Thursday 25th April 2024
Nepali Sansar is back to tell you what more happened in this week during April 13-19, 2019.
Apart from what we reported, there are more interesting updates about the Himalayan nation that drew huge attention during the week.
Let’s relook back into the week for a quick round-up of Top 10 Nepali news headlines:
The Nepal Government has approved around 374 fee-paying climbers including 12 Nepalis to climb the Mount Everest this spring. However, bad weather conditions are likely to challenge the climbers on their way to the Summit’s peak. “It will depend on weather. If the weather does not behave well, all climbers could scramble to climb the peak during a short weather window causing a traffic jam,” says Ang Tshiring Sherpa, former president of Nepal Mountaineering Association.
In a move strengthening food and nutrition for the locals, the Nepal Government signed an agreement with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization signed a five-year framework agreement on technical cooperation and partnership. The new framework aims to achieve three goals: enhance sustainable agriculture production & marketing, enhance natural resource management and enhance inclusive & gender-responsive livelihood and reduce poverty reduction.
On the occasion of the World Heritage Day 2019 on April 18, 2019, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) revealed a master plan to link two world heritage sites i.e. Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square and Swayambhunath Stupa that are 2.2 km apart in a walkable distance. KMC also unveiled the ‘World Heritage to World Heritage Trail’ app, which gives information about historical monuments that are part of the trail without the need for a human guide. Read More
In a fresh update pertaining to the supply of two wide-body Airbus A330 jets to Nepal, the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority issued notices to five international firms to appear before the anti-graft agency in a week period. The firms have failed to appear before the Commission even after a 15-day summons notice issued on March 27. The jet purchase became a hot controversy of debate after a corruption case was filed at the anti-graft agency.
Five special UN rapporteurs to Nepal, under the Human Rights Office, wrote a letter to Nepal Government on April 12, 2019, seeking transparency in the transitional justice leadership selection process and amendment to the existing Transitional Justice Act in line with global international standards. Surprisingly before Nepal responded, UN went a step ahead to make that letter open to public. “The letter wrongly tries to portray that nothing has been done so far in the transitional justice process. We have reservations about it,” says a senior official at Nepal PMO.
Nepal is not able to make much out of it precious stones! Lack of commercial production is forcing local traders to export the raw material, thus losing out on a large amount of export revenue. Traders are currently exporting precious and semiprecious stones in their raw form. This is resulting in lack of value-added gem exports to the country’s trade basket, say the Department of Mines and Geology officials. While the country imported precious stones and jewelry worth NPR 645.12 million during the first six months of the current fiscal year, export earnings during the period totaled NPR 122.74 million, causing the export concerns.
The Office of the Auditor General (OAG), in its annual report, said that government bodies are vulnerable to cybersecurity risks because of their misconduct towards existing rules and regulations. According to OAG, only one government department complied with the criteria set for software usage in government processes.
“It’s dangerous when government bodies themselves are using software that doesn’t meet the prescribed legal standards,” the report said.
There has been a wide range of debate on ban of PUBG across the country. Challenging the government decision to ban the game, the Supreme Court passed an interim order asking the government not to implement the ban decision. A bench of Justice headed by the Ishwar Khatiwada issued the interim ruling on April 19, 2019.
The international rights body Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the Nepal Government to stop prosecuting journalists and social media users against their freedom of online expression. In a press statement in New York on April 19, 2019, HRW said the government should review and reform its Electronic Transactions Act, 2006 in that regard.
Pharmaceutical drugs worth NPR 45 billion are being transacted in Nepal, annually. This was revealed at the National Convention of Nepal Chemist & Druggist Association held in Pokhara on April 18, 2019. According to the Association president Mrigendra Mehar Shrestha, a total of 21,000 people were found to have been involved in this business.
While the aforementioned are some important headlines, special new headlines such as ICC U19 Qualifier tournament, 8th National Games and the launch of NepaliSat-1 during the week stood as the life-time highlights for the country.
