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A 41-year-old man from Hetauda Sub-Metropolitan City-12 died of dengue fever while receiving treatment at the Chitwan Medical College. 

According to the Information Officer at Health Office Ram KC, the patient died on Thursday in the course of treatment.

This is the first recorded death caused due to dengue fever in the district in the current fiscal year.

KC said that, so far, the district has recorded 53 cases of dengue from 532 sample tests.

The United States has returned 40 illegally exported wooden artifacts to Nepal.

The Embassy of Nepal in Washington DC said that it returned 40 wooden artifacts received from the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to Nepal.

It is said that the Department of Archaeology of Nepal will receive the artifacts in Kathmandu on Saturday.

Those illegally exported artifacts of Nepal were confiscated in Hawaii by the United States Customs and Border Protection in August 2010.

The government of Nepal had officially requested the US government to return the artifacts to Nepal in 2011.

The Embassy of Nepal in Washington DC had received the artifacts on May 11, 2023.

"Four, out of 39 engraved and painted wooden panels and a carved wooden shrine, were randomly selected for display during the handover ceremony. The Embassy of Nepal had displayed these artifacts again during Nepal tourism promotion program organized at the Embassy on August 1," according to a press statement issued by the Embassy of Nepal.

The Embassy has thanked all the US government agencies and individuals in these efforts.

With this shipment, the Embassy has so far returned 47 artifacts of historical, cultural, and religious importance to Nepal since April 2022.

Nilanthi Samaranayake is a visiting expert at the US Institute of Peace and an adjunct fellow at the East-West Center in Washington. She has 25 years of experience in the nonprofit research sector. Most recently, she served as director of the strategy and policy analysis program at CNA, where she led a team conducting multidisciplinary research and analysis for civilian and military leaders. Before joining CNA, Samaranayake analyzed public opinion at the Pew Research Center and completed a fellowship at the National Bureau of Asian Research.

Her work focuses on regional security in the Indian Ocean, smaller South Asian countries, non-traditional security issues, and US alliances and partnerships. Kamal Dev Bhattarai  of ApEx spoke with her on China-US contestation and implications for the South Asian Countries like Nepal. The views expressed are solely hers and not of any organization that she is affiliated with.

How do you see the US-China contest in South Asia?

Smaller South Asian countries are increasingly expressing concerns about maintaining their sovereignty and independence amid strategic tensions between large powers. Nepal, for example, was caught in this situation as a smaller state during the debate over the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). What should be a straight-forward effort to help meet development needs can quickly become politicized due to the backdrop of strategic competition. This pattern was seen in Sri Lanka with the MCC as well, but with a different outcome. The US withdrew its $480m offer.

It has been more than one year since the Biden administration came up with an Indo-pacific strategy, how are South Asian countries responding to it?

To understand how Smaller South Asian countries are responding to the Indo-Pacific Strategy, I recommend reading a recent East-West Center series with experts from Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka directly commenting on their own country’s responses. I served as a guest editor for the series.

The United States’ Indo-Pacific Strategy identifies India as a major defense partner and discusses how the US will support India’s regional leadership. The strategy, however, does not mention any of the Smaller South Asian countries. This is an oversight that US officials may want to address in a future update because it represents a disconnect between US strategy and policy. In fact, a review of US policy in the region shows that Washington has clear interests and engagements with Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives along multiple lines, such as economics, development, security, and democratic governance. It even has common interests with Bhutan despite their lack of formal diplomatic relations.

How do you see India’s engagement with South Asian countries in the backdrop of growing US-China competition?

Regarding US-China competition, India is a major actor on its own terms due to its border conflict with China, which has included fatalities. As a result, India has sought to strengthen its relationships with the Smaller South Asian countries as tensions with China have increased in the past few years and as China has developed more active ties with these countries. 

India has conceptual frameworks for organizing its regional engagements such as Neighbourhood First and SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region) in the Indian Ocean. As the US and India are deepening their relationship, underscored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the US, we also see the US supporting India’s security concerns about China in the Smaller South Asian countries. For example, US officials reportedly met with Sri Lankan leaders after India expressed its objections to Sri Lanka permitting a Chinese ship to visit the controversial Hambantota port last summer.

How do you see the position of South Asian countries in the Russia-Ukraine War?

This is a good question because Russia remains an important actor for Smaller South Asian countries, despite all the attention given to China’s role in South Asia. In March 2022, the UN General Assembly resolution on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka abstained along with India and Pakistan. Bangladesh, in particular, has found itself caught up in the debate over sanctions as it tries to pursue a power plant project with Russia. 

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka tried to enforce the sanctions, but had to back down after Russia suspended passenger flights for four months and affected tourism earnings during the worst of the country’s economic crisis. However, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives have voted at the UN in Ukraine’s favor. This is a strong stance for smaller states to take.

What are your suggestions for a country like Nepal in the conduct of foreign policy in the shifting geopolitical environment?

Nepal is navigating major power rivalry in ways that are similar to other Smaller South Asian countries. Yet its relationship with India is unique in terms of trade, people-to-people ties, and military cooperation. Nepal has arguably the most considerations to make as it manages its foreign policy with large powers.

I think the challenge for Nepal and other Smaller South Asian countries will be to maintain their focus on meeting national-level economic development needs and hitting targets like graduating from least developed country (LDC) status, while minimizing partisan and personality-based infighting in domestic politics to the extent possible.

Like many other words, ‘Parliament’ has more than one meaning. An assembly of a species of nocturnal birds of prey is one of them.  

‘Democracy’ has several strains the world over. But in a real democracy that does not run as per the whims and fancies of a ‘benevolent dictator’, two or one too many such figures, Parliament refers to one of the three organs of the state consisting of elected representatives, whose main task is to make laws. It is but natural for birds of a feather to flock together even at midnight and those populating our Parliament—one of the state organs—show such traits once in a while, not necessarily for the country and the people. Whether such an act is permissible or not, let the ‘Nepali lok’ decide. 

But no dictionary, legal or otherwise, has referred to words like ‘bedlam’, ‘chaos’, ‘anarchy’, ‘setting’  as synonyms of ‘Parliament’. 

In a democracy, the opposition bench has an important role in the Parliament. A strong opposition can do so much to make the government accountable, given that even in democracies that are not under tinpot dictators the executive shows tyrannical tendencies because of its right to exercise legitimate authority or violence over a given territory. 

The Parliament should belong to the opposition in the larger interest of the country and democracy. 

This does not mean, though, that the opposition should not play by the rules. In its conduct within the Parliament and outside, the opposition, as a vanguard of the democratic system, should also uphold the letter and spirit of the Constitution. Its failure to do so will give the government a carte blanche to trample on the principles of separation of powers as well as checks and balances, and turn democracy into ‘demoncracy’. 

For about a fortnight, the main opposition has effectively stalled the Parliament demanding the formation of a high-level parliamentary committee to investigate as to how a 100-kg gold consignment passed through a high-security Tribhuvan International Airport. It has demanded that the Home Minister and the Finance Minister also be brought under the purview of the investigation, reasoning that the Central Investigation Bureau under Nepal Police may not have the wherewithal to grill the sitting ministers. Opposition parties like the Rastriya Swatantra Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party have also stood in favor of a high-level probe committee. Have they thought about the possible impact of their stance on the morale of the law enforcement? 

On its part, the government has asked that the CIB be given about a month for a credible probe into the case. With both the right and the left flank toughening their respective stances, the House has become a battleground of sorts and the Speaker has not been able to make peace. 

RSP and RPP have made one more point worth pondering over. They have accused the top brass of the three major parties of opting for a ‘setting’, a comfortable arrangement for opening and shutting the House at will.  

It is clear that the powerful troika cannot hold the sovereign body hostage forever. While a free and fair probe into the quintal-heavy gold cargo is important, the Parliament has a number of other important issues to deal with. Throughout the country, rain-induced disasters have wreaked havoc while troubles are brewing in the neighborhood and beyond. They all will have a huge bearing on an ill-governed and instability-plagued country. 

Both the government and the opposition must give up their my way or highway attitude. The Speaker should have read the riot act in time. Still, who else can act as a peacemaker and end this standoff if not him? 

The online service of the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) has been restored and comes into operation from today.

The service has been disrupted since Tuesday as the file server of the FEIMS system has to be migrated.

Department's Information Officer and Director Kabiraj Uprety said that the service has been restored and issuance of work permits has become easier now.

With the restoration of the FEIMS system, the work related to the approval of work permit has been started, the Department has informed the service-recipients through a notice today.

As a result, applications for labor permits can now be registered online, the Department said.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Sunil Sharma has been arrested on Thursday.

A team of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Nepal Police apprehended Sharma today, a source said.

It has been learnt that Sharma was arrested in the fake educational certificate case.

He is the directly elected lawmaker from Morang.

Congress leader Ajaybabu Shivakoti confirmed the arrest of Sharma. Following his arrest, Shivakoti expressed his anger on social media.

“What is the government trying to do by arresting lawmaker Sunil Sharma who has been speaking about the gold smuggling for the past few days? Has the Speaker given permission to arrest sitting lawmaker at a time when the Parliament session is underway? Or all have become united to stop the voice being raised on the issue of gold smuggling?” he questioned.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 5. 13 points to close at 2,066.05 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 1.10 points to close at 394. 15 points.

A total of 5,503,021-unit shares of 269 companies were traded for Rs 2. 15 billion.

Meanwhile, Aviyan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 09 percent.

Similarly, Himalayan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser as its price fell by 6. 53 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 06 trillion.

With the domestic stock market going through an extended bearish run, there has been a big decline in the income of commercial banks from share investments and trading. Banks’ income from share trading has decreased by 6.87 percent in the last fiscal year.

As per the unaudited financial reports of 20 commercial banks for the fourth quarter, they have earned Rs 6.39bn in income from share trading till mid-July of FY 2022/23, which is Rs 470m less than in the same period of 2021/22. Commercial banks had earned Rs 6.86 billion from share trading in 2021/22.

Bankers say income from share trading declined as the stock market has been in the bear territory for over the last one year. In the first half of 2021/22, the stock market had a bullish run with the Nepse Index reaching an all-time high of 3198.19 points. As the market was on an upward trend, banks managed to earn high profits by trading shares.

Only four commercial banks saw growth in their income from share trading in the last fiscal year. Agricultural Development Bank Limited (ADBL), Nepal SBI Bank, Prabhu Bank, and Machhapuchhre Bank recorded growth in their income from the capital market.

In the last fiscal year, ADBL earned the highest income from share trading. The bank had earned Rs 1.05bn from share trading in the last fiscal compared to a loss of Rs 232.35m in 2021/22.

The Standard Chartered Bank Nepal is in second place with an income of Rs 582.14m. However, the bank’s share trading income in 2022/23 decreased by 11.45 percent compared to 2021/22 in which it had earned Rs 657.43m. Likewise, Nepal Investment Mega Bank is in third place with Rs 507.63m, a decline of 23.92 percent compared to the previous fiscal.

Likewise, the income of Machhapuchhre Bank from share trading has increased by 37.62 percent in the last fiscal. The bank earned Rs 298.17m in 2022/23 compared to Rs 216.65 in 2021/22.

Nepal SBI Bank’s income has also increased by 26.34 percent. The bank which earned Rs 264.28m from share trading in 2021/22, earned Rs 333.89m in 2022/23.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has given the facility to the banks to invest one percent of its paid-up capital in the stock market. Banks should show the investment made in the stock market through this facility in net trading income. Apart from the share investments, the banks keep the income earned by share trading as other operating profit.

In 2020/21, the banks’ income from share trading hit a record high of Rs 11.4bn. However, commercial banks’ income from share trading started to decline after the central bank tightened the margin lending as well as the rules for banks and financial institutions to invest in the stock market. By issuing a directive in May 2021, the central bank said banks would not be allowed to buy and sell shares of listed companies in the secondary market for the short term. The central bank barred the banks from selling the listed shares and debentures within a year of buying them.