Good morning!
Here’s a quick summary of important, ignored and interesting reports from Tuesday to kick-start your day:
Important
Kyirong-Kathmandu railway already on the Chinese agenda: Gyawali
Immediately after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded his three-day visit to Nepal, his Nepali counterpart Pradeep Kumar Gyawali has claimed that the Beijing government has also listed the ambitious Kyirong-Kathmandu cross-border railway project on its agenda. Gyawali’s claim follows criticisms from the public that the two governments could not move the proposed project ahead during the meetings held between the foreign ministers on Monday.
In an interview with Onlinekhabar, Gyawali claims China would accord priority to the project as it was already listed on the Belt and Road Initiative also. In another context, he says the two countries will announce the date of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Nepal visit very soon.
Nepal Bar to study Supreme Court verdict on Ncell CGT
The umbrella organisation of Nepali lawyers, Nepal Bar Association, has decided to study a recent controversial verdict on the capital gains tax of the private telecommunications company, Ncell. The full bench of Supreme Court, comprising five justices including the Chief Justice, had issued the verdict around two weeks ago, cancelling the government tax office’s calculation of the CGT.
The Bar team comprises senior advocates Shree Hari Aryal, Rabi Narayan Khanal, Gopal Krishna Ghimire, Chandra Kanta Gyawali and Bar treasurer Rudra Pokharel.
Nepal win three important games
This Monday proved to be a lucky day for Nepali sports sector as three teams representing the country won their key matches on the same day. Nepal’s men football team defeated Chinese Taipei 2-0 in their second-round match of the 2022 World Cup Qualifier. Nepal had lost their first match of the round to Kuwait 7-0.
Likewise, Nepal’s women football team defeated Tajikistan in the Nadezhda Cup Women’s Football 1-0. They also secured a berth in the final of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Nepal’s U-19 cricket team defeated the United Arab Emirates by 160 runs in the U-19 Asia Cup.
Ignored
NTB spending less in Visit Nepal Year
Nepal Tourism Board is preparing to make the ambitious Visit Nepal 2020 campaign a success. However, the annual budget size of the government’s tourism body decreased significantly from the last year.
The board recently finalised the annual budget of Rs 1.63 billion for the fiscal year 2019/20 (Mid-July 2019-Mid-July 2020), and it is Rs 120 million less than the annual budget the board got last year.
The board has allocated Rs 350 million for the Visit Nepal campaign. Of that, Rs 100 million will be directly given to the Visit Nepal Year Secretariat whereas the board itself will spend Rs 250 million.
KMC rally ‘for dengue control’
While stakeholders have criticised the government for its failure to take effective measures to control the dengue outbreak, the local government of the capital city has carried out a rally in its bid to raise awareness about the issue.
Kathmandu mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya led the rally coordinated by the ward 21 committee of the city. Federal lawmaker Krishna Gopal Shrestha and provincial lawmaker Ajaya Kranti Shakya also participated in the event.
Meanwhile, mayor Shkaya said the city government would expand the awareness programme in all 32 wards.
Nearly 450,000 to cast votes in November by-polls
The Election Commission informs that total 447,792 voters will cast their votes in the by-elections to be held in various places of the country on November 30. The commission says the voting will be held in total 154 wards of the country.
The commission has called members of the public to check the voters’ list and register their complaints on the list if any. The list will be made public on September 18 and it will be finalised after correction on September 27.
Tripathi group not to join NCP immediately
Some Madhesi leaders who contested the 2017 elections as candidates of the then CPN-UML have decided not to join the ruling Nepal Communist Party immediately.
During the 2017 parliamentary elections, five leaders from the Madhes region had contested the polls as the UML candidates though they identified themselves as ‘an independent political group’. Of them, Hridayesh Tripathi and Brijesh Kumar Gupta won the elections and they are in the House of Representatives as the NCP lawmakers.
The leaders recently met in Kathmandu and decided to extend the group’s network in various districts instead of joining the ruling party, according to the leaders. However, they have clarified that they would not develop into a party, but the group is likely to merge into the NCP once it gets active in the future.
Interesting
Psychiatrist blames social media for increasing suicide cases
A psychiatrist has blamed the increasing use of social media for provoking people to commit suicide. Dr Madhur Basnet says various studies have found that the number of suicide cases is increasing as the use of social media is increasing. He claims people take social media posts more seriously than newspaper articles and if the posts offend them, they are likely to kill themselves.
