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Social activist Shreedhar Lamichhane’s book ‘Sahaj Budheuli’ was launched amidst an event in Bhaktapur on Saturday. Minister for women, children and senior citizens Mahendra Raya Yadav, National Assembly member Bimala Paudyal Rai, senior doctor Gauri Shankar Lal Das and senior journalist Bhairab Risal among others were present in the program organized at the Siddhi Smriti Hospital. Saying that the book would be very useful for the senior citizens, Minister Yadav while launching the book expressed his commitment to disseminate the book across the country through National Federation of Senior Citizens at the initiative of the ministry. He also said that the government is planning to construct a 165-bed hospital for the senior citizens. Also speaking at the program, National Assembly member Rai said that senior citizens, policy makers, officials at the implementing agencies and local levels should read the book of Lamichhane. Shreesh Bhandari, editor of the book, said that this book can be considered as an official document to make the daily lives of senior citizens easier and iron out their problems. The book discussed the stories, pains and problems of the senior citizens and also the ways to resolve them, he said. The 264-page book was published by Eternal Publications Pvt. Ltd. The book can be obtained from Ratna Book Store, Bagbazaar, Book Palace, Exhibition Road, Unnati Books, Exhibition Road, Airavati Publication, Dillibazaar, Anu Books, Satdobato, Complete Book, Narayangarh, Student Book Shop, Hetauda and Asia Book Center, Birtamod.

Nepal defeated Oman by 84 runs in the ongoing ACC Men’s Premier Cup on Friday. Oman won the toss and invited Nepal to bat first. Nepal scored 310 runs at the cost of eight wickets in the match played at the TU Cricket Stadium this afternoon. Chasing the target of 311 runs, Oman scored a moderate total of 226 runs losing all the wickets in 46.3 overs. Mohammad Nadeem scored 65 runs off 84 balls hitting one six and seven boundaries for Oman. Likewise, Sandeep Goud made 46 runs, Ayaan Khan and Kashyap Harishbhai Prajapati scored 29 and 25 runs respectively. Similarly, Jatinder Singh scored 15 runs and Adeel Ahmad Shafique made 13 runs. Other players failed to score in double digits. Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane took three wickets each for Nepal. Likewise, Lalit Rajbansi claimed one wicket. Kushal Malla scored 108 runs of 64 balls hitting 10 sixes and nine boundaries for Nepal which made a bad start with both openers returning to the pavilion without scoring any runs. Similarly, Sompal Kami made unbeaten 63 runs off 48 balls with nine boundaries and Arif Sheikh scored 29 runs off 43 balls. Captain Rohit Paudel scored 24 runs and Bhim Sarki added 33 runs on the scoreboard. Karan KC made 29 runs off 15 balls with one six and two fours. In the first match, Nepal had defeated Malaysia by six wickets. Nepal will take on Saudi Arabia in the third match at the Mulpani Cricket Ground.    

The Supreme Court has issued an interim order directing the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to collect the garbage of the Singha Durbar and the President’s residence within three days. A single bench of Justice Prakash Man Singh Raut issued the order today. Advocate Padam Bahadur Shrestha had filed a writ petition at the apex court against the Kathmandu Metropolitan City for not collecting waste from Singh Durbar. He had demanded that the garbage of the Singha Durbar and the President's office be collected at the earliest. The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers and KMC Mayor Balen Shah were made the defendants. The Court has ordered the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to collect the waste as soon as possible and dispose at the landfill site. Following the directive of Mayor Shah, the waste of Singha Durbar, President’s office and Prime Minister’s residence have not been collected since April 7.

Nepal reported 106 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Friday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 581 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 64 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 302 people underwent antigen tests, of which 42 were tested positive. The Ministry said that 46 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 414 active cases in the country.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli held a meeting on Friday. During the meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office in Singha Durbar, the two leaders discussed contemporary issues including the meeting of the Constitutional Council, the Prime Minister's Press Expert Manahari Timilsina said. Though Prime Minister Dahal had called a meeting of the Constitutional Council on Wednesday morning to discuss the appointment of the chief justice, it ended without making any concrete decision.

The Power Summit 2023 that concluded on Wednesday saw Nepali and Indian power entities signing deals for the sale of 2,200 MW of electricity to India. India’s Manikaran Power Limited signed an agreement to purchase around 200 MW of electricity directly from the hydropower projects in Nepal while Vedanta India also started the process to sign a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Nepal Power Exchange Limited to buy 2,000MW of electricity. The latest developments augur a positive future for electricity exports from Nepal as the country is gradually transforming from an energy importer to a net exporter of electricity. However, these deals will not yield results if the government does not bring a law that allows the Nepali private sector to get into power trading. As of now, the state-owned Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is the only entity involved in power trading. There is no provision in Nepal's electricity law that would let any entity other than NEA engage in power trade. While the private sector has been demanding a legal framework that allows them to enter electricity trading, the government is yet to take any concrete steps in this regard. As Indian companies in the power trading business increasingly show their interest to buy energy from Nepal, domestic power developers say there is an urgent need to introduce laws to facilitate the private sector's involvement in the power trade to sell electricity to the Indian market. The Nepali private sector is frustrated with the government as entrepreneurs have been waiting for a long time to engage in power trade within and outside the country. According to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI), around half a dozen companies have already applied for power trading licenses. While the Electricity Bill to amend the Electricity Act 1992 had reached the parliament, it got stuck for more than two years and failed to get endorsed. The then Energy Minister Pampha Bhusal withdrew the bill from the parliament in September 2022. A cabinet meeting on September 26, 2022, approved the ordinance to amend the Electricity Act and forwarded it to the President’s Office for approval. However, former President Bidya Devi Bhandari failed to authenticate the ordinance. After the fresh elections in November 2022, the country has got a new parliament and the government now plans to introduce the new bill in the House of Representatives. Now, the government has said it plans to introduce the new bill soon. “Draft of the bill is almost ready. We will soon register the new electricity bill at the parliament,” said a senior MoEWRI official. “The new bill will pave the way for the private sector to engage in trading of electricity. We will also include the recommendations of the lawmakers of the erstwhile House of Representatives.” Both government officials and private sector people agree that the involvement of the private sector could open new avenues for expanding the power market for Nepal’s electricity at a time when the country is producing excess power in the wet season. During the inauguration of the Power Summit on Tuesday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said that the government expects Nepal to become a net power exporter by 2025. Independent power producers say it's high time for the government to show urgency when it comes to allowing the private sector into power trading. "The Nepali private sector has already signed deals with an Indian company for selling electricity," said Krishna Prasad Acharya, President of Independent Power Producers' Association, Nepal (IPPAN), "It’s high time the government removed legal barriers." According to him, IPPAN is of the view that a policy to allow the private sector to engage in power trading should be brought through a fast-track mechanism. "If we go through the parliament, then the process will take a long time as opposition parties may not support it," said Acharya, adding, "The government should open the way for the private sector through a special decision of the cabinet." IPPAN office-bearers say they can't wait for the government to introduce the new electricity bill. According to them, the government could grant the license to the private sector following the same procedure through which it awarded a power trade license to NEA's power trade company. "The cabinet granted the power trade license to Nepal Power Trade Company of NEA through clause 35 of the Electricity Act," said Ashish Garg, Vice President of IPPAN. "Why can't the same provision be applicable also to us?" According to Garg, this was among the two suggestions given by the IPPAN to Energy Minister Shakti Basnet a week ago. "The other way is to bring the ordinance," he said. Madhu Bhetuwal, Spokesperson at the Energy Ministry, said that the government is committed to facilitating the entry of the private sector into electricity trading. "As the private sector has already entered into a PPA MoU to sell electricity in India, we also want it to be successfully implemented," he said. While lobbying with the government for the license, the Nepali private sector is also signing agreements with Indian companies for cross-border electricity trade. In January 2022, Nepal Power Exchange Limited, a trading company established by private sector power developers signed an MoU with India’s Manikaran Power Limited on energy trading. As per the MoU, the Nepali company is supposed to supply up to 500 MW to the Indian company. Currently, a lot of hydropower projects are in the completion phase and the power generation capacity of the country is increasing rapidly. Nevertheless, the country is facing difficulty to find a market for surplus power. According to the NEA, power generation capacity in the country has now reached 2,650 MW and it is expected to increase to 2,853 MW by mid-July this year. The government-owned power utility projects that Nepal will produce 4,507 MW by the fiscal year 2023/2024 and 5,251 MW by FY 2024/2025. According to Garg, the Power Summit 2023 reinforced the fact that there are buyers for the electricity produced in Nepal. "If we do not act urgently, over 1,000 MW of electricity will be wasted in the upcoming wet season." Garg also stressed the need for a policy for open access to enable the private sector to use the same transmission line across the country. A MoEWRI official says the proposed bill would open the door for open access to all the power traders on the national grid. “A separate operation guideline needs to be introduced and works are ongoing in this regard,” the official said.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 400 per tola in the domestic market on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 110, 200 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 109, 800 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 109, 650 per tola. It was traded at Rs 109, 300 per tola. Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,445 per tola today.

The Nepal-India border points in Bara district have been sealed for 72 hours from today in view of the by-election taking place in Bara constituency-2 on April 23. Issuing a press statement, the District Administration Office Bara said that the border points shall remain closed from 12:00 midnight today to Sunday midnight. The sale and supply of liquor has been banned in the district until the vote counting is completed, Chief District Officer of Bara Nabaraj Sapkota said. Similarly, the vehicular movements along the Postal Highway in the district have been closed except for emergency ones from Saturday midnight to Sunday 7:00 pm.