- Tuesday, 2 September 2025
Modnath Dhakal
Fettered Airport
On May 16, 2022, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba inaugurated Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Bhairahawa, commencing flight operations with Nepal Airlines Corporation and Jazeera Airways. Jazeera had expressed interest in running three weekly commercial flights. Despite initial activity also from Himalaya Airlines, the $76 million (NPR 10 billion) infrastructure, funded by the Asian Development Bank and the OPEC, has remained unused for over a year and a half. The GBIA, located at the gateway to Lumbini, faces challenges such as air entry routes, the absence of an Instrument Landing System (ILS), and insufficient passenger traffic. While promoting the airport to the Nepali diaspora, Buddhist countries and key tourist
TikTok regulation is technically tough: MoICT
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT) has cited the technical difficulty in regulating the content posted on TikTok, a social media application that the government banned on November 13. Among many other things about regulation, the most important one is the technical aspect related to language, the ministry said on Saturday. Currently, about 90 to 95 per cent of TikTok content in Nepal is made in Nepali. Even if it is to be regulated through machine learning, this is not immediately possible due to the language barrier, and it seems that a lot of time and money will have to be spent to develop the technology that understands the Nepali language, according to MoCIT. “It seems that huge amount of TikTok content is being produced from Nepal even now. Looking at this volume, regulation without technology is almost impossible.
Awaiting reforms, advertisement business mired in aberrations
An advertising agency held the payment made by a client company to the media that published the advertisement for more than six months. Later, the media came to know that the agency had paid about two thirds of the money it received from the advertiser.
Beijing's E-mobility
It's all about e-scooters and bicycles! In Beijing, the capital of China, you'll see a lovely sight on the streets. Hundreds and thousands of people use e-scooters and bicycles on special lanes to get to their destinations. These lanes keep them safe from big vehicles like cars. For poets, this can symbolise personal freedom in a communist society.
World Bank projects 3.9% growth for Nepal this fiscal year
The World Bank has projected that Nepali economy would rebound to 3.9 per cent in the current Fiscal Year 2023/24 downgrading the growth projection of 6 per cent made by the government in its budget speech for this year.
Capital expenditure witnesses improvement
The government's performance in the utilisation of the capital budget has been better this year compared to the previous two years. However, in numbers, the improvement is not encouraging.
Economy is in comfortable zone: NRB
Record inflow of remittance and reduction in imports of goods owing to the decrease in demands has ushered in the economy in a comfortable zone in terms of external sector management. Due to depleting foreign currency reserves because of the massive growth in imports of goods, including luxury items like cars and liquors, the external sector pressure had significantly increased in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the experts had feared the country could experience the 'Sri Lankan' fate. Sri Lanka had then run out of foreign currency reserves and had failed even to service its loans. The remittance inflows in the first month of the current Fiscal Year 2023/24 (mid-July to mid-August 2023) have increased by 25.8 per cent to Rs.116.02 billion compared to an increase of 20.3 per cent in the same period the previous year, according to a monthly report published by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Sunday. Last year, remittance inflow in the first month stood at Rs. 92.21 billion. Shrawan (mid-July to mid-August) is the ninth month that continuously witnessed more than Rs. 100 billion remittance inflow.
SC issues order on management of border with India
The Supreme Court of Nepal has issued a full text of the verdict in which it issued a mandamus in the name of government on 25 April 2021 demanding better management of the open border between Nepal and India. Constitutional expert and advocate Dr. Chandrakant Gyawali, border expert Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, and advocates Bimal Gyawali, Liladhar Upadhyaya, and Shashi Kumar Karki had filed a writ petition on 26 March 2017 seeking orders from the Supreme Court to regulate the Nepal-India border. The petition was filed against the various government ministries and agencies including Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament Secretariat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defense, and Ministry of Land Management. The full text of the verdict issued in the name of the government by the joint bench of Justices Prakashman Singh Raut and Purushottam B
Livestock project aims sustainable ventures
Nepal Livestock Sector Innovation Project (NLSIP) implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) is all set to mobilise Rs. 1.42 billion to various cooperatives and private firms in the agriculture sector in Koshi Province.
House panel to seek govt response on map issue
The International Relations and Tourism Committee (IRTC) of the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament is set to seek response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on the issue of sending the diplomatic notes to the neighbouring countries while issuing a new map of the Nepal including the Kalapani and Lipulek region in its territory in 2020. Then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and
Time-bound MCC project holds promise to transform power sector
In a country where sick projects requiring continuous time and cost over-run have shadowed the overall infrastructure development environment, a mega infrastructure project worth US$ 697 million (Rs. 92 bi
Import decline doesn’t bode well for economy
Nepal's import of goods in the first month of the fiscal year (mid-July to mid-August) has continued to go down for the second consecutive year. The total imports decreased by 12.9 per cent in the f
Nepal finalises Business and Human Rights Action Plan
Nepal has finalised the draft of the Business and Human Rights National Action Plan (BHR-NAP) to make businesses sensitive and accountable to the human rights of labour, staff and consumers. The BHRs are based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) which are the most authoritative and widely adopted set of principles for responsible business, endorsed in 2011. They call on both governments and companies to identify, prevent, mitiga
Why private schools are opposing proposed Education Bill ?
The owners of the private and boarding schools have been putting their effort to persuade the government and policymakers to not go ahead with the proposed Education Bill. Reminding the government of their immense contribution to the country’s education sector with Rs. 500 billion in investment, they have even threatened to launch protest programmes if their demand goes unheeded. While they don’t want to lose their private ownership in schools, the constitution of the country has provisions against commercial education.
Let students abroad open remittance account in Nepal
Nepali migrant workers with ‘work permit’ issued by the Government of Nepal can open Remittance Savings Account in banks in Nepal to save the money they earn while working in foreign land. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) announce
