- Tuesday, 11 November 2025
The Rising Nepal
EC asks election offices to speed up vote counting
The Election Commission has instructed the concerned election offices to conclude the vote counting by May 19 and publish the final results at the earliest. Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, the EC asked the concerned election officers to complete the vote counting by May 19 considering that the tenure of the local representatives elected in the last local poll will expire on May 19 and this will create a vacuum in the local levels.
House discussion on budget priorities begins
Discussion on principles and priorities of the Annual Appropriation Bill-2079 (except tax) for the coming fiscal year began in the House of Representatives (HoR) on Wednesday. Lawmakers of the ruling coalition stood in favour of the document and the main opposition opposed it. Lawmakers from the ruling alliance said that the document was the need of the hour to make better appropriation for next fiscal year as several targets were waiting to be fulfilled. However, the opposition lawmakers said it was just a traditional draft which could not fulfill contemporary needs of the country.
KTM-Kunming direct flight from May 30
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi Wednesday paid a courtesy call on Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand. During the meeting held at the Ministry of Home Affairs in Singha Durbar, bilateral relations and exchange of cooperation between the two countries were discussed, according to Madhusudan Bhattarai, press coordinator of the Home Minister. During the meeting, Ambassador Hou congratulated Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for holding the local elections successfully.
Actor Joshi to cycle from London to Paris
Actor and producer Bikram D Joshi will be cycling 240 mile (around 387 KM). Joshi, actor of Happy Days, Password and Hello Jindagi, is going to have a London to Paris Charity Ride with six Nepali friends on Friday with the aim of raising funds for the Children’s Home run by Help Nepal Network in Dhulikhel. The cycling team includes Joshi, Shulav Pant, Sushil Prasai, Manoj Shrestha, Prashidha Pradhan, Sunil Karki and Lachhuman Gurung.
Thapa elected Ilam Municipality mayor
Kedar Thapa has been elected mayor and Bishnu Dahal deputy mayor in Ilam Municipality of Ilam. It is the first time that Nepali Congress (NC) candidates have won the local level election in Ilam municipality in 30 years. The CPN-UML had won the posts of both mayor and deputy mayor in the local level elections of 1997 and 2017. NC candidate Thapa garnered 13,165 votes while his closest rival, Dhiren Chemchong of the CPN-UML, got 10,587. Likewise, Dahal of NC has been elected deputy mayor with 13,542 votes. Her closest rival Sita Devi Rijal of CPN-UML got 10,587 votes.
Mercury exposure high among gold plating workers
People of ethnic community have been traditionally engaged in gold plating business for centuries, however they are unaware of the fact that they come close to hazardous elements and mercury amalgam while continuing their business. Both men and women are involved in gold plating business.
Jazeera to conduct three flights a week to Kuwait from Gautam Buddha Int'l Airport
Kuwait’s leading airline, Jazeera Airways, has announced the launch of a new service to newly built Gautam Buddha International Airport in Nepal, connecting the large community of Nepali expatriates living in the Middle East and Europe to the south-west area of the country. The airline that is expanding its services in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe, expressed its commitment to conducting regular commercial flights to and from the GBIA.
Nepali rupee becomes further weaker
The Nepali rupee has, of late, depreciated against the U.S. dollar. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Wednesday fixed the exchange rate of one U.S. dollar at Rs. 124.41. The Nepali currency plunged to a record low against the US dollar today. Earlier, the US dollar appreciated at its highest level against the Nepali Rupee at Rs. 124.25 per dollar on May 10, this year. Under the current system, the exchange rates quoted by different commercial banks may differ, the NRB said.
Transporters happy with auto-adjustment of fares
Transport operators have expressed happiness over the implementation of automatic fare adjustment system on the basis of petroleum price. Federal and provincial transport ministries have assured to adjust fare of public transport based on the increment or decrement of petroleum price. If the petroleum price increases or decreases by 5 per cent, the fare is automatically revised by the authorities.
Budget Priorities
The Federal Parliament has started deliberating the priorities and agenda of the upcoming budget as the country has taken a new political course following the local level elections. The main opposition CPN-UML has ended its nine-month-long obstruction in the House of Representatives (HoR), citing the critical economic situation of the country. But the UML has said it will continue to protest in the parliament in a different form. Whatever the reasons behind the UML’s decision to let House run without any obstacle, it is a positive move aimed at minimising unnecessary confrontation in the House, the highest seat of elected body. The UML had disrupted the ninth and 10th sessions of parliament, paralysing its business of framing vital legislations and discussing the issues of public concerns.
Civic Engagement At Local Level
The historic local poll has been held successfully in Nepal. And elected officials for the local government institutions — rural municipalities and municipalities -- will take office shortly. It is a big achievement in the institutionalisation of local democracy as adult citizens have expressed their choices more or less freely in selecting their representatives who in turn are mandated to govern for the upcoming five years according to the federal constitution of Nepal. It indicates that local democracy is set to take root in Nepal and federal governance is poised to entrench at the grassroots despite impediments, challenges and constraints that come on its way.
Creativity Counts In Advertising
Arjun Mohan BhattaraiCreativity is a product of the human mind that greatly impacts consumer psychology. It is the crux of advertising. Advertising reflects a country’s economic prosperity as it is useful to consumers, advertisers, media, creative people and government. It is a crucial tool to deliver the message about products and services. With the current capability of communication, media and advertising working together will have a huge positive impact on our society.Beneficial investmentIn the context of Nepal, advertising is seen as an expense for corporations. But it is, in fact, the most beneficial investment that can be made to advertise agencies. Whether taken as an investment or expense, advertising is essential to boost consumption among people.A customer can be viewed as divine. We must address their demand and needs unmistakably. The target audience is important for any advertiser. If we catch the eyes of the target audience, it allows the advertisement to reach its full potential audience. However, this depends on the product and service types as well. Consumable items, fast-moving consumer goods, electronics, clothes along with other products have their own features of consumption where advertisement always impacts the buying decision.The advertiser and advertising agency both have their own ideas to promote goods and services. In advertising, there are two important phrases to keep in mind. “What to say", decided by the advertiser, and "how to say", decided by the advertising agency. Knowing what to say is essential for advertisers to be able to communicate the intended message to the consumer otherwise, the consumer may not take away the intended message. Market research enhances creativity where we can brainstorm new ideas and methods. In most cases, market research is not a practical solution because of the high costs associated with it.Creativity matters because it sets an advertisement apart from the pack, to attract the consumer. An advertisement lacking creativity, uniqueness, as well as simplicity will have a hard time reaching the target audience, or any audience at all. In advertising, there are many factors we should consider such as interest, desire, and action but most of all creativity. Have a good strategy is also important which must be communicated to by the client to the agency so that strategy can be reflected on the advertisement.Most of the time a creative agency complains about being provided with a low budget but the counterpart advertiser questions the lacking agency while missing the real problem. Creativity requires investment. A brand is highlighted and recognised through creativity. In Nepal’s advertisement industry, there are many creative people who deserve high positions in this sector. With creative advertising, we can influence buyers or consumers who duly purchase products and services. They interact with the advertisement. If they see the advertisement, their mind is drawn to buy the product.Typically, about 90 per cent of advertisements lack creativity, while 10 per cent are fully original. But the Nepali advertisement industry is blamed for copying foreign advertisements. However, learning from successful advertisements, such as Indian ads, is not detrimental whatsoever. We cannot classify a certain group of people as creative or not. It depends on the scenario. Brainstorming is important as different ideas are mixed and blended there to come to a single idea. Creative ideas can be raised from discussions with all stakeholders. This is important for creativity to have an impact on sales. Creativity comes through visits, meetings, readings, excursions, interactions, sharing and the like. It is not necessary to sit long hours in the same positions to have a formal conversation. It is necessary to remind, influence and impress the brand through creativity to a point where the consumer mind is attracted and trapped. The role of creativity is measured in the sense of grabbing consumer attention. It also establishes the brand and its image. There are different parties involved in being creative such as agencies’ creative directors and camera operators. However, we cannot compare their roles that come first and last. The Advertising Association of Nepal has been organising creativity awards since 2003 in Nepal where Nepali advertising creative are awarded. Advertising, branding, market research and creativity play vital role to establish and promote goods and services. In Nepal, there are very few brands. However, those brands are not establishing their brand image among consumers. So, foreign brands are more competitive in the market. Ads in new mediaAdvertisers are motivated towards new media and digital media. The new media seems cheap and easy. In case of producing ads and creative for digital media, it seems easy and fast. But, creative and ads production for traditional media takes a long process. Even after the introduction of the clean feed policy two years ago, there is no initiative to make new ads from multinational brand for the Nepali market. Likewise, the government restricts the foreign ads dubbing into Nepali language in television channel. So, MNCs brand compels to make ads focusing the Nepali market through creative agencies. To sum up, creativity is important to enrich the brand image. It would be relevant to recall David Ogilvy, the father of advertising, saying: “If it does not sell, it is not creative.” (Bhattarai is executive director of Advertising Association of Nepal).
Food Crisis In Malawi
Despite producing abundant volumes of maize in the past years, fears of food insecurity persist in Malawi. Maize production is expected to decline in 2022 due to extreme weather conditions. In 2018, the country produced 3.4 million tons of maize; 3.3 million tons in 2019, 3.8 million tons in 2020 and 4.4 million tonnes in 2021. High yields in previous years were attributed to abundant rainfall and a successful government programme, according to the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) that distributes agricultural inputs.
Term of temporary police to end on May 20
Several incidents and unwanted activities had been reported from the temporary policemen recruited for the purpose of local level election. Among 100,000 temporary (myadi) policemen recruited by the government for a maximum of 40 days of working term, which is about to terminate from May 20 this week, 48 had been taken different departmental actions while some had been suspended before joining the job, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and Spokesperson for Nepal Police Headquarters Bishnu Bahadur KC told The Rising Nepal on Wednesday. Within these days, five temporary police died because of several reasons includin
Uganda take 2-0 lead
Uganda clinched a one-wicket victory over Nepal to take a 2-0 lead in the Women’s Twenty20 International Series at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur on Tuesday. Put in to bat first, Nepal posted a medium score of 101 runs after losing seven wickets in 20 overs. The visitors, in reply, survived the late surge from Nepali bowlers, to achieve the victory with one ball and one wicket to spare. Rita Musamali hit three fences to contribute with a 34-ball 30 that led Uganda closer to a win. Janet Mbabazi added run-a-ball 16 and Franklin Najjumba collected 28-ball 19 for the visitors.
