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Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Uddhav Thapa has been appointed as the Chief Minister of Koshi Province.

Province Chief Parshuram Khapung appointed Thapa as the Chief Minister on Tuesday.

NC’s Thapa presented his claim for the post of Chief Minister before province chief with the support of the majority members compelling Speaker Gautam to resign.

Earlier on July 6, 2023, Thapa had become the Chief Minister with the support of 46 lawmakers of Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Center), CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajbadi Party and Speaker Gautam.

Thapa was removed from the post of Chief Minister after the Supreme Court issued the verdict saying that the government in Koshi Province was formed in an unconstitutional way.

He was appointed as the Chief Minister with the support of 47 lawmakers—29 of Nepali Congress, 13 of CPN (Maoist Center) including the Speaker, four of CPN (Unified Socialist) and one of Janata Samajbadi Party.

 Meanwhile, Thapa will be sworn in as the Chief Minister on Wednesday.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 28. 59 points to close at 2,077.58 points on Tuesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 5. 13 points to close at 396. 72 points.

A total of 6,015,067-unit shares of 262 companies were traded for Rs 1. 92 billion.

Meanwhile, Super Madi Hydropower Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 4. 60 percent.

Likewise, Kisan Lagubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropping by 6. 54 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 05 trillion.

Koshi Province Speaker Baburam Gautam resigned from his post on Tuesday.

Gautam resigned this afternoon by addressing Deputy Speaker Srijana Danuwar.

Gopal Parajuli, Secretary at the Province Assembly Secretariat, said that the resignation of Gautam has been received.

Gautam was elected as the Speaker of the Koshi Province on December 17, 2022.

He is a Province Assembly member elected from the CPN (Maoist Center).

Gautam, who was in Kathmandu for the past few days, tendered his resignation soon after he reached Biratnagar.

Competitiveness and competence of Nepal’s IT services industry have grown tremendously in the past few years with the country exporting IT services worth $515.4m in 2022.

A new report by Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) on the Nepali IT industry shows IIT service exports accounted for 1.4 percent of the country’s GDP and 5.5 percent of the foreign exchange reserves.

The report shows Nepal is gradually making strides in IT service exports, especially through an increment in software development and digital services through offshore outsourcing.

The report titled ‘Unleashing IT: Advancing Nepal’s Digital Economy’ says IT services exports witnessed a whopping 64.2 percent growth in 2022. “Both IT companies and freelancers experienced substantial growth, with IT companies recording an 80.5 percent increase in service exports and freelancers achieving a growth of 55.2 percent,” says the report.

The report, the first of its kind to map the Nepali IT services export industry throws many interesting facts. There is significant involvement of youth in the IT sector, with 83.5 percent of freelancers working in the IT sector falling within the age bracket of 20-29.

Among the IT companies operating in Nepal, 75.3 percent are solely registered within the country, while 24.7 percent are registered both in Nepal and abroad. The primary areas of export services provided by Nepali IT companies include programming, coding, design, software development, and testing. A significant majority (78 percent) of the companies receive project-based work, although they express a desire for long-term assignments despite currently taking on monthly or hourly task-based work. Around 58.3 percent of the companies frequently receive export services work, with approximately 28.4 percent experiencing no operational issues. However, 12.3 percent of the companies only receive occasional assignments.

In terms of clients, 77.8 percent of IT companies receive assignments from the United States, followed by Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia. However, there has been a shift in the trend in recent times, with more companies working with countries in Asia and the Middle East, such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

Approximately 44.4 percent of the companies have been co-founded as private limited companies, while others operate in partnerships with international companies or as sole proprietorships in certain cases. Among the partnerships, 87.5 percent exclusively involve Nepali partners, 3.1 percent foreign partners, 6.3 percent both Nepali and foreign partners, and 3.1 percent involve both Nepali and Non-Resident Nepalis (NRN) partners.

“The surge in IT services exports has contributed to the economy and created employment opportunities for IT professionals,” says the report. There are over 106 IT export services companies and 14,728 IT freelancers in software development and technology and 51,781 Information Technology Enabled Services  (ITeS) freelancers engaged in exporting IT services through various digital platforms.

With growing prospects for exports, there has been a promising growth trend in both revenue and investment in the IT industry.  The revenue growth signifies that a high number of companies are successfully offering IT services to international clients, resulting in a higher influx of foreign exchange into the country.

On average, the yearly salary for IT workers in Nepal is $2,810 (Rs 365,300) at the entry-level, $6,395 (Rs 831,350) for the mid-level, and $15,322 (Rs 19,91,860) for the senior-level. Currently, the estimated number of jobs generated by IT service export companies is 7,228 and there are 66,509 online freelancers.

The report shows a gender divide in the number of hired employees. There is a stark gender disparity in terms of hiring regular and full-time staff, favoring men over women. As per the report, 84 percent of the employees (both full-time managerial and technical staff) are men while the remaining 16 percent are women.

According to Dr Amrita Sharma who led the study, reliable supply of electricity and internet connection are major challenges in Nepal. “With the growing demand for IT services, strengthening IT infrastructure should be the keen focus,” said Sharma.

The number of data centers in the country must be increased to secure data storage and management as well as enable remote access to data, disaster recovery, and energy efficiency.

According to the report, in order to boost the growth of Nepal’s IT sector, it is essential to provide the industry with adequate financial support across three major areas—research and development, investment support to start-ups and scaling up successful companies, and the creation of efficient payment systems. The lack of funding for early-stage financing and company incubation has hindered the growth of IT startups. “As many startups are struggling, early-stage funding is crucial,” said Sharma.

In Nepal, the IT sector, according to the report, presents an opportunity for contributing to steady economic growth in the digital era. “Unlike such sectors as tourism, hydropower, and agriculture, which could face challenges due to geographical limitations and competition from neighboring manufacturing hubs, IT service exports can thrive with fewer challenges,” says the report. 

The main opposition CPN-UML has decided not to backtrack from its stance of forming a high-level probe commission to inquest the recent gold smuggling case.

During a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee held before Parliament meeting on Tuesday, the UML said that it would let the House proceed with its business only if the probe commission is formed.

The ruling coalition parties’ lawmakers, however, said that there is no need for a high-level probe commission.

They opined that the UML’s demand cannot be fulfilled.

The UML is preparing to propose the formation of a commission to investigate the gold smuggling case in the Parliament meeting.

After the ruling parties disagreed with the stance of the main opposition UML, Speaker Devraj Ghimire postponed the meeting scheduled for Monday to Tuesday afternoon.

The main opposition UML had obstructed the Parliament meeting on Wednesday demanding the formation of a high-level probe commission to investigate the 100 kg gold smuggling case.

In the meeting, the UML lawmakers demanded a ruling to form a high-level probe commission, accusing the government ministers of being involved in the gold smuggling.

The UML lawmakers stood from their seats and picketed the well after the Speaker tried to take the proceedings of the zero hour ahead.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chairman Rajendra Lingden urged the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML to form a government together in Koshi Province.

Speaking to journalists at the Biratnagar Airport on Tuesday, he said that the RPP will be decisive only when the Nepali Congress and the UML sit separately in Koshi Province.

He suggested that it would be appropriate for the Congress and the UML to operate the government together in the province.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Lingden said that the RPP will stay neutral in the case of government formation.

The RPP will be decisive only if Article 168 (5) of the Constitution is adopted.

Lingden said that it would not be appropriate to seek the resignation of the Speaker to form the government.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 400 per tola in the domestic market on Tuesday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 113, 000 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 112, 600 per tola on Monday.

Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 112, 450 per tola. It was traded at Rs 112, 050 per tola.

Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 25 and is being traded at Rs 1, 475 per tola today.

A man has been sentenced to more than 52 years in jail raping his minor daughter.

The District Court Solukhumbu slapped 52 years and six months imprisonment on a man of Solududhkunda Municipality-35 for raping his daughter, who is less than 10 years old.

Nagendra Kumar Kalakheti, an official at the District Court Solukhumbu, said that the man of Gurung caste was sentenced to 52 years and six months in prison.

He has been sent to the District Prison in Salleri to serve his sentence.