September 17: Stating that Nepal has a favorable environment for investment, the British Embassy in Nepal said that it would play a constructive role in helping increase foreign direct investments in…
September 17: Stating that Nepal has a favorable environment for investment, the British Embassy in Nepal said that it would play a constructive role in helping increase foreign direct investments in…
September 17: More than two-thirds of Nepali migrant workers abroad say they will not choose the same recruiting agency if they were to go again for foreign…
September 17: The price of sugar is estimated to reach more than Rs 100 per kg during this Dashain festival.…
September 16: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been found purchasing electricity from India last year at 2.44 percent high rate. This was revealed in the annual report of NEA which was published…
September 16: Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which used to enjoy monopoly for transporting cargo to Nepal, has slashed the shipping charges as soon as its competitor from the private sector started railway service to transport goods to…
September 16: In order to encourage small and cottage industries, Chaubise Samaj Dharan has started the tradition of honoring entrepreneurs working in this…
September 16: The government has formed a new commission to resolve the problems of landless…
September 16: The federal government has collected more than Rs 23 million revenue from autumn climbing permit issued this year.…
September 16: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank have signed two separate financing agreements of US$50…
September 15: For the first time, a private company of Indian has started providing service for transporting cargo to Nepal through…
September 15: Pointing out to the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason, the major labor destination countries had imposed strict…
September 15: The government will not be able to spend from the state coffers from Wednesday (September 15) due to the failure to endorse the Replacement Bill within the given…
September 15: The average stay of foreign tourists coming to Nepal is found to have increased although their numbers has decreased due to COVID-19…
September 15: Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly undertake the 683 MW Sunkoshi III semi-reservoir project.…
September 14: Export of readymade leather, a source of convertible currency, has been steadily declining as the demand for ready-made leather has taken a nosedive due to the Covid-19…
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Photo Courtesy: CNI</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 17: Stating that Nepal has a favorable environment for investment, the British Embassy in Nepal said that it would play a constructive role in helping increase foreign direct investments in Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Issuing a statement after a meeting with office bearers of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) on Wednesday (September 15), British Ambassador to Nepal, Nicola Kathryn Pollitt said that she would take initiative to attract British investors to Nepal by helping improve the business environment. "Foreign direct investment can play an important role in Nepal's development,” the statement quoted Pollitt as saying.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ambassador Pollitt highlighted the fact that challenging days are ahead from the perspective of climate change. She also mentioned that the private sector can work to mitigate the effects of climate change. "The private sector can work to promote green energy," said Ambassador Pollitt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on public life and industry, Pollitt proclaimed that the UK has provided significant support to Nepal in the areas of humanitarian assistance and development. During the meeting, CNI President Vishnu Kumar Agrawal said, on the one hand, unemployment is a serious problem in Nepal, while on the other hand, there is lack of skilled manpower. He noted that the UK's support programs and conferences could help in skill development.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the current situation where the contribution of industrial sector to Nepal's GDP is quite small, the CNI has launched the Make in Nepal-Indigenous Campaign, said President Agarwal. He mentioned that the campaign has been taken forward with the main goal of industrial development, export promotion, job creation and increase in consumption of goods produced in Nepal. Stating that the CNI is in constant dialogue with the government for the promotion of start-ups, he stressed on the need to bring small businesses into the mainstream of economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the meeting, the immediate past president of the confederation Satish Kumar More said that there is good potential for investment in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Vice President of the Confederation Raj Bahadur Shah said that the embassy could help in the promotion of tourism in Nepal. He further said that the CNI would work in a planned manner for the development and promotion of Nepal's tourism industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director General of the Confederation Yadav Prasad Poudyal and Director Sabin Mishra were also present at the meeting held at the British Embassy in Kathmandu on Wednesday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13717', 'image' => '20210917120605_IMG_0470-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 12:04:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13971', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '70 Percent Migrant Workers Say They Will not Choose Same Recruiting Agency Again ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: More than two-thirds of Nepali migrant workers abroad say they will not choose the same recruiting agency if they were to go again for foreign employment. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 17: More than two-thirds of Nepali migrant workers abroad say they will not choose the same recruiting agency if they were to go again for foreign employment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This finding is based on an analysis report of the Migrant Recruitment Advisor (MRA) in Nepal which was shared during a sub-regional South Asia meeting on MRA organized by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The preliminary analysis report was prepared on the basis of the responses of 1,539 migrant workers and returnee migrant workers. Among the respondents, 70 per cent said they will not take the service of the same recruiting agency which they chose first time if they have to go for foreign employment again. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 98 per cent of the respondents said they paid service charge more than that fixed by the government while going on foreign employment. They said paid more than Rs 100,000 as service charge. Only two per cent said they did not pay any extra fees or charges in the recruitment process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has fixed the minimum service charge and implemented the 'free visa, free ticket' provision for the major labour destination countries while no fees are charged for Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius and some other countries. Despite these provisions, a majority of the respondents said they had to pay exorbitant fees during the recruitment process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nearly one third of the respondents said they were not given the work in the destination countries that was promised at the time of recruitment while 53 per cent of them stated that they were not getting the salary as mentioned in the contract. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, 96 per cent of the respondents said their employers have not returned their passport and other documents to them in course of the employment. Only 26.4 per cent of them said they would return to their previous employer. This shows that a large number of migrant workers are not satisfied with their employers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, a majority of the respondents said they were deprived of their right to independently leave the destination country. Eighty-three per cent of the respondents said so. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The preliminary report shows that 80 per cent of the respondents have taken the pre-departure orientation. The government has made this orientation training mandatory for the workers before going for foreign employment. One cannot go for overseas job without taking this pre-departure orientation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is stated that although the government has adopted various policies for making the migrant recruitment process fair and dignified their implementation is weak. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The workers are still vulnerable to abusive recruitment especially when they are seeking jobs in an environment of high unemployment, exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic, when there is intense competition for jobs, domestically or abroad, and when they are not protected by strong and effective workers' organizations and by clear laws and effective enforcement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The MRA website was launched in 2018 to enable the ITUC and its affiliates to create a global poor-to-peer recruitment review platform that provides accurate information on recruitment to both prospective migrant workers and workers already living and working in labour destination countries. --RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13716', 'image' => '20210917114636_20210915011727_20201125033543_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 11:45:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13970', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sugar Price to go Through the Roof', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: The price of sugar is estimated to reach more than Rs 100 per kg during this Dashain festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 17: The price of sugar is estimated to reach more than Rs 100 per kg during this Dashain festival. The two state-owned companies – Salt Trading Corporation and Food Management and Trading Company Limited – that have been selling sugar at subsidized rate do not have stock of sugar for the festive season. This is why traders might increase the price of sugar at their will and the price of sugar can go through the roof.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the Salt Trading Corporation has about 200 tons of sugar while the Food Management and Trading Company Limited has zero stock of sugar. Concerned officials have said that traders can seize this opportunity and arbitrarily fix the price of sugar. Not only the government company, but also the sugar producers' association does not have sufficient stock of sugar. The union currently has only about 6,000 tons of sugar in stock.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brajesh Kumar Jha, divisional manager of the Salt Trading Corporation, said that traders are expected to fix the price of sugar up to Rs 110 per kg in the upcoming festival, showing the shortage of sugar. According to him, the government has not allowed the government company to buy sugar, which has made it easier for traders to fix the price of sugar of their choosing. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pavitra Bajracharya, the outgoing president of the Nepal Retailers Association, also agrees with Jha’s statement. "In the next few days, the price of sugar will reach Rs 100 per kg and it is likely to go up further during the Dashain," he said. “At present, the retailers are buying sugar at a wholesale price of Rs 90 per kg. Adding the labor cost and labor charge, it costs Rs 95 per kg of sugar. We are now selling sugar to consumers at Rs 95, so we have to pay Rs 100. If the government fails to bring sugar by then, the price will go above Rs 100,” he told New Business Age.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government itself is to blame for the constant increase in the price of sugar. Consumers have been directly affected by the government's failure to allow timely purchase of sugar. The corporation had sent a letter to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies about eight months ago seeking permission to import sugar at a concessional rate. The proposal has not been approved so far, which has caused problems in importing sugar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The letter sent by the corporation seeking permission to import 30,000 metric tons of sugar is still pending at the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance has remained silent on this issue.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The corporation again sent a letter to the supply department last Friday seeking permission from the government to expedite the purchase of sugar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson for the corporation, Kumar Raj Bhandari, said that there is a strong possibility that the price of sugar would go out of control if the ministry ignores this issue.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13715', 'image' => '20210917104641_20210511045157_20201220120511_Sweet2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 10:45:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13969', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Imports Electricity from India at Increased Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been found purchasing electricity from India last year at 2.44 percent high rate. This was revealed in the annual report of NEA which was published recently.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been found purchasing electricity from India last year at 2.44 percent high rate. This was revealed in the annual report of NEA which was published recently.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the report, NEA purchased 1 kWh of electricity from India at Rs 7.95 during last fiscal year. The amount is 19 paisa more than the rate of the previous fiscal year 2076/77. In the previous fiscal year, NEA had purchased electricity from India at an average of Rs 7.76 per kilowatt-hour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">While the NEA has been purchasing electricity from India at a higher rate, it has been paying less for the electricity produced by the private sector of Nepal. The average rate of electricity purchased from the private sector has decreased by 19.26 percent in the last fiscal year. Last year, 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity was purchased from the private sector at Rs 5.86. In the previous fiscal year, electricity was purchased at Rs 7.25 per kilowatt-hour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the import of electricity from India has also increased in the last fiscal year. Indian electricity imports have increased by 63.45 percent in the last fiscal year. According to the statistics, 2,826 gigawatt-hours of electricity was imported in the last fiscal year, which is a massive increase compared to the previous fiscal year. In the previous fiscal year, 1,729 gigawatts-hour of electricity was imported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lately, electricity production in Nepal is growing. However, most hydropower projects are based on river current, and production declines during the winter season. This is when electricity is imported from India to meet the demand. However, Nepal also exports electricity during the monsoon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, Nepal consumed 8,877 gigawatt-hours of electricity. This is an increase of 14.68 percent compared to the previous year. In the previous fiscal year, 7,741 gigawatt-hours of electricity was consumed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, the private sector supplied 3,241 gigawatt-hours of electricity apart from NEA projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Deputy Executive Director and Chief of Production Directorate Harraj Neupane said that the import of electricity has increased due to two reasons. He said that imports have increased due to reduction in river water and increase in demand for electricity during the dry season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The demand for electricity increased last year, but it could not be generated accordingly. The Tamakoshi project was also delayed. As a result, electricity imports have increased," he informed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the reason for the high tariff of Indian electricity was not clear and the rate may have gone up due to inflation.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13714', 'image' => '20210916012712_20210514031053_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 13:26:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13968', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Competition Among Railway Service Providers Reduces Fare', 'sub_title' => 'CONCOR Slashes Shipping Charges as New Private Company Starts Cargo Service', 'summary' => 'September 16: Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which used to enjoy monopoly for transporting cargo to Nepal, has slashed the shipping charges as soon as its competitor from the private sector started railway service to transport goods to Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">Om Prakash Khanal</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which used to enjoy monopoly for transporting cargo to Nepal, has slashed the shipping charges as soon as its competitor from the private sector started railway service to transport goods to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CONCOR slashed the shipping charges for the first time after the private railway company arrived in Birgunj carrying containers following the amendment to the Nepal-India Railway Service Agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Issuing a notice on Wednesday, September 15, CONCOR reduced the fare from Kolkata port to Birgunj by 31 to 37 percent. Similarly, fares have also been significantly reduced for cargo transportation from Haldia port, to be effective immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The 2004 Railway Agreement gave a monopoly to CONCOR, a subsidiary company of the Indian Railways, for providing cargo services to Nepal-bound goods. The Indian Railways had built a railway track to the dry port of Birgunj.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal's private sector had been demanding amendment to the agreement, stating that the fares were being charged arbitrarily. Though the government had proposed for the amendment, the Indian side has been reluctant to revise it in the past.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Entrepreneurs say that the cut down in soon after the entry of a private railway company has confirmed that CONCOR had been charging arbitrarily for the freight services. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CONCOR brings containers from Kolkata port to Birgunj and delivers the empty containers back to the yard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The new fare for transporting goods up to 31 metric tons in a 20-feet container is IRs 39,856 while bringing 30 tons of goods in a 40-feet container costs IRs 58,008. Until,September 14, the rates were IRs 61,466 and IRs 85,198, respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There has also been a massive reduction in fares based on the quantities of goods to be transported from Kolkata and Haldia ports. CONCOR has also reduced fares from Haldia port to Birgunj by 25 to 31 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Eknarayan Aryal, the then Consul General of Nepal in Kolkata, who is currently a secretary of the Government of Nepal, had played a crucial role to remove paperworks at Nepali customs and increase competition in cargo services.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Aryal thinks Nepal's foreign trade can be made more competitive if the existing railway infrastructure, the only service available in Birgunj, is expanded to other border points as soon as possible and Nepal Railways brings its railways into operation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, four companies including CONCOR have come forward to provide container services to Nepal. Pristine Logistics and Infraprojects Pvt Ltd, Pristine Valley's main Indian partner, is also set to launch the service in a few days.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ishwar Raj Poudel, Nepal’s Consul General in Kolkata, the company has already started the process to provide cargo services from Kolkata. JM Buxi group, which operates ports and railways in India, is also preparing to transport containers to Birgunj, officials said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Poudel said that decline in freight charges with the entry of private service providers is encouraging for Nepal's foreign trade, which should be utilized by Nepali entrepreneurs. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13713', 'image' => '20210916015500_1631742368.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 13:06:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13967', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dhaka Producer Feted', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: In order to encourage small and cottage industries, Chaubise Samaj Dharan has started the tradition of honoring entrepreneurs working in this field.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: In order to encourage small and cottage industries, Chaubise Samaj Dharan has started the tradition of honoring entrepreneurs working in this field. Chaubise Samaj has honored Yamuna Sanyak, an entrepreneur who has been running Dhaka industry in Dharan for a long time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanyak was honored on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the organization for promoting the traditional culture by operating the Dhaka industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanyak, who has been running Chaubise Sanyak Dhaka Industry in Dharan for the past four years, said that the honor has encouraged her to strive better. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “This honor has energised me and encouraged me to work more actively in the entrepreneurship sector. I am very happy to be honored and I also want to thank the organization for honoring me.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Her industry employs more than 100 women directly and indirectly. She has been exporting original Nepali dhaka clothes to about one and a half dozen countries outside Nepal. She is also active in business as well as social service.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13712', 'image' => '20210916125307_241439055_638203394233948_307060722226164987_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 12:49:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13966', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Forms New Land Commission', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The government has formed a new commission to resolve the problems of landless squatters.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: The government has formed a new commission to resolve the problems of landless squatters.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The recent cabinet meeting decided to form the National Land Commission headed by Keshav Niraula, former central chairman of the Nepal Teachers Association affiliated to the Nepali Congress. The government has appointed Mahendra Khadka as the vice-chairman of the commission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed chairman Niraula and vice chair Khadka amid a function at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at Singha Durbar on Wednesday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking after the oath-taking ceremony, Chairman Niraula said that the commission will try to resolve the problems of squatters. He said that his team would try to overcome the squatters’ problems. Squatters have been adding to the problems in the country for a long time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The commission has been formed for the welfare of the underprivileged, landless and disorganized dwellers. The Government of Nepal has appointed me as the Chairman for the Commission,” said Niraula.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The previous government led by UML chairperson KP Sharma Oli had formed the Land Problem Solving Commission under the chairmanship of UML leader Devi Gyawali in April 2020. The Deuba government had dissolved the commission at the beginning of its tenure.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The current government had to face harsh criticism for dissolving the commission at a time when it was carrying out its works by forming committees in all 77 districts. Meanwhile, the main opposition UML had accused the government of doing injustice to the landless by dissolving the erstwhile commission. The issue is still sub judice at the Supreme Court.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13711', 'image' => '20210917111525_Logo_of_Nepal_(2020).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 12:45:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13965', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Collects Rs 23 Million Royalty from Autumn Climbing Permits ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The federal government has collected more than Rs 23 million revenue from autumn climbing permit issued this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 16: The federal government has collected more than Rs 23 million revenue from autumn climbing permit issued this year. Autumn is considered an ideal season for climbing after the spring season. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Meera Acharya, the director at the Mountaineering section of the Department of Tourism, the government body authorized to issue climbing permits, the department has collected US$ 19,7350 equivalent to Rs 23.07 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of September 14, a total of 25 expedition teams that include 230 climbers (52 female climbers) have been granted climbing permits for this autumn, the state-owned national news agency reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The climbers have received permission to climb six mountains ranging from 6000 meters to over 8000 meters. Those mountains include Mariyang (6528 m), Mt Putha Himchuli (7246 m), Mt Kumbhakarna (7710 m), Mt Manaslu (8163 m), Mt Dhaulagiri (8167 m) and Mt Kanchenjunga (8586 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 171 climbers, including 38 women, from 17 teams have been issued permits to climb Mt Manaslu. On the other hand, only three climbers each have received permits to climb Mt Putha Himchuli and Mt Kanchenjunga, the department informed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, a team of five male climbers are attempting to scale Mt Kumbhakarna, while eight climbers including one female representing an expedition team are vying for Mariyang and 40 climbers including 12 female climbers are trying to scale Mt Dhaulagiri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“In Nepal, the peak climbing season is spring which ranges from March, April and May,'' RSS quoted Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa, an international mountain guide, as saying. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sherpa, who also guided Nepal's own Everest Height Measurement team to scale Mt Everest in 2019, added that some climbers choose autumn season which falls in the months of September, October and November. </span></span></span><br /> <img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200917091916_Clipboard36.jpg" style="height:480px; width:800px" /></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13710', 'image' => '20210916112325_20210316050606_climbing.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 11:22:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13964', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Extends Additional Support to Nepal’s School and Health Sectors', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank have signed two separate financing agreements of US$50 million.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">September 16: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank have signed two separate financing agreements of US$50 million each as additional support to implement the government’s flagship School Sector Development Program (SSDP) in the education sector and public management reforms in the health sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The additional financing to the SSDP is expected to help reduce dropouts and mitigate learning losses by supporting pro-poor targeted scholarships, pro-science scholarships, and catch-up programs, the World Bank said in a statement. According to the World Bank, it will lay the foundation for the next school sector successor program in two areas – assessment and data systems, and help create the fiscal space to fill the gap in financing the government’s flagship program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the additional financing for Nepal Health Sector Management Reform for Results will support the original Nepal Health Sector Management Reform Program for Results implemented under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Population. It spearheads reforms in public procurement, financial management, data for decision making and citizen engagement for greater accountability in the health sector, the statement added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and the World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Faris Hadad-Zervos signed the agreements on behalf of their respective sides on Wednesday, September 15.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/NHSP_SSDP-signing-program---CopyPS.jpg" style="height:439px; width:780px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Strengthening Nepal’s education and health systems is an essential element of building back better from the pandemic,” the statement quoted Marasini as saying. “The reform agenda championed by the Nepal Health Sector Program for Results is critical to Nepal’s vision of an efficient, effective, transparent and accountable health system, and together with the School Sector Development Program, provides a catalyst for improved human capital development enabling Nepal to compete strongly post-COVID.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka Faris Hadad-Zervos said that these engagements contribute to Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development by making the country’s education and health systems more inclusive and resilient to future shocks, which will in turn help to accelerate human capital development.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> “I am very hopeful that that the additional financing will help propel Nepal closer to its goal of universal health coverage, and ensure equitable access and improve the quality of education and learning outcomes for children and young people in Nepal,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13709', 'image' => '20210916110436_20180811-world-bank.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 11:02:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13963', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Monopoly Ends as Private Company of India Joins the Fray', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: For the first time, a private company of Indian has started providing service for transporting cargo to Nepal through railway.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 15: For the first time, a private company of Indian has started providing service for transporting cargo to Nepal through railway. The Consulate of Nepal in Kolkata has informed that Hind Terminals has started such service from Haldia port of India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Consul General Ishwar Raj Poudel informed New Business Age that a train belonging to Hind Terminals has left for Birgunj Dry Port with 90 containers. The train that left Haldia Port on September 13 will reach Birgunj by September 15, informed Pristine Valley Logistics which operates the Birgunj Dry Port.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deputy Consul General Tarkaraj Bhatta said that the entry of private service providers in the transportation of goods to Nepal through railways has ended the monopoly in such transportation. "The monopoly has come to an end with the entry of private companies into the railway transport service. This has paved the way for competitive transportation services,” said Bhatta.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The railway service agreement between Nepal and India in 2004 gave a monopoly to the Indian Container Corporation (KONKAR) for rail transport. The agreement was amended only three months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The amended agreement has opened doors for private railway service providers in India and Nepal Railway Company for providing transportation of cargoes. Earlier, KONKAR had a monopoly on the transportation of containers and other cargo from the Indian ports of Kolkata, Haldia, and Visakhapatnam.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The businessmen had been demanding an amendment to the railway service agreement between Nepal and India saying that the fare was arbitrary due to the monopoly. In India, 15 private companies are providing transportation services through railway. Out of them, other companies including KONKAR have shown interest in providing transportation service to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Competition among Indian companies is expected to increase after the railway service agreement opens the way for private railway service providers to transport cargo to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This will make Nepal's transportation cost competitive, says Ashok Kumar Temani, coordinator of the Transport and Transit Committee under the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Province 2.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Coordinator Temani suggested that Nepal's private sector should also be involved in transportation to make transportation more competitive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pristine Logistics InfraProjects, the partner of Pristine Valley, which is currently operating the dry port of Birgunj, will also start service in a few days. Similarly, the JN Buxi group, which operates ports and rail services in India, has also started preparations to transport containers to Birgunj, officials said.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13708', 'image' => '20210915014455_20201206033259_1607211452.Clipboard16.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 13:44:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13962', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Labor Destination Countries Relaxing Covid-19 Restrictions', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: Pointing out to the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason, the major labor destination countries had imposed strict restrictions.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 15: Pointing out to the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason, the major labor destination countries had imposed strict restrictions. Such restrictions are being slowly eased up by those countries. This has given a glimmer of hope to aspiring migrant workers about better prospects of foreign employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Foreign employment has been greatly affected since the onset of the pandemic.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has lifted the travel restrictions from Monday. According to Reuters, travel restrictions have been lifted for citizens of 15 countries, including Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepali citizens who have received complete dosage of WHO-approved vaccine against Covid-19 would be allowed to enter the UAE. Earlier, citizens of different countries including Nepal were restricted from entering the UAE because of the spread of delta variant of Covid-19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The International Exhibition Fair of Dubai, which had been suspended due to the pandemic, is set to begin on October 1. According to the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, travel ban has been lifted considering the fair.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials had been saying that the travel restrictions imposed would be lifted before the Exhibition. The countries for which restriction has been lifted include Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Namibia, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria and Afghanistan. However, the certificate of PCR test has been made mandatory.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), Kuwait, Malaysia, Dubai, which are considered attractive employment destinations for Nepali citizens, have not taken any workers from Nepal. Nepali citizens have not been able to go to those countries for employment since almost two years as the destination countries have blacklisted due to the risk of Covid-19 and have not hired workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The UAE has relaxed its visa requirements. The UAE government has eased the restriction by strictly enforcing the Covid-19 protocols. The UAE has introduced new visa arrangements under 50 different schemes.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This arrangement brought by the UAE will make the visa process easier and more effective. Immigrants with a Golden Visa provided by the UAE will be able to live, work and study there without a national sponsor. According to the new rules, managers, CEOs, scientists, engineers, and people related to health, education, business, and technology sectors can apply for the Golden Visa. In addition, the visa has been made easier for highly-skilled and specialized residents, investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, leading students and graduates, according to the local media.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The UAE government has extended the three-month period for business travel to six months. Immigrants in the UAE will also be able to sponsor visas for their family members. Earlier, if an individual lost their job in the UAE for any reason or their visa expired, they could only stay in the UAE for one month. But according to the new rules, now they can stay for 3 months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kuwait, a destination country considered attractive for Nepali citizens, is preparing to open visas after some time. Kuwait is about to open visas after an interval of about half a year. According to the Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior, the country has been issuing visit visas for business and travel purposes. First, they would open a visit visa and then gradually other visas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The demand for construction consultants, engineers, technicians and teachers in Kuwait has increased tremendously. Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Employment conducted a language test on Monday for young people wishing to go to Israel. According to the Department, the examinations were conducted in a peaceful and disciplined manner in 16 examination centers in Kathmandu.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Altogether 9,699 Nepalis, including 4,200 women and 5,499 men, had applied to go to Israel. Out of them, 7,009 had received admit card. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director of the department Kamal Gyawali will publish the results of the examination within 5 days. Interviews will be conducted within 10 to 12 days. The government is preparing to prepare a list of 1,400 qualified workers to send them to Israel by the last week of September.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13707', 'image' => '20210915011727_20201125033543_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 13:16:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13961', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Observe ‘Budget Holiday’ from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: The government will not be able to spend from the state coffers from Wednesday (September 15) due to the failure to endorse the Replacement Bill within the given deadline.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: The government will not be able to spend from the state coffers from Wednesday (September 15) due to the failure to endorse the Replacement Bill within the given deadline. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is a legal provision that an ordinance has to be endorsed within 60 days since it is presented in parliament. The replacement bill should also be endorsed within the same period. The deadline to endorse the ordinance budget presented in parliament by the erstwhile Oli government on May 29 has expired today (September 15). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Agni Sapkota has deferred the House of Representatives meeting until September 20. This has effectively stopped government expenditure from Wednesday (September 15). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking with media persons at the Federal Parliament in New Baneshwor after the failure to endorse the replacement bill on Tuesday, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma admitted that the government’s expenditure could be stopped for some days but the country will move on. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current situation is referred to as ‘budget holiday’ in terms of economics.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government was expected to endorse the replacement bill through regular process of the House of Representatives on Tuesday but it was not possible due to the obstruction caused by the UML lawmakers. The main opposition party UML has been obstructing the lower house proceedings since the current session began on September 8.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">What happens when the budget is not endorsed?</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the budget is not passed, the salary allowance of high ranking officials will not be stopped. Important state bodies and individuals will benefit from the government's accumulated fund. The salaries of the President, Vice President, Chief Justice, heads of the constitutional bodies, speaker / deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, chairperson / vice-chairperson of the National Assembly will be paid from the reserve fund.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, the salary and perks of the prime minister, ministers and government staff will be stopped due to lack of budget spending authority. Similarly, the budget allocated by the government for development projects and other works will not be disbursed until the budget is endorsed from the parliament.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13706', 'image' => '20210915125442_20210616024457_20200504033240_1588549898.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 12:53:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13960', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Average Stay of Tourists Increases ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: The average stay of foreign tourists coming to Nepal is found to have increased although their numbers has decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: The average stay of foreign tourists coming to Nepal is found to have increased although their numbers has decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 'Nepal Tourism Data 2020' recently released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation shows that the average stay of tourists has increased somewhat compared to the previous years and crossed 15 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The average stay of tourists in the country in the previous three years was around 12 days. It was 12.7 days in 2019, 12.4 days in 2018 and 12.6 days in 2017. Before that the average tourist stay was 13.12 days and 13.16 days in 2011 and 2016 respectively. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the duration of tourists' stay increasing, their spending has also increased. Per tourist spending has increased to US$ 65 as compared to the previous years. In previous years the average per tourist spending was US$ 45. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Compared to the previous years, the arrival of tourists has declined by almost 80 per cent in 2020 due to the pandemic. Only 230,085 tourists had visited Nepal in 2020 amid the pandemic compared to over 1.19 million visitors in 2019 and 1.17 million visitors in 2018.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal’s foreign currency earnings from the tourism sector has witnessed a 71 per cent decrease as the sector is badly affected by the pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Four hundred and forty seven climbers from 153 teams had taken mountaineering permit in 2020, which is less by 92 per cent as compared to the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the tourism data, the number of countries with which bilateral air service agreement were made has reached 40 until 2020. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of Nepali airlines companies operating international flights is three while the number of international airliners operating flight to and from Nepal has reached 27. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Tribhuvan International Airport is the only one international airport in the country that is currently operational. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of 2020, there were 54 domestic airports and of them 37 were blacktopped. The number of airports in which flights can be operated in all seasons is 35. Twenty airline companies, including 10 helicopter companies are conducting domestic flights. The number of companies operating adventure and recreational flights has reached 80. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13705', 'image' => '20210915111631_20210404125527_20200807075017_1596774556.Trekking pic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 11:15:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13959', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal and Bangladesh Agree to Undertake Sunkoshi III Project ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly undertake the 683 MW Sunkoshi III semi-reservoir project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly undertake the 683 MW Sunkoshi III semi-reservoir project. The two countries are expected to reach a final decision in this regard by next December after discussing the structure of the project and the construction model. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, Nepal had proposed five different projects to Bangladesh. A meeting of the energy secretaries of the two countries held on Tuesday, September 14, decided to undertake the Sunkoshi III project after approval from Bangladesh. This is reportedly the first agreement reached the two governments for the construction of a hydropower project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The joint meeting was co-chaired by Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Devendra Karki and Secretary at the Ministry of Power and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh Mohammad Habibur Rahman. A joint secretary-level meeting between Nepal and Bangladesh on Monday had proposed to build one of the two major projects in a joint venture. Among them were Sunkoshi III and Khimti Shivalaya. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Madhu Bhetuwal confirmed that the two countries had reached an understanding to undertake the project on the basis of the same proposal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, Bangladesh wants to import a total of 9,000 MW of electricity from Nepal by 2040. Bangladesh, which is looking for resources to address the growing energy demand, is keen to invest with Nepal in both public and private sectors. </span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bangladesh had proposed to Nepal for the construction of a reservoir project at the government level during the state visit of the then Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun to Bangladesh some years ago. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In response, the ministry had formed a technical committee for necessary study. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study committee formed by the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation had proposed Arun IV, Kimathanka Arun, Sunkoshi III, Khimti Shivalaya and one other project of Province No 1. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13704', 'image' => '20210915110111_Flag-Pins-Bangladesh-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 11:00:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13958', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Leather Falls', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 14: Export of readymade leather, a source of convertible currency, has been steadily declining as the demand for ready-made leather has taken a nosedive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">September 14: Export of readymade leather, a source of convertible currency, has been steadily declining as the demand for ready-made leather has taken a nosedive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Three industries including Asian Leather Industry, Nepal Tanning Industry and United Leather are exporting leather from Biratnagar to India and overseas. An industry in Biratnagar has been closed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the data of Biratnagar Customs Office, 821,629 kg of leather worth Rs 105.94 million was exported in the last fiscal year 2077/78, which is less than the previous fiscal year 2076/77.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A total of 2,349,640 square feet of leather worth Rs 109.11 million was exported from Biratnagar in the fiscal year 2076/77. The export was less in FY 2077/78 than in FY 2076/77 by Rs 3.2 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In the fiscal year 2076/77, Nepali leather was exported to the international market at the rate of Rs 46.44 per square foot. However, in the previous fiscal year 2075/76, the exporters had exported leather at the rate of Rs 49.77 per square feet. According to the customs office, 5,783,010 square feet of leather worth Rs 287.82 million was exported in fiscal year 2075/76.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Fiscal year 2074/75 had been a golden year for leather exporters. The exporters were paid Rs 73.20 per square foot of leather that year. According to the statistics, 5,138,119 square feet of leather worth Rs 376.11 million was exported in the fiscal year 2075/76.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Processed leather is exported from Nepal to India, China, Italy, Mexico, France, Turkey, Latin America and other countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Hassan Ansari, director of Asian Leather Industries, there has been a global recession in the leather business. The industry has been exporting leather to countries including Mexico, France, Brazil and Italy. This time too, they have received some orders from those countries. However, the shipping agency in Kolkata is refusing to provide containers. Container fares have increased fourfold in the past 18 months, but shipping liners have not agreed to provide containers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Entrepreneur Ansari complained that although the container fare from Kolkata port to China has increased from $700 to $2,200 and from $1,400 to $4,200 to Italy, the containers are not available during the time of need. He said that the Department of Transport under the Government of Nepal should show initiative and become active to facilitate the export of leather.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">"How can we take orders when we can't arrange the delivery on time?" said Ansari, “So the government should be proactive in facilitating exports.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> Pervez Akhtar, vice-president of the Nepal Leathers-Tanners Association and operator of United Leather, claimed that Nepal's leather industry was using more than 80 percent raw materials available in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">However, he complained that leather exporters have not received the incentive from the government for the past four years. "We have not received any incentive for the last four years,” he said. He revealed that he was yet to receive more than Rs 2.5 million incentives. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-14', 'modified' => '2021-09-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13703', 'image' => '20210914025646_Leathertools.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-14 14:56:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13972', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'British Embassy Pledges to Help Increase FDI in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: Stating that Nepal has a favorable environment for investment, the British Embassy in Nepal said that it would play a constructive role in helping increase foreign direct investments in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><em>CNI delegation with British Ambassador to Nepal Nicola Politt in this recent photo. Photo Courtesy: CNI</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 17: Stating that Nepal has a favorable environment for investment, the British Embassy in Nepal said that it would play a constructive role in helping increase foreign direct investments in Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Issuing a statement after a meeting with office bearers of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) on Wednesday (September 15), British Ambassador to Nepal, Nicola Kathryn Pollitt said that she would take initiative to attract British investors to Nepal by helping improve the business environment. "Foreign direct investment can play an important role in Nepal's development,” the statement quoted Pollitt as saying.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ambassador Pollitt highlighted the fact that challenging days are ahead from the perspective of climate change. She also mentioned that the private sector can work to mitigate the effects of climate change. "The private sector can work to promote green energy," said Ambassador Pollitt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on public life and industry, Pollitt proclaimed that the UK has provided significant support to Nepal in the areas of humanitarian assistance and development. During the meeting, CNI President Vishnu Kumar Agrawal said, on the one hand, unemployment is a serious problem in Nepal, while on the other hand, there is lack of skilled manpower. He noted that the UK's support programs and conferences could help in skill development.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the current situation where the contribution of industrial sector to Nepal's GDP is quite small, the CNI has launched the Make in Nepal-Indigenous Campaign, said President Agarwal. He mentioned that the campaign has been taken forward with the main goal of industrial development, export promotion, job creation and increase in consumption of goods produced in Nepal. Stating that the CNI is in constant dialogue with the government for the promotion of start-ups, he stressed on the need to bring small businesses into the mainstream of economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the meeting, the immediate past president of the confederation Satish Kumar More said that there is good potential for investment in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Vice President of the Confederation Raj Bahadur Shah said that the embassy could help in the promotion of tourism in Nepal. He further said that the CNI would work in a planned manner for the development and promotion of Nepal's tourism industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director General of the Confederation Yadav Prasad Poudyal and Director Sabin Mishra were also present at the meeting held at the British Embassy in Kathmandu on Wednesday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13717', 'image' => '20210917120605_IMG_0470-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 12:04:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13971', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '70 Percent Migrant Workers Say They Will not Choose Same Recruiting Agency Again ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: More than two-thirds of Nepali migrant workers abroad say they will not choose the same recruiting agency if they were to go again for foreign employment. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 17: More than two-thirds of Nepali migrant workers abroad say they will not choose the same recruiting agency if they were to go again for foreign employment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This finding is based on an analysis report of the Migrant Recruitment Advisor (MRA) in Nepal which was shared during a sub-regional South Asia meeting on MRA organized by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The preliminary analysis report was prepared on the basis of the responses of 1,539 migrant workers and returnee migrant workers. Among the respondents, 70 per cent said they will not take the service of the same recruiting agency which they chose first time if they have to go for foreign employment again. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 98 per cent of the respondents said they paid service charge more than that fixed by the government while going on foreign employment. They said paid more than Rs 100,000 as service charge. Only two per cent said they did not pay any extra fees or charges in the recruitment process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has fixed the minimum service charge and implemented the 'free visa, free ticket' provision for the major labour destination countries while no fees are charged for Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius and some other countries. Despite these provisions, a majority of the respondents said they had to pay exorbitant fees during the recruitment process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nearly one third of the respondents said they were not given the work in the destination countries that was promised at the time of recruitment while 53 per cent of them stated that they were not getting the salary as mentioned in the contract. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, 96 per cent of the respondents said their employers have not returned their passport and other documents to them in course of the employment. Only 26.4 per cent of them said they would return to their previous employer. This shows that a large number of migrant workers are not satisfied with their employers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, a majority of the respondents said they were deprived of their right to independently leave the destination country. Eighty-three per cent of the respondents said so. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The preliminary report shows that 80 per cent of the respondents have taken the pre-departure orientation. The government has made this orientation training mandatory for the workers before going for foreign employment. One cannot go for overseas job without taking this pre-departure orientation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is stated that although the government has adopted various policies for making the migrant recruitment process fair and dignified their implementation is weak. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The workers are still vulnerable to abusive recruitment especially when they are seeking jobs in an environment of high unemployment, exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic, when there is intense competition for jobs, domestically or abroad, and when they are not protected by strong and effective workers' organizations and by clear laws and effective enforcement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The MRA website was launched in 2018 to enable the ITUC and its affiliates to create a global poor-to-peer recruitment review platform that provides accurate information on recruitment to both prospective migrant workers and workers already living and working in labour destination countries. --RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13716', 'image' => '20210917114636_20210915011727_20201125033543_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 11:45:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13970', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sugar Price to go Through the Roof', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: The price of sugar is estimated to reach more than Rs 100 per kg during this Dashain festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 17: The price of sugar is estimated to reach more than Rs 100 per kg during this Dashain festival. The two state-owned companies – Salt Trading Corporation and Food Management and Trading Company Limited – that have been selling sugar at subsidized rate do not have stock of sugar for the festive season. This is why traders might increase the price of sugar at their will and the price of sugar can go through the roof.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the Salt Trading Corporation has about 200 tons of sugar while the Food Management and Trading Company Limited has zero stock of sugar. Concerned officials have said that traders can seize this opportunity and arbitrarily fix the price of sugar. Not only the government company, but also the sugar producers' association does not have sufficient stock of sugar. The union currently has only about 6,000 tons of sugar in stock.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brajesh Kumar Jha, divisional manager of the Salt Trading Corporation, said that traders are expected to fix the price of sugar up to Rs 110 per kg in the upcoming festival, showing the shortage of sugar. According to him, the government has not allowed the government company to buy sugar, which has made it easier for traders to fix the price of sugar of their choosing. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pavitra Bajracharya, the outgoing president of the Nepal Retailers Association, also agrees with Jha’s statement. "In the next few days, the price of sugar will reach Rs 100 per kg and it is likely to go up further during the Dashain," he said. “At present, the retailers are buying sugar at a wholesale price of Rs 90 per kg. Adding the labor cost and labor charge, it costs Rs 95 per kg of sugar. We are now selling sugar to consumers at Rs 95, so we have to pay Rs 100. If the government fails to bring sugar by then, the price will go above Rs 100,” he told New Business Age.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government itself is to blame for the constant increase in the price of sugar. Consumers have been directly affected by the government's failure to allow timely purchase of sugar. The corporation had sent a letter to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies about eight months ago seeking permission to import sugar at a concessional rate. The proposal has not been approved so far, which has caused problems in importing sugar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The letter sent by the corporation seeking permission to import 30,000 metric tons of sugar is still pending at the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance has remained silent on this issue.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The corporation again sent a letter to the supply department last Friday seeking permission from the government to expedite the purchase of sugar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson for the corporation, Kumar Raj Bhandari, said that there is a strong possibility that the price of sugar would go out of control if the ministry ignores this issue.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13715', 'image' => '20210917104641_20210511045157_20201220120511_Sweet2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 10:45:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13969', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Imports Electricity from India at Increased Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been found purchasing electricity from India last year at 2.44 percent high rate. This was revealed in the annual report of NEA which was published recently.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been found purchasing electricity from India last year at 2.44 percent high rate. This was revealed in the annual report of NEA which was published recently.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the report, NEA purchased 1 kWh of electricity from India at Rs 7.95 during last fiscal year. The amount is 19 paisa more than the rate of the previous fiscal year 2076/77. In the previous fiscal year, NEA had purchased electricity from India at an average of Rs 7.76 per kilowatt-hour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">While the NEA has been purchasing electricity from India at a higher rate, it has been paying less for the electricity produced by the private sector of Nepal. The average rate of electricity purchased from the private sector has decreased by 19.26 percent in the last fiscal year. Last year, 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity was purchased from the private sector at Rs 5.86. In the previous fiscal year, electricity was purchased at Rs 7.25 per kilowatt-hour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the import of electricity from India has also increased in the last fiscal year. Indian electricity imports have increased by 63.45 percent in the last fiscal year. According to the statistics, 2,826 gigawatt-hours of electricity was imported in the last fiscal year, which is a massive increase compared to the previous fiscal year. In the previous fiscal year, 1,729 gigawatts-hour of electricity was imported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lately, electricity production in Nepal is growing. However, most hydropower projects are based on river current, and production declines during the winter season. This is when electricity is imported from India to meet the demand. However, Nepal also exports electricity during the monsoon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, Nepal consumed 8,877 gigawatt-hours of electricity. This is an increase of 14.68 percent compared to the previous year. In the previous fiscal year, 7,741 gigawatt-hours of electricity was consumed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, the private sector supplied 3,241 gigawatt-hours of electricity apart from NEA projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Deputy Executive Director and Chief of Production Directorate Harraj Neupane said that the import of electricity has increased due to two reasons. He said that imports have increased due to reduction in river water and increase in demand for electricity during the dry season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The demand for electricity increased last year, but it could not be generated accordingly. The Tamakoshi project was also delayed. As a result, electricity imports have increased," he informed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the reason for the high tariff of Indian electricity was not clear and the rate may have gone up due to inflation.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13714', 'image' => '20210916012712_20210514031053_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 13:26:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13968', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Competition Among Railway Service Providers Reduces Fare', 'sub_title' => 'CONCOR Slashes Shipping Charges as New Private Company Starts Cargo Service', 'summary' => 'September 16: Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which used to enjoy monopoly for transporting cargo to Nepal, has slashed the shipping charges as soon as its competitor from the private sector started railway service to transport goods to Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">Om Prakash Khanal</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which used to enjoy monopoly for transporting cargo to Nepal, has slashed the shipping charges as soon as its competitor from the private sector started railway service to transport goods to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CONCOR slashed the shipping charges for the first time after the private railway company arrived in Birgunj carrying containers following the amendment to the Nepal-India Railway Service Agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Issuing a notice on Wednesday, September 15, CONCOR reduced the fare from Kolkata port to Birgunj by 31 to 37 percent. Similarly, fares have also been significantly reduced for cargo transportation from Haldia port, to be effective immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The 2004 Railway Agreement gave a monopoly to CONCOR, a subsidiary company of the Indian Railways, for providing cargo services to Nepal-bound goods. The Indian Railways had built a railway track to the dry port of Birgunj.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal's private sector had been demanding amendment to the agreement, stating that the fares were being charged arbitrarily. Though the government had proposed for the amendment, the Indian side has been reluctant to revise it in the past.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Entrepreneurs say that the cut down in soon after the entry of a private railway company has confirmed that CONCOR had been charging arbitrarily for the freight services. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CONCOR brings containers from Kolkata port to Birgunj and delivers the empty containers back to the yard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The new fare for transporting goods up to 31 metric tons in a 20-feet container is IRs 39,856 while bringing 30 tons of goods in a 40-feet container costs IRs 58,008. Until,September 14, the rates were IRs 61,466 and IRs 85,198, respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There has also been a massive reduction in fares based on the quantities of goods to be transported from Kolkata and Haldia ports. CONCOR has also reduced fares from Haldia port to Birgunj by 25 to 31 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Eknarayan Aryal, the then Consul General of Nepal in Kolkata, who is currently a secretary of the Government of Nepal, had played a crucial role to remove paperworks at Nepali customs and increase competition in cargo services.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Aryal thinks Nepal's foreign trade can be made more competitive if the existing railway infrastructure, the only service available in Birgunj, is expanded to other border points as soon as possible and Nepal Railways brings its railways into operation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, four companies including CONCOR have come forward to provide container services to Nepal. Pristine Logistics and Infraprojects Pvt Ltd, Pristine Valley's main Indian partner, is also set to launch the service in a few days.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ishwar Raj Poudel, Nepal’s Consul General in Kolkata, the company has already started the process to provide cargo services from Kolkata. JM Buxi group, which operates ports and railways in India, is also preparing to transport containers to Birgunj, officials said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Poudel said that decline in freight charges with the entry of private service providers is encouraging for Nepal's foreign trade, which should be utilized by Nepali entrepreneurs. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13713', 'image' => '20210916015500_1631742368.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 13:06:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13967', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dhaka Producer Feted', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: In order to encourage small and cottage industries, Chaubise Samaj Dharan has started the tradition of honoring entrepreneurs working in this field.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: In order to encourage small and cottage industries, Chaubise Samaj Dharan has started the tradition of honoring entrepreneurs working in this field. Chaubise Samaj has honored Yamuna Sanyak, an entrepreneur who has been running Dhaka industry in Dharan for a long time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanyak was honored on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the organization for promoting the traditional culture by operating the Dhaka industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanyak, who has been running Chaubise Sanyak Dhaka Industry in Dharan for the past four years, said that the honor has encouraged her to strive better. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “This honor has energised me and encouraged me to work more actively in the entrepreneurship sector. I am very happy to be honored and I also want to thank the organization for honoring me.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Her industry employs more than 100 women directly and indirectly. She has been exporting original Nepali dhaka clothes to about one and a half dozen countries outside Nepal. She is also active in business as well as social service.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13712', 'image' => '20210916125307_241439055_638203394233948_307060722226164987_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 12:49:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13966', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Forms New Land Commission', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The government has formed a new commission to resolve the problems of landless squatters.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: The government has formed a new commission to resolve the problems of landless squatters.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The recent cabinet meeting decided to form the National Land Commission headed by Keshav Niraula, former central chairman of the Nepal Teachers Association affiliated to the Nepali Congress. The government has appointed Mahendra Khadka as the vice-chairman of the commission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed chairman Niraula and vice chair Khadka amid a function at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at Singha Durbar on Wednesday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking after the oath-taking ceremony, Chairman Niraula said that the commission will try to resolve the problems of squatters. He said that his team would try to overcome the squatters’ problems. Squatters have been adding to the problems in the country for a long time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The commission has been formed for the welfare of the underprivileged, landless and disorganized dwellers. The Government of Nepal has appointed me as the Chairman for the Commission,” said Niraula.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The previous government led by UML chairperson KP Sharma Oli had formed the Land Problem Solving Commission under the chairmanship of UML leader Devi Gyawali in April 2020. The Deuba government had dissolved the commission at the beginning of its tenure.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The current government had to face harsh criticism for dissolving the commission at a time when it was carrying out its works by forming committees in all 77 districts. Meanwhile, the main opposition UML had accused the government of doing injustice to the landless by dissolving the erstwhile commission. The issue is still sub judice at the Supreme Court.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13711', 'image' => '20210917111525_Logo_of_Nepal_(2020).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 12:45:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13965', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Collects Rs 23 Million Royalty from Autumn Climbing Permits ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The federal government has collected more than Rs 23 million revenue from autumn climbing permit issued this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 16: The federal government has collected more than Rs 23 million revenue from autumn climbing permit issued this year. Autumn is considered an ideal season for climbing after the spring season. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Meera Acharya, the director at the Mountaineering section of the Department of Tourism, the government body authorized to issue climbing permits, the department has collected US$ 19,7350 equivalent to Rs 23.07 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of September 14, a total of 25 expedition teams that include 230 climbers (52 female climbers) have been granted climbing permits for this autumn, the state-owned national news agency reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The climbers have received permission to climb six mountains ranging from 6000 meters to over 8000 meters. Those mountains include Mariyang (6528 m), Mt Putha Himchuli (7246 m), Mt Kumbhakarna (7710 m), Mt Manaslu (8163 m), Mt Dhaulagiri (8167 m) and Mt Kanchenjunga (8586 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 171 climbers, including 38 women, from 17 teams have been issued permits to climb Mt Manaslu. On the other hand, only three climbers each have received permits to climb Mt Putha Himchuli and Mt Kanchenjunga, the department informed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, a team of five male climbers are attempting to scale Mt Kumbhakarna, while eight climbers including one female representing an expedition team are vying for Mariyang and 40 climbers including 12 female climbers are trying to scale Mt Dhaulagiri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“In Nepal, the peak climbing season is spring which ranges from March, April and May,'' RSS quoted Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa, an international mountain guide, as saying. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sherpa, who also guided Nepal's own Everest Height Measurement team to scale Mt Everest in 2019, added that some climbers choose autumn season which falls in the months of September, October and November. </span></span></span><br /> <img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200917091916_Clipboard36.jpg" style="height:480px; width:800px" /></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13710', 'image' => '20210916112325_20210316050606_climbing.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 11:22:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13964', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Extends Additional Support to Nepal’s School and Health Sectors', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank have signed two separate financing agreements of US$50 million.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">September 16: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank have signed two separate financing agreements of US$50 million each as additional support to implement the government’s flagship School Sector Development Program (SSDP) in the education sector and public management reforms in the health sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The additional financing to the SSDP is expected to help reduce dropouts and mitigate learning losses by supporting pro-poor targeted scholarships, pro-science scholarships, and catch-up programs, the World Bank said in a statement. According to the World Bank, it will lay the foundation for the next school sector successor program in two areas – assessment and data systems, and help create the fiscal space to fill the gap in financing the government’s flagship program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the additional financing for Nepal Health Sector Management Reform for Results will support the original Nepal Health Sector Management Reform Program for Results implemented under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Population. It spearheads reforms in public procurement, financial management, data for decision making and citizen engagement for greater accountability in the health sector, the statement added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and the World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Faris Hadad-Zervos signed the agreements on behalf of their respective sides on Wednesday, September 15.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/NHSP_SSDP-signing-program---CopyPS.jpg" style="height:439px; width:780px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Strengthening Nepal’s education and health systems is an essential element of building back better from the pandemic,” the statement quoted Marasini as saying. “The reform agenda championed by the Nepal Health Sector Program for Results is critical to Nepal’s vision of an efficient, effective, transparent and accountable health system, and together with the School Sector Development Program, provides a catalyst for improved human capital development enabling Nepal to compete strongly post-COVID.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka Faris Hadad-Zervos said that these engagements contribute to Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development by making the country’s education and health systems more inclusive and resilient to future shocks, which will in turn help to accelerate human capital development.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> “I am very hopeful that that the additional financing will help propel Nepal closer to its goal of universal health coverage, and ensure equitable access and improve the quality of education and learning outcomes for children and young people in Nepal,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13709', 'image' => '20210916110436_20180811-world-bank.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 11:02:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13963', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Monopoly Ends as Private Company of India Joins the Fray', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: For the first time, a private company of Indian has started providing service for transporting cargo to Nepal through railway.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 15: For the first time, a private company of Indian has started providing service for transporting cargo to Nepal through railway. The Consulate of Nepal in Kolkata has informed that Hind Terminals has started such service from Haldia port of India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Consul General Ishwar Raj Poudel informed New Business Age that a train belonging to Hind Terminals has left for Birgunj Dry Port with 90 containers. The train that left Haldia Port on September 13 will reach Birgunj by September 15, informed Pristine Valley Logistics which operates the Birgunj Dry Port.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deputy Consul General Tarkaraj Bhatta said that the entry of private service providers in the transportation of goods to Nepal through railways has ended the monopoly in such transportation. "The monopoly has come to an end with the entry of private companies into the railway transport service. This has paved the way for competitive transportation services,” said Bhatta.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The railway service agreement between Nepal and India in 2004 gave a monopoly to the Indian Container Corporation (KONKAR) for rail transport. The agreement was amended only three months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The amended agreement has opened doors for private railway service providers in India and Nepal Railway Company for providing transportation of cargoes. Earlier, KONKAR had a monopoly on the transportation of containers and other cargo from the Indian ports of Kolkata, Haldia, and Visakhapatnam.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The businessmen had been demanding an amendment to the railway service agreement between Nepal and India saying that the fare was arbitrary due to the monopoly. In India, 15 private companies are providing transportation services through railway. Out of them, other companies including KONKAR have shown interest in providing transportation service to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Competition among Indian companies is expected to increase after the railway service agreement opens the way for private railway service providers to transport cargo to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This will make Nepal's transportation cost competitive, says Ashok Kumar Temani, coordinator of the Transport and Transit Committee under the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Province 2.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Coordinator Temani suggested that Nepal's private sector should also be involved in transportation to make transportation more competitive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pristine Logistics InfraProjects, the partner of Pristine Valley, which is currently operating the dry port of Birgunj, will also start service in a few days. Similarly, the JN Buxi group, which operates ports and rail services in India, has also started preparations to transport containers to Birgunj, officials said.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13708', 'image' => '20210915014455_20201206033259_1607211452.Clipboard16.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 13:44:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13962', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Labor Destination Countries Relaxing Covid-19 Restrictions', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: Pointing out to the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason, the major labor destination countries had imposed strict restrictions.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 15: Pointing out to the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason, the major labor destination countries had imposed strict restrictions. Such restrictions are being slowly eased up by those countries. This has given a glimmer of hope to aspiring migrant workers about better prospects of foreign employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Foreign employment has been greatly affected since the onset of the pandemic.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has lifted the travel restrictions from Monday. According to Reuters, travel restrictions have been lifted for citizens of 15 countries, including Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepali citizens who have received complete dosage of WHO-approved vaccine against Covid-19 would be allowed to enter the UAE. Earlier, citizens of different countries including Nepal were restricted from entering the UAE because of the spread of delta variant of Covid-19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The International Exhibition Fair of Dubai, which had been suspended due to the pandemic, is set to begin on October 1. According to the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, travel ban has been lifted considering the fair.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials had been saying that the travel restrictions imposed would be lifted before the Exhibition. The countries for which restriction has been lifted include Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Namibia, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria and Afghanistan. However, the certificate of PCR test has been made mandatory.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), Kuwait, Malaysia, Dubai, which are considered attractive employment destinations for Nepali citizens, have not taken any workers from Nepal. Nepali citizens have not been able to go to those countries for employment since almost two years as the destination countries have blacklisted due to the risk of Covid-19 and have not hired workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The UAE has relaxed its visa requirements. The UAE government has eased the restriction by strictly enforcing the Covid-19 protocols. The UAE has introduced new visa arrangements under 50 different schemes.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This arrangement brought by the UAE will make the visa process easier and more effective. Immigrants with a Golden Visa provided by the UAE will be able to live, work and study there without a national sponsor. According to the new rules, managers, CEOs, scientists, engineers, and people related to health, education, business, and technology sectors can apply for the Golden Visa. In addition, the visa has been made easier for highly-skilled and specialized residents, investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, leading students and graduates, according to the local media.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The UAE government has extended the three-month period for business travel to six months. Immigrants in the UAE will also be able to sponsor visas for their family members. Earlier, if an individual lost their job in the UAE for any reason or their visa expired, they could only stay in the UAE for one month. But according to the new rules, now they can stay for 3 months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kuwait, a destination country considered attractive for Nepali citizens, is preparing to open visas after some time. Kuwait is about to open visas after an interval of about half a year. According to the Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior, the country has been issuing visit visas for business and travel purposes. First, they would open a visit visa and then gradually other visas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The demand for construction consultants, engineers, technicians and teachers in Kuwait has increased tremendously. Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Employment conducted a language test on Monday for young people wishing to go to Israel. According to the Department, the examinations were conducted in a peaceful and disciplined manner in 16 examination centers in Kathmandu.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Altogether 9,699 Nepalis, including 4,200 women and 5,499 men, had applied to go to Israel. Out of them, 7,009 had received admit card. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director of the department Kamal Gyawali will publish the results of the examination within 5 days. Interviews will be conducted within 10 to 12 days. The government is preparing to prepare a list of 1,400 qualified workers to send them to Israel by the last week of September.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13707', 'image' => '20210915011727_20201125033543_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 13:16:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13961', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Observe ‘Budget Holiday’ from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: The government will not be able to spend from the state coffers from Wednesday (September 15) due to the failure to endorse the Replacement Bill within the given deadline.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: The government will not be able to spend from the state coffers from Wednesday (September 15) due to the failure to endorse the Replacement Bill within the given deadline. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is a legal provision that an ordinance has to be endorsed within 60 days since it is presented in parliament. The replacement bill should also be endorsed within the same period. The deadline to endorse the ordinance budget presented in parliament by the erstwhile Oli government on May 29 has expired today (September 15). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Agni Sapkota has deferred the House of Representatives meeting until September 20. This has effectively stopped government expenditure from Wednesday (September 15). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking with media persons at the Federal Parliament in New Baneshwor after the failure to endorse the replacement bill on Tuesday, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma admitted that the government’s expenditure could be stopped for some days but the country will move on. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current situation is referred to as ‘budget holiday’ in terms of economics.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government was expected to endorse the replacement bill through regular process of the House of Representatives on Tuesday but it was not possible due to the obstruction caused by the UML lawmakers. The main opposition party UML has been obstructing the lower house proceedings since the current session began on September 8.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">What happens when the budget is not endorsed?</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the budget is not passed, the salary allowance of high ranking officials will not be stopped. Important state bodies and individuals will benefit from the government's accumulated fund. The salaries of the President, Vice President, Chief Justice, heads of the constitutional bodies, speaker / deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, chairperson / vice-chairperson of the National Assembly will be paid from the reserve fund.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, the salary and perks of the prime minister, ministers and government staff will be stopped due to lack of budget spending authority. Similarly, the budget allocated by the government for development projects and other works will not be disbursed until the budget is endorsed from the parliament.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13706', 'image' => '20210915125442_20210616024457_20200504033240_1588549898.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 12:53:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13960', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Average Stay of Tourists Increases ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: The average stay of foreign tourists coming to Nepal is found to have increased although their numbers has decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: The average stay of foreign tourists coming to Nepal is found to have increased although their numbers has decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 'Nepal Tourism Data 2020' recently released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation shows that the average stay of tourists has increased somewhat compared to the previous years and crossed 15 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The average stay of tourists in the country in the previous three years was around 12 days. It was 12.7 days in 2019, 12.4 days in 2018 and 12.6 days in 2017. Before that the average tourist stay was 13.12 days and 13.16 days in 2011 and 2016 respectively. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the duration of tourists' stay increasing, their spending has also increased. Per tourist spending has increased to US$ 65 as compared to the previous years. In previous years the average per tourist spending was US$ 45. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Compared to the previous years, the arrival of tourists has declined by almost 80 per cent in 2020 due to the pandemic. Only 230,085 tourists had visited Nepal in 2020 amid the pandemic compared to over 1.19 million visitors in 2019 and 1.17 million visitors in 2018.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal’s foreign currency earnings from the tourism sector has witnessed a 71 per cent decrease as the sector is badly affected by the pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Four hundred and forty seven climbers from 153 teams had taken mountaineering permit in 2020, which is less by 92 per cent as compared to the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the tourism data, the number of countries with which bilateral air service agreement were made has reached 40 until 2020. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of Nepali airlines companies operating international flights is three while the number of international airliners operating flight to and from Nepal has reached 27. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Tribhuvan International Airport is the only one international airport in the country that is currently operational. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of 2020, there were 54 domestic airports and of them 37 were blacktopped. The number of airports in which flights can be operated in all seasons is 35. Twenty airline companies, including 10 helicopter companies are conducting domestic flights. The number of companies operating adventure and recreational flights has reached 80. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13705', 'image' => '20210915111631_20210404125527_20200807075017_1596774556.Trekking pic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 11:15:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13959', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal and Bangladesh Agree to Undertake Sunkoshi III Project ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly undertake the 683 MW Sunkoshi III semi-reservoir project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly undertake the 683 MW Sunkoshi III semi-reservoir project. The two countries are expected to reach a final decision in this regard by next December after discussing the structure of the project and the construction model. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, Nepal had proposed five different projects to Bangladesh. A meeting of the energy secretaries of the two countries held on Tuesday, September 14, decided to undertake the Sunkoshi III project after approval from Bangladesh. This is reportedly the first agreement reached the two governments for the construction of a hydropower project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The joint meeting was co-chaired by Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Devendra Karki and Secretary at the Ministry of Power and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh Mohammad Habibur Rahman. A joint secretary-level meeting between Nepal and Bangladesh on Monday had proposed to build one of the two major projects in a joint venture. Among them were Sunkoshi III and Khimti Shivalaya. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Madhu Bhetuwal confirmed that the two countries had reached an understanding to undertake the project on the basis of the same proposal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, Bangladesh wants to import a total of 9,000 MW of electricity from Nepal by 2040. Bangladesh, which is looking for resources to address the growing energy demand, is keen to invest with Nepal in both public and private sectors. </span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bangladesh had proposed to Nepal for the construction of a reservoir project at the government level during the state visit of the then Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun to Bangladesh some years ago. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In response, the ministry had formed a technical committee for necessary study. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study committee formed by the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation had proposed Arun IV, Kimathanka Arun, Sunkoshi III, Khimti Shivalaya and one other project of Province No 1. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13704', 'image' => '20210915110111_Flag-Pins-Bangladesh-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 11:00:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13958', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Leather Falls', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 14: Export of readymade leather, a source of convertible currency, has been steadily declining as the demand for ready-made leather has taken a nosedive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">September 14: Export of readymade leather, a source of convertible currency, has been steadily declining as the demand for ready-made leather has taken a nosedive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Three industries including Asian Leather Industry, Nepal Tanning Industry and United Leather are exporting leather from Biratnagar to India and overseas. An industry in Biratnagar has been closed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the data of Biratnagar Customs Office, 821,629 kg of leather worth Rs 105.94 million was exported in the last fiscal year 2077/78, which is less than the previous fiscal year 2076/77.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A total of 2,349,640 square feet of leather worth Rs 109.11 million was exported from Biratnagar in the fiscal year 2076/77. The export was less in FY 2077/78 than in FY 2076/77 by Rs 3.2 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In the fiscal year 2076/77, Nepali leather was exported to the international market at the rate of Rs 46.44 per square foot. However, in the previous fiscal year 2075/76, the exporters had exported leather at the rate of Rs 49.77 per square feet. According to the customs office, 5,783,010 square feet of leather worth Rs 287.82 million was exported in fiscal year 2075/76.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Fiscal year 2074/75 had been a golden year for leather exporters. The exporters were paid Rs 73.20 per square foot of leather that year. According to the statistics, 5,138,119 square feet of leather worth Rs 376.11 million was exported in the fiscal year 2075/76.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Processed leather is exported from Nepal to India, China, Italy, Mexico, France, Turkey, Latin America and other countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Hassan Ansari, director of Asian Leather Industries, there has been a global recession in the leather business. The industry has been exporting leather to countries including Mexico, France, Brazil and Italy. This time too, they have received some orders from those countries. However, the shipping agency in Kolkata is refusing to provide containers. Container fares have increased fourfold in the past 18 months, but shipping liners have not agreed to provide containers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Entrepreneur Ansari complained that although the container fare from Kolkata port to China has increased from $700 to $2,200 and from $1,400 to $4,200 to Italy, the containers are not available during the time of need. He said that the Department of Transport under the Government of Nepal should show initiative and become active to facilitate the export of leather.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">"How can we take orders when we can't arrange the delivery on time?" said Ansari, “So the government should be proactive in facilitating exports.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> Pervez Akhtar, vice-president of the Nepal Leathers-Tanners Association and operator of United Leather, claimed that Nepal's leather industry was using more than 80 percent raw materials available in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">However, he complained that leather exporters have not received the incentive from the government for the past four years. "We have not received any incentive for the last four years,” he said. He revealed that he was yet to receive more than Rs 2.5 million incentives. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-14', 'modified' => '2021-09-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13703', 'image' => '20210914025646_Leathertools.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-14 14:56:05', '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' => '13972', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'British Embassy Pledges to Help Increase FDI in Nepal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: Stating that Nepal has a favorable environment for investment, the British Embassy in Nepal said that it would play a constructive role in helping increase foreign direct investments in Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><em>CNI delegation with British Ambassador to Nepal Nicola Politt in this recent photo. Photo Courtesy: CNI</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 17: Stating that Nepal has a favorable environment for investment, the British Embassy in Nepal said that it would play a constructive role in helping increase foreign direct investments in Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Issuing a statement after a meeting with office bearers of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) on Wednesday (September 15), British Ambassador to Nepal, Nicola Kathryn Pollitt said that she would take initiative to attract British investors to Nepal by helping improve the business environment. "Foreign direct investment can play an important role in Nepal's development,” the statement quoted Pollitt as saying.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ambassador Pollitt highlighted the fact that challenging days are ahead from the perspective of climate change. She also mentioned that the private sector can work to mitigate the effects of climate change. "The private sector can work to promote green energy," said Ambassador Pollitt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on public life and industry, Pollitt proclaimed that the UK has provided significant support to Nepal in the areas of humanitarian assistance and development. During the meeting, CNI President Vishnu Kumar Agrawal said, on the one hand, unemployment is a serious problem in Nepal, while on the other hand, there is lack of skilled manpower. He noted that the UK's support programs and conferences could help in skill development.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the current situation where the contribution of industrial sector to Nepal's GDP is quite small, the CNI has launched the Make in Nepal-Indigenous Campaign, said President Agarwal. He mentioned that the campaign has been taken forward with the main goal of industrial development, export promotion, job creation and increase in consumption of goods produced in Nepal. Stating that the CNI is in constant dialogue with the government for the promotion of start-ups, he stressed on the need to bring small businesses into the mainstream of economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the meeting, the immediate past president of the confederation Satish Kumar More said that there is good potential for investment in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Vice President of the Confederation Raj Bahadur Shah said that the embassy could help in the promotion of tourism in Nepal. He further said that the CNI would work in a planned manner for the development and promotion of Nepal's tourism industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director General of the Confederation Yadav Prasad Poudyal and Director Sabin Mishra were also present at the meeting held at the British Embassy in Kathmandu on Wednesday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13717', 'image' => '20210917120605_IMG_0470-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 12:04:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13971', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '70 Percent Migrant Workers Say They Will not Choose Same Recruiting Agency Again ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: More than two-thirds of Nepali migrant workers abroad say they will not choose the same recruiting agency if they were to go again for foreign employment. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 17: More than two-thirds of Nepali migrant workers abroad say they will not choose the same recruiting agency if they were to go again for foreign employment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This finding is based on an analysis report of the Migrant Recruitment Advisor (MRA) in Nepal which was shared during a sub-regional South Asia meeting on MRA organized by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The preliminary analysis report was prepared on the basis of the responses of 1,539 migrant workers and returnee migrant workers. Among the respondents, 70 per cent said they will not take the service of the same recruiting agency which they chose first time if they have to go for foreign employment again. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 98 per cent of the respondents said they paid service charge more than that fixed by the government while going on foreign employment. They said paid more than Rs 100,000 as service charge. Only two per cent said they did not pay any extra fees or charges in the recruitment process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has fixed the minimum service charge and implemented the 'free visa, free ticket' provision for the major labour destination countries while no fees are charged for Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius and some other countries. Despite these provisions, a majority of the respondents said they had to pay exorbitant fees during the recruitment process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nearly one third of the respondents said they were not given the work in the destination countries that was promised at the time of recruitment while 53 per cent of them stated that they were not getting the salary as mentioned in the contract. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, 96 per cent of the respondents said their employers have not returned their passport and other documents to them in course of the employment. Only 26.4 per cent of them said they would return to their previous employer. This shows that a large number of migrant workers are not satisfied with their employers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, a majority of the respondents said they were deprived of their right to independently leave the destination country. Eighty-three per cent of the respondents said so. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The preliminary report shows that 80 per cent of the respondents have taken the pre-departure orientation. The government has made this orientation training mandatory for the workers before going for foreign employment. One cannot go for overseas job without taking this pre-departure orientation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is stated that although the government has adopted various policies for making the migrant recruitment process fair and dignified their implementation is weak. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The workers are still vulnerable to abusive recruitment especially when they are seeking jobs in an environment of high unemployment, exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic, when there is intense competition for jobs, domestically or abroad, and when they are not protected by strong and effective workers' organizations and by clear laws and effective enforcement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The MRA website was launched in 2018 to enable the ITUC and its affiliates to create a global poor-to-peer recruitment review platform that provides accurate information on recruitment to both prospective migrant workers and workers already living and working in labour destination countries. --RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13716', 'image' => '20210917114636_20210915011727_20201125033543_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 11:45:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13970', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sugar Price to go Through the Roof', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: The price of sugar is estimated to reach more than Rs 100 per kg during this Dashain festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 17: The price of sugar is estimated to reach more than Rs 100 per kg during this Dashain festival. The two state-owned companies – Salt Trading Corporation and Food Management and Trading Company Limited – that have been selling sugar at subsidized rate do not have stock of sugar for the festive season. This is why traders might increase the price of sugar at their will and the price of sugar can go through the roof.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the Salt Trading Corporation has about 200 tons of sugar while the Food Management and Trading Company Limited has zero stock of sugar. Concerned officials have said that traders can seize this opportunity and arbitrarily fix the price of sugar. Not only the government company, but also the sugar producers' association does not have sufficient stock of sugar. The union currently has only about 6,000 tons of sugar in stock.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brajesh Kumar Jha, divisional manager of the Salt Trading Corporation, said that traders are expected to fix the price of sugar up to Rs 110 per kg in the upcoming festival, showing the shortage of sugar. According to him, the government has not allowed the government company to buy sugar, which has made it easier for traders to fix the price of sugar of their choosing. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pavitra Bajracharya, the outgoing president of the Nepal Retailers Association, also agrees with Jha’s statement. "In the next few days, the price of sugar will reach Rs 100 per kg and it is likely to go up further during the Dashain," he said. “At present, the retailers are buying sugar at a wholesale price of Rs 90 per kg. Adding the labor cost and labor charge, it costs Rs 95 per kg of sugar. We are now selling sugar to consumers at Rs 95, so we have to pay Rs 100. If the government fails to bring sugar by then, the price will go above Rs 100,” he told New Business Age.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government itself is to blame for the constant increase in the price of sugar. Consumers have been directly affected by the government's failure to allow timely purchase of sugar. The corporation had sent a letter to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies about eight months ago seeking permission to import sugar at a concessional rate. The proposal has not been approved so far, which has caused problems in importing sugar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The letter sent by the corporation seeking permission to import 30,000 metric tons of sugar is still pending at the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance has remained silent on this issue.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The corporation again sent a letter to the supply department last Friday seeking permission from the government to expedite the purchase of sugar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson for the corporation, Kumar Raj Bhandari, said that there is a strong possibility that the price of sugar would go out of control if the ministry ignores this issue.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13715', 'image' => '20210917104641_20210511045157_20201220120511_Sweet2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 10:45:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13969', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Imports Electricity from India at Increased Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been found purchasing electricity from India last year at 2.44 percent high rate. This was revealed in the annual report of NEA which was published recently.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been found purchasing electricity from India last year at 2.44 percent high rate. This was revealed in the annual report of NEA which was published recently.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the report, NEA purchased 1 kWh of electricity from India at Rs 7.95 during last fiscal year. The amount is 19 paisa more than the rate of the previous fiscal year 2076/77. In the previous fiscal year, NEA had purchased electricity from India at an average of Rs 7.76 per kilowatt-hour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">While the NEA has been purchasing electricity from India at a higher rate, it has been paying less for the electricity produced by the private sector of Nepal. The average rate of electricity purchased from the private sector has decreased by 19.26 percent in the last fiscal year. Last year, 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity was purchased from the private sector at Rs 5.86. In the previous fiscal year, electricity was purchased at Rs 7.25 per kilowatt-hour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the import of electricity from India has also increased in the last fiscal year. Indian electricity imports have increased by 63.45 percent in the last fiscal year. According to the statistics, 2,826 gigawatt-hours of electricity was imported in the last fiscal year, which is a massive increase compared to the previous fiscal year. In the previous fiscal year, 1,729 gigawatts-hour of electricity was imported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lately, electricity production in Nepal is growing. However, most hydropower projects are based on river current, and production declines during the winter season. This is when electricity is imported from India to meet the demand. However, Nepal also exports electricity during the monsoon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, Nepal consumed 8,877 gigawatt-hours of electricity. This is an increase of 14.68 percent compared to the previous year. In the previous fiscal year, 7,741 gigawatt-hours of electricity was consumed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, the private sector supplied 3,241 gigawatt-hours of electricity apart from NEA projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Deputy Executive Director and Chief of Production Directorate Harraj Neupane said that the import of electricity has increased due to two reasons. He said that imports have increased due to reduction in river water and increase in demand for electricity during the dry season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The demand for electricity increased last year, but it could not be generated accordingly. The Tamakoshi project was also delayed. As a result, electricity imports have increased," he informed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the reason for the high tariff of Indian electricity was not clear and the rate may have gone up due to inflation.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13714', 'image' => '20210916012712_20210514031053_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 13:26:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13968', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Competition Among Railway Service Providers Reduces Fare', 'sub_title' => 'CONCOR Slashes Shipping Charges as New Private Company Starts Cargo Service', 'summary' => 'September 16: Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which used to enjoy monopoly for transporting cargo to Nepal, has slashed the shipping charges as soon as its competitor from the private sector started railway service to transport goods to Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">Om Prakash Khanal</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which used to enjoy monopoly for transporting cargo to Nepal, has slashed the shipping charges as soon as its competitor from the private sector started railway service to transport goods to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CONCOR slashed the shipping charges for the first time after the private railway company arrived in Birgunj carrying containers following the amendment to the Nepal-India Railway Service Agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Issuing a notice on Wednesday, September 15, CONCOR reduced the fare from Kolkata port to Birgunj by 31 to 37 percent. Similarly, fares have also been significantly reduced for cargo transportation from Haldia port, to be effective immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The 2004 Railway Agreement gave a monopoly to CONCOR, a subsidiary company of the Indian Railways, for providing cargo services to Nepal-bound goods. The Indian Railways had built a railway track to the dry port of Birgunj.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal's private sector had been demanding amendment to the agreement, stating that the fares were being charged arbitrarily. Though the government had proposed for the amendment, the Indian side has been reluctant to revise it in the past.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Entrepreneurs say that the cut down in soon after the entry of a private railway company has confirmed that CONCOR had been charging arbitrarily for the freight services. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CONCOR brings containers from Kolkata port to Birgunj and delivers the empty containers back to the yard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The new fare for transporting goods up to 31 metric tons in a 20-feet container is IRs 39,856 while bringing 30 tons of goods in a 40-feet container costs IRs 58,008. Until,September 14, the rates were IRs 61,466 and IRs 85,198, respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There has also been a massive reduction in fares based on the quantities of goods to be transported from Kolkata and Haldia ports. CONCOR has also reduced fares from Haldia port to Birgunj by 25 to 31 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Eknarayan Aryal, the then Consul General of Nepal in Kolkata, who is currently a secretary of the Government of Nepal, had played a crucial role to remove paperworks at Nepali customs and increase competition in cargo services.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Aryal thinks Nepal's foreign trade can be made more competitive if the existing railway infrastructure, the only service available in Birgunj, is expanded to other border points as soon as possible and Nepal Railways brings its railways into operation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, four companies including CONCOR have come forward to provide container services to Nepal. Pristine Logistics and Infraprojects Pvt Ltd, Pristine Valley's main Indian partner, is also set to launch the service in a few days.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ishwar Raj Poudel, Nepal’s Consul General in Kolkata, the company has already started the process to provide cargo services from Kolkata. JM Buxi group, which operates ports and railways in India, is also preparing to transport containers to Birgunj, officials said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Poudel said that decline in freight charges with the entry of private service providers is encouraging for Nepal's foreign trade, which should be utilized by Nepali entrepreneurs. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13713', 'image' => '20210916015500_1631742368.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 13:06:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13967', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dhaka Producer Feted', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: In order to encourage small and cottage industries, Chaubise Samaj Dharan has started the tradition of honoring entrepreneurs working in this field.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: In order to encourage small and cottage industries, Chaubise Samaj Dharan has started the tradition of honoring entrepreneurs working in this field. Chaubise Samaj has honored Yamuna Sanyak, an entrepreneur who has been running Dhaka industry in Dharan for a long time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanyak was honored on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the organization for promoting the traditional culture by operating the Dhaka industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanyak, who has been running Chaubise Sanyak Dhaka Industry in Dharan for the past four years, said that the honor has encouraged her to strive better. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “This honor has energised me and encouraged me to work more actively in the entrepreneurship sector. I am very happy to be honored and I also want to thank the organization for honoring me.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Her industry employs more than 100 women directly and indirectly. She has been exporting original Nepali dhaka clothes to about one and a half dozen countries outside Nepal. She is also active in business as well as social service.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13712', 'image' => '20210916125307_241439055_638203394233948_307060722226164987_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 12:49:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13966', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Forms New Land Commission', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The government has formed a new commission to resolve the problems of landless squatters.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: The government has formed a new commission to resolve the problems of landless squatters.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The recent cabinet meeting decided to form the National Land Commission headed by Keshav Niraula, former central chairman of the Nepal Teachers Association affiliated to the Nepali Congress. The government has appointed Mahendra Khadka as the vice-chairman of the commission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed chairman Niraula and vice chair Khadka amid a function at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at Singha Durbar on Wednesday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking after the oath-taking ceremony, Chairman Niraula said that the commission will try to resolve the problems of squatters. He said that his team would try to overcome the squatters’ problems. Squatters have been adding to the problems in the country for a long time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The commission has been formed for the welfare of the underprivileged, landless and disorganized dwellers. The Government of Nepal has appointed me as the Chairman for the Commission,” said Niraula.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The previous government led by UML chairperson KP Sharma Oli had formed the Land Problem Solving Commission under the chairmanship of UML leader Devi Gyawali in April 2020. The Deuba government had dissolved the commission at the beginning of its tenure.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The current government had to face harsh criticism for dissolving the commission at a time when it was carrying out its works by forming committees in all 77 districts. Meanwhile, the main opposition UML had accused the government of doing injustice to the landless by dissolving the erstwhile commission. The issue is still sub judice at the Supreme Court.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13711', 'image' => '20210917111525_Logo_of_Nepal_(2020).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 12:45:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13965', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Collects Rs 23 Million Royalty from Autumn Climbing Permits ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The federal government has collected more than Rs 23 million revenue from autumn climbing permit issued this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 16: The federal government has collected more than Rs 23 million revenue from autumn climbing permit issued this year. Autumn is considered an ideal season for climbing after the spring season. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Meera Acharya, the director at the Mountaineering section of the Department of Tourism, the government body authorized to issue climbing permits, the department has collected US$ 19,7350 equivalent to Rs 23.07 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of September 14, a total of 25 expedition teams that include 230 climbers (52 female climbers) have been granted climbing permits for this autumn, the state-owned national news agency reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The climbers have received permission to climb six mountains ranging from 6000 meters to over 8000 meters. Those mountains include Mariyang (6528 m), Mt Putha Himchuli (7246 m), Mt Kumbhakarna (7710 m), Mt Manaslu (8163 m), Mt Dhaulagiri (8167 m) and Mt Kanchenjunga (8586 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 171 climbers, including 38 women, from 17 teams have been issued permits to climb Mt Manaslu. On the other hand, only three climbers each have received permits to climb Mt Putha Himchuli and Mt Kanchenjunga, the department informed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, a team of five male climbers are attempting to scale Mt Kumbhakarna, while eight climbers including one female representing an expedition team are vying for Mariyang and 40 climbers including 12 female climbers are trying to scale Mt Dhaulagiri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“In Nepal, the peak climbing season is spring which ranges from March, April and May,'' RSS quoted Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa, an international mountain guide, as saying. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sherpa, who also guided Nepal's own Everest Height Measurement team to scale Mt Everest in 2019, added that some climbers choose autumn season which falls in the months of September, October and November. </span></span></span><br /> <img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200917091916_Clipboard36.jpg" style="height:480px; width:800px" /></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13710', 'image' => '20210916112325_20210316050606_climbing.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 11:22:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13964', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Extends Additional Support to Nepal’s School and Health Sectors', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank have signed two separate financing agreements of US$50 million.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">September 16: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank have signed two separate financing agreements of US$50 million each as additional support to implement the government’s flagship School Sector Development Program (SSDP) in the education sector and public management reforms in the health sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The additional financing to the SSDP is expected to help reduce dropouts and mitigate learning losses by supporting pro-poor targeted scholarships, pro-science scholarships, and catch-up programs, the World Bank said in a statement. According to the World Bank, it will lay the foundation for the next school sector successor program in two areas – assessment and data systems, and help create the fiscal space to fill the gap in financing the government’s flagship program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the additional financing for Nepal Health Sector Management Reform for Results will support the original Nepal Health Sector Management Reform Program for Results implemented under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Population. It spearheads reforms in public procurement, financial management, data for decision making and citizen engagement for greater accountability in the health sector, the statement added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and the World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Faris Hadad-Zervos signed the agreements on behalf of their respective sides on Wednesday, September 15.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/NHSP_SSDP-signing-program---CopyPS.jpg" style="height:439px; width:780px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Strengthening Nepal’s education and health systems is an essential element of building back better from the pandemic,” the statement quoted Marasini as saying. “The reform agenda championed by the Nepal Health Sector Program for Results is critical to Nepal’s vision of an efficient, effective, transparent and accountable health system, and together with the School Sector Development Program, provides a catalyst for improved human capital development enabling Nepal to compete strongly post-COVID.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka Faris Hadad-Zervos said that these engagements contribute to Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development by making the country’s education and health systems more inclusive and resilient to future shocks, which will in turn help to accelerate human capital development.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> “I am very hopeful that that the additional financing will help propel Nepal closer to its goal of universal health coverage, and ensure equitable access and improve the quality of education and learning outcomes for children and young people in Nepal,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13709', 'image' => '20210916110436_20180811-world-bank.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 11:02:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13963', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Monopoly Ends as Private Company of India Joins the Fray', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: For the first time, a private company of Indian has started providing service for transporting cargo to Nepal through railway.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 15: For the first time, a private company of Indian has started providing service for transporting cargo to Nepal through railway. The Consulate of Nepal in Kolkata has informed that Hind Terminals has started such service from Haldia port of India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Consul General Ishwar Raj Poudel informed New Business Age that a train belonging to Hind Terminals has left for Birgunj Dry Port with 90 containers. The train that left Haldia Port on September 13 will reach Birgunj by September 15, informed Pristine Valley Logistics which operates the Birgunj Dry Port.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deputy Consul General Tarkaraj Bhatta said that the entry of private service providers in the transportation of goods to Nepal through railways has ended the monopoly in such transportation. "The monopoly has come to an end with the entry of private companies into the railway transport service. This has paved the way for competitive transportation services,” said Bhatta.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The railway service agreement between Nepal and India in 2004 gave a monopoly to the Indian Container Corporation (KONKAR) for rail transport. The agreement was amended only three months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The amended agreement has opened doors for private railway service providers in India and Nepal Railway Company for providing transportation of cargoes. Earlier, KONKAR had a monopoly on the transportation of containers and other cargo from the Indian ports of Kolkata, Haldia, and Visakhapatnam.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The businessmen had been demanding an amendment to the railway service agreement between Nepal and India saying that the fare was arbitrary due to the monopoly. In India, 15 private companies are providing transportation services through railway. Out of them, other companies including KONKAR have shown interest in providing transportation service to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Competition among Indian companies is expected to increase after the railway service agreement opens the way for private railway service providers to transport cargo to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This will make Nepal's transportation cost competitive, says Ashok Kumar Temani, coordinator of the Transport and Transit Committee under the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Province 2.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Coordinator Temani suggested that Nepal's private sector should also be involved in transportation to make transportation more competitive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pristine Logistics InfraProjects, the partner of Pristine Valley, which is currently operating the dry port of Birgunj, will also start service in a few days. Similarly, the JN Buxi group, which operates ports and rail services in India, has also started preparations to transport containers to Birgunj, officials said.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13708', 'image' => '20210915014455_20201206033259_1607211452.Clipboard16.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 13:44:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13962', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Labor Destination Countries Relaxing Covid-19 Restrictions', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: Pointing out to the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason, the major labor destination countries had imposed strict restrictions.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 15: Pointing out to the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason, the major labor destination countries had imposed strict restrictions. Such restrictions are being slowly eased up by those countries. This has given a glimmer of hope to aspiring migrant workers about better prospects of foreign employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Foreign employment has been greatly affected since the onset of the pandemic.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has lifted the travel restrictions from Monday. According to Reuters, travel restrictions have been lifted for citizens of 15 countries, including Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepali citizens who have received complete dosage of WHO-approved vaccine against Covid-19 would be allowed to enter the UAE. Earlier, citizens of different countries including Nepal were restricted from entering the UAE because of the spread of delta variant of Covid-19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The International Exhibition Fair of Dubai, which had been suspended due to the pandemic, is set to begin on October 1. According to the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, travel ban has been lifted considering the fair.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials had been saying that the travel restrictions imposed would be lifted before the Exhibition. The countries for which restriction has been lifted include Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Namibia, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria and Afghanistan. However, the certificate of PCR test has been made mandatory.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), Kuwait, Malaysia, Dubai, which are considered attractive employment destinations for Nepali citizens, have not taken any workers from Nepal. Nepali citizens have not been able to go to those countries for employment since almost two years as the destination countries have blacklisted due to the risk of Covid-19 and have not hired workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The UAE has relaxed its visa requirements. The UAE government has eased the restriction by strictly enforcing the Covid-19 protocols. The UAE has introduced new visa arrangements under 50 different schemes.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This arrangement brought by the UAE will make the visa process easier and more effective. Immigrants with a Golden Visa provided by the UAE will be able to live, work and study there without a national sponsor. According to the new rules, managers, CEOs, scientists, engineers, and people related to health, education, business, and technology sectors can apply for the Golden Visa. In addition, the visa has been made easier for highly-skilled and specialized residents, investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, leading students and graduates, according to the local media.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The UAE government has extended the three-month period for business travel to six months. Immigrants in the UAE will also be able to sponsor visas for their family members. Earlier, if an individual lost their job in the UAE for any reason or their visa expired, they could only stay in the UAE for one month. But according to the new rules, now they can stay for 3 months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kuwait, a destination country considered attractive for Nepali citizens, is preparing to open visas after some time. Kuwait is about to open visas after an interval of about half a year. According to the Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior, the country has been issuing visit visas for business and travel purposes. First, they would open a visit visa and then gradually other visas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The demand for construction consultants, engineers, technicians and teachers in Kuwait has increased tremendously. Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Employment conducted a language test on Monday for young people wishing to go to Israel. According to the Department, the examinations were conducted in a peaceful and disciplined manner in 16 examination centers in Kathmandu.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Altogether 9,699 Nepalis, including 4,200 women and 5,499 men, had applied to go to Israel. Out of them, 7,009 had received admit card. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director of the department Kamal Gyawali will publish the results of the examination within 5 days. Interviews will be conducted within 10 to 12 days. The government is preparing to prepare a list of 1,400 qualified workers to send them to Israel by the last week of September.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13707', 'image' => '20210915011727_20201125033543_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 13:16:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13961', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Observe ‘Budget Holiday’ from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: The government will not be able to spend from the state coffers from Wednesday (September 15) due to the failure to endorse the Replacement Bill within the given deadline.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: The government will not be able to spend from the state coffers from Wednesday (September 15) due to the failure to endorse the Replacement Bill within the given deadline. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is a legal provision that an ordinance has to be endorsed within 60 days since it is presented in parliament. The replacement bill should also be endorsed within the same period. The deadline to endorse the ordinance budget presented in parliament by the erstwhile Oli government on May 29 has expired today (September 15). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Agni Sapkota has deferred the House of Representatives meeting until September 20. This has effectively stopped government expenditure from Wednesday (September 15). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking with media persons at the Federal Parliament in New Baneshwor after the failure to endorse the replacement bill on Tuesday, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma admitted that the government’s expenditure could be stopped for some days but the country will move on. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current situation is referred to as ‘budget holiday’ in terms of economics.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government was expected to endorse the replacement bill through regular process of the House of Representatives on Tuesday but it was not possible due to the obstruction caused by the UML lawmakers. The main opposition party UML has been obstructing the lower house proceedings since the current session began on September 8.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">What happens when the budget is not endorsed?</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the budget is not passed, the salary allowance of high ranking officials will not be stopped. Important state bodies and individuals will benefit from the government's accumulated fund. The salaries of the President, Vice President, Chief Justice, heads of the constitutional bodies, speaker / deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, chairperson / vice-chairperson of the National Assembly will be paid from the reserve fund.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, the salary and perks of the prime minister, ministers and government staff will be stopped due to lack of budget spending authority. Similarly, the budget allocated by the government for development projects and other works will not be disbursed until the budget is endorsed from the parliament.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13706', 'image' => '20210915125442_20210616024457_20200504033240_1588549898.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 12:53:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13960', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Average Stay of Tourists Increases ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: The average stay of foreign tourists coming to Nepal is found to have increased although their numbers has decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: The average stay of foreign tourists coming to Nepal is found to have increased although their numbers has decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 'Nepal Tourism Data 2020' recently released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation shows that the average stay of tourists has increased somewhat compared to the previous years and crossed 15 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The average stay of tourists in the country in the previous three years was around 12 days. It was 12.7 days in 2019, 12.4 days in 2018 and 12.6 days in 2017. Before that the average tourist stay was 13.12 days and 13.16 days in 2011 and 2016 respectively. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the duration of tourists' stay increasing, their spending has also increased. Per tourist spending has increased to US$ 65 as compared to the previous years. In previous years the average per tourist spending was US$ 45. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Compared to the previous years, the arrival of tourists has declined by almost 80 per cent in 2020 due to the pandemic. Only 230,085 tourists had visited Nepal in 2020 amid the pandemic compared to over 1.19 million visitors in 2019 and 1.17 million visitors in 2018.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal’s foreign currency earnings from the tourism sector has witnessed a 71 per cent decrease as the sector is badly affected by the pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Four hundred and forty seven climbers from 153 teams had taken mountaineering permit in 2020, which is less by 92 per cent as compared to the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the tourism data, the number of countries with which bilateral air service agreement were made has reached 40 until 2020. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of Nepali airlines companies operating international flights is three while the number of international airliners operating flight to and from Nepal has reached 27. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Tribhuvan International Airport is the only one international airport in the country that is currently operational. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of 2020, there were 54 domestic airports and of them 37 were blacktopped. The number of airports in which flights can be operated in all seasons is 35. Twenty airline companies, including 10 helicopter companies are conducting domestic flights. The number of companies operating adventure and recreational flights has reached 80. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13705', 'image' => '20210915111631_20210404125527_20200807075017_1596774556.Trekking pic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 11:15:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13959', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal and Bangladesh Agree to Undertake Sunkoshi III Project ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly undertake the 683 MW Sunkoshi III semi-reservoir project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly undertake the 683 MW Sunkoshi III semi-reservoir project. The two countries are expected to reach a final decision in this regard by next December after discussing the structure of the project and the construction model. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, Nepal had proposed five different projects to Bangladesh. A meeting of the energy secretaries of the two countries held on Tuesday, September 14, decided to undertake the Sunkoshi III project after approval from Bangladesh. This is reportedly the first agreement reached the two governments for the construction of a hydropower project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The joint meeting was co-chaired by Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Devendra Karki and Secretary at the Ministry of Power and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh Mohammad Habibur Rahman. A joint secretary-level meeting between Nepal and Bangladesh on Monday had proposed to build one of the two major projects in a joint venture. Among them were Sunkoshi III and Khimti Shivalaya. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Madhu Bhetuwal confirmed that the two countries had reached an understanding to undertake the project on the basis of the same proposal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, Bangladesh wants to import a total of 9,000 MW of electricity from Nepal by 2040. Bangladesh, which is looking for resources to address the growing energy demand, is keen to invest with Nepal in both public and private sectors. </span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bangladesh had proposed to Nepal for the construction of a reservoir project at the government level during the state visit of the then Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun to Bangladesh some years ago. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In response, the ministry had formed a technical committee for necessary study. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study committee formed by the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation had proposed Arun IV, Kimathanka Arun, Sunkoshi III, Khimti Shivalaya and one other project of Province No 1. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13704', 'image' => '20210915110111_Flag-Pins-Bangladesh-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 11:00:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13958', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Leather Falls', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 14: Export of readymade leather, a source of convertible currency, has been steadily declining as the demand for ready-made leather has taken a nosedive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">September 14: Export of readymade leather, a source of convertible currency, has been steadily declining as the demand for ready-made leather has taken a nosedive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Three industries including Asian Leather Industry, Nepal Tanning Industry and United Leather are exporting leather from Biratnagar to India and overseas. An industry in Biratnagar has been closed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the data of Biratnagar Customs Office, 821,629 kg of leather worth Rs 105.94 million was exported in the last fiscal year 2077/78, which is less than the previous fiscal year 2076/77.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A total of 2,349,640 square feet of leather worth Rs 109.11 million was exported from Biratnagar in the fiscal year 2076/77. The export was less in FY 2077/78 than in FY 2076/77 by Rs 3.2 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In the fiscal year 2076/77, Nepali leather was exported to the international market at the rate of Rs 46.44 per square foot. However, in the previous fiscal year 2075/76, the exporters had exported leather at the rate of Rs 49.77 per square feet. According to the customs office, 5,783,010 square feet of leather worth Rs 287.82 million was exported in fiscal year 2075/76.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Fiscal year 2074/75 had been a golden year for leather exporters. The exporters were paid Rs 73.20 per square foot of leather that year. According to the statistics, 5,138,119 square feet of leather worth Rs 376.11 million was exported in the fiscal year 2075/76.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Processed leather is exported from Nepal to India, China, Italy, Mexico, France, Turkey, Latin America and other countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Hassan Ansari, director of Asian Leather Industries, there has been a global recession in the leather business. The industry has been exporting leather to countries including Mexico, France, Brazil and Italy. This time too, they have received some orders from those countries. However, the shipping agency in Kolkata is refusing to provide containers. Container fares have increased fourfold in the past 18 months, but shipping liners have not agreed to provide containers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Entrepreneur Ansari complained that although the container fare from Kolkata port to China has increased from $700 to $2,200 and from $1,400 to $4,200 to Italy, the containers are not available during the time of need. He said that the Department of Transport under the Government of Nepal should show initiative and become active to facilitate the export of leather.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">"How can we take orders when we can't arrange the delivery on time?" said Ansari, “So the government should be proactive in facilitating exports.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> Pervez Akhtar, vice-president of the Nepal Leathers-Tanners Association and operator of United Leather, claimed that Nepal's leather industry was using more than 80 percent raw materials available in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">However, he complained that leather exporters have not received the incentive from the government for the past four years. "We have not received any incentive for the last four years,” he said. He revealed that he was yet to receive more than Rs 2.5 million incentives. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-14', 'modified' => '2021-09-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13703', 'image' => '20210914025646_Leathertools.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-14 14:56:05', '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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Photo Courtesy: CNI</em></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 17: Stating that Nepal has a favorable environment for investment, the British Embassy in Nepal said that it would play a constructive role in helping increase foreign direct investments in Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Issuing a statement after a meeting with office bearers of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) on Wednesday (September 15), British Ambassador to Nepal, Nicola Kathryn Pollitt said that she would take initiative to attract British investors to Nepal by helping improve the business environment. "Foreign direct investment can play an important role in Nepal's development,” the statement quoted Pollitt as saying.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Ambassador Pollitt highlighted the fact that challenging days are ahead from the perspective of climate change. She also mentioned that the private sector can work to mitigate the effects of climate change. "The private sector can work to promote green energy," said Ambassador Pollitt.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Stating that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on public life and industry, Pollitt proclaimed that the UK has provided significant support to Nepal in the areas of humanitarian assistance and development. During the meeting, CNI President Vishnu Kumar Agrawal said, on the one hand, unemployment is a serious problem in Nepal, while on the other hand, there is lack of skilled manpower. He noted that the UK's support programs and conferences could help in skill development.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">In the current situation where the contribution of industrial sector to Nepal's GDP is quite small, the CNI has launched the Make in Nepal-Indigenous Campaign, said President Agarwal. He mentioned that the campaign has been taken forward with the main goal of industrial development, export promotion, job creation and increase in consumption of goods produced in Nepal. Stating that the CNI is in constant dialogue with the government for the promotion of start-ups, he stressed on the need to bring small businesses into the mainstream of economy.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">During the meeting, the immediate past president of the confederation Satish Kumar More said that there is good potential for investment in Nepal. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, Vice President of the Confederation Raj Bahadur Shah said that the embassy could help in the promotion of tourism in Nepal. He further said that the CNI would work in a planned manner for the development and promotion of Nepal's tourism industry. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director General of the Confederation Yadav Prasad Poudyal and Director Sabin Mishra were also present at the meeting held at the British Embassy in Kathmandu on Wednesday.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13717', 'image' => '20210917120605_IMG_0470-1.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 12:04:24', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13971', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => '70 Percent Migrant Workers Say They Will not Choose Same Recruiting Agency Again ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: More than two-thirds of Nepali migrant workers abroad say they will not choose the same recruiting agency if they were to go again for foreign employment. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 17: More than two-thirds of Nepali migrant workers abroad say they will not choose the same recruiting agency if they were to go again for foreign employment. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">This finding is based on an analysis report of the Migrant Recruitment Advisor (MRA) in Nepal which was shared during a sub-regional South Asia meeting on MRA organized by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Wednesday. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The preliminary analysis report was prepared on the basis of the responses of 1,539 migrant workers and returnee migrant workers. Among the respondents, 70 per cent said they will not take the service of the same recruiting agency which they chose first time if they have to go for foreign employment again. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, 98 per cent of the respondents said they paid service charge more than that fixed by the government while going on foreign employment. They said paid more than Rs 100,000 as service charge. Only two per cent said they did not pay any extra fees or charges in the recruitment process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government has fixed the minimum service charge and implemented the 'free visa, free ticket' provision for the major labour destination countries while no fees are charged for Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius and some other countries. Despite these provisions, a majority of the respondents said they had to pay exorbitant fees during the recruitment process. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nearly one third of the respondents said they were not given the work in the destination countries that was promised at the time of recruitment while 53 per cent of them stated that they were not getting the salary as mentioned in the contract. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Moreover, 96 per cent of the respondents said their employers have not returned their passport and other documents to them in course of the employment. Only 26.4 per cent of them said they would return to their previous employer. This shows that a large number of migrant workers are not satisfied with their employers. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Likewise, a majority of the respondents said they were deprived of their right to independently leave the destination country. Eighty-three per cent of the respondents said so. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The preliminary report shows that 80 per cent of the respondents have taken the pre-departure orientation. The government has made this orientation training mandatory for the workers before going for foreign employment. One cannot go for overseas job without taking this pre-departure orientation. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">It is stated that although the government has adopted various policies for making the migrant recruitment process fair and dignified their implementation is weak. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The workers are still vulnerable to abusive recruitment especially when they are seeking jobs in an environment of high unemployment, exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic, when there is intense competition for jobs, domestically or abroad, and when they are not protected by strong and effective workers' organizations and by clear laws and effective enforcement. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The MRA website was launched in 2018 to enable the ITUC and its affiliates to create a global poor-to-peer recruitment review platform that provides accurate information on recruitment to both prospective migrant workers and workers already living and working in labour destination countries. --RSS </span></span></span><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13716', 'image' => '20210917114636_20210915011727_20201125033543_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 11:45:52', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13970', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Sugar Price to go Through the Roof', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 17: The price of sugar is estimated to reach more than Rs 100 per kg during this Dashain festival. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 17: The price of sugar is estimated to reach more than Rs 100 per kg during this Dashain festival. The two state-owned companies – Salt Trading Corporation and Food Management and Trading Company Limited – that have been selling sugar at subsidized rate do not have stock of sugar for the festive season. This is why traders might increase the price of sugar at their will and the price of sugar can go through the roof.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, the Salt Trading Corporation has about 200 tons of sugar while the Food Management and Trading Company Limited has zero stock of sugar. Concerned officials have said that traders can seize this opportunity and arbitrarily fix the price of sugar. Not only the government company, but also the sugar producers' association does not have sufficient stock of sugar. The union currently has only about 6,000 tons of sugar in stock.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Brajesh Kumar Jha, divisional manager of the Salt Trading Corporation, said that traders are expected to fix the price of sugar up to Rs 110 per kg in the upcoming festival, showing the shortage of sugar. According to him, the government has not allowed the government company to buy sugar, which has made it easier for traders to fix the price of sugar of their choosing. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pavitra Bajracharya, the outgoing president of the Nepal Retailers Association, also agrees with Jha’s statement. "In the next few days, the price of sugar will reach Rs 100 per kg and it is likely to go up further during the Dashain," he said. “At present, the retailers are buying sugar at a wholesale price of Rs 90 per kg. Adding the labor cost and labor charge, it costs Rs 95 per kg of sugar. We are now selling sugar to consumers at Rs 95, so we have to pay Rs 100. If the government fails to bring sugar by then, the price will go above Rs 100,” he told New Business Age.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The government itself is to blame for the constant increase in the price of sugar. Consumers have been directly affected by the government's failure to allow timely purchase of sugar. The corporation had sent a letter to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies about eight months ago seeking permission to import sugar at a concessional rate. The proposal has not been approved so far, which has caused problems in importing sugar.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The letter sent by the corporation seeking permission to import 30,000 metric tons of sugar is still pending at the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance has remained silent on this issue.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The corporation again sent a letter to the supply department last Friday seeking permission from the government to expedite the purchase of sugar. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Spokesperson for the corporation, Kumar Raj Bhandari, said that there is a strong possibility that the price of sugar would go out of control if the ministry ignores this issue.</span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-17', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13715', 'image' => '20210917104641_20210511045157_20201220120511_Sweet2.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-17 10:45:35', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13969', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'NEA Imports Electricity from India at Increased Rate', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been found purchasing electricity from India last year at 2.44 percent high rate. This was revealed in the annual report of NEA which was published recently.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been found purchasing electricity from India last year at 2.44 percent high rate. This was revealed in the annual report of NEA which was published recently.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the report, NEA purchased 1 kWh of electricity from India at Rs 7.95 during last fiscal year. The amount is 19 paisa more than the rate of the previous fiscal year 2076/77. In the previous fiscal year, NEA had purchased electricity from India at an average of Rs 7.76 per kilowatt-hour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">While the NEA has been purchasing electricity from India at a higher rate, it has been paying less for the electricity produced by the private sector of Nepal. The average rate of electricity purchased from the private sector has decreased by 19.26 percent in the last fiscal year. Last year, 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity was purchased from the private sector at Rs 5.86. In the previous fiscal year, electricity was purchased at Rs 7.25 per kilowatt-hour.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Similarly, the import of electricity from India has also increased in the last fiscal year. Indian electricity imports have increased by 63.45 percent in the last fiscal year. According to the statistics, 2,826 gigawatt-hours of electricity was imported in the last fiscal year, which is a massive increase compared to the previous fiscal year. In the previous fiscal year, 1,729 gigawatts-hour of electricity was imported.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Lately, electricity production in Nepal is growing. However, most hydropower projects are based on river current, and production declines during the winter season. This is when electricity is imported from India to meet the demand. However, Nepal also exports electricity during the monsoon.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, Nepal consumed 8,877 gigawatt-hours of electricity. This is an increase of 14.68 percent compared to the previous year. In the previous fiscal year, 7,741 gigawatt-hours of electricity was consumed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last year, the private sector supplied 3,241 gigawatt-hours of electricity apart from NEA projects.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">NEA Deputy Executive Director and Chief of Production Directorate Harraj Neupane said that the import of electricity has increased due to two reasons. He said that imports have increased due to reduction in river water and increase in demand for electricity during the dry season. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The demand for electricity increased last year, but it could not be generated accordingly. The Tamakoshi project was also delayed. As a result, electricity imports have increased," he informed.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">He said that the reason for the high tariff of Indian electricity was not clear and the rate may have gone up due to inflation.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13714', 'image' => '20210916012712_20210514031053_NEA.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 13:26:33', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13968', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Competition Among Railway Service Providers Reduces Fare', 'sub_title' => 'CONCOR Slashes Shipping Charges as New Private Company Starts Cargo Service', 'summary' => 'September 16: Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which used to enjoy monopoly for transporting cargo to Nepal, has slashed the shipping charges as soon as its competitor from the private sector started railway service to transport goods to Nepal.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px">Om Prakash Khanal</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which used to enjoy monopoly for transporting cargo to Nepal, has slashed the shipping charges as soon as its competitor from the private sector started railway service to transport goods to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CONCOR slashed the shipping charges for the first time after the private railway company arrived in Birgunj carrying containers following the amendment to the Nepal-India Railway Service Agreement.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Issuing a notice on Wednesday, September 15, CONCOR reduced the fare from Kolkata port to Birgunj by 31 to 37 percent. Similarly, fares have also been significantly reduced for cargo transportation from Haldia port, to be effective immediately.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The 2004 Railway Agreement gave a monopoly to CONCOR, a subsidiary company of the Indian Railways, for providing cargo services to Nepal-bound goods. The Indian Railways had built a railway track to the dry port of Birgunj.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepal's private sector had been demanding amendment to the agreement, stating that the fares were being charged arbitrarily. Though the government had proposed for the amendment, the Indian side has been reluctant to revise it in the past.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Entrepreneurs say that the cut down in soon after the entry of a private railway company has confirmed that CONCOR had been charging arbitrarily for the freight services. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CONCOR brings containers from Kolkata port to Birgunj and delivers the empty containers back to the yard. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The new fare for transporting goods up to 31 metric tons in a 20-feet container is IRs 39,856 while bringing 30 tons of goods in a 40-feet container costs IRs 58,008. Until,September 14, the rates were IRs 61,466 and IRs 85,198, respectively.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">There has also been a massive reduction in fares based on the quantities of goods to be transported from Kolkata and Haldia ports. CONCOR has also reduced fares from Haldia port to Birgunj by 25 to 31 percent.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Eknarayan Aryal, the then Consul General of Nepal in Kolkata, who is currently a secretary of the Government of Nepal, had played a crucial role to remove paperworks at Nepali customs and increase competition in cargo services.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Aryal thinks Nepal's foreign trade can be made more competitive if the existing railway infrastructure, the only service available in Birgunj, is expanded to other border points as soon as possible and Nepal Railways brings its railways into operation.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">At present, four companies including CONCOR have come forward to provide container services to Nepal. Pristine Logistics and Infraprojects Pvt Ltd, Pristine Valley's main Indian partner, is also set to launch the service in a few days.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to Ishwar Raj Poudel, Nepal’s Consul General in Kolkata, the company has already started the process to provide cargo services from Kolkata. JM Buxi group, which operates ports and railways in India, is also preparing to transport containers to Birgunj, officials said.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Poudel said that decline in freight charges with the entry of private service providers is encouraging for Nepal's foreign trade, which should be utilized by Nepali entrepreneurs. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13713', 'image' => '20210916015500_1631742368.Clipboard06.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 13:06:14', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13967', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Dhaka Producer Feted', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: In order to encourage small and cottage industries, Chaubise Samaj Dharan has started the tradition of honoring entrepreneurs working in this field.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: In order to encourage small and cottage industries, Chaubise Samaj Dharan has started the tradition of honoring entrepreneurs working in this field. Chaubise Samaj has honored Yamuna Sanyak, an entrepreneur who has been running Dhaka industry in Dharan for a long time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanyak was honored on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the organization for promoting the traditional culture by operating the Dhaka industry.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Sanyak, who has been running Chaubise Sanyak Dhaka Industry in Dharan for the past four years, said that the honor has encouraged her to strive better. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> “This honor has energised me and encouraged me to work more actively in the entrepreneurship sector. I am very happy to be honored and I also want to thank the organization for honoring me.”</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Her industry employs more than 100 women directly and indirectly. She has been exporting original Nepali dhaka clothes to about one and a half dozen countries outside Nepal. She is also active in business as well as social service.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13712', 'image' => '20210916125307_241439055_638203394233948_307060722226164987_n.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 12:49:37', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13966', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Forms New Land Commission', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The government has formed a new commission to resolve the problems of landless squatters.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 16: The government has formed a new commission to resolve the problems of landless squatters.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The recent cabinet meeting decided to form the National Land Commission headed by Keshav Niraula, former central chairman of the Nepal Teachers Association affiliated to the Nepali Congress. The government has appointed Mahendra Khadka as the vice-chairman of the commission.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed chairman Niraula and vice chair Khadka amid a function at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers at Singha Durbar on Wednesday.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Speaking after the oath-taking ceremony, Chairman Niraula said that the commission will try to resolve the problems of squatters. He said that his team would try to overcome the squatters’ problems. Squatters have been adding to the problems in the country for a long time.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">"The commission has been formed for the welfare of the underprivileged, landless and disorganized dwellers. The Government of Nepal has appointed me as the Chairman for the Commission,” said Niraula.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The previous government led by UML chairperson KP Sharma Oli had formed the Land Problem Solving Commission under the chairmanship of UML leader Devi Gyawali in April 2020. The Deuba government had dissolved the commission at the beginning of its tenure.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The current government had to face harsh criticism for dissolving the commission at a time when it was carrying out its works by forming committees in all 77 districts. Meanwhile, the main opposition UML had accused the government of doing injustice to the landless by dissolving the erstwhile commission. The issue is still sub judice at the Supreme Court.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-17', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13711', 'image' => '20210917111525_Logo_of_Nepal_(2020).jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 12:45:07', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13965', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government Collects Rs 23 Million Royalty from Autumn Climbing Permits ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The federal government has collected more than Rs 23 million revenue from autumn climbing permit issued this year. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 16: The federal government has collected more than Rs 23 million revenue from autumn climbing permit issued this year. Autumn is considered an ideal season for climbing after the spring season. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to Meera Acharya, the director at the Mountaineering section of the Department of Tourism, the government body authorized to issue climbing permits, the department has collected US$ 19,7350 equivalent to Rs 23.07 million. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of September 14, a total of 25 expedition teams that include 230 climbers (52 female climbers) have been granted climbing permits for this autumn, the state-owned national news agency reported. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The climbers have received permission to climb six mountains ranging from 6000 meters to over 8000 meters. Those mountains include Mariyang (6528 m), Mt Putha Himchuli (7246 m), Mt Kumbhakarna (7710 m), Mt Manaslu (8163 m), Mt Dhaulagiri (8167 m) and Mt Kanchenjunga (8586 m). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Altogether 171 climbers, including 38 women, from 17 teams have been issued permits to climb Mt Manaslu. On the other hand, only three climbers each have received permits to climb Mt Putha Himchuli and Mt Kanchenjunga, the department informed. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Similarly, a team of five male climbers are attempting to scale Mt Kumbhakarna, while eight climbers including one female representing an expedition team are vying for Mariyang and 40 climbers including 12 female climbers are trying to scale Mt Dhaulagiri. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">“In Nepal, the peak climbing season is spring which ranges from March, April and May,'' RSS quoted Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa, an international mountain guide, as saying. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Sherpa, who also guided Nepal's own Everest Height Measurement team to scale Mt Everest in 2019, added that some climbers choose autumn season which falls in the months of September, October and November. </span></span></span><br /> <img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/20200917091916_Clipboard36.jpg" style="height:480px; width:800px" /></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13710', 'image' => '20210916112325_20210316050606_climbing.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 11:22:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13964', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'World Bank Extends Additional Support to Nepal’s School and Health Sectors', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 16: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank have signed two separate financing agreements of US$50 million.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">September 16: The Government of Nepal and the World Bank have signed two separate financing agreements of US$50 million each as additional support to implement the government’s flagship School Sector Development Program (SSDP) in the education sector and public management reforms in the health sector.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The additional financing to the SSDP is expected to help reduce dropouts and mitigate learning losses by supporting pro-poor targeted scholarships, pro-science scholarships, and catch-up programs, the World Bank said in a statement. According to the World Bank, it will lay the foundation for the next school sector successor program in two areas – assessment and data systems, and help create the fiscal space to fill the gap in financing the government’s flagship program.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Similarly, the additional financing for Nepal Health Sector Management Reform for Results will support the original Nepal Health Sector Management Reform Program for Results implemented under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Population. It spearheads reforms in public procurement, financial management, data for decision making and citizen engagement for greater accountability in the health sector, the statement added.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and the World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, Faris Hadad-Zervos signed the agreements on behalf of their respective sides on Wednesday, September 15.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><img alt="" src="/app/webroot/userfiles/images/NHSP_SSDP-signing-program---CopyPS.jpg" style="height:439px; width:780px" /></span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“Strengthening Nepal’s education and health systems is an essential element of building back better from the pandemic,” the statement quoted Marasini as saying. “The reform agenda championed by the Nepal Health Sector Program for Results is critical to Nepal’s vision of an efficient, effective, transparent and accountable health system, and together with the School Sector Development Program, provides a catalyst for improved human capital development enabling Nepal to compete strongly post-COVID.”</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">World Bank’s Country Director for the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka Faris Hadad-Zervos said that these engagements contribute to Nepal’s green, resilient, and inclusive development by making the country’s education and health systems more inclusive and resilient to future shocks, which will in turn help to accelerate human capital development.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> “I am very hopeful that that the additional financing will help propel Nepal closer to its goal of universal health coverage, and ensure equitable access and improve the quality of education and learning outcomes for children and young people in Nepal,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-16', 'modified' => '2021-09-16', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13709', 'image' => '20210916110436_20180811-world-bank.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-16 11:02:10', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13963', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Railway Monopoly Ends as Private Company of India Joins the Fray', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: For the first time, a private company of Indian has started providing service for transporting cargo to Nepal through railway.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 15: For the first time, a private company of Indian has started providing service for transporting cargo to Nepal through railway. The Consulate of Nepal in Kolkata has informed that Hind Terminals has started such service from Haldia port of India.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Consul General Ishwar Raj Poudel informed New Business Age that a train belonging to Hind Terminals has left for Birgunj Dry Port with 90 containers. The train that left Haldia Port on September 13 will reach Birgunj by September 15, informed Pristine Valley Logistics which operates the Birgunj Dry Port.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Deputy Consul General Tarkaraj Bhatta said that the entry of private service providers in the transportation of goods to Nepal through railways has ended the monopoly in such transportation. "The monopoly has come to an end with the entry of private companies into the railway transport service. This has paved the way for competitive transportation services,” said Bhatta.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The railway service agreement between Nepal and India in 2004 gave a monopoly to the Indian Container Corporation (KONKAR) for rail transport. The agreement was amended only three months ago.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The amended agreement has opened doors for private railway service providers in India and Nepal Railway Company for providing transportation of cargoes. Earlier, KONKAR had a monopoly on the transportation of containers and other cargo from the Indian ports of Kolkata, Haldia, and Visakhapatnam.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The businessmen had been demanding an amendment to the railway service agreement between Nepal and India saying that the fare was arbitrary due to the monopoly. In India, 15 private companies are providing transportation services through railway. Out of them, other companies including KONKAR have shown interest in providing transportation service to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Competition among Indian companies is expected to increase after the railway service agreement opens the way for private railway service providers to transport cargo to Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This will make Nepal's transportation cost competitive, says Ashok Kumar Temani, coordinator of the Transport and Transit Committee under the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Province 2.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Coordinator Temani suggested that Nepal's private sector should also be involved in transportation to make transportation more competitive.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pristine Logistics InfraProjects, the partner of Pristine Valley, which is currently operating the dry port of Birgunj, will also start service in a few days. Similarly, the JN Buxi group, which operates ports and rail services in India, has also started preparations to transport containers to Birgunj, officials said.</span></span></span></p> <p><br /> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13708', 'image' => '20210915014455_20201206033259_1607211452.Clipboard16.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 13:44:05', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13962', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Labor Destination Countries Relaxing Covid-19 Restrictions', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: Pointing out to the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason, the major labor destination countries had imposed strict restrictions.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">September 15: Pointing out to the Covid-19 pandemic as the main reason, the major labor destination countries had imposed strict restrictions. Such restrictions are being slowly eased up by those countries. This has given a glimmer of hope to aspiring migrant workers about better prospects of foreign employment.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Foreign employment has been greatly affected since the onset of the pandemic.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has lifted the travel restrictions from Monday. According to Reuters, travel restrictions have been lifted for citizens of 15 countries, including Nepal.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Nepali citizens who have received complete dosage of WHO-approved vaccine against Covid-19 would be allowed to enter the UAE. Earlier, citizens of different countries including Nepal were restricted from entering the UAE because of the spread of delta variant of Covid-19.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The International Exhibition Fair of Dubai, which had been suspended due to the pandemic, is set to begin on October 1. According to the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, travel ban has been lifted considering the fair.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Officials had been saying that the travel restrictions imposed would be lifted before the Exhibition. The countries for which restriction has been lifted include Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Namibia, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria and Afghanistan. However, the certificate of PCR test has been made mandatory.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">According to the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), Kuwait, Malaysia, Dubai, which are considered attractive employment destinations for Nepali citizens, have not taken any workers from Nepal. Nepali citizens have not been able to go to those countries for employment since almost two years as the destination countries have blacklisted due to the risk of Covid-19 and have not hired workers.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The UAE has relaxed its visa requirements. The UAE government has eased the restriction by strictly enforcing the Covid-19 protocols. The UAE has introduced new visa arrangements under 50 different schemes.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This arrangement brought by the UAE will make the visa process easier and more effective. Immigrants with a Golden Visa provided by the UAE will be able to live, work and study there without a national sponsor. According to the new rules, managers, CEOs, scientists, engineers, and people related to health, education, business, and technology sectors can apply for the Golden Visa. In addition, the visa has been made easier for highly-skilled and specialized residents, investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, leading students and graduates, according to the local media.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The UAE government has extended the three-month period for business travel to six months. Immigrants in the UAE will also be able to sponsor visas for their family members. Earlier, if an individual lost their job in the UAE for any reason or their visa expired, they could only stay in the UAE for one month. But according to the new rules, now they can stay for 3 months.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Kuwait, a destination country considered attractive for Nepali citizens, is preparing to open visas after some time. Kuwait is about to open visas after an interval of about half a year. According to the Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior, the country has been issuing visit visas for business and travel purposes. First, they would open a visit visa and then gradually other visas.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The demand for construction consultants, engineers, technicians and teachers in Kuwait has increased tremendously. Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Employment conducted a language test on Monday for young people wishing to go to Israel. According to the Department, the examinations were conducted in a peaceful and disciplined manner in 16 examination centers in Kathmandu.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Altogether 9,699 Nepalis, including 4,200 women and 5,499 men, had applied to go to Israel. Out of them, 7,009 had received admit card. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Director of the department Kamal Gyawali will publish the results of the examination within 5 days. Interviews will be conducted within 10 to 12 days. The government is preparing to prepare a list of 1,400 qualified workers to send them to Israel by the last week of September.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13707', 'image' => '20210915011727_20201125033543_20200315123851_1111.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 13:16:18', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13961', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Government to Observe ‘Budget Holiday’ from Today ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: The government will not be able to spend from the state coffers from Wednesday (September 15) due to the failure to endorse the Replacement Bill within the given deadline.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: The government will not be able to spend from the state coffers from Wednesday (September 15) due to the failure to endorse the Replacement Bill within the given deadline. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">There is a legal provision that an ordinance has to be endorsed within 60 days since it is presented in parliament. The replacement bill should also be endorsed within the same period. The deadline to endorse the ordinance budget presented in parliament by the erstwhile Oli government on May 29 has expired today (September 15). </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaker Agni Sapkota has deferred the House of Representatives meeting until September 20. This has effectively stopped government expenditure from Wednesday (September 15). </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Speaking with media persons at the Federal Parliament in New Baneshwor after the failure to endorse the replacement bill on Tuesday, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma admitted that the government’s expenditure could be stopped for some days but the country will move on. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The current situation is referred to as ‘budget holiday’ in terms of economics.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The government was expected to endorse the replacement bill through regular process of the House of Representatives on Tuesday but it was not possible due to the obstruction caused by the UML lawmakers. The main opposition party UML has been obstructing the lower house proceedings since the current session began on September 8.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">What happens when the budget is not endorsed?</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Even if the budget is not passed, the salary allowance of high ranking officials will not be stopped. Important state bodies and individuals will benefit from the government's accumulated fund. The salaries of the President, Vice President, Chief Justice, heads of the constitutional bodies, speaker / deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, chairperson / vice-chairperson of the National Assembly will be paid from the reserve fund.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">However, the salary and perks of the prime minister, ministers and government staff will be stopped due to lack of budget spending authority. Similarly, the budget allocated by the government for development projects and other works will not be disbursed until the budget is endorsed from the parliament.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13706', 'image' => '20210915125442_20210616024457_20200504033240_1588549898.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 12:53:31', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13960', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Average Stay of Tourists Increases ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: The average stay of foreign tourists coming to Nepal is found to have increased although their numbers has decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: The average stay of foreign tourists coming to Nepal is found to have increased although their numbers has decreased due to COVID-19 pandemic. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The 'Nepal Tourism Data 2020' recently released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation shows that the average stay of tourists has increased somewhat compared to the previous years and crossed 15 days. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The average stay of tourists in the country in the previous three years was around 12 days. It was 12.7 days in 2019, 12.4 days in 2018 and 12.6 days in 2017. Before that the average tourist stay was 13.12 days and 13.16 days in 2011 and 2016 respectively. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">With the duration of tourists' stay increasing, their spending has also increased. Per tourist spending has increased to US$ 65 as compared to the previous years. In previous years the average per tourist spending was US$ 45. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Compared to the previous years, the arrival of tourists has declined by almost 80 per cent in 2020 due to the pandemic. Only 230,085 tourists had visited Nepal in 2020 amid the pandemic compared to over 1.19 million visitors in 2019 and 1.17 million visitors in 2018.</span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Nepal’s foreign currency earnings from the tourism sector has witnessed a 71 per cent decrease as the sector is badly affected by the pandemic. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Four hundred and forty seven climbers from 153 teams had taken mountaineering permit in 2020, which is less by 92 per cent as compared to the previous year. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the tourism data, the number of countries with which bilateral air service agreement were made has reached 40 until 2020. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The number of Nepali airlines companies operating international flights is three while the number of international airliners operating flight to and from Nepal has reached 27. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The Tribhuvan International Airport is the only one international airport in the country that is currently operational. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">As of 2020, there were 54 domestic airports and of them 37 were blacktopped. The number of airports in which flights can be operated in all seasons is 35. Twenty airline companies, including 10 helicopter companies are conducting domestic flights. The number of companies operating adventure and recreational flights has reached 80. -- RSS </span></span></span></p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13705', 'image' => '20210915111631_20210404125527_20200807075017_1596774556.Trekking pic.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 11:15:43', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13959', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Nepal and Bangladesh Agree to Undertake Sunkoshi III Project ', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 15: Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly undertake the 683 MW Sunkoshi III semi-reservoir project. ', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">September 15: Nepal and Bangladesh have agreed to jointly undertake the 683 MW Sunkoshi III semi-reservoir project. The two countries are expected to reach a final decision in this regard by next December after discussing the structure of the project and the construction model. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, Nepal had proposed five different projects to Bangladesh. A meeting of the energy secretaries of the two countries held on Tuesday, September 14, decided to undertake the Sunkoshi III project after approval from Bangladesh. This is reportedly the first agreement reached the two governments for the construction of a hydropower project. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The joint meeting was co-chaired by Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Devendra Karki and Secretary at the Ministry of Power and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh Mohammad Habibur Rahman. A joint secretary-level meeting between Nepal and Bangladesh on Monday had proposed to build one of the two major projects in a joint venture. Among them were Sunkoshi III and Khimti Shivalaya. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Madhu Bhetuwal confirmed that the two countries had reached an understanding to undertake the project on the basis of the same proposal. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">According to RSS, Bangladesh wants to import a total of 9,000 MW of electricity from Nepal by 2040. Bangladesh, which is looking for resources to address the growing energy demand, is keen to invest with Nepal in both public and private sectors. </span></span></span></p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">Bangladesh had proposed to Nepal for the construction of a reservoir project at the government level during the state visit of the then Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Barshaman Pun to Bangladesh some years ago. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">In response, the ministry had formed a technical committee for necessary study. </span></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"">The study committee formed by the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation had proposed Arun IV, Kimathanka Arun, Sunkoshi III, Khimti Shivalaya and one other project of Province No 1. </span></span></span><br /> </p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-15', 'modified' => '2021-09-15', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13704', 'image' => '20210915110111_Flag-Pins-Bangladesh-Nepal.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-15 11:00:16', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => true, 'in_scroller' => null, 'user_id' => '34' ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '13958', 'article_category_id' => '1', 'title' => 'Export of Readymade Leather Falls', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => 'September 14: Export of readymade leather, a source of convertible currency, has been steadily declining as the demand for ready-made leather has taken a nosedive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.', 'content' => '<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">September 14: Export of readymade leather, a source of convertible currency, has been steadily declining as the demand for ready-made leather has taken a nosedive due to the Covid-19 pandemic.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Three industries including Asian Leather Industry, Nepal Tanning Industry and United Leather are exporting leather from Biratnagar to India and overseas. An industry in Biratnagar has been closed.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to the data of Biratnagar Customs Office, 821,629 kg of leather worth Rs 105.94 million was exported in the last fiscal year 2077/78, which is less than the previous fiscal year 2076/77.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">A total of 2,349,640 square feet of leather worth Rs 109.11 million was exported from Biratnagar in the fiscal year 2076/77. The export was less in FY 2077/78 than in FY 2076/77 by Rs 3.2 million. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">In the fiscal year 2076/77, Nepali leather was exported to the international market at the rate of Rs 46.44 per square foot. However, in the previous fiscal year 2075/76, the exporters had exported leather at the rate of Rs 49.77 per square feet. According to the customs office, 5,783,010 square feet of leather worth Rs 287.82 million was exported in fiscal year 2075/76.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Fiscal year 2074/75 had been a golden year for leather exporters. The exporters were paid Rs 73.20 per square foot of leather that year. According to the statistics, 5,138,119 square feet of leather worth Rs 376.11 million was exported in the fiscal year 2075/76.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Processed leather is exported from Nepal to India, China, Italy, Mexico, France, Turkey, Latin America and other countries.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">According to Hassan Ansari, director of Asian Leather Industries, there has been a global recession in the leather business. The industry has been exporting leather to countries including Mexico, France, Brazil and Italy. This time too, they have received some orders from those countries. However, the shipping agency in Kolkata is refusing to provide containers. Container fares have increased fourfold in the past 18 months, but shipping liners have not agreed to provide containers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Entrepreneur Ansari complained that although the container fare from Kolkata port to China has increased from $700 to $2,200 and from $1,400 to $4,200 to Italy, the containers are not available during the time of need. He said that the Department of Transport under the Government of Nepal should show initiative and become active to facilitate the export of leather.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">"How can we take orders when we can't arrange the delivery on time?" said Ansari, “So the government should be proactive in facilitating exports.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> Pervez Akhtar, vice-president of the Nepal Leathers-Tanners Association and operator of United Leather, claimed that Nepal's leather industry was using more than 80 percent raw materials available in the country.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">However, he complained that leather exporters have not received the incentive from the government for the past four years. "We have not received any incentive for the last four years,” he said. He revealed that he was yet to receive more than Rs 2.5 million incentives. </span></span></p> <p> </p> ', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2021-09-14', 'modified' => '2021-09-14', 'keywords' => '', 'description' => '', 'sortorder' => '13703', 'image' => '20210914025646_Leathertools.jpg', 'article_date' => '2021-09-14 14:56:05', '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
