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A high-level Chinese official called on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday. A delegation led by Wang Xiaohui, Secretary at the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, met Prime Minister Dahal, who is also the Chairman of CPN (Maoist Center), in Baluwatar this morning. During the meeting, they discussed matters related to bilateral mutual interests and relationship between the two parties. According to a source, Secretary Wang invited the prime minister to visit China. A 14-member Chinese team had arrived in Kathmandu on a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday. It has been said that they will also hold discussions with government officials and the business community. The prime minister’s meeting with the top Chinese leader prior to embarking on a four-day visit to India has been taken meaningfully. Though Dahal, who was appointed as the prime minister from the alliance led by the CPN-UML on December 25, was preparing to go China after receiving an invitation from the northern neighbor for the ‘Boao Forum for Asia’ from March 28 to March 31, he canceled the trip at the last hour after a new Nepali Congress-Maoist Center coalition was formed. While responding to the questions raised by lawmakers in the Parliament, Prime Minister Dahal said that he did not attend the Boao Forum due to the Chinese ambassador. Later, Chinese Ambassador Chen Song held a meeting with the prime minister and objected to his remarks. Prime Minister Dahal is leaving for India today.  

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is embarking on a four-day official visit to India on Wednesday. This is his first official visit to the southern neighbor following the formation of the coalition government. The delegation includes Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Prakash Saud, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Shakti Bahadur Basnet and Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Prakash Jwala. During his visit, PM Dahal will hold a discussion with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on bilateral interests, said Saud. Other issues on the table are electricity trade, construction of a transmission line, and the inauguration of an integrated security checkpoint. The issues of promoting Indian investment in the energy and hydropower sector of Nepal, trade and transit and air entry routes will also be discussed, he said. The premiers of both the countries are scheduled to sit down and conclude the issue of air entry routes for Nepal. PM Dahal is scheduled to fly at 1:25 pm today, and his delegation includes government officials, entrepreneurs and media-persons. Upon landing in India, the PM is scheduled to attend some important meetings this evening itself, it has been said. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, the PM will hold delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart Modi at Hyderabad House on June 1. Following this, a joint press meet will be organized. It has been learnt that they will have some agreements and memorandums of understanding. The Prime Minister of India will host a luncheon in honor of the PM of Nepal and his delegation. During the visit, PM Dahal will pay a courtesy call on the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. He is also scheduled to address the Nepal-India Business Summit in New Delhi co-organized by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Confederation of Indian Industry, and interact with business leaders of both the countries. The PM will also interact with the Nepali community in India on the occasion of a welcome reception hosted by the Ambassador of Nepal to India, Shankar Prasad Sharma. Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Ramesh Rijal said that during the visit, an agreement will be signed to renew the transit treaty and to expand the additional petroleum pipelines. Similarly, there will be an agreement on the construction of the Siliguri Charali pipeline and terminal tank, the pipeline up to Lothar of Amlekhganj and the storage terminal tank. Likewise, PM Dahal is slated to lay the foundation stone for the integrated check post in Bhairahawa, and co-inaugurate the integrated check post in Nepalgunj with the PM of India Modi, he said. The issues of the construction of a dry port in Dodhara Chandani, the export of jute and opening a fertilizer industry in Nepal after importing natural gas will also be discussed, according to him. PM Dahal will return home on June 3.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that the government will carry out investigations into murder and big corruption cases. Addressing a joint meeting of the Central Advisory Committee and the Senior Communist Forum at the CPN (Maoist Center) headquarters in Parisdanda on Tuesday, Prime Minister Dahal said that the government will open the file of big corruption cases and will also launch an investigation into Gaur and Royal massacres. He went on to say that the government will also investigate the property of high-ranking people. Prime Minister Dahal, who is also the Chairman of CPN (Maoist Center), opined the government has given high priority to control institutionalized corruption. The prime minister said that he will stand strongly against the corruption through setting On a different note, Dahal said that he is going to visit India to do some good new things as the prime minister for the country. Saying that the country witnessed a huge political transformation during the people’s war, Prime Minister Dahal said that it is a big thing to establish this achievement in an official and legal manner.  

Bibek Ojha is a 32-year-old writer from Tikapur, Kailali, who has published several short stories, poems, and two novels titled ‘Ailani’ and ‘Aithan’. His works delve into the deep rooted issues of Nepali society. Babita Shrestha from ApEx talked to Ojha where he spoke about what he hopes to achieve through his writings. What inspires you to continue writing? I grew up with my brother who’s a writer. When you genuinely love writing, you will naturally write for peace and pleasure. My brother’s advice to me was to try writing short pieces before working on a novel. I followed that advice to hone my talent. I also wrote poetry during my spare time. In 2006, my friends and I collaborated on a collection of poems titled ‘Yugal’, after which I worked alone on ‘Gazal’. However, my collection of short tales didn’t get published. So I pushed myself to learn more. Eventually, in 2017, I published my first novel called ‘Ailani’, and recently, in 2022, I released ‘Aithan’. So I guess you could say that my inner drive to improve my writing has motivated me to write. Can you tell us a little about the books you wrote? The subject matter of my first novel, ‘Ailani’, depicts the predicament of untouchability, oppression, abuse, and harassment faced by the Dalit community in Nepal. It draws attention to how little the government has accomplished. In Nepali, the word ‘ailani’ denotes ownership by no one. I sought to use the Badi community to represent the title metaphorically. The word ‘aithan’ means agony. It reflects painful experiences in the world and the sense of convulsions during a war. What are your techniques and strategy for writing a novel? My short stories inspired me to write a novel. The manuscript of my unpublished stories led me to publish ‘Aithan’. While writing a book, I put a lot of emphasis on developing characters through metaphors and images. To construct characters, I assemble various people’s personalities. I deeply examine the character’s viewpoints, and their way of thinking, and try to show that in the plot. I try to dive into the character’s emotions to understand the way they speak and think. I enjoy reading books with strong emotional themes. Additionally, the techniques that are most important to me are the delivery, coordination, and style of the plot, characters, and images. I carefully work on synchronizing rhythm and tone in the plot. Many authors draw inspiration from other writers and literature. Who inspires you? My brother, Sushil Ojha, has always been my inspiration from the very beginning when it comes to writing. Also, I enjoy reading the works of authors like Saru Bhakta, Amar Neupane, Narayan Dhakal, Dha Cha Gotame (Dhanush Chandra Gautam), Naba Raj Lamsal, Haruki Murakami, and many more. All these authors have influenced my writing style and motivated me to tell stories that matter to me. Do you think Nepali literature has a bright future? The future looks promising. But I believe it would be even better if the writings of Nepali authors were promoted through translation. I think Nepali literature has greater opportunities both economically and artistically if we can solely focus on the audience of our neighboring nations. Practically speaking, in the present context, that’s going to be quite challenging. But something must be worked out to make that possible. What advice do you have for aspiring novelists? Be sincere about what you write. To help yourself write better, try to grasp some fresh ideas by reading a reference book. Never let publishing houses that say no to publishing your book demotivate you since mistakes help you get better. If you receive criticism, try not to get upset about it but learn from it instead. Ojha’s Picks: Madhabi by Madan Mani Dixit Madhabi is a Nepali mythological novel published in 1983 by Sajha Prakashan. The book won the Madan Puraskar in the same year. Samaya Trasadi by Saru Bhakta Saru Bhakta is the pen name of Bhakta Raj Shrestha, a celebrated Nepali novelist, poet, and winner of Madan Puraskar. Samaya Trasadi is a work of non-fiction published in 2022. Ghamka Pailaharu by Dha Cha Gotame Ghamka Pailaharu is a novel that depicts the day-to-day life of people in a nameless town (similar to Birgunj) in the Tarai region of Nepal.  

A woman and her son died after falling off a cliff in Dhading on Monday. Police have identified the deceased as 19-year-old Apsara Chepang of Benighat Rorang Rural Municipality-2 and her two-year son Sajan. SP Gautam Mishra, Chief of the District Police Office, Dhading, said that the incident occurred when Apsara had gone to the forest near her home to collect fodder carrying her son on the back. Critically injured in the incident, both the mother and son died in the course of treatment at the Malekhu Teaching Hospital, said police.  

The government has decided to increase its share of contribution to implement the transmission line projects under the Nepal Compact of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). MCC, the US aid agency has committed to provide $500m while the government had earlier pledged $130m to implement the transmission line and road improvement projects under the MCC compact. The Millennium Challenge Account-Nepal (MCA-Nepal), a special-purpose vehicle established to implement the compact, said on Monday in a press statement that the government will provide an additional $67m to cover some of the additional work proposed by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). With the additional budget assurance, the government’s contribution has reached 28 percent of the total resources to be available for implementing the MCC program from just over 20 percent earlier. MCA-Nepal said that the government decided to incorporate NEA’s request to include additional works under the Electricity Transmission Project of the MCC Compact. “It is estimated that a budget of up to $67m might be required for the additional work which will be financed from the original compact budget,” reads the statement. According to the statement, after the full utilization of the original budget, any shortfall would be financed by the NEA. An official of the MCA Nepal said that the NEA had requested to add substation bays that would enable controlled connection of power to the substations. “As per the NEA’s request, we have to add many such bays which require further funding,” the official said. The additional budget was arranged to bridge the estimated shortfall of resources in the construction of the Nepal-India cross-border transmission line and additional scope of work in the three substations, i.e. installation of additional bays as per the current and future requirement of NEA, MCA-Nepal said. Even though NEA was considering constructing a 20-km section of the New Butwal to India border transmission line, MCA-Nepal itself decided to construct this section of the transmission line as its preparation was in an advanced stage compared to NEA. According to the MCA-Nepal, an increased financing pledge by the government has been considered as the government’s contribution to the compact purpose. “A simultaneous modification has been made in the annexes of the Compact through an implementation letter,” said MCA Nepal. There is also concern that the allocated budget would be enough to construct the 315 km power line because the last estimated cost of the projects to be implemented under MCC was made in 2016. “Any additional cost should be borne by the Nepal government,” said the official. There has been visible progress in the preparation and implementation of MCC Compact projects in Nepal after the compact was ratified by the House of Representatives in February last year. Last week, MCA-Nepal opened the bids to hire companies for the construction of 315 km long power lines. Six Indian companies have submitted bids to construct the power line which will be constructed in three separate packages. An association of Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd and Power Mech Projects Ltd along with Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited, KEC International Ltd, Transrail Lighting Ltd, Tata Projects Ltd and Larsen & Toubro Ltd participated in the bid. According to the MCA-Nepal, though MCA-Nepal called for international bidding, only the Indian companies participated in the process. “Now, their evaluation process begins,” said the MCA-Nepal official. The three packages of the power line include Lapsiphedi-Ratmate-New Hetauda 400kV D/C Transmission Line, Ratmate-New Damauli 400kV D/C Transmission Line, New Damauli-New Butwal 400kV D/C Transmission Line (Base), and New Butwal Nepal/India Border 400kV D/C Transmission Line. The high-capacity transmission lines will be built connecting Nepal's major power consumption centers including Kathmandu Valley, Butwal and Hetauda. This transmission line will also work as a bridge to link the eastern and western parts of the country with high-capacity transmission lines. Alongside the procurement process of contractors, MCA-Nepal has also initiated the process of acquiring lands for the transmission towers. It plans to determine the compensation amount before the entry into force of the MCC Compact scheduled to take place in August.

A meeting of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee has called for the submission of complaints, if any, against acting Chief Justice Hari Krishna Karki who has been recommended for the appointment to the post of Chief Justice. The meeting held today at Singha Durbar under the headship of its senior-most (by age) member Pashupati Shumsher Rana of Rastriya Prajatantra Party called for the registration of complaints, if there is any, against Karki or send it via email. The deadline for the submission of complaints is 10 days beginning today. The Constitutional Council had, on May 8, recommended Karki for the appointment to the post of Chief Judge of the Supreme Court. The post has been lying vacant for around 15 months. Speaker Devraj Ghimire and National Assembly Chair Ganesh Timilsina were present in the meeting that also endorsed the working procedures of the Committee.    

The price of gold has increased by Rs 2, 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 110, 500 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 108, 100 per tola on Monday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 109, 950 per tola. It was traded at Rs 107, 600 per tola. Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,375 per tola today.