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The Legislative Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of the Parliament has intensified its work on the University of Nepal Bill 2079, under discussion for about a month. The Bill was approved by the Sher Bahadur Deuba Cabinet before November 20 general elections. It has now progressed to further house proceedings and is being considered by the Legislative Affairs Committee. The University of Nepal Infrastructure Development Board, which was constituted by the Government of Nepal in mid-2021, is currently working toward developing the academic programmes, acquiring land, generating funds and planning the infrastructure for the proposed university. The university is planned to be located in Nawalparasi district. The development of the university is being viewed as a significant step forward in Nepal’s higher education sector. It is expected to offer quality education with liberal arts approach and provide opportunities to students, who previously had to go abroad for higher studies. It is also being projected as a potential solution to the challenges facing the higher education sector in Nepal. Recently, members of the Committee interacted with the chairperson, Dr Arjun Karki, and members Dr Surya Raj Acharya, Dr Bipin Adhikari, and Dr Amina Singh of the Board to discuss the proposed university and the draft legislation. Former Law Secretary Madhab Poudel was also present at the meeting as a legal expert. Some members of the committee also visited Nawalparasi, observed the proposed university sites, and spoke with the concerned 'palikas' that have joined hands with the promoters in establishing the university. However, according to Professor Adhikari, who also teaches at the Kathmandu University School of Law, it is impossible to develop existing universities in Nepal without a complete restructuring of the current system and breaking the vested political interests. Prof Adhikari highlighted the need for reforms in areas such as political appointment, high-level leadership and top management, recruitment policies, and academic and professional autonomy, with a focus on liberal arts and sciences approach. This seems to be difficult at this stage. Apart from Kathmandu University, none of the universities in Nepal have independent fund-raising capacity and rely solely on government finance. Many universities suffer with insufficient numbers of students and lack of quality teachers. The underperformance of universities in Nepal may be due to a variety of factors, including a lack of adequate investment in education, political instability, and difficulties in attracting and retaining talented faculty. Low salaries, a lack of research funding, and limited opportunities for professional growth are some of the reasons that may have contributed to the challenges that the universities face. The promoters of the University of Nepal have offered this new public university as a potential model for the country. There has also been a debate about the possibility of passing an umbrella legislation in Nepal to establish and govern all universities. However, according to Professor Adhikari, this may have negative consequences. It may limit the autonomy and flexibility of individual universities and could be perceived as a government overreach. The diversity and complexity of the university system in Nepal may also make it difficult to create a one-size-fits-all approach that effectively addresses the unique needs and challenges of each institution. Any proposed change should take into account the diverse needs and concerns of the universities, students, and other stakeholders, and provide a balance between government oversight and institutional autonomy. Recent developments suggest that the University of Nepal Bill has garnered widespread support from most political parties in Nepal. There is an expectation that the bill will be passed by both houses of the parliament during the ongoing session. The Legislative Affairs Committee is expected to make a decision about the Bill's further progress in the coming weeks, and it will be interesting to see how the proposed university takes shape.

Nepal’s one of the most beloved rock bands, Cobweb celebrates 30 years in the Nepali Music fraternity this year. The band is celebrating its anniversary with a musical night of a diversified genre of both rock & folk. 18 musicians will perform on the stage—all together for the ‘The 30’s’. The performing artists are from different generations, backgrounds and genres. The musicians are, Cobweb, Kutumba, Sunit Kansakar (Kanta Dab Dab), Sudhir Acharya (Night Band), Aman Shahi (Fusion Mantra), Nishant Shakya (Nanashi), Sugeem Shahi (The Apostles), Ashish Gurung (Resonance of Roots), and Rina Giri (Cover Solution). The show will take place on Feb 22, at the Bhandarkhal Garden, Patan Durbar Square, marking the band’s 30th year of performing together, as a celebration with other legendary artists of the Nepali Music coming together. The show will feature classics, fan-favorite hits with a twist of folk-flavor giving fans a chance to hear their favorite numbers from the band, in an all new arrangement.  

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli held a meeting at the former’s official residence in Baluwatar on Thursday. Earlier on December 25, an agreement was reached to give the Prime Minister to the CPN (Maoist Center) and the President to the CPN-UML. Prime Minister Dahal changed his words immediately after he won the vote of confidence. The Maoist Center, in recent times, however has been saying that the President should be chosen by national consensus. The UML leaders have been saying the party’s candidate should be made the President. Oli has been reiterating that they will not leave the post of President to other parties. As the presidential election is approaching nearer, leaders have intensified the discussions. Earlier this morning, Prime Minister Dahal held separate meetings with Congress Vice-President Purna Bahadur Khadka and Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane. PM Dahal has inclined to the Nepali Congress after he won the trust vote        

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 600 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 103, 000 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 104, 600 per tola on Wednesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 102, 500 per tola. It was traded at Rs 103, 100. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 1,285 per tola today.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Chandra Bhandari’s mother Hari kala Bhandari, who was critically injured in the cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinder explosion on Wednesday, died during the course of treatment at the Kirtipur Hospital on Thursday. Executive Director of the hospital Dr Nijina Tamrakar confirmed the death of Hari Kala Bhandari. Congress leader Bhandari is undergoing treatment at the same hospital. Preparations are underway to take him to India for further treatment. Bhandari and his mother were injured when a cooking gas cylinder exploded while cooking food at the Buddhanagar-based house last night.  

With no winter rainfall for the last five months and water levels decreasing in rivers, the power generation in the country has fallen by more than 40 percent. While around 400 MW of electricity has been added to the national grid in the last one year, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has been struggling to supply adequate electricity this winter. The installed capacity of electricity in the country last winter was 2053 MW which increased to 2424 MW by mid-January this year. "However, due to the prolonged dry season and decrease in water level in the rivers, electricity generation has plunged more than last winter," said Suresh Bhattarai, a spokesperson of NEA. According to NEA, the power production during this winter has dropped to around 900 MW, that too during the evening peak time. NEA data shows domestic electricity generation was 926 MW during the peak hours on Sunday. As hydropower projects such as Kulekhani, Upper Tamakoshi, and Kaligandaki are put into operation during peak hours, the electricity generation is higher during those times. The average generation currently stands at around 700 MW, according to NEA. "The installed capacity has increased this year but the water flow in the river has decreased as the dry season has extended," said Bhattarai. "As a result, power generation has decreased compared to last year." According to the NEA, power generation, this winter has decreased more compared to the last winter because of the drought situation. The power generation during the last winter was around 1,200 MW, which has further dropped to around 900 MW this winter during the peak time. Nepal's largest power project- the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project (456 MW), is currently producing around 77MW of electricity while the average production of the Middle Marsyangdi Hydropower Project (70 MW) is above 30 MW. According to Bhattarai, NEA is balancing the power supply by importing more electricity from India. Despite that, NEA is forced to cut power in the industrial areas during peak hours in the morning and evening. NEA has been enforcing load shedding of three hours each in the peak hours of morning and evening in the industrial areas across the country. According to industrialists, such power cuts have been happening now from 6-9 am in the morning and 5-8 pm in the evening. Industries in major industrial hubs such as Biratnagar, Birgunj, Hetauda, and Bhairahawa have been hard hit by the latest power cuts. Although Nepal has started exporting surplus electricity to India during the wet season, the country has to import electricity in the dry season to meet the power demand. It is because almost all of the power production in the country is based on run-of-the-river hydropower plants. The dry season runs from December to April while the wet season lasts from May to November. According to NEA, the run-of-the-river type hydropower projects usually produce less than 40 percent of their installed capacity as water levels in the rivers decrease significantly during the dry season. With power generation not enough to cater to the domestic demand, the NEA has increased the volume of electricity imports from India. A total of 505 MW of electricity was imported from India during peak hours last Sunday evening.  

At a time when there is a huge flight of capital from the country in the form of education bills for the study abroad of Nepali students, Nepal is also earning foreign currency from international students who're coming to study in the Himalayan nation. The latest macroeconomic report published by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) shows there has been a huge growth in foreign currency income through foreign students coming to Nepal in this fiscal year. The central bank data shows the country earned Rs 1.52 billion in the first half of FY 2022/23 from foreign students, an increment of a whopping 102 percent from Rs 754.2 million in the same period of the last fiscal year. Nepal earned Rs 1.51 billion from foreign students studying in the country in FY 2021/22. According to NRB, such earning was Rs 1.04 billion in FY 2020/21 and Rs 2.23 billion in FY 2019/20. The forex earnings from education declined in the last two fiscal years due to the Covid-19 pandemic as foreign students could not come to Nepal. However, with the easing of international travel, there has been a surge in the number of foreign students studying in the country lately. Apart from subjects such as history and language, the majority of foreign students come to Nepal for medical education. According to the Medical Education Commission, 265 foreign students were enrolled in medical colleges in the last fiscal year. According to the commission, students from Bhutan, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, and other countries come to Nepal for medical education. Currently, about 500 foreign students are studying at different medical colleges in Nepal. Similarly, foreigners also come to study language, history, law, and other subjects. However, government entities do not have integrated data on the number of foreign students studying in Nepal. When foreign students study in Nepal, a large amount of money is spent on educational fees, housing expenses, etc. Education experts say that if the standard of the country's education system is improved, Nepal can attract more foreign students as well as earn more foreign currency. While there has been growth in the foreign exchange earnings from international students coming to Nepal, the country is spending a much higher amount to pay the bills of Nepali students who're studying abroad. As more Nepalis have been going abroad to study in recent years, more money is going outside the country for the purpose. The NRB report shows Nepalis have spent Rs 35.35 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year for foreign education. Such spending amounted to Rs 67.70 billion for education abroad in the last fiscal year 2021/22 which had surged due to the suppressed number of outgoing Nepali students in the previous two fiscal years due to Covid-related restrictions. In FY 2020/21 and FY 2019/20, spending for education decreased to Rs 24.95 billion and Rs 25.81 billion, according to NRB.

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is planning to study if the high-volume transmission of electricity through the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line would cause any voltage-related problems in Nepal after the Indian side raised concerns on the matter. At a time when Nepal has been requesting India to allow Nepal to sell an extra 681MW of electricity in the upcoming monsoon season due to the surplus energy production in the country, the Indian side has pointed out the possible weakness in Nepal’s power transmission infrastructure. During the meeting of the joint technical team on energy cooperation held about two weeks ago, the Indian side warned about the possible voltage problem while transmitting a big load at the same time through this cross-border line. “We've told them that we will conduct a study on the issue,” said an official of NEA. “There will be a study on whether infrastructure could be improved by adding capacitors and condensers.” According to the official, the infrastructure should be able to sustain the flow of a high quantity of power loads at the same time. “We have been seeing the problem of low voltage power supply in the Tarai region during the hot climate when demand for power grows,” the official said. The infrastructure shortcomings on the Nepal side have been pointed out at a time Nepal is desperate to export more power in the upcoming wet season which will begin in June. Currently, India has allowed Nepal to sell 452MW of electricity generated by 10 hydropower projects in the Indian power market. According to an official of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation (MoEWRI), Nepal has requested India to allow exports of 681MW of extra electricity during the meeting between Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Rajendra Prasad Lingden and Indian Foreign Secretary Vinaya Mohan Kwatra on Tuesday. The Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur Cross Border Transmission Line is the only 400kv capacity cross-border line, which can transport around 1,000MW. Currently, there are other 11 cross-border transmission lines with capacities of 33kV and 132kV, and the lines can transfer electricity between 5MW and 125MW only, according to a white paper on energy issued by MoEWRI in May 2018. Nepal and India will be discussing improving the infrastructure of the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line on the Nepali side during the 10th meeting of the joint secretary-level Joint Working Group and secretary-level Joint Steering Committee on energy scheduled to be held on February 17-18 in New Delhi, India. “As the recommendation of the joint technical team should be endorsed by the Joint Steering Committee, we are taking this issue to this meeting,” the NEA official said. Nepal has been facing problems to transfer electricity from one location of the country to another due to poor transmission infrastructure. Even though Nepal has been importing electricity from India during the dry season, it has failed to transport the imported electricity to the Birgunj area due to the lack of high-capacity power line and the NEA has been imposing load shedding there for the industrial consumers for the last two months. Likewise, there is also no high-capacity cross-border transmission line between the two countries except the Dhalkebar-Muzaffarpur transmission line. ‘That’s why we are proposing with India to develop two more cross-border transmission lines in the upcoming meeting,” said a senior MoEWRI official. Nepal will request India for developing 400kV Inaruwa (Duhabi)-Purnia and 400kV New Lamki (Dodhara)-Bareli cross-border transmission lines. “There will also be a discussion on improving the capacity of low capacity cross border power lines too,” the MoEWRI official said.