Nepal Highlights

Pashupati Shumsher Rana has sold Nepal Gas Company he established in 1972 to Ananda Bagariya and Gunachandra Bista at the price of Rs 880 million. Bista is also in the process of selling other properties in his name, it is learnt.

Three persons have died and a child injured in a landslide in Abalgurta of Jajarkot district last night. Those killed are Devkali Pariyar, 55, her six-year-old son Ramesh and four-year-old son Resham. Two-year-old Manisha has been critically injured. The landslide has swept away five houses.

Chhetri Samaj Nepal has withdrawn its two-day valley bandh called for Sunday and Monday after the government agreed to form a taskforce to address its demands at the talks held Sunday evening. The Samaj had organised the bandh with various demands including listing it as an indigenous group, reservations in state agencies and a separate Khas state. Normal life in Kathmandu had been adversely affected with vehicles of the road and markets and offices closed on Sunday.

The Supreme Court (SC) has ordered the government to implement the provision to provide 50 percent concession to old age people while travelling in public transport, Thursday. A division bench of SC justices Balram KC and Bharat Raj Uprety issued the order in the name of Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Ministry of Labour and Transport Management, Ministry of Law and Justice, and Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare hearing on a case filed by advocate Rajaram Shrestha. Although, there is a provision of 50 percent concession to old age people in public transport in the Old Age Citizen Act 2063, it has not been implemented so far. SC has directed the government to publish public notices and ensure the provisions are implemented. The apex court has also directed the government to ensure at least two seats have been allocated for old age people in public transports as per the act. The act considers people above 60 years of age as old age people.

Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal has indicated that the Constituent Assembly (CA) term will be further extended if the task of constitution drafting does not get completed by May 28, when the CA's current term ends. The Supreme Court (SC) has made it clear that the CA's term will not end until it completes the task of constitution writing, said PM Khanal at a meeting of the International Relations and Human Rights Committee of the Legislature Parliament, Thursday. Khanal further said, the CA's main task is to make a constitution and it can't shy away from its responsibility. The SC had issued a verdict few months ago upholding the CA decision to extend its term last year saying the CA term cannot end until a new constitution is promulgated. According to existing provisions, the CA needs to amend the clause related to the CA term in the interim constitution. The interim constitution can be amended with a two-third majority. Considering the remaining processes in constitu...

Speaker Subash Chandra Nemwang has advised the government that it is impossible to announce budget for the next fiscal year on May 3 by completing all the required procedures. Speaker Nemwang told finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari Thursday that it would take it would take more than a month to complete all the procedures to announce the budget. First, the ongoing winter session of the parliament needs to be prorogued and a budget session summoned as budget cannot be announced in winter session. There is a tradition of having a gap of at least a week between two parliamentary sessions to allow the lawmakers visit the constituencies, said Nemwang. Likewise, there needs to be a gap of about three weeks between the presentation of policies and programmes of the government and announcement of the budget for pre-budget discussion in the parliament. At a meeting with finance minister Adhikari, Nemwang advised him that it will not be possible to announce the budget before mid-May if the ...

The fifth Rhino Count, the largest ever campaign to count the number of greater one-horned Rhinos living in the jungles of Nepal has begun from Chitwan National Park (CNP), Tuesday. Some 150 wildlife technicians have bee deployed on 40 domesticated elephants with modern equipments to track and collect details of the endangered animal, according to Juddha Gurung, member secretary of Nature Conservation Trust, which manages CNP. The team completed count of Rhinos in Sunachari area of CNP, 1 st among the 19 blocs in CNP. The Rhino will be conducted over 19 days in CNP, taking one bloc each day. The Rhino count team will collect maximum possible details of the Rhinos including sex, estimated age and health status of the Rhinos. Greater one-horned Rhinos, available only in the jungles of Nepal and India, have been placed in the list of endangered animals due to the fast depletion in its numbers. The animal is poached for its precious horn, which is believed to have medicinal and cosmetic...