10.5 billion for the 56-megawatt Jumkhola hydropower project based in Dolakha.</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"">Likewise, the meeting has decided to form a high-level study committee under the coordination of IBN vice chairperson to prepare a report relating to the 900-megawatt Upper Karnali hydropower project and submit it within 45 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The committee comprises representatives from the ministries of finance, energy and law as well as IBN chief executive officer and an expert. IBN joint secretary is the member secretary of the committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the meeting also decided to approve the annual budget and programmes of the IBN for the Fiscal Year 2021/22 and approve the share purchase and sale agreement of Samrat Cement and the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, PM Deuba directed all concerned sectors to make a long-term plan relating to increasing electricity consumption and to create conducive environment for investment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><em><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">(With inputs from RSS) </span></em></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13858', 'image' => '20211010080208_20150823012330_ep1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 08:00:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14112', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Bhandari Expands Council of Ministers', 'sub_title' => 'Newly appointed ministers take oath of office and secrecy ', 'summary' => 'October 8: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expanded the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 8: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expanded the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The newly expanded cabinet has 11 new faces. </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 Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba includes Bal Krishna Khand as Minister for Home Affairs, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki as Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Pampha Bhusal as Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, and Rajendra Prasad Shrestha as Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration. </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"">Similarly, Birodh Khatiwada has been appointed as Minister for Health and Population while Janardan Sharma continues his job as Finance Minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Other faces in the Deuba-led cabinet are Dr Minendra Prasad Rijal, who has been assigned the Defence portfolio, Umakant Chaudhary (Water Supplies), Dr Narayan Khadka (Foreign Affairs), Renu Kumari Yadav (Physical Infrastructure and Transport), Prem Bahadur Ale (Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation), Dilendra Prasad Badu (Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs) and Devendra Poudel (Education, Science and Technology). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Mahendra Raya Yadav (Agriculture and Livestock Development), Uma Regmi (Women, Children and Senior Citizens), Shashi Shrestha (Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation), Ram Kumari Jhankri (Urban Development), Gajendra Bahadur Hamal (Industry, Commerce and Supplies), Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav (Forest and Environment), Krishna Kumar Shrestha (Labour, Employment and Social Security), Maheshwor Jung Gahatraj (Youth and Sports) have been inducted in the Council of Ministers. </span><br /> The <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">newly appointed ministers took oath of office and secrecy amid a function organized at the President’s House on Friday (October 8) itself. President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to them amid a special function</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 government formed under the leadership of Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has been expanded for the fourth time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of nine ministers including one state minister from NC, six ministers including one state minister from CPN (Maoist Centre), five ministers including one state minister from CPN (Unified Socialist), and four ministers from Janata Samajbadi Party are in the cabinet. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-08', 'modified' => '2021-10-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13857', 'image' => '20211008103626_Sheetal-Niwas-1-scaled-1536x700 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-08 22:34:42', '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' => '14126', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Fulpati Observed on October 12 ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 12: Fulpati, the seventh day of Bada Dashain festival is being observed today (October 12). ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">October 12: Fulpati, the seventh day of Bada Dashain festival is being observed today (October 12). On the occasion, the Fulpati, a collection of flowers, leaves and fruits of different plants considered auspicious, is taken into the homes throughout the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per the tradition, nine different varieties of flowers brought from Gorkha Durbar are kept at the Dashain Ghar in the capital on this day. Six priests of the Magar community carry the flowers from Gorkha to Kathmandu via Dhading. The auspicious flowers and the priests are greeted with gun salute by the Nepalese Army at the Army Pavillion in Tundikhel before the flowers are taken to the Dashain Ghar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This day is celebrated by worshipping Goddess Saraswati, who is the embodiment of knowledge. It is believed that Goddess Bhavani took the form of Goddess Saraswati on this day to end ignorance through knowledge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Worshipping Goddess Saraswati is expected to remove all the obstacles that cloud the judgement of the devotees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The blessings of Goddess Saraswati is vital for all devotees because it is not possible to attain liberation without knowledge. She bestows knowledge and ability to judge in a fair manner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Goddess Saraswati is worshipped in spring and autumn seasons. Devotees especially worship Goddess Saraswati in autumn to attain power through the means of knowledge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">She is offered with white flowers by the devotees in the morning while they collect nine different flora in the evening at the altar in every home. Therefore this day is also known as Fulpati, a name which derives from flowers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although the Dashain festival begins from Ghatasthapana, the first day of the bright half of the lunar calendar in the month of Ashwin (mid-September to mid-October), the festival sees special fervor from the day of Fulpati. By this day, all government and private offices are closed and most of the people leave the capital to celebrate the festival at their ancestral home.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On the occasion of Fulpati, the Nepalese Army organises a parade at Tundikhel ground that includes gun firing. The army parade is observed by the head of the state and other government officials every year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><em>(With inputs from RSS)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-12', 'modified' => '2021-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13871', 'image' => '20211012080745_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-12 08:07:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14125', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banking Sector Comes up with Various Festive Offers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals. Such offers have been brought forward by banks, financial institutions, payment service providers as well as remittance companies. Especially banks have announced discount offers in association with different business organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nabil Bank has brought the “Dashain Dhamaka Offer” under which, cashback has been arranged for online payment for shopping at BigMart, Daraz and Kirana. Customers can get 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 300 for online payment to BigMart. Similarly, Daraz has offered a 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 500 for online shopping every Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanima Bank has announced the “Dashain Dhamaka” plan. The bank informed that this plan has been brought to give discounts while shopping via online portal Daraz. Customers can get a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,000 while shopping with their debit cards and a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,500 while shopping with their credit card.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion of Dashain, Rastriya Banijya Bank has broughtcash offers for transactions through Point of Sale (POS) machines. The offer brought by the bank gives cashback on card swiped for every transaction worth Rs 1,000 or more via the POS machine. The bank introduced such an offer in order to encourage electronic transactions during this festive season. This scheme includes a maximum discount of 5 percent or cashback of Rs 500 for card swiped 3 to 5 times, maximum discount of 10 percent or cashback of Rs 750 for card swiped 6 to 10 times. For card swiped for 11 to 15 times, customers can get a maximum discount of 15 percent or a refund for purchases equal to an amount less than Rs 1,000.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NIC Asia Bank has launched “NIC Asia Viber Quiz Buzz”, in which Viber users can participate daily and win attractive gifts on a daily and weekly basis. The scheme, which started on September 20, will be valid till October 27. According to the company, one person who participates in Quiz Buzz daily and gives the correct answer can win an attractive smartwatch on a weekly basis and four people can win a mobile topup of Rs 500 every day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Kumari Bank has entered into an agreement with Daraz for giving special discounts to customers making purchases using the bank’s debit and credit cards.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Muktinath Development Bank has brought a discount offer to Visa Debit Card and Mobile Banking users at the Agantuk Resort in Dhulikhel. There, customers will be given special discounts on accommodation and food. Also, the bank has introduced the facility of using the ATM card to withdraw money free of cost from the ATM machines of any other bank affiliated to the Visa network across Nepal as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Other banks and financial institutions have come up with various offers on the occasion of Dashain. Bankers say that the festive offers have helped their business grow.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the same way, Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), a payment service provider, has made it possible to load funds into the mobile wallet free of cost through the Connect IPS mobile app. The company informed that there would be no charges applied for transferring funds through Connect IPS and Connect IPS fund transfer through mobile banking of banks and financial institutions. This offer started on October 6 and will continue till November 11.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">E-sewa has also brought various offers targeting the Dashain and Tihar festivals. The offer, which started from Ghatasthapana, will run till November 11. During this period, money can be transferred from e-Sewa to any bank account free of cost. It has also been informed that one person would get a scooter in the bumper offer. Similarly, one winner will receive an attractive gift and cashback of up to 10 percent or Rs 50 on mobile recharge per week.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">IME Pay, promoted by IME Digital Solutions Limited, has introduced the “Dashain ko Jhatka” plan. Under this plan, customers can receive up to 50 percent cashback on purchase of air tickets from IME Pay Wallet. Other payment service providers have also come up with various offers targeting Dashain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Remittance companies have not fallen behind in launching various Dashian schemes. IME has brought a “Double ko Double ko Double Offer”. The offer which started on September 17 would be valid till November 12. Under the offer, prizes can be won up to eight times the amount sent from abroad. In addition, the company has said that two people would be rewarded twice the amount sent each week and four times the amount sent each month. Similarly, if remittance is received in IME-Pay, an arrangement has been made to get an additional bonus of Rs 200.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Kumari Capital has come up with a plan “Utsav Lai Mahautsav Banaune”. Such a scheme has been introduced with the objective of increasing the access to beneficiary accounts. In this scheme, a free beneficiary account can be opened under the government's “One Nepali: One Demat Account” campaign.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prabhu Capital has also come up with a “Double Dhamaka” offer in this festive season. Under this scheme, Demat accounts can be opened for Re 1 only. Prabhu Capital informed that free expert training related to stock market will also be provided. Out of the daily Demat account opened in Prabhu Capital, 10 lucky customers will be selected as winners under this scheme. The list of daily winners will be made public a day later through Prabhu Capital's Facebook page and Viber Community. After the selected customers open their accounts, 25 percent TDS would be deducted at Rs 199 and the remaining amount would be returned to the customer's wallet, according to the company.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13870', 'image' => '20211011030857_Festive-offers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 15:08:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14124', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Indian Team to Conduct Detailed Study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway after Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Nepal and India have agreed to conduct a detailed study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway almost three and a half years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a cross-border railway line between the two countries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: Nepal and India have agreed to conduct a detailed study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway almost three and a half years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a cross-border railway line between the two countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Following the recent agreement, officials of the Konkan Railway Corporation of India will come to Nepal immediately after Dashain for the study. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of the Nepal-India Cross Border Railway Taskforce held in India on Wednesday and Thursday has agreed to complete the study in 18 months. Keshav Kumar Sharma, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, who led the Nepali delegation during the meeting, informed that the officials of the Indian company would visit Nepal after Dashain and start their study. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A MoU was signed between the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in March 2018 to move the project forward. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study of the railway will be conducted under grant assistance from India. The Indian side has not informed Nepal about the cost of the study.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Indian team will prepare its report after studying the route from Raxaul-Jitpur-Nijgadh-Shikharpur-Sisneri-Satikhel to Kathmandu. According to a preliminary study, the distance of the railway will be 136 km and the cost estimate is expected to be Rs 300 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director General of the Department of Railway Deepak Kumar Bhattarai informed that the final report will be prepared by the Indian side after a detailed study which will include aspects of engineering, finance and technology. Once the report is ready, the Government of India will be requested for investment. Nepal will have to manage other sources of investment if assistance from the Indian government is not received. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a time when the country is struggling to manage investment for the East-West electric railway, Nepal faces a mounting challenge to mobilize resources to invest in the cross-border railways. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13869', 'image' => '20211011024841_20210421044248_20190325112130_Clipboard43-5.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 14:47:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14123', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Telephone Service Disrupted in Simkot Rural Municipality Since 1 Month ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Telephone service provided by Nepal Telecom at Simkot Rural Municipality-3 in Humla district has remained obstructed for the past one month. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Telephone service provided by Nepal Telecom at Simkot Rural Municipality-3 in Humla district has remained obstructed for the past one month. But concerned authority seems least bothered about the service disruption. The problem has aggravated at a time when festivals including Dashain and Tihar are just around the corner. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Obstruction in the power supply provided by a local small hydropower project in Heldung has resulted in the discontinuation of the telecom service. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As a result, hundreds of locals have been affected in many ways. </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"">"We are prevented from sending best wishes through messages on the occasion of Dashain and Tihar festivals without telephone service," said a local resident Hemanta Bohara. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The locals have demanded installation of solar panels for reliable operation of telephone network. Nepal Telecom has said that it was at work to increase the capacity of its network. Nepal Telecom added that it has provided the service to some areas in the district through the use of generators. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13868', 'image' => '20211011010557_Simikot_N.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 13:04:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14122', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Energy Minister vows to Supply Electricity to Industries as Required ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has expressed her commitment to provide electricity as per the demand to industries and transportation sector as soon as possible.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has expressed her commitment to provide electricity as per the demand to industries and transportation sector as soon as possible. Nepal's transport sector and industries have not yet been able to get electricity as per the demand, admitted Minister Bhusal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Addressing a programme organized by Mahalakshmi Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lalitpur on October 10, she said that the transport entrepreneurs and industrialists will get the required energy in the coming days. Minister Bhusal has said that electricity will be provided to those sectors by constructing the necessary infrastructure. Those sectors have not been able to get electricity as demanded due to the lack of infrastructure like transmission lines, she added. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal said that the process of reducing the electricity tariff is in progress.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have already started the process of reducing electricity tariff through the concerned agencies. We are reducing tariff for domestic purposes. Now it is cheaper to cook on electric stoves than on LP gas,” she said. She added that hydropower should be used not only in kitchens but everywhere.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She urged one and all to use an electric stove to replace cooking gas bought from abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Let's continue to build structures to use electric stoves and make maximum use of our country's hydropower," she said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal added that the country should move ahead towards the use of hydropower by displacing other sources of energy. “The basis of social and economic transformation is the availability of energy, roads, and drinking water,” she stated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In this situation, it is time to increase the use of hydropower by displacing all kinds of energy sources,” Minister Bhusal added.</span></span></span></span><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13867', 'image' => '20211011125359_Transmission.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 12:52:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14121', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Double Shift for Development Projects: Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the contract for public construction would have an additional provision with condition to implementation the projects in two shifts. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the contract for public construction would have an additional provision with condition to implementation the projects in two shifts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting with the concerned bodies on Sunday for discussions about budget implementation, Finance Minister Sharma said that capital expenditure could not be increased through single-shift work and no rise in capital expenditures would cause a hurdle in meeting the target of economic growth. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Development projects rarely meet deadlines, and therefore a double shift is needed to complete the work on time,” he insisted. </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"">He added that the government would pursue a policy of discouraging the culture of intentional dillydallying in the implementation of development projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The finance minister said that preparations are underway to reopen inoperative state-owned industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, a work procedure granting the permission of seeking the contract of public construction project upto Rs 100 million through labour cooperatives would be finalized soon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also speaking on the occasion, National Planning Commission vice chair Bishwanath Poudel presented an idea of testing the real capacity of contractors before awarding the contract. The trend of awarding 70 percent of projects to a handful of people should be eliminated to step up development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting stressed the need of increasing public expenditures and the effective implementation of budget to secure the target of a seven-percent economic growth projected in the replacement budget. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13866', 'image' => '20211011084727_IMG_3818.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 08:46:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14120', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UNWTO Officials Assure Support to Nepal’s Tourism Development ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Top officials of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have expressed their commitment for continued support to Nepal’s tourism development. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Top officials of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have expressed their commitment for continued support to Nepal’s tourism development. </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"">According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the top-level officials of the UNWTO assured of continued support to Nepal’s tourism development during a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board Dr Dhananjay Regmi at a programme on Asia Pacific Region’s Tourism Policy and Strategy organised recently in the Maldives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB's CEO Regmi met with UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili and Director of Regional Department for Asia and the Pacific Harry Hwang in the Maldives and discussed issues related to tourism recovery and other pressing issues of tourism in the post-COVID-19 era, the NTB said in a press statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dr Regmi reportedly said that the UNWTO officials were willing to support Nepal’s sustainable tourism development, mountaineering tourism development and institutional capacity enhancement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Different countries are receiving various types of support from the UNWTO. They have received direct benefit too. In this context, the meetings with them in regard to support to Nepal remained fruitful,” the statement quoted CEO Regmi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The UNWTO officials have also expressed commitment to organise some programmes of Asia Pacific Region in Nepal in 2023, the NTB statement added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dr Regmi also met with Maldivian Foreign Minister and discussed issues related to tourism promotion and mutual cooperation between the two countries, according to NTB. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13865', 'image' => '20211011082710_20180513122353_tourism.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 08:26:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14119', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of People Leaving Kathmandu Valley for Dashain Increasing ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, the greatest festival of Hindus in Nepal, has started increasing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: The number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, the greatest festival of Hindus in Nepal, has started increasing. The number of travellers entering and leaving the valley from October 1 to 7 was almost equal. At present, the number of outbound passengers is increasing, according to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, more than 100,000 people have officially left Kathmandu, as per the police record. Chief of the Division, Senior Superintendent of Police, Janak Bhattarai, said that the number of outbound passengers was gradually increasing and that the number would increase after the start of public holiday on Tuesday (October 12). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Until September 30, the average number of people entering the valley was 42,226 and the number of people leaving Kathmandu was 41,484. After that, the pressure of outbound passengers has increased. The number of outbound passengers had increased to 43,439 from 38,749 on September 30. After that, the number of outbound passengers has been gradually increasing. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On October 7, a total of 45,362 passengers left Kathmandu in 7,814 vehicles. According to the statistics provided by the Division, 32,984 passengers had entered the valley in 6,778 vehicles on Friday (October 8). On the same day, about 52,000 passengers left the valley in 7,315 vehicles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Police Inspector Jitesh Dahal shared that the trend of reserving small vehicles with friends or family and going home has increased this time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This time, advance ticket sales for the passenger bus was opened on September 25. Even now, the pressure of passengers to buy tickets online or in person is high. Police have set up passenger help desks at the main intersections of the Kathmandu Valley. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nepal Police has implemented special security plan in all 77 districts to monitor the festival and maintain law and order as it can reduce theft and criminal activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Police Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Basanta Bahadur Kunwar said that the police have been deployed in plain clothes as well to control fraud, black marketing, theft and other criminal activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Police Headquarters has requested all to be careful during the festival and contact the nearest police office in case of any problem. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13864', 'image' => '20211010010947_20190922022.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 13:08:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14118', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists of Biratnagar Call for Regular Supply of Electricity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The industrialists of Biratnagar have submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising in order to improve the quality of electricity. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The industrialists of Biratnagar have submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising in order to improve the quality of electricity. They submitted the letter while Ghising was on a visit to take stock of electricity supplied in eastern Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industries of Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have been facing losses up to 70 million a day due to power outage without any prior notice. The power outage has been taking place for more than four times a day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Morang Merchants’ Association (MMA) submitted the eight-point memorandum to Ghising urging him to make arrangements for regular supply of electricity. Chairman of the association, Prakash Mundada handed over the memorandum to Executive Director Ghising and Director of NEA State 1 Office.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although 33 KVA lines are connected in the surrounding areas including Kataari under the Morang-Sunsari Industrial Corridor, tripping of power supply, low quality and irregular supply have made it difficult for the industries to operate. The power outage has compelled industrialists to cut the scale of production. The low quality and irregular electricity supply has damaged equipment while raw materials have been getting wasted, said Chairman Mundada. As a result, millions of rupees are being lost and the NEA has been requested to focus on improving the quality of electricity as soon as possible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the industrialists have also demanded reduction of electricity tariff as it is quite expensive. The association has suggested that the move would help in the promotion of domestic industries. The association has also requested the authority to take immediate steps towards making technical improvements in order to reduce the loss occurring during electricity transmission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association has also requested the authority to implement the 'My Country, My Product' campaign that is run by the MMA. The campaign had been launched to encourage the consumption of home-grown products. Moreover, the association has drawn the attention of the NEA to stop the practice of collecting lump sum in the name of discount. The association has drawn the attention of NEA to end the trend of negligence and error of employees in meter reading. </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13863', 'image' => '20211010124823_elec.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 12:47:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14117', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'State-owned FMTC sells Goats worth Rs 10 million for Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has sold goats worth more than Rs 10 million on the first day of sale for the Dashain festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has sold goats worth more than Rs 10 million on the first day of sale for the Dashain festival. With the aim of selling 2,000 goats in Dashain, the company has started selling goats at affordable prices from its office in Kathmandu from Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company sold 625 goats worth Rs 16.4 million on the first day of sale on Saturday. The market price of goats has been fixed at Rs 650 per kg this year. The company is selling goats at Rs 640 per kg with a discount of Rs 10. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sharmila Neupane Subedi, information officer of the company, told New Business Age that the company had imported 730 goats in the first phase till Friday and another 329 goats on Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to her, the company has sold goats at a discounted rate to control the unnatural price hike during the festive season and to provide convenience to the consumers. Considering the risk of Covid-19 pandemic, the company has managed the customers coming to buy goats through token system. A large crowd of consumers had gathered at the sales hall in Thapathali to buy goats sold by the company on Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has so far sold about 600 quintals of food from the fair price shops in the Kathmandu Valley. The company is selling pulses, rice, beans, sugar, ghee and other food items from the fair price shops opened at different places especially for the festivals. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13862', 'image' => '20211010123446_20151012034645_cs.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 12:33:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14116', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Removes Route Permits for Public Vehicles during the Festive Season', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The Department of Transport Management has suspended route permits for public vehicles to facilitate passengers during the festive season.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 10: The Department of Transport Management has suspended route permits for public vehicles to facilitate passengers during the festive season.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">With the onset of Dashan, the main festival of Nepal, and Tihar also approaching, the department has eased the route permits to make the travel of passengers safe and comfortable.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">With the suspension of the route permits, any public vehicle will be able to go anywhere in the country without a permit. This will ensure that the vehicle do not need to go through the hassles to get a permit to take the passenger to and from the destination.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">This is expected to facilitate the mass exodus of people from Kathmandu to their hometowns and villages to celebrate the festivals.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Advance ticket booking for public transport was opened on September 25 while the traffic police have set up help desks at various places to help commuters.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13861', 'image' => '20211010115400_download.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 11:53:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14115', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'A Decade on, Govt’s Plan to Provide Subsidized Loans to Startups Remains Unimplemented', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The government has been announcing concessional loans to start-up businesses for almost a decade but is still struggling with the procedure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The government has been announcing concessional loans to start-up businesses for almost a decade but is still struggling with the procedure.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Inspired by neighboring India, the government had announced to provide concessional loans under the innovative work by selecting entrepreneurs to create high-quality inventions and to develop systems using less time, cost, and resources through new technology. However, those seeking to do so have not yet been able to obtain loan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The program has not been implemented due to a lack of clear definition of start-up business, lack of timely formulation of work procedure, lack of coordination among government agencies for the formulation of work procedure and program operation, as well as confusion over grant and subsidized loans for start-ups in the government’s budget programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been two years since the government received around 700 applications for the grant announced to encourage startups. The government then changed the programme of providing grant to subsidized loans instead. However, those trying to start a business have not been able to get cash incentives from the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meghraj Magar, a resident of Koteshwor in Kathmandu, originally from Rukum West, says that he has not yet received the grant even though he has applied for it based on an advertisement that says the government will provide grant to innovative start-ups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He returned to Nepal after working in South Korea for five years and intends to modernize the agriculture of Nepal using Korean technology and knowledge he acquired during his overseas stay He, however says, he could not acquire loan from the and is not able to initiate the start-up alone as he does not have money to start the project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hundreds of young people like Magar have not been able to move their startup plans forward as the government is often confused about whether to give concessional loans or grant to startups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had introduced the programme to provide grants to startup business in Nepal from FY 2076/77.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, the National Planning Commission had also collected applications by formulating work procedures related to grants. According to the Commission, 699 people had applied for grants under the programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the previous government had introduced a programme to provide startup loans at a 2 percent interest rate in the fiscal year 2077/78, but it could not be implemented. In the current Fiscal Year, the present government has allocated Rs 1 billion for startups through the Replacement Bill.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Government officials, who have been confused regarding the work procedure for nearly a decade, held a discussion on Friday to resolve the problem. During the discussion held at the Ministry of Finance on Friday (October 8) regarding the formulation of startup loan procedures, stakeholders reached a conclusion that ambiguous work procedure itself was a hurdle to promote start-ups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Participants of the meeting realized the need to formulate a simple and quick procedure to facilitate start-up businesses.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma directed the concerned bodies to formulate work procedure so that even the youths of remote areas could easily get start-up business loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Let's not create a cumbersome procedure where young people who want to start a new business get frustrated just by looking at the paper. Let's implement the program by making a concise and simple procedure," Minister Sharma urged during the meeting.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Member of National Planning Commission Dr Ram Kumar Phuyal said that since start-up business is a new program for Nepal, simple procedures should be made by paying attention to its principles and international practices. Member Secretary of the National Planning Commission, Kewal Prasad Bhandari, stressed the need to formulate a simple procedure to make start-up loans easily available to enthusiastic youths with new concepts. Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar said that procedures should be formulated targeting new entrepreneurs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13860', 'image' => '20211010113314_IMG_3832 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 11:31:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14114', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Call for Adopting Modern Agro Tech to Boost Production ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: Stakeholders have stressed the need for adopting modern agriculture technology so as to increase production. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: Stakeholders have stressed the need for adopting modern agriculture technology so as to increase production. They underlined that local resources should be utilised and a research on growing crops according to the country’s weather and geography be carried out. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers could boost production and earn more income by adopting ‘smart agriculture’ after being equipped with modern agriculture technology, skills and education, the speakers noted at an interaction entitled ‘entrepreneurship-friendly smart agriculture technology’ organised virtually on Friday by the Nepal Agro Live Pvt Ltd. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Established in 2017, Nepal Agro Live is an independent, non-political and service-oriented organisation focused on carrying out research and consulting services. The organization aims to enhance livelihood of rural people through technical support in promoting different types of technology and capacity enhancement of the farmers. </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"">On the occasion, irrigation expert Basu Dev Lohani stressed the need for growing crops through the use of modern technology in accordance with the climate and soil of a particular area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, crop expert Dr Kumar Lama underscored the need for focusing on providing ways for farmers to earn maximum income instead of shedding light merely on boosting production. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was attended by representatives of approximately 40 organisations working in agriculture and stakeholders from across the country, informed Nepal Agro Live coordinator Sarthak Gaire. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13859', 'image' => '20211010081123_20210106123441_20201105020829_cover.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 08:10:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14113', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Board Approves Rs 73 Billion for 2 Hydropower Projects', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has approved investment worth around Rs 73 billion for the construction and development of two hydropower projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has approved investment worth around Rs 73 billion for the construction and development of two hydropower projects. The 48th meeting of the Investment Board presided over by its chairperson and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took a decision to this effect on October 9. </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"">As per the decision, the board has approved the promoters of the 900-megawatt Arun III hydropower project based in Sankhuwasabha district to make an additional investment of Rs 62.26 billion in the project. </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 project is being undertaken by the Sutlej Hydropower Company owned by the Government of India. Sutlej Hydropower Company has set up a subsidiary named SJBN Arun III Hydropower Development Company in Nepal to carry out the construction works of the project.</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"">Altogether six banks of Nepal and India have already invested Rs 101.6 billion for the project and still requires additional investment.</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 board has also approved an investment of Rs 10.5 billion for the 56-megawatt Jumkhola hydropower project based in Dolakha.</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"">Likewise, the meeting has decided to form a high-level study committee under the coordination of IBN vice chairperson to prepare a report relating to the 900-megawatt Upper Karnali hydropower project and submit it within 45 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The committee comprises representatives from the ministries of finance, energy and law as well as IBN chief executive officer and an expert. IBN joint secretary is the member secretary of the committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the meeting also decided to approve the annual budget and programmes of the IBN for the Fiscal Year 2021/22 and approve the share purchase and sale agreement of Samrat Cement and the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, PM Deuba directed all concerned sectors to make a long-term plan relating to increasing electricity consumption and to create conducive environment for investment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><em><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">(With inputs from RSS) </span></em></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13858', 'image' => '20211010080208_20150823012330_ep1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 08:00:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14112', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Bhandari Expands Council of Ministers', 'sub_title' => 'Newly appointed ministers take oath of office and secrecy ', 'summary' => 'October 8: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expanded the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 8: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expanded the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The newly expanded cabinet has 11 new faces. </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 Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba includes Bal Krishna Khand as Minister for Home Affairs, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki as Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Pampha Bhusal as Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, and Rajendra Prasad Shrestha as Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration. </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"">Similarly, Birodh Khatiwada has been appointed as Minister for Health and Population while Janardan Sharma continues his job as Finance Minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Other faces in the Deuba-led cabinet are Dr Minendra Prasad Rijal, who has been assigned the Defence portfolio, Umakant Chaudhary (Water Supplies), Dr Narayan Khadka (Foreign Affairs), Renu Kumari Yadav (Physical Infrastructure and Transport), Prem Bahadur Ale (Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation), Dilendra Prasad Badu (Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs) and Devendra Poudel (Education, Science and Technology). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Mahendra Raya Yadav (Agriculture and Livestock Development), Uma Regmi (Women, Children and Senior Citizens), Shashi Shrestha (Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation), Ram Kumari Jhankri (Urban Development), Gajendra Bahadur Hamal (Industry, Commerce and Supplies), Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav (Forest and Environment), Krishna Kumar Shrestha (Labour, Employment and Social Security), Maheshwor Jung Gahatraj (Youth and Sports) have been inducted in the Council of Ministers. </span><br /> The <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">newly appointed ministers took oath of office and secrecy amid a function organized at the President’s House on Friday (October 8) itself. President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to them amid a special function</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 government formed under the leadership of Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has been expanded for the fourth time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of nine ministers including one state minister from NC, six ministers including one state minister from CPN (Maoist Centre), five ministers including one state minister from CPN (Unified Socialist), and four ministers from Janata Samajbadi Party are in the cabinet. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-08', 'modified' => '2021-10-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13857', 'image' => '20211008103626_Sheetal-Niwas-1-scaled-1536x700 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-08 22:34:42', '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">October 12: Fulpati, the seventh day of Bada Dashain festival is being observed today (October 12). On the occasion, the Fulpati, a collection of flowers, leaves and fruits of different plants considered auspicious, is taken into the homes throughout the country. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per the tradition, nine different varieties of flowers brought from Gorkha Durbar are kept at the Dashain Ghar in the capital on this day. Six priests of the Magar community carry the flowers from Gorkha to Kathmandu via Dhading. The auspicious flowers and the priests are greeted with gun salute by the Nepalese Army at the Army Pavillion in Tundikhel before the flowers are taken to the Dashain Ghar.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This day is celebrated by worshipping Goddess Saraswati, who is the embodiment of knowledge. It is believed that Goddess Bhavani took the form of Goddess Saraswati on this day to end ignorance through knowledge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Worshipping Goddess Saraswati is expected to remove all the obstacles that cloud the judgement of the devotees.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The blessings of Goddess Saraswati is vital for all devotees because it is not possible to attain liberation without knowledge. She bestows knowledge and ability to judge in a fair manner.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Goddess Saraswati is worshipped in spring and autumn seasons. Devotees especially worship Goddess Saraswati in autumn to attain power through the means of knowledge.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">She is offered with white flowers by the devotees in the morning while they collect nine different flora in the evening at the altar in every home. Therefore this day is also known as Fulpati, a name which derives from flowers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although the Dashain festival begins from Ghatasthapana, the first day of the bright half of the lunar calendar in the month of Ashwin (mid-September to mid-October), the festival sees special fervor from the day of Fulpati. By this day, all government and private offices are closed and most of the people leave the capital to celebrate the festival at their ancestral home.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">On the occasion of Fulpati, the Nepalese Army organises a parade at Tundikhel ground that includes gun firing. The army parade is observed by the head of the state and other government officials every year. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><em>(With inputs from RSS)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-12', 'modified' => '2021-10-13', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13871', 'image' => '20211012080745_maxresdefault.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-12 08:07:04', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14125', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Banking Sector Comes up with Various Festive Offers', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: The baking sector of Nepal ha introduced various festive offers aimed at the Dashain and Tihar festivals. Such offers have been brought forward by banks, financial institutions, payment service providers as well as remittance companies. Especially banks have announced discount offers in association with different business organizations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nabil Bank has brought the “Dashain Dhamaka Offer” under which, cashback has been arranged for online payment for shopping at BigMart, Daraz and Kirana. Customers can get 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 300 for online payment to BigMart. Similarly, Daraz has offered a 10 percent discount or cashback up to Rs 500 for online shopping every Friday.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanima Bank has announced the “Dashain Dhamaka” plan. The bank informed that this plan has been brought to give discounts while shopping via online portal Daraz. Customers can get a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,000 while shopping with their debit cards and a discount of 20 percent or up to Rs 2,500 while shopping with their credit card.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">On the occasion of Dashain, Rastriya Banijya Bank has broughtcash offers for transactions through Point of Sale (POS) machines. The offer brought by the bank gives cashback on card swiped for every transaction worth Rs 1,000 or more via the POS machine. The bank introduced such an offer in order to encourage electronic transactions during this festive season. This scheme includes a maximum discount of 5 percent or cashback of Rs 500 for card swiped 3 to 5 times, maximum discount of 10 percent or cashback of Rs 750 for card swiped 6 to 10 times. For card swiped for 11 to 15 times, customers can get a maximum discount of 15 percent or a refund for purchases equal to an amount less than Rs 1,000.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NIC Asia Bank has launched “NIC Asia Viber Quiz Buzz”, in which Viber users can participate daily and win attractive gifts on a daily and weekly basis. The scheme, which started on September 20, will be valid till October 27. According to the company, one person who participates in Quiz Buzz daily and gives the correct answer can win an attractive smartwatch on a weekly basis and four people can win a mobile topup of Rs 500 every day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Kumari Bank has entered into an agreement with Daraz for giving special discounts to customers making purchases using the bank’s debit and credit cards.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Muktinath Development Bank has brought a discount offer to Visa Debit Card and Mobile Banking users at the Agantuk Resort in Dhulikhel. There, customers will be given special discounts on accommodation and food. Also, the bank has introduced the facility of using the ATM card to withdraw money free of cost from the ATM machines of any other bank affiliated to the Visa network across Nepal as well.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Other banks and financial institutions have come up with various offers on the occasion of Dashain. Bankers say that the festive offers have helped their business grow.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the same way, Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), a payment service provider, has made it possible to load funds into the mobile wallet free of cost through the Connect IPS mobile app. The company informed that there would be no charges applied for transferring funds through Connect IPS and Connect IPS fund transfer through mobile banking of banks and financial institutions. This offer started on October 6 and will continue till November 11.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">E-sewa has also brought various offers targeting the Dashain and Tihar festivals. The offer, which started from Ghatasthapana, will run till November 11. During this period, money can be transferred from e-Sewa to any bank account free of cost. It has also been informed that one person would get a scooter in the bumper offer. Similarly, one winner will receive an attractive gift and cashback of up to 10 percent or Rs 50 on mobile recharge per week.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">IME Pay, promoted by IME Digital Solutions Limited, has introduced the “Dashain ko Jhatka” plan. Under this plan, customers can receive up to 50 percent cashback on purchase of air tickets from IME Pay Wallet. Other payment service providers have also come up with various offers targeting Dashain.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Remittance companies have not fallen behind in launching various Dashian schemes. IME has brought a “Double ko Double ko Double Offer”. The offer which started on September 17 would be valid till November 12. Under the offer, prizes can be won up to eight times the amount sent from abroad. In addition, the company has said that two people would be rewarded twice the amount sent each week and four times the amount sent each month. Similarly, if remittance is received in IME-Pay, an arrangement has been made to get an additional bonus of Rs 200.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Likewise, Kumari Capital has come up with a plan “Utsav Lai Mahautsav Banaune”. Such a scheme has been introduced with the objective of increasing the access to beneficiary accounts. In this scheme, a free beneficiary account can be opened under the government's “One Nepali: One Demat Account” campaign.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prabhu Capital has also come up with a “Double Dhamaka” offer in this festive season. Under this scheme, Demat accounts can be opened for Re 1 only. Prabhu Capital informed that free expert training related to stock market will also be provided. Out of the daily Demat account opened in Prabhu Capital, 10 lucky customers will be selected as winners under this scheme. The list of daily winners will be made public a day later through Prabhu Capital's Facebook page and Viber Community. After the selected customers open their accounts, 25 percent TDS would be deducted at Rs 199 and the remaining amount would be returned to the customer's wallet, according to the company.</span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13870', 'image' => '20211011030857_Festive-offers.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 15:08:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14124', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Indian Team to Conduct Detailed Study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway after Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Nepal and India have agreed to conduct a detailed study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway almost three and a half years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a cross-border railway line between the two countries.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: Nepal and India have agreed to conduct a detailed study of Kathmandu-Raxaul Railway almost three and a half years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding to construct a cross-border railway line between the two countries.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Following the recent agreement, officials of the Konkan Railway Corporation of India will come to Nepal immediately after Dashain for the study. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A meeting of the Nepal-India Cross Border Railway Taskforce held in India on Wednesday and Thursday has agreed to complete the study in 18 months. Keshav Kumar Sharma, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, who led the Nepali delegation during the meeting, informed that the officials of the Indian company would visit Nepal after Dashain and start their study. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A MoU was signed between the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in March 2018 to move the project forward. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The study of the railway will be conducted under grant assistance from India. The Indian side has not informed Nepal about the cost of the study.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Indian team will prepare its report after studying the route from Raxaul-Jitpur-Nijgadh-Shikharpur-Sisneri-Satikhel to Kathmandu. According to a preliminary study, the distance of the railway will be 136 km and the cost estimate is expected to be Rs 300 billion. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director General of the Department of Railway Deepak Kumar Bhattarai informed that the final report will be prepared by the Indian side after a detailed study which will include aspects of engineering, finance and technology. Once the report is ready, the Government of India will be requested for investment. Nepal will have to manage other sources of investment if assistance from the Indian government is not received. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At a time when the country is struggling to manage investment for the East-West electric railway, Nepal faces a mounting challenge to mobilize resources to invest in the cross-border railways. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13869', 'image' => '20211011024841_20210421044248_20190325112130_Clipboard43-5.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 14:47:36', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14123', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Telephone Service Disrupted in Simkot Rural Municipality Since 1 Month ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Telephone service provided by Nepal Telecom at Simkot Rural Municipality-3 in Humla district has remained obstructed for the past one month. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Telephone service provided by Nepal Telecom at Simkot Rural Municipality-3 in Humla district has remained obstructed for the past one month. But concerned authority seems least bothered about the service disruption. The problem has aggravated at a time when festivals including Dashain and Tihar are just around the corner. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Obstruction in the power supply provided by a local small hydropower project in Heldung has resulted in the discontinuation of the telecom service. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As a result, hundreds of locals have been affected in many ways. </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"">"We are prevented from sending best wishes through messages on the occasion of Dashain and Tihar festivals without telephone service," said a local resident Hemanta Bohara. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The locals have demanded installation of solar panels for reliable operation of telephone network. Nepal Telecom has said that it was at work to increase the capacity of its network. Nepal Telecom added that it has provided the service to some areas in the district through the use of generators. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13868', 'image' => '20211011010557_Simikot_N.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 13:04:59', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14122', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Energy Minister vows to Supply Electricity to Industries as Required ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has expressed her commitment to provide electricity as per the demand to industries and transportation sector as soon as possible.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 11: Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal has expressed her commitment to provide electricity as per the demand to industries and transportation sector as soon as possible. Nepal's transport sector and industries have not yet been able to get electricity as per the demand, admitted Minister Bhusal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Addressing a programme organized by Mahalakshmi Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lalitpur on October 10, she said that the transport entrepreneurs and industrialists will get the required energy in the coming days. Minister Bhusal has said that electricity will be provided to those sectors by constructing the necessary infrastructure. Those sectors have not been able to get electricity as demanded due to the lack of infrastructure like transmission lines, she added. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal said that the process of reducing the electricity tariff is in progress.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"We have already started the process of reducing electricity tariff through the concerned agencies. We are reducing tariff for domestic purposes. Now it is cheaper to cook on electric stoves than on LP gas,” she said. She added that hydropower should be used not only in kitchens but everywhere.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">She urged one and all to use an electric stove to replace cooking gas bought from abroad. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Let's continue to build structures to use electric stoves and make maximum use of our country's hydropower," she said.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Minister Bhusal added that the country should move ahead towards the use of hydropower by displacing other sources of energy. “The basis of social and economic transformation is the availability of energy, roads, and drinking water,” she stated.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“In this situation, it is time to increase the use of hydropower by displacing all kinds of energy sources,” Minister Bhusal added.</span></span></span></span><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13867', 'image' => '20211011125359_Transmission.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 12:52:40', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14121', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Double Shift for Development Projects: Finance Minister ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the contract for public construction would have an additional provision with condition to implementation the projects in two shifts. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said the contract for public construction would have an additional provision with condition to implementation the projects in two shifts. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">During a meeting with the concerned bodies on Sunday for discussions about budget implementation, Finance Minister Sharma said that capital expenditure could not be increased through single-shift work and no rise in capital expenditures would cause a hurdle in meeting the target of economic growth. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Development projects rarely meet deadlines, and therefore a double shift is needed to complete the work on time,” he insisted. </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"">He added that the government would pursue a policy of discouraging the culture of intentional dillydallying in the implementation of development projects. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The finance minister said that preparations are underway to reopen inoperative state-owned industries. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, a work procedure granting the permission of seeking the contract of public construction project upto Rs 100 million through labour cooperatives would be finalized soon. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Also speaking on the occasion, National Planning Commission vice chair Bishwanath Poudel presented an idea of testing the real capacity of contractors before awarding the contract. The trend of awarding 70 percent of projects to a handful of people should be eliminated to step up development. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The meeting stressed the need of increasing public expenditures and the effective implementation of budget to secure the target of a seven-percent economic growth projected in the replacement budget. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13866', 'image' => '20211011084727_IMG_3818.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 08:46:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14120', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'UNWTO Officials Assure Support to Nepal’s Tourism Development ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 11: Top officials of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have expressed their commitment for continued support to Nepal’s tourism development. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 11: Top officials of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have expressed their commitment for continued support to Nepal’s tourism development. </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"">According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the top-level officials of the UNWTO assured of continued support to Nepal’s tourism development during a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board Dr Dhananjay Regmi at a programme on Asia Pacific Region’s Tourism Policy and Strategy organised recently in the Maldives. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">NTB's CEO Regmi met with UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili and Director of Regional Department for Asia and the Pacific Harry Hwang in the Maldives and discussed issues related to tourism recovery and other pressing issues of tourism in the post-COVID-19 era, the NTB said in a press statement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dr Regmi reportedly said that the UNWTO officials were willing to support Nepal’s sustainable tourism development, mountaineering tourism development and institutional capacity enhancement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“Different countries are receiving various types of support from the UNWTO. They have received direct benefit too. In this context, the meetings with them in regard to support to Nepal remained fruitful,” the statement quoted CEO Regmi as saying. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The UNWTO officials have also expressed commitment to organise some programmes of Asia Pacific Region in Nepal in 2023, the NTB statement added. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Dr Regmi also met with Maldivian Foreign Minister and discussed issues related to tourism promotion and mutual cooperation between the two countries, according to NTB. </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-11', 'modified' => '2021-10-11', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13865', 'image' => '20211011082710_20180513122353_tourism.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-11 08:26:17', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14119', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Number of People Leaving Kathmandu Valley for Dashain Increasing ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, the greatest festival of Hindus in Nepal, has started increasing.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: The number of people leaving the Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, the greatest festival of Hindus in Nepal, has started increasing. The number of travellers entering and leaving the valley from October 1 to 7 was almost equal. At present, the number of outbound passengers is increasing, according to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">So far, more than 100,000 people have officially left Kathmandu, as per the police record. Chief of the Division, Senior Superintendent of Police, Janak Bhattarai, said that the number of outbound passengers was gradually increasing and that the number would increase after the start of public holiday on Tuesday (October 12). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Until September 30, the average number of people entering the valley was 42,226 and the number of people leaving Kathmandu was 41,484. After that, the pressure of outbound passengers has increased. The number of outbound passengers had increased to 43,439 from 38,749 on September 30. After that, the number of outbound passengers has been gradually increasing. </span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On October 7, a total of 45,362 passengers left Kathmandu in 7,814 vehicles. According to the statistics provided by the Division, 32,984 passengers had entered the valley in 6,778 vehicles on Friday (October 8). On the same day, about 52,000 passengers left the valley in 7,315 vehicles. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Police Inspector Jitesh Dahal shared that the trend of reserving small vehicles with friends or family and going home has increased this time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This time, advance ticket sales for the passenger bus was opened on September 25. Even now, the pressure of passengers to buy tickets online or in person is high. Police have set up passenger help desks at the main intersections of the Kathmandu Valley. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Nepal Police has implemented special security plan in all 77 districts to monitor the festival and maintain law and order as it can reduce theft and criminal activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal Police Spokesperson Senior Superintendent Basanta Bahadur Kunwar said that the police have been deployed in plain clothes as well to control fraud, black marketing, theft and other criminal activities. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Meanwhile, the Police Headquarters has requested all to be careful during the festival and contact the nearest police office in case of any problem. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13864', 'image' => '20211010010947_20190922022.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 13:08:45', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14118', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Industrialists of Biratnagar Call for Regular Supply of Electricity', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The industrialists of Biratnagar have submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising in order to improve the quality of electricity. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The industrialists of Biratnagar have submitted a memorandum to the executive director of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Kulman Ghising in order to improve the quality of electricity. They submitted the letter while Ghising was on a visit to take stock of electricity supplied in eastern Nepal.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The industries of Sunsari-Morang Industrial Corridor have been facing losses up to 70 million a day due to power outage without any prior notice. The power outage has been taking place for more than four times a day.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The Morang Merchants’ Association (MMA) submitted the eight-point memorandum to Ghising urging him to make arrangements for regular supply of electricity. Chairman of the association, Prakash Mundada handed over the memorandum to Executive Director Ghising and Director of NEA State 1 Office.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Although 33 KVA lines are connected in the surrounding areas including Kataari under the Morang-Sunsari Industrial Corridor, tripping of power supply, low quality and irregular supply have made it difficult for the industries to operate. The power outage has compelled industrialists to cut the scale of production. The low quality and irregular electricity supply has damaged equipment while raw materials have been getting wasted, said Chairman Mundada. As a result, millions of rupees are being lost and the NEA has been requested to focus on improving the quality of electricity as soon as possible.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the industrialists have also demanded reduction of electricity tariff as it is quite expensive. The association has suggested that the move would help in the promotion of domestic industries. The association has also requested the authority to take immediate steps towards making technical improvements in order to reduce the loss occurring during electricity transmission.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The association has also requested the authority to implement the 'My Country, My Product' campaign that is run by the MMA. The campaign had been launched to encourage the consumption of home-grown products. Moreover, the association has drawn the attention of the NEA to stop the practice of collecting lump sum in the name of discount. The association has drawn the attention of NEA to end the trend of negligence and error of employees in meter reading. </span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13863', 'image' => '20211010124823_elec.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 12:47:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14117', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'State-owned FMTC sells Goats worth Rs 10 million for Dashain', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has sold goats worth more than Rs 10 million on the first day of sale for the Dashain festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The state-owned Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) Limited has sold goats worth more than Rs 10 million on the first day of sale for the Dashain festival. With the aim of selling 2,000 goats in Dashain, the company has started selling goats at affordable prices from its office in Kathmandu from Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company sold 625 goats worth Rs 16.4 million on the first day of sale on Saturday. The market price of goats has been fixed at Rs 650 per kg this year. The company is selling goats at Rs 640 per kg with a discount of Rs 10. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sharmila Neupane Subedi, information officer of the company, told New Business Age that the company had imported 730 goats in the first phase till Friday and another 329 goats on Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to her, the company has sold goats at a discounted rate to control the unnatural price hike during the festive season and to provide convenience to the consumers. Considering the risk of Covid-19 pandemic, the company has managed the customers coming to buy goats through token system. A large crowd of consumers had gathered at the sales hall in Thapathali to buy goats sold by the company on Saturday. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The company has so far sold about 600 quintals of food from the fair price shops in the Kathmandu Valley. The company is selling pulses, rice, beans, sugar, ghee and other food items from the fair price shops opened at different places especially for the festivals. </span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13862', 'image' => '20211010123446_20151012034645_cs.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 12:33:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14116', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Removes Route Permits for Public Vehicles during the Festive Season', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The Department of Transport Management has suspended route permits for public vehicles to facilitate passengers during the festive season.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">October 10: The Department of Transport Management has suspended route permits for public vehicles to facilitate passengers during the festive season.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">With the onset of Dashan, the main festival of Nepal, and Tihar also approaching, the department has eased the route permits to make the travel of passengers safe and comfortable.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">With the suspension of the route permits, any public vehicle will be able to go anywhere in the country without a permit. This will ensure that the vehicle do not need to go through the hassles to get a permit to take the passenger to and from the destination.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">This is expected to facilitate the mass exodus of people from Kathmandu to their hometowns and villages to celebrate the festivals.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Advance ticket booking for public transport was opened on September 25 while the traffic police have set up help desks at various places to help commuters.</span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13861', 'image' => '20211010115400_download.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 11:53:23', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14115', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'A Decade on, Govt’s Plan to Provide Subsidized Loans to Startups Remains Unimplemented', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The government has been announcing concessional loans to start-up businesses for almost a decade but is still struggling with the procedure.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">October 10: The government has been announcing concessional loans to start-up businesses for almost a decade but is still struggling with the procedure.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Inspired by neighboring India, the government had announced to provide concessional loans under the innovative work by selecting entrepreneurs to create high-quality inventions and to develop systems using less time, cost, and resources through new technology. However, those seeking to do so have not yet been able to obtain loan.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The program has not been implemented due to a lack of clear definition of start-up business, lack of timely formulation of work procedure, lack of coordination among government agencies for the formulation of work procedure and program operation, as well as confusion over grant and subsidized loans for start-ups in the government’s budget programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It has been two years since the government received around 700 applications for the grant announced to encourage startups. The government then changed the programme of providing grant to subsidized loans instead. However, those trying to start a business have not been able to get cash incentives from the government.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Meghraj Magar, a resident of Koteshwor in Kathmandu, originally from Rukum West, says that he has not yet received the grant even though he has applied for it based on an advertisement that says the government will provide grant to innovative start-ups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He returned to Nepal after working in South Korea for five years and intends to modernize the agriculture of Nepal using Korean technology and knowledge he acquired during his overseas stay He, however says, he could not acquire loan from the and is not able to initiate the start-up alone as he does not have money to start the project. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Hundreds of young people like Magar have not been able to move their startup plans forward as the government is often confused about whether to give concessional loans or grant to startups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government had introduced the programme to provide grants to startup business in Nepal from FY 2076/77.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Accordingly, the National Planning Commission had also collected applications by formulating work procedures related to grants. According to the Commission, 699 people had applied for grants under the programme.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the previous government had introduced a programme to provide startup loans at a 2 percent interest rate in the fiscal year 2077/78, but it could not be implemented. In the current Fiscal Year, the present government has allocated Rs 1 billion for startups through the Replacement Bill.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Government officials, who have been confused regarding the work procedure for nearly a decade, held a discussion on Friday to resolve the problem. During the discussion held at the Ministry of Finance on Friday (October 8) regarding the formulation of startup loan procedures, stakeholders reached a conclusion that ambiguous work procedure itself was a hurdle to promote start-ups.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Participants of the meeting realized the need to formulate a simple and quick procedure to facilitate start-up businesses.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the discussion, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma directed the concerned bodies to formulate work procedure so that even the youths of remote areas could easily get start-up business loans.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"Let's not create a cumbersome procedure where young people who want to start a new business get frustrated just by looking at the paper. Let's implement the program by making a concise and simple procedure," Minister Sharma urged during the meeting.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Member of National Planning Commission Dr Ram Kumar Phuyal said that since start-up business is a new program for Nepal, simple procedures should be made by paying attention to its principles and international practices. Member Secretary of the National Planning Commission, Kewal Prasad Bhandari, stressed the need to formulate a simple procedure to make start-up loans easily available to enthusiastic youths with new concepts. Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar said that procedures should be formulated targeting new entrepreneurs.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> </p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong> </strong></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13860', 'image' => '20211010113314_IMG_3832 (1).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 11:31:56', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14114', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Stakeholders Call for Adopting Modern Agro Tech to Boost Production ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: Stakeholders have stressed the need for adopting modern agriculture technology so as to increase production. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: Stakeholders have stressed the need for adopting modern agriculture technology so as to increase production. They underlined that local resources should be utilised and a research on growing crops according to the country’s weather and geography be carried out. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Farmers could boost production and earn more income by adopting ‘smart agriculture’ after being equipped with modern agriculture technology, skills and education, the speakers noted at an interaction entitled ‘entrepreneurship-friendly smart agriculture technology’ organised virtually on Friday by the Nepal Agro Live Pvt Ltd. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Established in 2017, Nepal Agro Live is an independent, non-political and service-oriented organisation focused on carrying out research and consulting services. The organization aims to enhance livelihood of rural people through technical support in promoting different types of technology and capacity enhancement of the farmers. </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"">On the occasion, irrigation expert Basu Dev Lohani stressed the need for growing crops through the use of modern technology in accordance with the climate and soil of a particular area. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, crop expert Dr Kumar Lama underscored the need for focusing on providing ways for farmers to earn maximum income instead of shedding light merely on boosting production. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The event was attended by representatives of approximately 40 organisations working in agriculture and stakeholders from across the country, informed Nepal Agro Live coordinator Sarthak Gaire. -- RSS</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13859', 'image' => '20211010081123_20210106123441_20201105020829_cover.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 08:10:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14113', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Investment Board Approves Rs 73 Billion for 2 Hydropower Projects', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'October 10: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has approved investment worth around Rs 73 billion for the construction and development of two hydropower projects. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 10: The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) has approved investment worth around Rs 73 billion for the construction and development of two hydropower projects. The 48th meeting of the Investment Board presided over by its chairperson and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took a decision to this effect on October 9. </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"">As per the decision, the board has approved the promoters of the 900-megawatt Arun III hydropower project based in Sankhuwasabha district to make an additional investment of Rs 62.26 billion in the project. </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 project is being undertaken by the Sutlej Hydropower Company owned by the Government of India. Sutlej Hydropower Company has set up a subsidiary named SJBN Arun III Hydropower Development Company in Nepal to carry out the construction works of the project.</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"">Altogether six banks of Nepal and India have already invested Rs 101.6 billion for the project and still requires additional investment.</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 board has also approved an investment of Rs 10.5 billion for the 56-megawatt Jumkhola hydropower project based in Dolakha.</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"">Likewise, the meeting has decided to form a high-level study committee under the coordination of IBN vice chairperson to prepare a report relating to the 900-megawatt Upper Karnali hydropower project and submit it within 45 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The committee comprises representatives from the ministries of finance, energy and law as well as IBN chief executive officer and an expert. IBN joint secretary is the member secretary of the committee. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, the meeting also decided to approve the annual budget and programmes of the IBN for the Fiscal Year 2021/22 and approve the share purchase and sale agreement of Samrat Cement and the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">On the occasion, PM Deuba directed all concerned sectors to make a long-term plan relating to increasing electricity consumption and to create conducive environment for investment. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><em><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">(With inputs from RSS) </span></em></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-10', 'modified' => '2021-10-10', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13858', 'image' => '20211010080208_20150823012330_ep1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-10 08:00:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '14112', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'President Bhandari Expands Council of Ministers', 'sub_title' => 'Newly appointed ministers take oath of office and secrecy ', 'summary' => 'October 8: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expanded the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">October 8: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday expanded the Council of Ministers upon the recommendation of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The newly expanded cabinet has 11 new faces. </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 Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba includes Bal Krishna Khand as Minister for Home Affairs, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki as Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Pampha Bhusal as Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, and Rajendra Prasad Shrestha as Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration. </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"">Similarly, Birodh Khatiwada has been appointed as Minister for Health and Population while Janardan Sharma continues his job as Finance Minister. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Other faces in the Deuba-led cabinet are Dr Minendra Prasad Rijal, who has been assigned the Defence portfolio, Umakant Chaudhary (Water Supplies), Dr Narayan Khadka (Foreign Affairs), Renu Kumari Yadav (Physical Infrastructure and Transport), Prem Bahadur Ale (Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation), Dilendra Prasad Badu (Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs) and Devendra Poudel (Education, Science and Technology). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, Mahendra Raya Yadav (Agriculture and Livestock Development), Uma Regmi (Women, Children and Senior Citizens), Shashi Shrestha (Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation), Ram Kumari Jhankri (Urban Development), Gajendra Bahadur Hamal (Industry, Commerce and Supplies), Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav (Forest and Environment), Krishna Kumar Shrestha (Labour, Employment and Social Security), Maheshwor Jung Gahatraj (Youth and Sports) have been inducted in the Council of Ministers. </span><br /> The <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">newly appointed ministers took oath of office and secrecy amid a function organized at the President’s House on Friday (October 8) itself. President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to them amid a special function</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 government formed under the leadership of Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has been expanded for the fourth time. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">A total of nine ministers including one state minister from NC, six ministers including one state minister from CPN (Maoist Centre), five ministers including one state minister from CPN (Unified Socialist), and four ministers from Janata Samajbadi Party are in the cabinet. -- RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-10-08', 'modified' => '2021-10-08', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13857', 'image' => '20211008103626_Sheetal-Niwas-1-scaled-1536x700 - Copy.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-10-08 22:34:42', '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
