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Lionel Messi was named FIFA player of the year on Monday after winning his maiden World Cup title with Argentina in December in Qatar, Reuters reported.

The 35-year-old forward scored two goals in the World Cup final, which Argentina won on penalties against France following a 3-3 draw after extra time.

Santiago A. Canton, a distinguished Argentine jurist with decades long experience of fighting for the advancement of human rights and the rule of law, is set to take up the post of Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) on March 1, 2023. Appointed by the ICJ Executive Committee for a five-year term, Santiago A. Canton brings to this role a wealth of wisdom and practical experience at the national, regional and global levels, serving in governmental, intergovernmental and civil society capacities, read a state issued by the International Commission of Jurists. He was Executive Secretary of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights from 2001 to 2012, and served as the Commission’s Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression from 1998 to 2001. He was also Executive Director of the human rights program of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. He served as Chair of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 Protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and has worked closely with the African Commission of Human Rights and People’s Rights. From 2016 to 2019, Santiago A. Canton was the Secretary of Human Rights for the Province of Buenos Aires (Argentina). Canton will be charged with continuing and developing the ICJ’s innovative efforts in progressively developing international law and standards, advocating for the entrenchment of the rule of law and the fair administration of justice around the world, and working to ensure accountability and access to justice for all without discrimination, the statement read. The ICJ salutes the outstanding contribution of its outgoing Secretary-General, Sam Zarifi, who served the organization with distinction during his six-year tenure (2017-23). During his tenure, the ICJ overcame numerous challenges, including the restrictions of work brought on by the COVID pandemic, engaging in critical work in such diverse areas as accountability for human rights crimes, public health emergencies, human rights in the digital age and defending the rule of law and justice systems in countries in all parts of the world. The ICJ is an international non-governmental organization established in 1952, consisting of 60 distinguished jurists from all regions of the world. The ICJ works to advance the rule of law and the legal protection of human rights. The headquarters of the ICJ Secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland, and it has field presences in the Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and Middle East and North Africa regions.

The business of non-life insurance companies has grown by almost six percent in the first seven months of the current fiscal year. The 18 non-life insurance companies operating in Nepal have collected a total of Rs 23.06 billion in insurance premiums till mid-February, 2023 which was Rs 21.81 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. Insurance sector experts say the growth rate of the non-life insurance business is not encouraging. "The non-life insurance business has been affected this year due to the economic slowdown and high inflation," said Raju Raman Paudel, Executive Director of the Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA). Among the insurance companies, Shikhar Insurance tops the chart when it comes to the premium collection in this fiscal year. The company collected Rs 2.98 billion in premiums till mid-February 2023. Neco Insurance is in the second position with premiums totaling Rs 1.75 billion followed by Rastriya Beema Sansthan at Rs 1.69 billion. As insurance companies are more concentrated in the federal capital and cities, NIA officials say that there is an imbalance in the provincial business of insurance companies. The share of Bagmati Province in the non-life insurance business is the highest while that of Karnali Province is the lowest. The NIA data shows, of the total premium collection, Bagmati Province contributes 66.46 percent. Non-life insurance companies collected premiums totaling Rs 15.32 billion in the Bagmati Province till mid-February. The share of other provinces in the non-life insurance business is less than 10 percent. As per the NIA data, Lumbini Province has a 9.25 percent share in the non-life insurance business, while Province 1 has an 8.67 percent share. Similarly, the share of Madhesh Province is 6.29 percent, Gandaki Province is 5.73 percent, Sudur Pashchim Province is 2.63 percent, and Karnali Province is 0.93 percent.

A Cabinet meeting has started at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in Singhadurbar on Monday. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal called the Cabinet meeting after the eight ministers of the CPN-UML tender their resignation. Earlier this afternoon, the UML had decided to pull out of the government. After the UML, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Rastriya Swatantra Party quit the government, only the CPN (Maoist Center) and Janamat Party are in the government.    

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 3. 65 points to close at 2,023. 54 points on Monday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 0. 84 points to close at 383. 01 points. A total of 5,120,888 unit shares of 259 companies were traded for Rs 1. 89 billion. Meanwhile, Swabhimaan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 73 percent. Likewise, Rapti Hydro and General Construction Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 6. 43 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 92 trillion.

The next fiscal year's federal budget will be smaller than the current fiscal year. With the government struggling to manage financial resources due to a widening gap between income and expenditure, the National Planning Commission (NPC) has set the next fiscal year's government expenditure ceiling at Rs 1688.40 billion. The ceiling set by the NPC is smaller by Rs 105.43 billion than the budget for this fiscal year. The then Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had brought the budget of Rs 1793.83 billion for FY 2022/23. However, the Finance Ministry on February 12, trimmed the budget size during the mid-term review by 13.59 percent after realizing that raising the required resources from all sources, particularly revenue and foreign aid, is unachievable. The revised budgetary allocation now amounts to Rs 1,549.99 billion from Rs 1,793.83 billion earlier. The Finance Ministry will prepare the next fiscal year's budget based on the NPC ceiling. According to NPC Member Ram Prasad Phuyal, the ceiling has been lowered for the next fiscal in view of weak revenue mobilization and the decline in foreign assistance. "The budget ceiling for the next fiscal year has been fixed after analyzing various factors such as contraction in revenue mobilization, decline in foreign loans and grants, and additional pressure on payment of the foreign debt due to fluctuation in foreign exchange," said Phuyal. NPC estimates that the government revenue collection will total Rs 1,403 billion for the next fiscal year. The body has set foreign assistance targets (grants and loans) at Rs 201 billion and internal loans at Rs 230 billion for FY 2023/24. Based on the ceiling, ministries will have to propose programs and projects for the next fiscal year, following which discussions will be held to finalize them. Although NPC sets the ceiling of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the Finance Ministry generally does not follow the recommendations of the NPC. The National Resources Estimation Committee headed by the NPC Vice Chairman Min Bahadur Shrestha has fixed the ceiling of the federal budget for the next three fiscal years. The NPC has set the budget ceiling of Rs 1,880 billion and Rs 2,088 billion for FY 2024/25 and FY 2025/26 respectively. Similarly, the revenue target for 2024/25 and FY 2025/26 has been set at Rs 1,606 billion and Rs 1,831 billion respectively. NPC has estimated that the country's economy will grow by 4.5 percent in the current fiscal year, 6 percent in FY 2023/24, 7.5 percent in 2024/24 and eight percent in 2025/26.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party has decided to continue its support to the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government. After the Central Committee held on Monday, party Deputy General Secretary Kabindra Burlakoti said that the party will not withdraw the support extended to the Dahal-led government immediately. The party, however, has already pulled out of the government. Burlakoti said that the party will continue its support to the government until the next development in Nepali politics. He said that the party has not made any decision on the presidential election yet. Saying that the meeting has decided to take part in the by-election in Chitwan-2, Burlakoti said that the party will be registered with the Election Commission soon.  

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has extended the deadline for submitting bids for developing solar plants and supplying electricity till March 13 amid solar manufacturers showing unwillingness to participate in bids complaining about the price cap on solar power. Issuing a tender notice on November 28, the state-owned power utility had invited bids from the solar manufacturers setting the deadline for February 26. In an addendum notice, the NEA extended the deadline till March 13 while also notifying the bids will be opened at 2 pm on the same day. The NEA plans to buy a maximum of 100 MW of power from such solar plants proposed to be developed by the private sector at 16 locations across the country. This is for the first time that the state-owned power utility sought to buy solar power through bids. It is the biggest move by the NEA to buy grid-connected solar power with just 44MW of solar power being connected to the national grid till the last fiscal year 2021/22. In January last year, NEA decided to purchase solar energy only through a competitive bidding process, ending the fixed rate regime of the previous three years. NEA officials say the move is also aimed at bringing down the prices of solar power amid declining prices of solar power over the last decade. In March last year, the state-owned power utility decided to cap the maximum rate to be offered to solar power generators at Rs5.94 per unit. Earlier, NEA used to sign power purchase agreements with solar power developers at a fixed rate of Rs 7.30 per unit. Solar power manufacturers have however long been complaining that the price cap imposed by the NEA was impractical and the solar projects could not be developed within the price limit. “NEA only saw prices drastically coming down in neighboring India,” said Ram Bahadur Bhandari, Managing Director of Suryodaya Urja, a company involved in larger solar plants in Nepal. “But it failed to see the facilities being provided by the Indian government such along the scale of solar plants in India.” According to him, solar developers in India develop high-capacity solar plants which give economies of scale helping to reduce per-unit cost. “The Indian government has also been generous to provide cheap or free lands to develop the solar plants and offer tax concessions.” As per the tender notice, bidder(s) can propose a maximum capacity set for specific locations ranging from 10MW to 30MW based on the location. They however cannot propose to deliver less than 1MW at the delivery point. The bidder can choose any solar photovoltaic power generation technology. As per the notice, the developer will also be responsible for evacuating power from the plant to the nearby NEA substation. Nepal has a long way to go to realize its potential in solar energy. According to the Nepal Energy Sector Synopsis Report-2022, the country has the potential to generate around 2,100MW of solar electricity. Nepal also aims to generate a total of 15,000 MW of electricity by 2030 of which 5-10 percent will be generated from mini and micro-hydropower, solar, wind, and bio-energy projects. “The policy of NEA has not been friendly to promote solar energy,” said Bhandari. “So, we have abandoned our plan to develop a solar plant in Bardiya despite buying lands for the same because of the price cap imposed by the NEA.”