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Om Rijal is a Nepali novelist and poet who is known for his folk literature. One of his well-known works is his novel ‘Hataru’, which sheds light on the native culture of the Karnali province of Nepal. Some of his other notable works are ‘Yarsagumba’, his poem collection, and ‘Rudai Bagdaicha Mugu Karnali’, a travel memoir. Babita Shrestha from ApEx talked to Rijal about what inspires him to write where he also talked about some of his works. What inspired you to become a writer? I was brought up in Dullu, Dailekh, which is well-known for its folk customs. I grew up hearing folklore, and stories. The Damai community sang folk tunes frequently which we still hear today. As a result, I have a strong connection to folk culture and tradition. I think that is the key source of inspiration. I wanted to incorporate the native culture I grew up witnessing in my writings. My love for participating in poetry recitals and contests dates back to my school days. My first poem, ‘Ghaita’ was published in one of the local newspapers which fueled my enthusiasm to write. Do you stick to a particular theme while writing?  I lean toward poetry, essays, and novels. I’ve also written two fiction novels in Nepali. In most of my works, I try to reflect on Nepali people, culture, and nature. I actually had this idea during my travels to various parts of Nepal, especially Mugu and Karnali. It gave me a new perspective on the diversity on Nepali people and culture. Hataru is one of your most celebrated works. Can you tell us a little about it? In contrast to my previous works, ‘Hataru’ was written with an ambition rather than just out of fascination. This book depicts the folk civilization of the Karnali province a century ago. In this book, a mother tells her child about how she overcame life’s adversities. It was a story I heard from an elderly woman in one of the villages in Karnali. Sunkesa, the protagonist, represents every Nepali woman who has managed to stand strong despite facing everyday difficulties and harassment. For me, Hataru is like a cultural archive of the Karnali province. I collected different stories from villages, experiences of men and women and the culture of that period. From Hataru, people can explore the treasures of Karnali, which, I think, has been neglected in Nepali literature. I stayed in Karnali for three and a half years. I realized that the Damai community has contributed the most to Karnali’s civilization. It took a lot of effort and time to understand every aspect of their culture and traditions. For instance, I spent 12 days trying to record just one song. It’s a song called ‘Karko’, that they sing during funerals. It was hard to document each and every aspect of their culture. But I enjoyed working on this book. Despite the many obstacles, it was worthwhile. What sort of feedback and criticism have you received for your works? I got a lot of recognition because of Hataru. It was written in Dailekh’s local language which used to be spoken a century ago. For instance, in that language, jiya means mother, bauju means father, bu means grandfather and buwa means grandmother. I have incorporated archaic language through all of my characters, which has been criticized by non-native readers. I agree that it’s not a smooth read for everyone. However, Haturu is a valuable resource for folk literature reference and research. What books do you recommend to aspirant readers? Literature that promotes culture is useful for readers in general and can be very helpful in understanding diversity and civilization. They provide in-depth knowledge that motivates you to refute unfavorable viewpoints. There are several amazing works that have promoted the language, history, and folk culture which remains at the top on my reading list. They are ‘Karna’ by Dr. Naba Raj Lamsal and ‘Sumnima’ by BP Koirala. I suggest they start by giving these books a read. Rijal’s picks 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. Karna by Dr Naba Raj Lamsal ‘Karna’ by Dr Naba Raj Lamsal is one of the books among his three epics—‘Karna’, ‘Dhara’, and ‘Agni’. The epic takes Karna, the sidelined Mahabharata hero, as the central character, and retells the story from a completely different viewpoint.

In a first, the Department of Industry (DoI), the government agency responsible for providing services to foreign investors, has developed a mechanism to approve foreign direct investments (FDIs) through the online channel. The mechanism allows the department to approve FDI worth Rs 100 million automatically. The government has already published a notice in this regard in the Nepal Gazette and the system will be implemented on Jestha 1. “Through the newly-developed mechanism, the government can approve FDI worth Rs 100m,” said Ram Chandra Tiwari, Director General of DoI. In the federal budget for the current fiscal year, the government has announced that foreign investment of up to Rs 100m will be approved through an automatic system. Accordingly, DoI has prepared the necessary software infrastructure. In addition, the amendment process of the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Regulation, 2077 BS has also been initiated to give it legal recognition. According to Tiwari, DoI has made necessary changes to the regulations and has sent it to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies for approval. The ministry will complete the process and send it to the cabinet for authorization. “We will implement the mechanism after the cabinet approves the regulations,” said Tiwari. “We also aim to increase the FDI threshold through the system in the near future.” At present, approvals of foreign investment proposals require going through paperwork which many investors see as tedious. As a result, there was a lot of trouble in getting foreign investment approved. However, after the implementation of the mechanism, investors can get approval for investments up to Rs 100m online without having to visit the DoI office. In addition, the department will also send the necessary documents to the Office of the Company Registrar (OCR) and include the documents in the registration process. However, investors will have to go to OCR to register the companies themselves. The introduction of the mechanism is expected to ease the approval process for foreign investments. According to Tiwari, the services will be more effective with the implementation of the new system. However, the investments to be approved by other ministries and agencies will not be done through this system. The technology has been developed in such a way that only investments in the areas specified in the regulations can participate in the automated process. Foreign investors can invest 100 percent or through a joint investment agreement with Nepali partners. The information on investment approval will be automatically sent to the bodies concerned such as the Nepal Rastra Bank and OCR etc. through the system. This system has already been implemented in Nepal's neighboring countries including India and Bangladesh. In Nepal, most FDIs are less than Rs 100m. So far, DoI has approved 5,545 FDI projects amounting to Rs 421bn.

Two explosions have rocked a counterterrorism facility in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 50 others, police said, Aljazeera reported.

Sharifullah Khan, a police official in Kabal, told Al Jazeera that at least 12 people died in the blasts on Monday at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Swat Valley while more than 50 were reported injured. He added that he doesn’t believe the blasts were caused by “terrorism”. The “explosions occurred after explosive material in the CTD building’s basement caught fire”, he said. The building complex also houses the Kabal district police station and headquarters of a reserve police force, but the main damage was done at the counterterrorism department building.

Provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat said there was an old ammunition store in the office, and police were probing whether that caused the explosions or if it was an attack, according to Aljazeera.

Two attacks on large police bases have been linked to the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) since the start of the year.

Most of those killed on Monday were police counterterrorism officers, Hayat said, adding that a woman and her child who were passing by the building were also killed. Bilal Faizi, spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial rescue service, said the search for more wounded was still in its initial stages. The regional hospital administration said it received several wounded people, some of them in critical condition.

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 109, 500 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 109, 100 per tola on Monday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 109, 000 per tola. Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,420 per tola today.

Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane has been elected as the member of the House of Representatives from Chitwan-2 for the second time in a row by securing 54, 176 votes. He defeated his closest contender Jit Narayan Shrestha of the Nepali Congress by a margin of 42, 962 votes. Shrestha garnered 11, 214 votes. Similarly, Ram Prasad Neupane of the CPN-UML obtained 10, 936 votes. Lamichhane had received 49, 300 votes out of 84, 315 votes in the previous election. His nearest rival Umesh Shrestha of the Nepali Congress had received 14, 988 votes.  

With strong lobbying by the private sector in the last few days, the major political parties have agreed to make changes in the Bill to Amend the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act, 1991. The lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties have submitted seeking amendments to the Bill which has provisioned to bring the private sector under the jurisdiction of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). The apex bodies of the private sector strongly opposed the Bill after it was endorsed by the National Assembly recently. The Bill has provisioned that the anti-graft body will have the authority to investigate private sector bodies which are connected with the wider public interest. The Bill has widened the definition of public entities by incorporating the entities wholly and partly owned by the government, banks and financial institutions, commissions, corporations, academies and councils, among others. According to Ekram Giri, Spokesperson of the Federal Parliament Secretariat, many proposals for amendment have been received for the Bill related to CIAA. "The deadline for submitting the amendment proposal was Sunday. Many amendments have been proposed," he said, "We will move forward by integrating it." Lawmakers of Nepali Congress Arju Rana, Ramhari Khatiwada and Shyam Ghimire, Premlal Maharjan of CPN (UML), Sumana Shrestha of Rastriya Swatantra Party and Rajendra Pandey of CPN (Unified Socialist) have registered their amendments. If the Bill is endorsed by the House of Representatives incorporating the amendments of the parties, the private sector will be out of the purview of the CIAA. The bill passed by the lower house has to be endorsed by the National Assembly again. The Federation of Nepal Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI), and Nepal Chambers of Commerce (NCC) jointly met the Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN (UML) Chairman KP Sharma Oli arguing that provisions in the bill will discourage the private sector and worsen the investment climate in the country. The private sector delegation was of the view that there are already around two dozen state and government agencies including Nepal Rastra Bank, Nepal Insurance Authority, the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, and the Department of Revenue Investigation to check the irregularities of the private sector. During the meeting with the FNCCI delegation, Prime Minister Dahal committed that the government would not make any law to control the private sector. Nepali Congress President Deuba and UML Chairman Oli also have assured that the private sector will not be discouraged.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Office has given a 15-day deadline to the concerned bodies to remove electric, telephone and internet wires placed haphazardly along the streets. Issuing a press statement today, the local government said unorganized cables have their implications on the beauty of the town, causing obstructions in public movement and creating a risk for a fire. If the order was not implemented on time, the local government said it would remove them on its own. The KMC said that it is sensitive towards the possible risks from the unorganized cables and have already sat for talks with providers of electricity, telephone, internet and cable services at different times with the call to remove devices, but the problem remains as it is.  

The Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) has prepared a preliminary draft of the framework for regulating over-the-top (OTT) platforms. The telecommunications regulator is proceeding with the process of making rules to regulate applications such as WhatsApp, Viber, Emo and Messenger. In the draft titled ‘OTT Regulation Framework’, the applications related to the streaming of voice and video services through the internet have been defined as OTT platforms. The proposed regulation has defined OTT as online services accessed and delivered over the public internet that may be a direct technical/functional substitute for voice/video telephony and text messages. It has been proposed that registration should be mandatory for providing services in Nepal through such applications. “OTT Providers shall be registered in Nepal for providing OTT Services in Nepal,” reads the draft of the regulations. A foreign OTT Provider is required to register a branch office in Nepal, pursuant to the Companies Act, 2006. However, the foreign OTT Provider can also appoint an Intermediary. “Such Intermediary must be registered, as per the Companies Act,” says the draft. The proposed regulation states OTT providers have to maintain security and privacy including network security and data protection issues, related to the consumers. OTT providers have also been asked to establish the Content Delivery Network (CDN) inside Nepal for the purpose of providing faster and more secure services to their Nepali users. Of late, the business of telecom companies in Nepal has declined due to the massive popularity of OTT platforms. As such platforms offer users to connect to other people through the internet, the telephony business of the telcos has taken a beating. According to NTA, the regulatory framework to regulate communication-based OTT services is being brought up keeping in mind issues such as regulatory imbalance, government tax, security threats, and revenue of the telecommunications operators. Over the last few years, debates have increased in the country to bring such service providers under the legal and tax scope. Starting from the current fiscal year 2022/23, a 2 percent digital service tax is being charged on services provided over the internet to Nepalis by non-resident persons. Operators of electronic services such as gaming, video, music and app downloads, streaming services, cloud services, and other services are taxable if their annual turnover exceeds Rs 2 million. The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) issued guidelines on Digital Service Tax from mid-July 2022 making it mandatory for digital service providers such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, and others to register in Nepal. Recently, the global tech giant Google registered in Nepal's tax system to be the first big company to get registered following the Nepal government bringing a law to bring internet-based companies under taxation. According to IRD, the government will charge a two percent tax on every transaction happening on any of the Google platforms from now onwards. The government made the provision for the registration of internet-based platforms where financial transactions happen for the first time in the current fiscal year budget. Accordingly, a provision for the digital service tax has been introduced.