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On March 5, Simrik Air conducted a daring operation in Langtang, rescuing a renowned Spanish paraglider, who was battling for life after suffering multiple fractures in a crash. The team consisting of pilot-in-command Captain Surendra Paudel, rescue specialist Tshering Pande Bhote, and technician Uttam Chaudhari rescued Xavier Bonet Dalmau from an elevation of 4,560 meters at the north-central Himalayan range. Airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment, Dalmau is on a recovery path. This rescue operation shows the importance of a well-trained and well-equipped team in life-and-death situations like accidents in the rugged rugged terrains of Nepal. This is not the first instance of Simrik Air’s involvement in critical operations. On April 11, 2021, a Simrik Air heli team under the command of Captain Siddartha J Gurung, pilot-in-command Captain Paudel and comprising other experienced crew members doused a raging fire at the Shivapuri national park using the Bambi bucket, thereby averting a loss of life and properties. Equipped with cutting-edge technology and equipment and aware of Nepal’s trying terrains like the Himalayas, Simrik Air is well aware of the importance of well-trained human resources in critical operations. In the first week of February 2023, it conducted a heli-training and orientation for the crew, staff, and medical team to prepare them better for rushing crucial assistance during natural and man-made disasters by enhancing their skills and expertise. Captain Gurung led a Bambi Bucket training session for helicopter pilots Capt Hare Ram Thapa and Capt Rajendra Duwal at Bojinee Dam in Nagarkot. The pilots learned the proper use and operation of this specialized tool. Simrik Air is the sole provider of this water-based firefighting service in Nepal, apart from Long-line operation and Sling operation and Yak Winch. Simrik Air also offered realistic engagement training options such as Recco, Yak Winch, Sling Operation, Long-line Operation, Medical Evacuation, and management training to keep the staff up-to-date and maintain safety, efficiency, and consistency in service. Captain Bimal Sharma and Captain Bhaskar Pokharel were trained on this. Crew members Ang Tashi Sherpa, Tshering Dhenduk Bhote, Tshering Pandey Bhote and Sonam Bhuti also received training during these sessions, conducted under the supervision of instructor and trainer from Germany and Switzerland Bruno Jelk, Daniel Brunner and Beat Marti. This kind of training is crucial for saving lives and properties during natural and manmade disasters like flooding, fires and mountaineering accidents because the state alone is not adequately equipped in dealing with such contingencies.  

The government has decided to register the bill formulated to amend the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons Act, 2071 (2014) in the House of Representatives today. A Cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister’s office in Singhadurbar made the decision to this effect, the PM’s media expert Manohari Timilsina said. Meanwhile, Justice Bishwamber Prasad Shrestha’s bench will hear the writ petitions filed against CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. A preliminary hearing will be conducted today in the writ petitions registered by advocate duo Gyanendra Raj Aran and Kalyan Budhathoki against Dahal for claiming the responsibility of 5, 000 Maoist-insurgence era deaths three years ago.  

Justice Bishwamber Prasad Shrestha’s bench will hear the writ petitions filed against CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The Supreme Court administration said that Shrestha’s bench will hear the writs. A preliminary hearing will be conducted today in the writ petitions registered by advocate duo Gyanendra Raj Aran and Kalyan Budhathoki against Dahal for claiming the responsibility of 5, 000 Maoist-insurgence era deaths three years ago. During a program held on January 15, 2020, Dahal had said that out of 17, 000 people killed in the Maoist insurgency, 5,000 were killed by the Maoist and he would take the responsibility for it. The advocate duo filed writ petitions demanding that the court order Dahal's arrest and punish him for taking the responsibility for 5,000 deaths, but the court administration had refused to do so, claiming that the issue was related to transitional justice. Earlier on Friday, a division bench of Justice Ishwor Khatiwada and Hari Prasad Phuyal ordered the Supreme Court administration to take petitions against Dahal. Then rebels had kidnapped and murdered advocate Aran’s father Tilakraj. Similarly, advocate Budhathoki’s father was displaced. The Supreme Court’s decision has rattled Prime Minister Dahal and his party. They are crying foul over what they say is a conspiracy to corner them by bringing up the conflict-era cases, which ought to be dealt by the transitional justice commissions.      

Voting to elect a new President of Nepal has begun at the Parliament building in New Baneshwor amid tight security and surveillance. Voting that started at 10 am will end at 3 pm, said assistant returning officer Amrita Kumari Sharma. Separate polling stations have been designated for the voters in the Lhotse chamber in the Parliament Building. Ram Chandra Paudel of the Nepali Congress and Subash Chandra Nembang of the CPN-UML are vying for the coveted position. Paudel, former Speaker, has been supported by the recently formed nine-party alliance. Nembang had served as the Chairperson of the then Constituent Assembly. According to the Constitution of Nepal, a President will be elected, and the President is entrusted with the responsibility to protect and abide by the Constitution, and promote national unity. The country entered the presidential system following the establishment of the republic through the 2062/63 movements. The electoral college comprises the members of the Federal Parliament and Province Assemblies. There are a total of 882 eligible voters in the federal Parliament (the House of Representatives and the National Assembly) and the Province Assembly (332 under the Federal Parliament and 550 under the Province Assembly). The federal Parliament has 79 weighted votes, and the Province Assembly 48. According to the Constitution, no person shall be elected to the Office of President more than twice.  

Commercial banks have disbursed 28.88 percent of their total loans to the priority sectors in the first half of the current fiscal year. The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has identified agriculture, energy, and micro, cottage, small, and medium industries (MCSMI) as 'prescribed sectors'. According to NRB statistics, of the total lending of Rs 4,276.33 billion, banks have invested Rs 1,235 billion in these sectors till the first half of FY 2022/23. Of the total loans to the priority sectors, 13.09 percent went to the agriculture sector, 6.29 percent to the energy sector, and 9.51 percent for the MCSMI sector. Of the 22 commercial banks, only five banks have extended credit to the agriculture sector beyond the minimum threshold by mid-January 2023. Similarly, the extension of credit of only three banks is above the threshold in the energy sector and four banks' credit is above the threshold in the MCSMI sector. As per NRB guidelines, the banks have to extend at least 13 percent of their total loans to the agricultural sector, 7 percent to the energy sector, and 12 percent to the MCSMI sector. In total, banks have to extend 32 percent of their total loans to these priority sectors by the end of the current fiscal year. The central bank statistics show banks' credit disbursement to the agriculture sector is as per the NRB's threshold while that to the energy sector is close to the threshold. However, credit disbursement to the MCSMI sector is well below the threshold. Bankers admit that it is a challenge to provide loans to the MCSMI sector as per the NRB threshold by the end of this fiscal year. While the prolonged liquidity crunch has hit the banks' credit expansion this fiscal, the MCSMI are also hard hit by the rising price and slowdown in market demand, say bankers. According to them, it will be a tough task to increase credit flow to the MCSMI sector in the current macroeconomic environment. As of mid-January, 2023, only Agricultural Development Bank Limited, Himalayan Bank, Nepal SBI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, and Sunrise Bank have their credit disbursement to the agriculture sector above the NRB threshold. In the energy sector, NMB Bank, Sunrise Bank and Sanima Bank have credit disbursement above the NRB threshold of 7 percent. Similarly, four banks - Agriculture Development Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Kumari Bank and NIC Asia Bank have credit disbursement above the threshold of 12 percent in the MCSMI sector. The state-owned banks fare better than private sector banks when it comes to priority sector lending. Among the commercial banks, Agriculture Development Bank's disbursement to the priority sectors is the highest. The bank has disbursed 57.50 percent of its total loans to the priority sectors. The ADBL has disbursed 28.35 percent of loans to the agriculture sector, 4.79 percent to the energy sector, and 24.36 percent to the MCSMI sector in this fiscal. Similarly, the lending of another state-owned bank - Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) to priority sectors stood at 36.98 percent. RBB has 12.16 percent of its total loans to the agriculture sector, 6.89 percent to the energy sector, and 17.93 percent to the MCSMI sector. Among the private sector banks, NMB Bank is ahead of others when it comes to lending to the priority sectors. The bank has 32.90 percent of its total loans to the priority sector. NMB Bank has disbursed 12.74 percent of its total loans to the agricultural sector, 8.94 percent to the energy sector, and 11.22 percent to the MCSMI sector.  

The Rastriya Swatantra Party has said that it will take a decision on the presidential election only on Thursday. Party Vice-President Dol Prasad Aryal said that the party will take a necessary decision on the presidential election by holding a meeting tomorrow. Nepali Congress senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel and CPN-UML Vice-Chairman Subash Nembang are vying for the post of President slated for tomorrow. Voting for the election will begin from 10 am and end at 3 pm.  

When the 15th Plan started in the fiscal year 2019/20, there was much hope for the country’s economic transformation, especially with a stable government with an almost two-thirds majority in place. The KP Sharma Oli-led government also aimed for high-trajectory economic growth. The National Planning Commission (NPC) in the 15th Plan had set a growth target of 8.5 percent in FY 2019/20, 9.6 percent in FY 2020/21, 9.9 percent in FY 2021/22, 9.6 percent in fiscal 2022/23, and 10.3 percent in FY 2023/24. But it didn’t take much time for hope to turn into despair as the country plunged into political instability and the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country hard. The intra-party infighting in the erstwhile Nepal Communist Party (NCP) formed after the merger between the CPN (UML) and the CPN (Maoist Centre) overshadowed the government's economic priorities. And, the Covid-19 pandemic during which the government enforced a months-long lockdown further hit the economic activities and the private sector. As a result, economic growth in FY 2019/20 was limited to 2.4 percent. As the Covid-19 pandemic continued in FY 2020/21 too, the economy grew by 4.3 percent in FY 2020/21 and 5.8 percent in FY 2021/22. According to economists, the growth target set by the NPC is far from reality. “There is a trend of setting the growth target based on ambition instead of ground reality,” said a former Finance Secretary. “So, it is obvious to see those targets went unachieved.” The writing is already on the wall about the economic performance in FY 2022/23 with the country witnessing economic growth of just 0.8 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year. It is the lowest growth in the last seven years in the first quarter on a year-on-year basis. The economic growth slumped because of negative growth in five areas, namely construction, mining and quarrying, wholesale and retail and repair of motor vehicles, transportation and storage, and education, according to the National Statistics Office. Even during Dashain and Tihar festivals and before the November 20 elections, businessmen were complaining about reduced market demand for goods and services. A part of market dynamism was also affected by import control measures with the government banning imports of automobiles, liquor, and expensive mobile sets till December 2022. In the federal budget for FY 2022/23, the government has targeted eight percent economic growth. But after six months, the mid-term review slashed the growth rate to 4.5 percent. After concluding the Article IV mission, the International Monetary Fund said on February 28 that Nepal’s economy is expected to grow by just 4.4 percent in the current fiscal year. “Nepal’s real GDP growth is supported by the ongoing recovery of tourism, strong agriculture sector performance in the first half of the year, and resilient remittances,” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement. The IMF has warned that the country remains vulnerable to shocks, from volatile and higher global commodity prices and from natural disasters and weather variability. NPC has projected that the country's economy would grow by six percent in FY 2023/24, the final year of the 15th plan. There is a projection of economic growth of 7.4 percent in fiscal 2024/25 and 8 percent in the fiscal year 2025/26, as per the NPC’s mid-term economic targets. Given the fractured political mandate after the elections on November 20 last year, economists are skeptical about attaining the growth target. According to them, the country could have entered into a new cycle of political instability. “In the space of just two months since the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government was formed, another government is being formed with a new alliance,” the former Finance Secretary said.

Laxmi Intercontinental, the authorized distributor of Hyundai vehicles in Nepal has launched the facelift version of the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios in the market with the slogan "More. The Merrier". Issuing a press statement, the company claimed that the new Hyundai hatchback is 'set to take the automotive segment by storm' due to its new and innovative combination of cutting-edge technology, high performance, attractive design, and distinctive features. "Revolutionary and distinctive touch is added to the overall appearance of the new Grand i10 Nios with its first in-segment-extended LED Tail Light with a connected light bar at the rear of the vehicle. The new Painted Black Radiator Grille and LED Daytime Running Lamps (DRLs) on the front of the new Grand i10 Nios give the vehicle a stylish and sporty edge. Similarly, its 15-inch Dual Tone Styled Steel Wheel, Projector Headlamps, Shark Fin Antenna, and Roof Rail give the hatchback an unmistakably unique identity," reads the statement. According to the company, the interior of the all-new Hyundai Grand i10 Nios boasts a modern and refreshing layout with its Dual Tone Gray interiors. The hatchback comes with new features like semi-fabric seats, tilt steering, a cooled glove box, footwell lighting, an 8'' Infotainment System, and a rear USB charger. "Furthermore, the all-new Grand i10 Nios is packed with high-tech features and has set a new standard as a technology-friendly car. Its latest features include a Wireless Phone Charger, Fast USB Type C Charger, Cruise Control, Voice Recognition, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto," said the company, adding, "The driver can obtain other information such as fuel economy, average vehicle speed, and service reminders from the Multi-Info Display (MID) feature in the digital instrument cluster of the new Grand i10 Nios." According to the statement, the safety features in the all-new Hyundai Grand i10 Nios are unmatched. The body of the hatchback is made with Advanced High-Strength Steel (AHHS), making it stronger and safer than ever before. It features Four Airbags, Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, Automatic Headlamps, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Vehicle Stability Management (VSM), Hill-Start Assist Control (HAC), Rear Parking Camera with Display on Audio, and other special features. Additionally, the facelift model has safety features like a Speed Alert System, Burglar Alarm, Rear Defogger, Impact Sensing Auto Door Unlock, Speed Sensing Auto Door Lock, Headlamp Escort System, and Emergency Stop Signal. The company informs that the Grand i10 Nios comes with a powerful 1.2L petrol engine. With a ground clearance of 165mm, the hatchback offers the perfect combination of power and agility for that thrilling driving experience. The Grand i10 Nios is available in Era, Magna, and Sportz variants in the MT option and Magna and Sportz in the AMT Option with a starting price of Rs 29,96,000.