- Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Kathmandu, April 18: The Department of Health Services has launched the National Vitamin ‘A’ programme for children under five years from today.
Vitamin ‘A’ Capsules are being administered to children from six months to 59 months of age and de-worming tablets to children from one year to five years in the two-day programme.
Nutrition Section Head of the Department, Lila Bikram Thapa, said the Department has set a target of administering Vitamin ‘A’ capsules to around 3.2 million children while de-worming tablets to around 2.9 million children.
Health volunteers would administer Vitamin ‘A’ and de-worming tablets to children in every ward, he mentioned.
A total of 52,000 women health volunteers and 10,000 health workers are deputed for the two-day programme. The government administers Vitamin ‘A’ capsules and de-worming tablets to children free of cost in Baishakh and Kartik every year.
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16 hydel projects under development in Tamor river
Taplejung, April 18: The district of Taplejung has received a huge investment in hydropower projects in Tamor river, the main river in the district, and other rivers.
Officials shared that 16 hydroelectricity projects are under construction in Tamor river and as high as 1,654.51 megawatt of power is expected to be generated.
According to the Department of Electricity Development, 14 hydropower projects in the river are exclusively based in Phaktanglung Rural Municipality and two other projects are in other local levels.
Likewise, four hydropower projects are being constructed in Mewakhola (river) that flows through Mikwakhola Rural Municipality. The projects in Mewakhola are expected to produce 178.42 megawatt of power.
The Department said four projects are under development in Kabeli river and the projects there would generate 95.43 megawatt of power.
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Special session of Koshi Province to begin today
Biratnagar, April 18: The special session of the Koshi Province Assembly is beginning at 1:00 pm today.
The special session is scheduled today as more than one-fourth of the Koshi Province Assembly members had furnished their request in writing on April 8 demanding the special session.
Spokesperson of the Office of the Province Chief, Narendra Kumar Shrestha, said Province Chief Parshuram Khapung summoned the special session today as per Article 183 (3) of the Constitution of Nepal.
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Eight Chinese tourists injured in road mishap
Kaski, April 18: Eight Chinese tourists were injured in a road accident in Pokhara today.
According to Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office, Kaski, Mohan Kumar Thapa, the accident took place when a microbus (Ba 1 pa 851) heading towards Mustang chowk from Lakeside and a jeep (Ba 13 Cha 513) en route to Ratna chowk collided with each other at Rastra Bank chowk in Pokhara.
All the injured are receiving treatment at Gandaki Medical College, said Kaski Police. All of them are out of danger, according to the Hospital.
Police have arrested both drivers.
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Raya appointed as Auditor General
Kathmandu, April 18: President Ramchandra Paudel today appointed Toyam Raya as the Auditor General of Nepal at the recommendation of Constitutional Council.
President Paudel appointed Raya to the post of Auditor General in accordance with Article 240 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal, reads a press release issued by Spokesperson of the Office of the Presidnet, Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai.
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Shakya nominated as NA member
Kathmandu, April 18: President Ramchandra Paudel has nominated Dr Anjan Shakya as the member of the National Assembly based on the recommendation of the government.
President Paudel nominated Shakya to the post in accordance with Article 86 (2) of the Constitution of Nepal, reads a press release issued today by the Office of the President. A cabinet meeting held on April 12 had recommended before the President to nominate Shakya to the vacant post of the NA member.
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13- Minister Bhandari says economy improving gradually
Kathmandu, April 18: Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Damodar Bhandari has argued that the country’s economy is improving gradually.
Inaugurating the “Sustainable Accounting Practices” today in the capital organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal, Minister Bhandari said the slow growth in the economy of the past has now improved.
Indicators of the economy have improved and now the economy should be made more dynamic through the development of trade, business and national industries, Minister Bhandari stated.
According to Bhandari, new economic opportunities should be created by boosting the morale of industrialists and business communities for the making of a robust economy. “On the one hand, this provides a positive message on the economy, and on the other, it creates employment opportunities within the country,” he observed.
On the occasion, he urged the chartered accountants to maintain credibility and transparency in their profession.
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14- Chief Minister expands cabinet in Lumbini Province
Dang, April 18: Chief Minister of Lumbini Province Jokh Bahadur Mahara has expanded his cabinet appointing four ministers from CPN (UML), one from Nagarik Unmukti Party and one independent province assembly member.
The ministries of the newly-appointed ministers are not confirmed as yet.
Bhumishwor Dhakal, Ratna Bahadur Khatri, Arjun Kumar KC and Dinesh Panthi from UML, Dharma Bahadur Chaudhary from Nagarik Unmukti Party and independent province assembly Khadga Basnet are appointed the ministers, according to a letter issued from the Chief Minister’s Office.
With the expansion of the cabinet, the Lumbini Province Government has now 10 ministers.
Likewise, Chief Minister Mahara has assigned ministerial portfolios to Ministers Chet Narayan Acharya, Dipendra Kumar Pun Magar and Bhandarilal Ahir.
Acharya is given the responsibility as Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning while Pun Magar is the Minister for Health and Ahir is the Minister for Agriculture and Land Management.
The newly-appointed ministers are likely to be administered the oath of office by today itself.
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16- 12-hour OPD service at Damauli Hospital from today
Tanahu, April 18: Damauli Hospital has started 12-hour outpatient department (OPD) service from today. The hospital started OPD service from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm from today in view of increasing flow of patients.
The 12-hour OPD service would be provided in other days except Saturday and public holiday. Chief of the Damauli Hospital, Dr Paribartan Baral said patients have no need to pay additional charge while receiving service even during expanded hours.
He shared that treatment services would be provided to those covered in health insurance scheme through health insurance. He expected that with the expansion of OPD services, people from all classes would get treatment service in an easy manner as well as job holders and students would also be benefitted from it.
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17- Newly appointed Auditor General Raya takes oath of office
Kathmandu, April 18: Newly appointed Auditor General Toyam Raya has taken oath of office and secrecy today.
At a programme organised at the Office of the President, Sheetal Niwas, Chief Justice Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha, in presence of President Ramchandra Paudel, administered oath of office and secrecy to Raya.
Vice-President, Prime Minister, ministers and heads of constitutional bodies were present on the occasion.
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18- Revenue collection surpasses target in Tatopani customs
Sindhupalchowk, April 18: The Tatopani Customs Office has collected more revenue than the target during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.
The office collected Rs 8.56 billion in revenue against the target of Rs 5.59 billion, Customs Chief Dayananda KC said.
According to KC, trade from the Tatopani Customs Point has increased after the resumption of the Nepal-China border.
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19- Parliamentarian Dr Sharma provides Rs 2 million to children’s hospital
Rastriya Samachar Samiti
Kathmandu, April 18: Member of the House of Representatives (HoR) and entrepreneur Dr Sunil Sharma has provided two million rupees to Children’s Hospital going to be constructed at the initiative of Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr Bhagwan Koirala.
Parliamentarian Sharma today reached the under-construction Kathmandu Institute of Child Health (KIOCH) at Hepali Height in Kathmandu and provided financial support.
On the occasion, Dr Sharma said he provided financial support to the under-construction hospital as a respect to Dr Koirala for his good cause.
KIOCH has forwarded a plan to construct specialized children’s hospitals in all seven provinces along with Kathmandu. Dr Koirala is the Chairperson of KIOCH. A hospital of KOICH is already in operation in Damak, Jhapa. KOICH would construct a 100-bed hospital in Kathmandu.
KOICH Chairperson Dr Koirala shared that plans are afoot to construct 50-bed hospitals in all seven provinces after constructing one in Kathmandu.
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20- Broader access to quality telecommunications vital for development: Minister Sharma
Kathmandu, April 18 : Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, has highlighted the role of telecommunications service in the prosperity of the nation.
Inaugurating the fifth central convention of the National Employees Organisation of Nepal (NEON), Nepal Telecom here Thursday, the Minister said the holistic development could not be imagined in the absence of telecommunications service. The nation’s development gains pace with citizen’s wider access to telecommunications, Minister Sharma reiterated.
As the Government spokesperson asserted, the NT is responsible for connecting citizens in far-flung areas to quality services. She urged the NT management to introduce and implement a special scheme aiming at minimizing a ‘digital divide’. According to her, time has come to bridge ‘digital divide’. She pledged to support NT’s efforts to expand services widely.
Drawing the attention of the NT management to take further measures to strengthen the quality service, making it more competitive and professional, she wanted the Company to come up with a scheme to promote the organization commercially as well. The Minister also advised the NT employees to fully utilize their skills and experiences in delivery, focusing on the promotion of their professional rights and the institutional development as well.
At the programme, representatives of trade unions within the NT drew the management’s attention towards urgency of address to sectoral challenges, implementation of new projects, and increase in facilities.
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21- ‘Data bias, privacy nag AI adoption in social innovation’
Narayan Prasad Ghimire/RSS
Kathmandu, April 18: Leveraging modern technology has been essential for game-changers so that they can seek solutions to various social problems.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly at the front to benefit the social innovators. But breaking barriers is equally important for their capacity to deploy AI for social benefits.
It is what a recent landscape report- ‘AI for Impact: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Social Innovation’ underlined. Despite having huge potential of AI in social innovation, the data bias and privacy are pressing concerns that determine its success as per the report released jointly by World Economic Forum and Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in collaboration with EY and Microsoft.
The report prepared with massive dataset of 300 social innovators from over 50 countries of six regions and 90 initiatives surrounding AI ecosystem and social innovation stated that 25 percent of social innovators are using AI to enhance access to health, while with 20 percent of social innovators apply AI to cope with climate solutions.
It has pointed out inadequate assistance for social innovation and local initiatives for building and applying AI for impactful solutions in the low income countries. The report has made aware the areas to which the social innovators could pay heed to ensure ethical use of AI that deters exclusion and inequalities. “The ethical use of AI, data governance and the development of inclusive technologies are critical considerations to ensure that the benefits of AI are realized without exacerbating existing inequalities or creating new forms of exclusion,” it stated.
The data sets have showed that Asia is second in social innovators (20%) while the North America the first (29%). Asia is trailed by Africa (18%) which is followed by Europe (16%). After Europe, it is Latin America (11%) and finally Oceania (6%). Moreover, the most applied AI capability by the social innovators is machine learning (53.3%). Machine learning is trailed by predictive learning (8.3%) in a huge margin. Chatbot accounts 3.3%.
Some of the barriers for adopting AI for social innovation as explained the paper are- trust gap and systemic bias, technical complexity and skills gap, resource intensity, data quality, in/access to AI technology and insufficient collaboration at multiple levels.
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22- Sodari of CPN (Unified Socialist) appointed Sudurpashim Chief Minister
Sudurpashim, April 18: Dirgha Bahadur Sodari of CPN (Unified Socialist) has been appointed the Chief Minister of Sudurpaschim Province.
Province Chief Najir Miya appointed Sodari on the post on Thursday in accordance with Article 168 (2) of the Constitution. Sodari is the parliamentary party leader of the CPN (US) in the Sudurpashim Province Assembly (PA).
He secured the support of CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (UML), Nagarik Unmukti Party (not all but those believed to be in the camp of party Chair Ranjita Shrestha Chaudhary) and independent PA member Dr Tara Joshi to be eligible for the appointment to the CM post.
Sodari had presented his claim for the appointment to the post on Thursday itself. On April 5, the Province Chief had called on political parties to stake their claim for the Chief Minister post by giving a time of ten days. Laxman Kishor Chaudhary and Kailash Chaudhary of the Nagarik Unmukti on April 14 presented their claims, seeking the appointment as the Chief Minister.
Finding both claims unconvincing, the Province Chief on April 16 made a fresh call on political parties to approach him constitutionally for the appointment of the Chief Minister till Thursday (April 18). The division with the Nagarik Unmutki in the Province Assembly turned decisive in the formation of a new government under the leadership of the Unified Socialist having four members in the 53-member PA.
However, the party’s PA member Ghanashyam Chaudhary who is said to be close to Resham Chaudhary faction met with the Province Chief on Thursday itself to express concern over the claim presented by Sodari. As Chaudhary told the Province Chief, the party had officially no support the CPN (US) for the Chief Minister.
The intra-party conflict in the Nagariki Unmukti, the fourth largest party in the Sudurpashsim, shows no sign of normalcy. The Ranjita Shrestha faction is for following the suit of the central alliance while those close to the party founder Resham Lal Chaudhary are inclined towards siding with the Nepali Congress.
In the 53-member PA, the NC is the largest one with 18 members followed by 10 of CPN (Maoist Centre) except the Speaker, seven of Nagarik Unmukti, four of Unified Socialist, one of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and one independent. The by-election for the vacant post (Bajhang-A) is taking place on coming April 27. The support of 27 PA members is mandated to be eligible for getting appointed the Chief Minister.
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23- Madhes Province cabinet expanded
Dhanusha, April 18: Chief Minister of Madhes Province, Saroj Kumar Yadav, expanded Cabinet on Thursday.
After securing vote of confidence for fourth time as CM, Yadav inducted four members in the Cabinet. The newly appointed ministers are- Bharat Prasad Saha, Minister without portfolio; Yubraj Bhattarai, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Tourism; and Bechi Lungeli, Minister without portfolio. Similarly, Sharada Thapa has been appointed Minister of State for Communications and Law Ministry.
Shah and Bhattarai are from CPN (Maoist Centre), Lungeli from CPN (Unified Socialist), and Thapa from CPN UML Province Chief Sumitra Subedi administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed ministers.
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24- RSS ready to collaborate with local governments-RSS Chair Jha
Bodebarsain (Saptari), April 18: Executive Chairperson of Dharmendra Jha has expressed readiness to work in tandem with local governments.
In a face-to-face talk with Bodebarsain municipality mayor Atesh Kumar Singh, RSS Chair Jha said RSS can collaborate with the local government. On the occasion, mayor Singh responded that the municipality was also ready to extend all possible support to the development of the news agency. He lauded the role the RSS has been playing to make the people informed.
RSS role in regard to the implementation of federalism was commendable, mayor Singh said, adding he was also ready to collaborate with RSS. The national news agency has been manufacturing and disseminating news in different national languages in collaboration with different municipalities.
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25- CPN (Unified Socialist)’s central meeting to take place on May 10-11
Kathmandu, April 18: The CPN (Unified Socialist) has called its central committee meeting in Kathmandu on coming May 10-11.
Party’s ideological perspectives will be discussed in the central committee meeting. Unified Socialist’s general secretary Ghanashyam Bhusal shared that the agendas, including work progress of people-based organizations, contemporary political status and endorsement of renewed organized members will be discussed in the meeting.
The meeting will also allocate responsibilities among the leaders in necessary areas striking provincial, regional and geographical balance abnd set standards in the selection of delegates for the upcoming national convention of the party.
In the meeting, party chair Madhav Kumar Nepal will present contemporary political report and general-secretary Bhusal will present organizational report. The party has already decided to hold its national general convention in Kathmandu from coming June 30 to July 4.
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26- All earthquake-ravaged heritage rebuilt in Lalitpur-mayor Maharajan
Lalitpur, April 18 : Lalitpur metropolis mayor Chiribabu Maharjan shared that a total of 150 public rest houses (pati-pauwa) ravaged by the 2015 earthquake have been reconstructed in Lalitpur.
On the occasion of the World Heritage Day today, he said the property of Lalitpur is heritage itself. The metropolis has been ever active for the protection of heritage, he said, claiming the ancient procession that has been stalled since a long time is being continued these years.
The Lalitpur metropolitan city has been adopting the principle of zero tolerance for the conservation of world heritage sites, he added. Also on the occasion, an installation art using 1,336-meter-long thread, crafted by artist Manish Lal Shrestha was exhibited in Patan. Mayor Maharjan inaugurated the day by draping the coloured thread around his body.
After the inauguration of the day, other attendees also draped threads around their bodies and surrounded the heritage sites located in the Patan Durbar Square. “I want to impart a message that our heritage should be united like a thread,” artist Manish said, stressing the need to inculcate unity and multicultural spirit among the next generations.
He started the project in 2017. The title ‘Project 1336’ has been re-exhibited on the occasion today.
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27- EC seeks cooperation for by-election
Kathmandu, April 18: The Election Commission (EC) has sought cooperation from government and other stakeholders to hold by-election in a free, fair and credible manner. The by-election is scheduled for April 27.
The EC urged government to help create atmosphere conducive for security persons and employees. Proper management of electricity, drinking water, transport and health services, and communications should be put in place.
EC Spokesperson Shaligram Paudel issued a press release, informing that it was writing to the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers for necessary direction to all concerned to this end.
The by-election is being held on April 27 for Province Assembly member from constituency no 1 in Bajhang and for House of Representatives member from constituency no 2 of Ilam district.
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28- Gold items weighing over 1-kg found unattended at TIA
Kathmandu, April 18: Gold items weighing over 1-kg has been found unattended at Tribhuvan University Airport (TIA).
The yellow metal weighing 1.07-kg was found abandoned beneath seats 27 and 28 on Air Indio Flight 6E1151 which arrived at 11:00 am Wednesday from New Delhi and remained at the airport’s parking zone.
According to TIA Security Office’s senior superintendent of police, Krishna Hari Sharma, three gold chains, six biscuits, two triangular-shaped yellow objects deemed gold, and two chain-rings were left at TIA.
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29- Sharma, Adhikari promoted to gazetted special class
Kathmandu, April 18: Joint secretaries Kedarnath Sharma and Baikuntha Bahadur Adhikari have been promoted to gazetted special class.
The Cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar took this decision today, according to government spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma.
Similarly, the government appointed Murari Prasad Kharel as Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
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30- Home Minister for justice in Ramhari’s murder case
Kathmandu, April 18: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Rabi Lamichhane, has pledged an impartial investigation regarding the murder of Ramhari Shrestha.
Ramhari’s spouse Ramila on Thursday called on the Minister to seek justice in the case. She demanded the government to ensure maximum action against culprits in the murder. In response, the Home Minister assured of justice to the victim through impartial and flawless investigation.
As he said, whichever parties remain in the government leadership, it will not influence the investigation procedures. During the meeting, Ramila expressed her concern over the ‘increasing security threat’ for her.
As she said she is hopeful of justice with the arrest of Kali Bahadur Kham, the accused one in the case, after 16 years.
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31- Minister Chaudhary for reducing street children
Lalitpur, April 18: Minister for Women, Children, and Senior Citizens, Bhagbati Chaudhary, has directed the stakeholders concerned to take all possible measures to reduce street children.
She made such instruction in a meeting of the Lalitpur-based National Child Rights Council on Thursday. The Minister urged all the authorities concerned to launch a campaign to keep streets free from neglected children. She insisted on the coordination among all 753 local levels to implement the proposed campaign, making it successful. The Minister also wanted the respective employees to keep records about the status of child homes.
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32- Newly appointed CM Sodari sworn in
Sudurpaschim, April 18: Chief of Sudurpaschim Province, Najir Minya, administered the oath of office and secrecy to newly appointed Chief Minister Dirgha Bahadur Shodari on Thursday evening.
Sodari was administered the oath of office and secrecy as per Article 172 of Constitution. He is the parliamentary party leader of CPN (Unified Socialist).
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