Standing top of the list of provinces, Province 5 reported 7.37 percent growth rate for the fiscal year.

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said this in its announcement in Butwal on May 20, 2019.

Meanwhile, Gandaki Province stood second with 7.06 percent economic growth, followed by Province 3 (7.04 percent), Province 2 (6.53 percent), Province 1 (6.49 percent) and Far Western Province (6.25 percent), respectively.

Province 5 had 6 percent topped the list in the last year.

This news gains significance in view of the government’s emphasis on growth of local bodies in the upcoming year through Federal Budget 2019-20.

Hope the governmental efforts will reflect in overall economic growth of the country.

Also Read:–

• Gandaki Province Ahead in Nepal’s Cable Car Projects
• Province 3 Wins Nepal U16 Cricket League Championship
• Nepal Province 2 Introduces Education Insurance Program for Daughters
• Province 5 Five-Year Plan Structuring in Full Swing

The post Province 5, Nepal’s Top Financial Performer for 2018-19 appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

In a recent update on April 08, 2019, Nepal has announced that it is sending a team of government-appointed climbers for the project to remeasure the height of the world’s tallest peak.

Four government surveyors have already been scheduled to leave for the Everest peak on April 09, 2019.

Through this project, Nepal aims to answer persistent speculations that the ‘height of the Mount Everest has come down’ after the massive 2015 earthquake’.

“We are sending a team because there were questions regarding the height of Everest after the earthquake,” Susheel Dangol, the expedition’s coordinator from the Survey Department, said in a statement.

The four surveyors are stepping up for the project after a two-year-long detailed study on the methodology to remeasure the peak, which included collecting readings from the ground and getting trained on extreme conditions at the top of the world.

“It will not be easy to work in that terrain, but we are confident our mission will be successful,” says Khim Lal Gautam, the expedition’s leader and chief surveyor, who summited the Everest peak in 2011.

The height of Mount Everest has been a long debate because of the disagreement among geologists and mountaineers, among others over inclusion of snow atop the peak in the total measurement.

The current height of Mount Everest measures 8,848 meters (29,029 feet) as recorded by an Indian survey in 1954. This figure remained till date even though various other teams measured it later.

Height and Route to climb Mount Everest

PM Bids Farewell

PM Oli bid a farewell to the team embarking on official survey trip to the Mount Everest peak.

In a special program held in Kathmandu on April 10, 2019, Oli offered Tika and garlands to the expedition team, wishing them a grand success on their journey.

Oli was elated in saying that the survey is Nepal Government’s first-ever attempt to re-measure Everest’s height officially and results add to the government’s data treasure.

The team comprises of the Survey Department’s technical staff Khimlal Gautam, Rabin Karki, Suraj Singh Bhandari and Yuvaraj Dhital will remeasure the height of Mount Everest or Sagarmatha.

While, a team of Sherpa including Aangpasang Sherpa, Pemangima Sherpa, Chhiring Jangbu Sherpa, Keshab Poudel and Angbu Sherpa will be guiding the team in their expedition.

The Background

Following a long-standing debate on whether the 2015 earthquake in Nepal had affected the height of Mount Everest, Nepal launched a ‘national pride’ project in 2017 to remeasure the height of the Everest peak.

The Government of Nepal informed this in a statement on September 15, 2017.

“Nepal has never measured Everest on its own although the world’s highest peak lies in its territory. So, we want to prove to our people that Nepal is capable of measuring Everest,” says Ganesh Prasad Bhatta, Head of Nepali Government’s survey department.

Bhatta informed that a team of Nepali and foreign experts have already begun working on the methodology for implementation of the survey, which is expected to be a two-year process.

Under this process, a Sherpa team will be reaching the peak with necessary measuring equipment, either in April or October 2018, which is usually a favorable period on the peak, a release in 2017 informed.

Finally, the day has come on April 09, 2019!

Other important developments related to Mount Everest over the year period:

Special Fee for Foreign Tourists

A day after informing about the new project, the Government of Nepal on September 16, 2017, made another announcement for foreign tourists visiting Mount Everest.

According to Nima Dorjee Sherpa, the newly-elected Chairman of the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality in Solukhumbu District, Nepali Constituent Assembly has passed a directive asking the Rural Municipality to levy a Rs 2,000 entry fee on every foreigner visiting the Khumbu region for Mount Everest.

This decision, to be effective from October 1, 2017, was part of its efforts to promote local tourism and decentralize revenue collection to the local bodies of the country, says Nima Dorjee.

The Nepali Government was also asked to restrict other agencies and NGOs such as Nepal Mountaineering Association, Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal and Nepal Tourism Board from collecting any entry fee from foreigners visiting the Khumbu region.

Online Health Services Launched

To address the health challenges that trekkers usually face on their travel across the Everest camp, a local service provider, Everest Link has launched online health services in the region.

Now, trekkers and mountaineers traveling across the Lukla-Everest Base Camp route can get free online medical services through Wi-Fi facility.

According to Tshering Gyaljen Sherpa, CEO of Everest Link, the services are being provided in collaboration with the two hospitals based in Khumbu and Kathmandu.

As per the official data, 100,000 tourists (35,000 foreigners) are allowed to scale the peak, annually.

The post Survey to Remeasure Mt Everest Height Begins! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The Ministry has reportedly formed the Rural/Urban Profile Preparation Procedure that would help local bodies maintain uniformity in dealing with information they collect at local levels.

The proposed plan will aid local bodies in data collection, analysis and formulation of data-based development plans through the profiles developed for every local level.

In line with the procedure, the Ministry has also developed a new software for collection and analysis of information.

The Ministry decision is in line with the constitutional provision that mandates collection of public data across local levels along with records of all key social aspects such as unemployment.

Even the Local Government Operation Act also mandates collection and maintenance of local-level information.

“It is impossible to formulate development policies without evidences in today’s world. Basic and primary data come as prerequisites for this purpose. Similarly, fragmented and updated data are necessary for the formulation of long-term, annual, sectoral and strategic plan of rural municipalities and municipalities,” MoFAGA said in a release.

The Ministry further informed that the new procedure will form the basis for implementation of developmental plans across the local levels.

A local-level profile under the new procedure involves a detailed information about population, demography, social characteristics, resource base, economic scenario and progress status based on basic data, indicators and baseline information.

Every local-level profile will undergo seven stages for the approval of format, action plan, survey, collection, analysis, presentation, draft preparation, authentication, preparation and publication.

Hope the new procedure will contribute to government’s efforts of filling developmental gaps at the local level.

The post Nepal Plans New Procedure to Assess Local-level Development appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

According to Nepal Public Service Commission (PSC), a total of 24,129 joined the civil service under the open category and nearly 16, 939 under the reservation quota in the last eight years.

Section-wise, entries under reservation quota included 5,728 women, 4,538 indigenous nationalities, 3,719 from Madhesi group, 1,541 Dalits, 789 differently-abled and 624 of marginalized groups.

The new reservation rule added post promulgation of the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007 mandates 45 percent civil service seats to aforementioned social groups under the reservation category.

In his opinion on the trend, a PSC member Ashok Jha said the reservation process has helped the government in shedding light on people from marginalized groups to bring them into the mainstream.

“The inclusion system has encouraged people from marginalized communities and groups to appear for the most competitive PSC exams, which itself is an achievement because in the past, people from these communities did not even think of appearing for the exam,” says Ashok Jha.

Jha further informed that the reservation process has motivated many aspiring candidates as evident in their excelling performance in the open category exams.

“Now, it is hard to see any reserved seat not being filled,” adds Jha, pitching for the continuation of reservation policy in the country at least for another 10 years period.

Meanwhile, a former chief secretary said the time has arrived for review of the reservation policy that should be reviewed once in every 10 years.

In this regard, he urged the government to review the inclusion policies and ensure that they benefit the needy.

“There should be only one-time inclusion quota for intended groups,” said the former chief secretary, urging the government to also check the quality of the selected applicants.

“The irony of the reservation policy is that a candidate can get selected by merely securing 40 marks, whereas a candidate competing under the open category may not be lucky even if she/he scores 65 marks,” the ex-government official added.

The post Nepal Civil Service Applicants from Marginalized Groups on Rise appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

As the reports say, the government is negotiating on a new deal with 14 donor agencies to raise a fund of Rs 23 billion to support civil services capacity development.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) is planning to utilize this fund over a period of four years towards capacity enhancement of civil servants across 750 local units.

According to MoFAGA, the country currently has around 17,900 civil servants across local units.

Whereas, Dinesh Thapaliya, Secretary at MoFAGA feels that the country would still require more civil servants for effective functioning of local bodies. In a briefing to the State Affairs Committee (SAC), he said the country is currently short of 40,000 civil servants.

“Government is planning to spend Rs 23 billion on capacity enhancement and training for civil servants at the local units over the next four years. We have chosen 14 donor agencies for the purpose, but we are yet to sign the official agreement,” said Thapaliya.

He further informed that the funds will be used through the provincial governments without any direct involvement of federal or local governments.

Civil Servants, Need of the Hour
Under the plan, the Ministry will classify all local units into 10 categories based on population, revenue, infrastructure and geography.

And, even a small local unit will have at least three special officers including an education officer, an engineer and a chief executive.

According to MoFAGA, this situation is the result of government’s failure to deploy required number of civil servants at the local level. “Most of the civil servants transferred to local units in Province 2 were either sent back by the local units or ran into complaints of failure to perform,” says Thapaliya.

However, officials claim that lack of timely deployment is majorly due to delay in the passage of the Federal Civil Servants Bill.

The cabinet approved 45,858 civil service positions at the central level including for different bodies such as courts, Foreign Ministry and Attorney General’s Office and has given only 21,399 for the provinces and 58,000 for local levels.

Thapaliya feels that 28,000 civil servants will be enough to meet related requirements at the center.

Event lawmakers, opposition party leaders and others find fault with the government’s act of utilizing funds for training and seminars and urge that it should instead focus on producing more civil servants.

Let’s hope the new deal will give needed push to address the civil servant requirements at all levels of the country.

Also Read:

• Staff Shortage Alert! Provincial Governments Face the Heat

The post Nepal Mulls Deal for Civil Services Capacity Enhancement appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The two-day Chief Ministers’ Meeting organized by the Gandaki Province Government was focused on listing out common agendas for the Inter-state Council meeting to be held in Kathmandu on September 09, 2018.

The meeting saw discussions on the current status of governance across local bodies, issues and ways to resolve them.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Gandaki Province Chief Minister (CM) Prithvi Subba Gurung said that the meeting is in line with the constitutional provision for federal structure that marks the significance of CM’s role in development after Prime Minister.

In the meeting, majority of the CMs said the federal government failed in timely devolution of powers to provincial governments, leading to discrepancies in key areas like defining laws, human resources and required budgets.

Because of this, provincial governments failed to deliver the required support to local bodies, they added.

“This has led to a situation, wherein we’ve not been able to send the message to the people that provincial government is at work despite being six months in power,” said CMs.

They claimed that provinces will not able to deliver the expected unless local administration, civil servants and police are under their jurisdiction.

Raising serious concerns over implementation of budget, policy and programs even six months after the formation of provincial bodies, CMs urged the Center to handover all the physical infrastructure and other properties to the provinces.

They urged for the formation of the ‘National Natural Resources and Financial Commission’ at the earliest possible.

Let’s take a glance at what Chief Ministers of various Provincial Governments said in the Summit:

It’s obvious that questions would be raised against the federal government as the constitution has allocated all the rights to it including that of transition period, civil servants, managing resources, formation of police organization and right to draft laws regarding the list of common rights. Since the provincial governments would be responsible for the failure of federal system, we have taken the initiative to organize the gathering and play constructive role. – Prithvi Subba Gurung, Chief Minister of Gandaki Province

Provinces have brought the budget, but there is no mechanism to implement. Old structures have been removed. The presence of provincial government cannot be felt at all the districts. – Dormani Poudel, Chief Minister of Province 3

Though province’s law & order comes under state government’s jurisdiction, we’ve not been able to form the provincial police  – Lal Babu Raut, Chief Minister of Province 2

“It’s a serious issue. What shall we do if the central government refused to accept when we begin the process after seeking foreign investment?  – Shankar Pokhrel, Chief Minister of Province 5

Let’s see what the Center says now!

The post Federal Nepal: Provinces Unhappy with Centre’s Stance on Local Bodies appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The new center envisages to promote sustainable development and inclusive development across Nepal.

The Center considers overall economic transformation in line with SDG principles as a key focus area of operations towards Nepal’s development, says former UN Under-Secretary-General Gyan Chandra Acharya, who will be heading the SAWTEE Nepal.

Meanwhile, SAWTEE Chairman Posh Raj Pandey said the Center will bring together policies, politics and expertise engaging all the related stakeholders in their scientific and non-partisan research process.

Nepal SDGs
In his inaugural address, Nepal Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Gyawali informed that Nepal has already begun adopting SDGs at the policy-level and is currently working towards integrating them at gross-root levels of the country.

Gyawali feels that SDG implementation across local levels will help in engaging domestic and international stakeholders in the development process.

Meanwhile, former Foreign Minister Prakash Saran Mahat opined that rule-based implementation of these rights and procedures pertaining to sustainable and inclusive development is key for development.

With private sector leading the growth, the government should continue holding equitable distribution across the development chain, added Mahat.

How SAWTEE Works?
In collaboration with the government, the Center aims to be a catalyst in Nepal’s developmental process through a research, analysis, advocacy and dialogue methodology.

 “The activities of the Center will contribute not only to existing issues and policies, but will also provide alternate ideas to decision makers,” says SAWTEE Chairman.

According to a press release, the Center will majorly focus on: job creation, structural transformation, gender mainstreaming, sustainability, global partnership, and establishing an integrated, holistic & multi-stakeholder approach.

The Center’s activities will include politicians, experts, civil servants, private players, academia, among others.

Overall, SAWTEE’s Nepal aims to develop a well-planned national strategy for a full-fledged transformation of Nepali economy with support of the country’s existing federal, democratic and republican structure.

The post SAWTEE Steps-up for Nepal’s Sustainable Development appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

In a recent move, the government announced plans to create a new ‘Basket Fund’ that would pool foreign donations and take ahead the same to local bodies as a conditional grant through federal administration.

The latest decision comes as solution to the long-standing concern over the distribution of foreign funds to the development projects across the provincial and local units of the country.

The new decision gains significance in view of the fact that Nepal Constitution allows foreign fund access only to provincial governments through Centre’s consent, with no such access to local bodies in any way.

According to the Finance Ministry officials, the donors are eager to help local and provincial bodies in their early stage of development under the federal set-up.

“We seek to give them a window to mobilize their resources for programmes implemented by provincial and local governments,” says Shree Krishna Nepal, Chief of the International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division, Ministry of Finance.

As the officials say, the federal government however requires more resources for financing infrastructure projects.

“We have demanded technical assistance less than 10 percent of overall assistance for the provincial or local levels,” says another official.

In line with the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration recommendations, the government discussed with donors on ways to create a single ‘basket fund’ that can be utilized in different priority areas in consultation between the two sides.

“A local unit will be responsible for implementing a project within its area of jurisdiction while schemes covering more than one local unit will be funded through the provincial government,” says Amrit La msal, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Federal Affairs. 

Besides, there exists confusion over the utilization of foreign funds that doesn’t fall under the budgetary system.

The post Basket Fund for Foreign Aid to Nepal’s Local Projects appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Making the norms strict, Nepali Cabinet said the government will move ahead with the projects only after the Indian Government signs all the related financing deals with the Nepali Finance Ministry.

The Cabinet sought paper trail and deep scrutiny of every fund that India plans to make for small projects in Nepal.

The latest move by Nepali Cabinet is coming as a result of ambiguity over flow and distribution of Indian grants controlled by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.

In such case, the latest Cabinet decision is being looked at as an obstacle for the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu in executing its Nepali projects at its own will.

India has been offering grants worth Rs 50 million per SDP for infrastructure development including hospitals and educational institutions across local bodies of Nepal.

However, Nepali political analysts feel that the move is driving Indian influence in Nepal.

Shift in Procedures One Way

As part of its latest decision, Nepali Cabinet urged India to route its funds only through the central government account and not in any other way for smooth flow of the projects.

 “Only after the Indian grant comes into the central government’s account, would that amount be allocated to specific projects in various districts,” Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sher Bahadur Tamang said in a statement.

Going forward, as per the new decision, Nepali Finance Ministry will first finalize any project based on inputs by the provincial and local governments and sends the proposals to India.

Upon acceptance, India will have to sign financing agreements with the Nepali Finance Ministry to start funding the selected projects.

“This would give Nepal government greater control over where and how the funds are spent, keep track of the project and maintain financial transparency,” says a senior Nepali Finance Ministry official.

Local bodies will be responsible for the successful implementation of projects, adds the official.

According to Tamang, Indian grants will fall under the FY 2019-20 budget as Nepal Government has already announced the budget for FY 2018-19.

Earlier, Deuba-led Nepal Government had agreed to the extension of India’s SDP proposal with a condition that the process will go under the decision making of Nepal Government.

Upon the implementation of the Cabinet decision, it will be the first time that the Indian grants to SDP in Nepal will be operating under Nepal Government since the launch of SDP in 2003.

Applause, the Other Way

In another update enhancing Indo-Nepal ties, Nepal Government appreciated Indian Government’s support in the development of India-Nepal cross border rail links.

As part of the sixth Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting on India-Nepal Cross Border Rail Link Projects held in Kathmandu on July 09, 2018, both sides also discussed to complete Jayanagar-to-Janakpur-Kurtha and Jogbani-to-Biratnagar customs yard railway lines by October 2018.

The two sides also agreed to move ahead with the other stretches such as Kurtha-Bijalpura-Bardibas and Biratnagar customs yard on priority. 

The post Nepal Reviews Procedures for Indian Grant to Small-scale Projects appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Ambassador Richard Morris made this statement in a meeting with the BMC Mayor Bhim Parajuli and Deputy Mayor Indira Karki, recently.

Richard also congratulated BMC on its development projects and plans for future progress.

As part of the discussion, Parajuli appraised the Government of Province 1 of providing better education and health access to the poor sections of the society.

On the occasion, he also expressed his willingness to collaborate with private players towards addressing unemployment concerns and ensure overall development of Biratnagar.

BMC’s Pace of Development

BMC has been riding high on development since the recent past.

Going tech-savvy, BMC department is employing video drones to track the construction and other developmental activities across the city.

According to Parajuli, these technologically-advanced drones are being used to monitor the progress of all the past, present and future public development projects.

Video drones are being used for filming and mapping of the projects’ progress.

This project is being conducted under the Asian Development Bank’s Secondary Towns Integrated Urban Environmental Improvement Project (STIUEIP) in collaboration with a locally-renowned firm.

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