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Independent power producers (IPPs) have said that 500 MW of electricity is being wasted after Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) forced them to reduce the load (electricity generation). According to Independent  Power Producers Association Nepal (IPPAN), 30 hydropower projects have been forced to reduce their power generation by the NEA. The NEA has instructed IPPs to reduce their load at a time when it is not able to maintain a regular electricity supply to the country's industrial corridors. The NEA’s instruction has come at a time when hydropower projects are in a position to operate their plants to full capacity due to the surge in water levels in rivers. IPPAN on Monday held a discussion with the promoters of power plants who’ve been forced to reduce load, in which promoters said that they cannot even pay the bank’s interest by running the project at half capacity. According to IPPAN, they (IPPs) are ready to shut down the power plant for 5/6 months if NEA is ready to pay them as per the PPA. IPPAN President Ganesh Karki said that even if power generation is reduced, they should be paid the money as per the PPA. “NEA has signed a PPA with the private hydropower project in ‘take or pay’ modality. Hence, NEA must buy the power from the IPPs while the IPPs also must supply the quantum of power as mentioned in the PPA,” said Karki. After the Nepal Electricity Authority instructed independent power producers (IPPs) to reduce their power plants’ power generation capacity due to low load demand, the IPPs have said that NEA has to pay the money to them as per the power purchase agreement (PPA). According to Mohan Dangi, senior vice-president of IPPAN, more than 30 power projects having a combined capacity of 500 MW are facing this problem. “Even my project is facing this issue. The authorized capital of my company is Rs 400m but have lost Rs 220m due to not being able to sell electricity,” said Dangi. According to Arjun Gautam, the promoter of the Super Dordi B hydropower project, there is a transmission line that can carry 360 MW of electricity in the Dordi corridor, but the NEA has not purchased electricity accordingly. IPAAN Vice President Uttam Bhlon Lama said it was illegal to sign the load reduction agreement without informing the bank that invested 70 percent of the loan. The NEA, on its part, has sighted the problem of transmission lines to carry the load across the country. While electricity generation has increased by almost 600 MW in the last one year, not much infrastructure has been added to the transmission and distribution side. The lack of transmission infrastructure, according to the NEA has made it unable to deliver electricity as per the demand. However, the authority has not made public its official opinion on this. The NEA Executive Director Kulman Ghising, during a press conference a few days ago, said that there was a problem in the power supply as the transmission lines were overloaded.  

Bagmati Chief Minister Shalikram Jammakattel has assured of the establishment of a public university in the province. Inaugurating the Office of the Province High Education Council today, the Chief Minister who also serves as the Council Chair said the Council has its role in preparing policies and strategies for higher education and providing general policy-level guidelines for the operation of the University. As he said, the Council would play a role for producing human resources required for the province. Chief Minister Jammakattel said the Council will promote autonomy for province-level universities, non-profitable community academic institutes and the constituent colleges. He announced that the province government prioritized the production of skilled technical human resources. On the occasion, Khubiram Adhikari, Chief of the Education Development Division, Ministry of Social Development, said that the Provincial Higher Education Act was certified on March 28, 2022, shedding light on the procedures regarding the establishment of the Council, its management, and about the Province Higher Education Regulations-2079 BS and so on. There shall be a 15-member council committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister and the Ministry of Social Development shall function as the Council Secretariat. Various province ministers including Bahadur Singh Lama and Yubraj Dulal were present in the event presided by Council vice-chair and social development minister Kumari Moktan.  

In what could indicate the quantum of capital flights taking place from Nepal, the amount of money deposited by Nepalis in Swiss banks has surged by 61.92 percent in 2022. According to the Annual Banking Statistics 2022 of Switzerland’s central bank, the deposits of Nepali individuals and firms in Swiss banks have reached Rs 70.764bn (482.542m Swiss francs), from Rs 43.701bn (298m Swiss francs) in 2021. The data of the Swiss National Bank also reveals that among the South Asian countries, only India will have larger deposits than Nepal in Swiss banks in 2022. The deposits of Nepalis are higher than the money parked by Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Sri Lankans. According to the report, the deposits of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in 2022 stood at 388.650m Swiss francs, 55.267m Swiss francs, and 66.539m Swiss francs, respectively. While the deposits from countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh declined in 2022, the deposits from Nepal surged remarkably. As it is a tradition for Swiss banks to not disclose the details of their clients (depositors), it is hard to ascertain the names and numbers of Nepalis with deposits in Swiss banks. Since they maintain a high level of secrecy in banking operations, Swiss banks have been blamed for long for fostering money-laundering as critics accuse the financial institutions of keeping money earned from illegal activities including serious crimes, tax evasion, corruption, and arms trafficking. Bankers in Nepal attribute the rise in deposits in Swiss banks to the trend of depositing commissions earned through multi-billion government contracts in foreign banks as well as a surge in illegal practices in trade such as over-invoicing when using letters of credit (LCs) for importing goods and services from overseas. Government officials and bankers say trade mispricing accounts for the bulk of illicit outflows from countries like Nepal. According to them, over-invoicing has emerged as one of the methods employed in trade-based money laundering schemes, facilitating the transfer of a larger sum from the importer to the exporter. As Nepali commercial banks don’t usually deposit their foreign currency in Swiss banks, bankers and government officials assume the funds parked in Swiss banks belong to affluent Nepalis. According to a former government secretary, the deposits in Swiss banks are largely kickbacks that politicians receive for large deals. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) is also showing its attention to over-invoicing practices to check the capital flight. The central bank recently cautioned the chairpersons of banks and financial institutions (BFIs), expressing concern over the escalating trend of over-invoicing when LCs are used for importing goods and services from overseas. Central bank officials say they have received reports of certain BFIs and businessmen opening LCs at inflated prices exceeding the actual value of the goods, resulting in the outflow of capital. While the central bank has not made any public statements regarding capital flight through over-invoicing, NRB Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari warned during an interaction with the chairpersons of BFIs on June 6 that the NRB could take action against BFIs found to be facilitating capital flight through over-invoicing. “It has been found that a group of BFIs and businessmen has been involved in the practice of opening LCs at prices surpassing the actual value of the goods and services and the capital has been illicitly transferred out of the country. This is a serious matter,” a BFI chairman, who was present at the meeting, quoted Adhikari. “It is necessary to stop this trend immediately. If the BFIs do not stop it, we will be forced to take action against the banks found involved in such practices.” The law of the land bars Nepalis from investing abroad or opening accounts in foreign banks. But the law hasn’t been able to stop capital flight. Bankers say leading international private banks used to visit Nepal to meet high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). “But the frequency of visits by representatives of leading private banks like HSBC, Credit Suisse, UBS, Deutsche Bank, EFG, Citi Bank, and Coutts has declined in recent years,” said a former banker. Apart from Switzerland, new destinations such as Singapore and Dubai have emerged as lucrative destinations for wealthy Nepalis to park their money abroad. While many countries are seriously working to curb the illicit outflow of money, the government in Nepal has never taken capital flight as a major issue. After the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) Nepal, in its NepaLeaks investigation in January 2019, revealed the involvement of 55 Nepalis and non-resident Nepalis in moving money from Nepal to offshore destinations, the then Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada had formed a committee to investigate the matter. However, not much has been heard about the committee’s work after its formation.

The CPN (Unified Socialist) has decided to vote in favor of the budget brought by the government. The party has decided to help in endorsing the budget after the discussion between Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Finance Minister Prakash Saran Mahat and CPN (US) Chairman Madhav Nepal, party leader Rajendra Pandey said. He said that the decision was made to vote in favor of the budget after the party received the commitment to address the party’s agreement on the budget through the budget system. The budget for the fiscal year 2023/24 is going to be endorsed by the Parliament today.    

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 600 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow metal is being traded at Rs 110, 000 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 110, 600 per tola on Tuesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 109, 500 per tola. It was traded at Rs 110, 050. Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,375 per tola today.

What truly reflects the priorities of a government worth its name? High-sounding speeches of its ministers and bureaucrats that pledge all good things to all good people? Or a budget with policies and programs for a fiscal year outlined more or less clearly, along with capital allocations to implement them? The budget, of course. If the budget for the fiscal 2023/24 is any guide, the government of Nepal appears to have thought that tobacco is more essential for the Nepali public than food itself. Let the facts speak for themselves. The budget in question has slapped a whopping 13 percent value-added tax on essentials like potatoes, leave alone onions, for it is a very sensitive commodity whose price hike even pulled down a state government in India some years ago. As for tobacco tax, the government has increased excise duty on tobacco by a paltry 3 percent, raising the total tobacco tax to 41 percent whereas the World Health Organization’s recommended ceiling is 75 percent. Notably, Nepal has the lowest tobacco tax in South Asia compared to Bangladesh (71 percent), the Maldives (68 percent), Sri Lanka (66 percent), Pakistan (56 percent) and India (53 percent). What does a minimal hike on tobacco tax indicate if not pressure from some powerful interests? Together, a fledgling public health delivery system and lax tobacco laws spell a serious disaster for the gullible public while they bring no good tiding for a government as it has to foot mounting health bills. Through a series of reports on these issues, this daily has tried to open the eyes and the ears of powers that be, and will continue to do so in coming days. A prohibitive tax on tobacco is necessary in Nepal, with previous reports published in this daily as part of its No Tobacco Drive showing that an increasing number of Nepali youths are addicted to tobacco products like hookah. Indeed, there can be no smoke without fire. Findings of a recent research by the Nepal Development Research Institute (NDRI) show that smoking has emerged as a bigger killer in Nepal than in any other South Asian country. The findings paint an alarming picture of tobacco consumption and death in Nepal. The rate of death from tobacco has increased more in Nepal in the last 30 years than in any other country in the world, per the report. Furthermore, it shows that over 37,000 Nepalis died from smoking in 2019–that’s nearly one in five (19.4 percent) of all deaths, twice the rate in 1990 and well ahead of India’s 13.1 percent deaths due to tobacco consumption. At current rates, around 1.34m Nepalis will die from smoking in the next 30 years, goes the report. A concerted  fight against tobacco is long overdue. And the fight must start with the imposition of a prohibitive tax on tobacco products through suitable amendments in the budget itself.

Nine people from different places in Panchthar district were taken ill after consuming wild mushrooms. Four persons- Lila Thapa, Hemanta Thapa, Indramaya Nepali and Harka Bahadur Darji of Kummayak Rural Municipality-1 were taken ill after consuming wild mushrooms on Tuesday. They have been referred to Birta City Hospital, Jhapa, for further treatment from District Hospital, according to the District Police Office. Similarly, five members of a family of Phidim Municipality-11 were taken ill after consuming wild mushrooms on Monday. They are receiving treatment at the District Hospital.

Mahesh Bikram Shah is a Nepali writer and a retired policeman who has authored several short story collections. Some of his notable works are ‘Sataha’, ‘Kathmandu ma Camrade’, ‘African Amigo’, ‘Bhuinkhat’ and ‘Sipahiki Swasni’. Among them, his short stories collection called ‘Chhapamar ko Chhoro’ was awarded the ‘Madan Puraskar’ in 2007. Anushka Nepal from ApEx talked to Shah about his dedication to continuing writing despite having a full-time job. From being a police officer to an award-winning author, what was the journey like? I worked as a police officer for 30 years and I carried my career in writing. I have been interested in literature since I was a child, and have previously published a few of my works in Nepali newspapers too. I stopped writing while I was in high school since studying science didn’t give me a lot of time to focus on it. But deep down I knew I would definitely become a writer someday. I think it’s that dream that made me get back to writing again. I loved writing so much that I didn’t mind doing two things at the same time. My attachment to writing and literature never waned. How did you manage to juggle writing with a full-time job? I was lucky enough to get posted at Bharatpur Police Training Center in Chitwan where I was surrounded by an academic environment. And the job wasn’t as hectic as it would be if I were posted somewhere else, like in a department where I would have to be on site a lot. That gave me some leisure time to start writing again. I wrote stories and poems that reflected on the lives of the people from Tikapur, Kailali, my hometown in the western part of Nepal. That’s how it started. And I never discontinued writing after that. How did you feel when your writing first got published?  It was a poem I wrote that got published in one of the newspapers. I was quite young at that time. The amount of joy I had cannot be described in words. I was proud of myself and every time I saw my name in print, I would have a smile on my face. When I published my first book, I realized that I had finally achieved the dream of becoming a published author. Not just that, I knew I could do so much more and write many other books with the recognition I had received. It was a surreal experience. What’s the inspiration behind the books you write? It’s the things I have seen, experienced, read, and heard about that inspire me to continue my work. I also like to listen to other’s experiences and understand their pain, and suffering, as well as their happiness, which can be incorporated into my writings. So, in short, it’s the small things that happen in our society that inspire me. I’m someone who can never come up with a storyline if I sit down and start thinking. It’s the things that I see, hear, or experience that gives me the idea of what I can write about next. How do you come up with the plots and characters? Whenever I get an idea for a story, I already have an outline in my head of how I can start and conclude my story. I’m also aware of the behavior and personality traits I would like my characters to have. So basically, I just write down whatever I have on my mind. Yes, there will be some changes in between and I might come up with some new ideas. But the framework remains the same. I think the most important thing about planning your story is to know exactly what the moral of your writing is going to be. A writer must be clear on what he wants to say through his stories. Only then can you frame it well. Any authors/books that have inspired you? I grew up reading the works of BP Koirala, Parijat, Govinda Bahadur Malla, Ramesh Bikal, Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Rabindranath Tagore. and Premchand. So I would have to say these are the writers who have inspired me to become a writer myself, especially when it comes to writing stories and poems. Shah’s picks Madhabi by Madan Mani Dixit ‘Madhabi’ by Madan Mani Dixit is a Nepali mythological novel published in 1983 by Sajha Prakashan. The book won the Madan Puraskar in the same year. Sumnima by BP Koirala ‘Sumnima’ is a novel written by BP Koirala. The book was published in 1969 by Sajha Prakashan and it tells the story of a Kirat woman and a Brahmin boy. Koirala wrote the book in eight days during his imprisonment at the Sundarijal jail. Shakuntala by Laxmi Prasad Devkota This is one of the greatest works of Laxmi Prasad Devkota, published in 1945.