While first phase of the program six years ago has covered 26 districts, the second phase is going to cover the rest.

The government is currently preparing working guidelines to initiate the second stage of survey in 51 districts and identify eligible citizens for poor identity cards that gives them government facilities.

This survey is part of Nepal Government’s ambitious project launched in September 2012 towards successful distribution of poor ID cards to the needy.

The scheme envisages eligible citizens with special benefits such as education scholarships, skill training and health insurance helping them earn a good livelihood.

However, the present government is yet to decide on what benefits will be provided to the card holders.

“As the government will be implementing a computerized data survey in the second phase, we have to create new guidelines,” said Gopi Nath Mainali, Secretary at the Poverty Alleviation Ministry, while informing that the second phase will start in a few months.

The ministry informed that a few indicators out of 18 provisions used in the first phase under the scheme have been revised.

They are currently working on the revisions to develop new indicators to establish poor ID cards’ compatibility with the National Identity Card (NIC). The new budget statement for the current fiscal calls for distribution of NICs within two years.

“We have targeted distributing poor IDs within the same time frame,” added Mainali.

The first phase of the survey identified 391,831 poor households, with 188,235 households as extreme poor, 119,748 as mid-poor and 83,848 as general poor. However, these poor households are still waiting for their special relief packages as they did not get poor ID cards.

The post Nepal Stays Committed to Poverty Alleviation appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The report entitled ‘Local Shares: An In-depth Examination of the Opportunities and Risks for Local Communities Seeking to Invest in Nepal’s Hydropower Projects’ analyzed the country’s innovative benefit sharing policy that allows communities’ investment in local hydropower projects in the form of ‘local shares’.

Currently, the Government of Nepal mandates hydropower developers to give 10 percent of their shares to communities affected by the project.

Considering the government’s goal of generating 10,000 MW hydropower in the next 10 years, around USD 439 million can be raised from project-affected communities as ‘equity’, says IFC.

Nepal’s local shares model is unique. It recognizes the importance of communities in private sector hydropower investment, says Wendy Werner, IFC Country Manager for Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.

“For example, in the last three years, over USD 10 million was raised through local shares by 13 small-to-medium hydropower companies. The investment model offers great potential to create local ownership and increase public support for hydropower projects,” adds IFC, a World Bank Group member.

However, IFC reports lack of awareness about the sharing market mechanism and safety measures that can reduce investor risk among locals, majorly women and socially, economically & culturally disadvantaged communities of the country.

The report found that locals borrow at high interest rates or sell primary assets in order to invest in local shares, ending up in unrealistic expectations and risk of loss.

To address such gaps, IFC recommends community-level education and enhanced regulations that can maximize investment opportunities and also protect them from undue risk.

The study also recommends simplification of financial information making it understandable event to non-subject matter experts, creation of low-risk mechanisms for vulnerable households, digitizing the share allocation process and information online for more transparency and accountability in the process.

“IFC aims to ensure the private sector contributes to sustainable power development and that this investment opportunity is within reach of every citizen, balancing the potential returns with the project risks,” adds Werner.

“The comprehensive consolidation of this report is very timely and will hopefully enable informed discussions at the policy level to improve and strengthen the local shares mechanism as a viable model of equity participation involving local people,” says Kulman Ghising, Managing Director of Nepal Electricity Authority.

Also Read:

• Nepal 2017 Highlights: Hydropower Potential Grows Three-fold with 16 New Projects
• Himalayan Hydro Expo 2018: Investors Urged to Tap Nepal’s Hydropower Potential
• Nepal For Clean Energy Solutions, Bets Big on Hydropower

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The State Affairs & Good Governance Committee of Nepal Parliament agreed to make amendments to the ‘Bill on Right to Privacy’ allowing public officials to disclose their property and related details issued by legal entities.

The government body took this decision unanimously to ask the public officials to disclose their records to public, informed the Sudarshan Khadka, Secretary at the Committee.

The latest move comes as a response to the widespread criticism over provisions in the Bill, which currently allows civil servants and government officials to keep their property & academic details secret and also has restrictions on taking photographs of public officials and events without approval.

However, the amendments to the Bill demand revisions in the two existing key laws i.e., Corruption Prevention Act and the Judicial Council Act.

Despite willingness of the Cabinet Ministers since 1990s, the Corruption Prevention Act has been safeguarding public officials from submitting their details.

Whereas, the Judicial Council Act allows disclosure only to the Judicial Council and not to anyone else.

Former minister Sher Bahadur Tamang had also proposed amendments to these two laws in line with the latest decision saying that would boost ‘transparency’ in the system.

Based on the current discussions, the Committee Secretariat will now prepare a new report based on the new amendments and will submit the same to the committee for further discussion.

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In a recent update, the government restricted all the 20 ministries including the Prime Minister Office and Office of Council of Ministers from issuing permits to public visiting Singha Durbar.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) is formulating new rules and will hold the responsibility of enforcing new orders in the wake of reported security threat and overcrowding around Singha Durbar premises.

We are planning to implement the new rule under which one-door approach will be adopted for issuance of entry passes and separate entry & exit gates will be designated for the general public and VIPs/VVIPs, says Indra Jit Rai, Security Adviser to the Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa.

 “The existing temporary pass system will be scrapped,” he added.

Currently, all ministries hold authority to issue visitors permit to Singha Durbar upon request to visit any ministry in the Singha Durbar premises.

Streamlining The Process
The new rules also apply to lawmakers, former ministers and political leaders in their way to Singha Durbar to visit any ministers’ residence in Pulchowk. Now, high-level officials can meet the ministries only at their official residences and offices.

Because of overcrowding, even secretaries could not meet the ministers to get files signed. Issues of around 60-70 per cent visitors can be handled by ministers’ aides, but presently even those people are directly meeting the ministers, adds Rai.

Especially, the people from rural areas are not being able to meet the concerned ministry officials because of the priorities given to high-level government officials and political leaders.

“They feel humiliated and their genuine issues remain unaddressed. So, we seek to address these issues through the new security policy,” Rai said.

Surveillance on Priority
Headed by MoHA Joint Secretary, the Singha Durbar Security Committee will finalize the rules and the Home Ministry is planning to deploy advanced surveillance systems under new security measures.

 “Powerful CCTV cameras and body scanners will be installed at the gates. Suspected individuals will be arrested immediately by security personnel,” informed Rai, adding that visitors can only meet the official designated to them in the permit that would be issued on the first-cum-first-serve basis.

 “The plan is to have a modern security system at Singha Durbar,” adds Rai.

The post Now, Kathmandu’s Singha Durbar Under Tight Security! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

On the day, thousands of Nepalese gathered in Kathmandu to observe mass prayers reciting the holy Dhammapad, Buddhists’ holy book that is a collection of sayings of Lord Buddha.

Nepalis from all walks of life, around 75,000 in number and yet to be confirmed by Guinness Book, gathered at Kathmandu’s largest open square Tundikhel to take part in the procession.

Under the theme ‘Buddha was Born in Nepal’, the event saw participation of famous Nepali personalities like Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and other high-profile government officials such as Defense Minister Ishwor Pokharel, CPN-MC Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, besides movie celebrities Dheeraj Rai, Nikhil Upreti and Rajesh Hamal.

The participants called this a move towards promoting peace and harmony across the world.

According to the World Record Council Nepal, the event organizer, says the ceremony was aimed at spreading the stature of Nepal as the Land of Buddha and to create new Guinness World Record.

The program is being organized for nation and nationality and to spread Buddha’s message across the world,” read the organizer’s statement.

“Nepal is the birthplace of Lord Buddha, the country which has the height like of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) let’s make it peaceful. We have adopted the path of prosperity let’s make it that way. Let’s make it happiest country in the world. I want to make a request with the world, the world leaders, the world government and all organizations to search for the solutions through dialogue or through peaceful way if problems exist, not the war,” Oli said in his address at the gathering.

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According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Nepal, the revenue collection over the next fiscal is expected to see a 30 percent rise standing at around Rs 950 billion, around Rs 220 billion more than the current fiscal target of Rs 730 billion.

According to Finance Secretary Shankar Prasad Adhikari, this target can be achieved through control of under-invoicing practice and boosting inland tax revenues such as Value Added Tax (VAT) and Income Tax (IT).

“The target is quite ambitious, but if we’re able to control under-invoicing, we’ll be able to achieve it,” says Shankar Prasad.

The government is also planning to increase revenue generation through domestic debt to Rs 153 billion from the previous year’s revenue of Rs 145 billion.

“If the economy grows by six per cent this fiscal, we can easily raise Rs 153 billion through domestic debt, which is an ideal ratio of domestic debt to gross domestic product,” says Prasad.

Besides, the Finance Ministry is also expecting Rs 17 billion surplus revenue from the unspent budget of the current fiscal.

Apart from this, the government’s reliance on foreign aid for grants, loans and technical assistance for budget financing is expected to touch the Rs 450 billion mark.

Substantial Rise in Foreign Aid

The government’s dependence on the foreign funding is expected to see a substantial rise in the coming fiscal to meet the domestic development needs across provinces and local bodies.

Towards this end, the government is planning to welcome around Rs 286 billion as foreign investment.

The current fiscal saw a budget allocation of Rs 232 billion with Rs 225 billion for local bodies and Rs 7 billion for provincial levels.

The new Nepali Government, yet to be formed, will undertake the formulation works of new budget for 2018-19 fiscal.

The initial estimation of the federal budget for the 2018-19 fiscal is yet to be presented at the Resource Committee meeting led by the Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) of Nepal.

The post Nepal Expects 30% Rise in Revenue Collection in FY 2018-19 appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

This app, first such one by any Nepali Civil Society Organization (CSO), is coming at a time when the country is witnessing a major political and developmental shifts towards protection of citizen’s rights and Nepali society.

“The android app is an integrated package on several dimensions of RTI- from principles to practice aimed at making public and media aware of RTI usage and its benefits for a good governance endeavor in the country,” said Freedom Forum in its release.

At a time when the government is looking at strengthening local bodies and empowering citizens, this app comes to assure the transparency and accountability in public affairs.

The app covers the basics of RTI Act, guide to implementation of RTI, ensures the facility of downloading and sharing of common templates of RTI requests and also helps in reaching out to the chief of public agencies and the National Information Commission (NIC).

Through this app, all the Nepali RTI activists and campaigners can access all rules, laws, publications, updates, success stories/case-studies and discussion forums related to the RTI Act.

The app assists all Nepali human rights defenders, RTI activists, journalists and CSOs to learn and share ideas as an extended forum.

The app offers public assistance on the ways to exercise the RTI Act and also provides a special forum to share and discuss issues related to human rights.

The post RTI Nepal Mobile App to Address Human Rights Issues appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

All sections of public including Christian and non-Christian communities joined the celebrations, while many youngsters and kids appeared in Santa Claus caps greeting ‘Merry Christmas’ marking the festival celebrations.

On the occasion, Christians across the country gathered at churches around the Kathmandu Valley to pray and exchange greetings.

Popular areas such as Durbar Marg, Thamel, Bhaktapur, Basantapur and Lalitpur were colorfully decorated with Christmas trees and glittering ornaments.

Extending her festival greetings to the people of Nepal, President Bidya Devi Bhandari said, “Nepal is a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious country. Every festival celebrated in the country is part of the national heritage and these festivals have played a significant role in maintaining unity and religious harmony among people living in the country. We should all preserve and promote such festivals, languages and culture.”

According to the 2011 census report, Nepal has a total of 3 lakh Christian population, and the festival is a public holiday in the country.

The post Nepal Marks Christmas 2017 Celebration appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Half of the population survive on USD 1 per capita spending per day. The average life expectancy in Nepal is 59 years and around 20 percent of people in the age group of 13-15 years consume tobacco.

The average per capita spending on healthcare in a year is USD 68. Momo is the popular food of Nepal.

The post People of Nepal appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

In an official press release on December 12, 2017, the agencies lauded political parties, voters and citizens for their successful participation in the parliamentary and provincial elections held on November 26, 2017 and December 7, 2017, respectively.

The presence and participation of senior citizens, women, as well as differently-able people were equally encouraging, read an official statement.

The election observation body comprises of General Election Observation Committee (GEOC), National Election Observation Committee (NOEC) and Inclusive Women Network for Peace, Justice and Democracy (Sankalp).

Observation Teams Across Polling Centers

All the observation teams contributed their best to the fair conduction of electoral process.

While NEOC deployed a total of 3,743 trained observers, Sankalp had set up 910 observers followed by GEOC (800 observers) in both the first and second phase of elections.

Besides, these teams also deployed mobile observer and election expert teams across the sensitive polling centers to ensure free and fair electoral process.

In addition to these, NEOC had alsomobilized 165 long-term observers for data-based observation of both the election phases.

Besides deploying teams across the districts, the observation body had also set up call centers to avoid discrepancies in the polling process.

EC Promises Met 

On the flip side, the elections also reported violation of election code of conduct despite strict arrangements by EC.

“In many places use of pamphlets and campaign materials were found to be in violation of the code of conduct.  Data received from NEOC Call Center state that in 82 polling centers observed campaign materials were found within the 300-meter perimeter of the polling centers. Moreover, there were activities aimed at influencing voters outside 12 polling centers,” read a statement.

Overall, 99.60 percent (1307) of the polling centers had a minimum 6-member staff as promised by EC, 99.20 percent (1301) had clearly-marked ballot boxes, 0.40 percent (5) centers reported lack of necessary election material and 0.50 percent (6 centers) saw confidentiality failure, informed the observers.

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