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Two persons died when two trucks collided with each other in Jhapa on Friday. The deceased have been identified as truck (Na 3 Kha 8311) driver Madan Chaudhary (45) of Ramdhuni Municipality-7, Sunsari and the assistant driver of the same truck, the District Police Office, Jhapa said. The identity of the assistant driver has not been ascertained yet. The truck (Na 6 Kha 8895) heading towards east from west collided head-on with the truck (Na 3 Kha 8311) at Dharampur in Shivasatachhi Municipality-1 along the East-West Highway this morning. The driver and the assistant driver died on the spot, police said.  

A little over a month since its formation, and the potpourri coalition government of Prime Minister Puspha Kamal Dahal is already hobbling. Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane has resigned over a citizenship controversy, Rastriya Prajatantra Party is talking about Hindu state revival and doing away with federalism, and the coalition linchpin, CPN-UML, is suspicious that Dahal might not support its presidential candidate. Truth be told, there was little expectation from this incongruous coalition. To win public confidence, Dahal and his ministers tried to appear proactive and on the ball soon after taking charge of their respective ministries. The prime minister famously chided the government secretaries for sluggish service delivery and issued a slew of instructions to improve the bureaucracy. Now, here we are. Service delivery in government offices is still the same, mind-numbingly slow, full of red-tape and rigmarole. Meanwhile, the prime minister and his Cabinet members are preoccupied with intra-party and inter-party issues—good governance and progress be damned. Mistrust is growing between Prime Minister Dahal and UML leader KP Sharma Oli over the presidential candidate. Oli wants a UML pick for the job, but Dahal appears disinclined to grant the former’s wish. Then there is a dispute with the RSP, which is insisting that the party has the right to retain the Home Ministry portfolio even after Lamichhane’s departure. This government has lost its bearings, and there are doubts about its longevity. There are also murmurs about the formation of a new coalition between Dahal’s CPN (Maoist Center) and the main opposition, the Nepali Congress. Conflicting messages from the Maoist party regarding the continuation of the current coalition clearly show that Prime Minister Dahal and his party are mired in uncertainty. The prime minister appears uncomfortable about working with Oli in the long run. When the government’s lifespan is in question, no wonder the bureaucracy will brush off its directives. A vacillating prime minister is not helping anyone, certainly not the country and its people. It’s about time Prime Minister Dahal made his position clear about the type of coalition he wants to lead well before the public gives up on him.  

With the domestic stock market going through a bearish run over the last one year, there has been a big decline in the income of commercial banks from share trading. Banks' income from share trading has decreased by 31.60 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year. As per the unaudited financial reports of 22 commercial banks for the second quarter, they have earned Rs 2.99 billion in income from share trading till mid-January of FY 2022/23, which is Rs 1.91 billion less than in the same period of FY 2021/22. Commercial banks earned Rs 4.37 billion from share trading in the first half of the last fiscal year. Bankers say income from share trading declined as the stock market has been in the bear territory for over the last one year. In the first half of FY 2021/22, the stock market had a bullish run with the Nepse Index reaching an all-time high of 3198.19 points. As the market was on an upward trend, banks managed to earn high profits by trading shares. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, Standard Chartered Bank earned the highest income from share trading. The bank has earned Rs 264.1 million from share trading. The Global IME Bank is in second place with Rs 262.2 million. Likewise, Nabil Bank is in third place with Rs 256.5 million. In terms of income from share trading, Nepal Bank is in the last place with Rs 27.4 million. While the average share trading income of banks has decreased in this fiscal, three banks have recorded growth. Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB), Machhapuchhre Bank, and Nepal SBI Bank have recorded growth in their income from share trading. The RBB's share trading income has increased by 464 percent in FY 2022/23. In the first six months of FY 2021/22, the RBB had only Rs 32 million from share trading. The bank has earned Rs 198.7 million in this fiscal year. Likewise, the income of Machhapuchhre Bank from share trading has increased by 20 percent this year. The bank earned Rs 144.41 million in the first half of the last fiscal which increased to Rs 172.9 million in this fiscal. Nepal SBI Bank's income has also increased by 42 percent. The bank, which earned Rs 115.8 million from share trading in the first half of the last fiscal, earned Rs 164.2 million in this fiscal.  

The Nagarik Unmukti Party has served a 24-hour ultimatum to the government to release its lawmaker Arun Chaudhary. Issuing a statement on Thursday, party spokesperson Damodar Pandit condemned the arrest. Reminding that the Tharuhat protesters and the government had signed an agreement on August 19, 2009 to scrap all kinds of cases, the Nagarik Unmukti Party said that Chaudhary has been contesting all the elections since then. “Chaudhary was not on the run. He has contested local, provincial and federal elections four times since 2009. Why did this issue raised at this moment when he was elected as a federal lawmaker from the Nagarik Unmukti Party?” Pandit questioned. Saying that the arrest of Chaudhary is a discrimination against the Tharu Community, the party has demanded his release within 24 hours. Chaudhary was arrested from Tikapur, Kailali on Thursday. He was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from Kailali-2. Chaudhary, who was on the fugitive list of the police, was arrested this afternoon.      

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Bimala Rai Paudyal left Kathmandu for Colombo, Sri Lanka today to attend the 75th Independence Day celebrations of Sri Lanka. The Minister will be participating in the 75th Independence Day functions as an honored guest in Colombo from February 3-4. She will be received by a Sri Lankan lawmaker at Bandaranaike International Airport (Colombo Airport). In Colombo, the Foreign Minister is scheduled to meet her counterpart M.U.M. Ali Sabry and attend the cultural festival ‘LankaraLanka’ to be organized by the Presidential Secretariat in Independence Square on February 3. The Foreign Minister will attend the 75th Independence Day Celebration functions to be organized at Galle Face Green. She will pay courtesy calls on President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena of Sri Lanka, and attend the reception hosted by the President at the President’s House February 4, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Foreign Minister is scheduled to return to Kathmandu on February 5.

Hard hit by slow revenue collection and rising expenditure, the government has resorted to cost-cutting measures to maintain fiscal prudence. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) decided to cut and freeze the funds allocated under various headings under the recurrent expenditure. As per Tuesday's decision, the MoF has frozen the remaining funds for the current fiscal year under 14 budgetary headings. The revenue administration has been struggling to meet the revenue target from the first months of the current fiscal year. The government failed to meet the revenue target in the first half of FY 2022/23. The overall revenue collection has decreased significantly in this fiscal compared to the last fiscal year which the government has seen as a wake-up call to initiate austerity measures. According to the Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the government's overall revenue collection (tax and non-tax) stood at Rs 475.609 billion in the first six and half months of FY 2022/23 compared to Rs 568.319 billion in the corresponding period of FY 2021/22. In the review period, the tax revenue collection totaled Rs 427.084 billion, a sharp drop from Rs 518.883 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. Given the mismatch between revenue collection and expenditure, the Finance Ministry says it has become necessary to re-prioritize spending and manage resources for national pride and transformative projects and projects and programs that contribute significantly to job creation and economic growth. The ministry has decided to slash 20 percent of budget spending incurred in various headings of the approved budget of all ministries/agencies of the federal government, including fuel, maintenance, stationery and office assistance, newspapers, printing and publication of information, service, and consultancy. Likewise, the budget approved for information system and software operation, travel and other allowances, program cost, monitoring and evaluation cost, staff training, workshop and seminar, sundry expenses, machinery and equipment, furniture and fixtures and structural improvement of the buildings would also be reduced by 20 percent. In the case of projects and programs that are included in the approved budget and programs for the current financial year, but the procurement process has not yet started (except for those projects and programs that have been given prior approval), the procurement process will be allowed only after obtaining approval/consent of the finance ministry. The ministry has also decided not to undertake any organization and management survey to create additional vacancies. All kinds of conferences, seminars, and workshops to be carried out from the government expenses have been postponed. It has also been decided that new furniture and vehicles will not be procured for the time being.  In the case of foreign trips at programs requiring compulsory participation of government representatives on public money, the ministries concerned should take approval from the finance ministry. Meanwhile, the ministry has decided to stop the execution of budgetary projects and programs which are yet to be started. With the implementation of these cost-cutting measures, the ministry expects a total of Rs 25 billion would be saved.

MentorLab, an emerging startup based in Kathmandu have entered into a strategic partnership with LeadSquared to offer comprehensive SaaS solutions to businesses looking to streamline their sales operations and improve efficiency. The partnership combines MentorLab’s expertise in sales and marketing for businesses in Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, with LeadSquared’s experience in lead and sales management, creating a powerful solution that addresses the sales automation needs of varied industries across the globe. The SaaS platform features lead capture, lead management, marketing automation, and sales management. It will be available to customers on a subscription-based model. LeadSquared’s cloud-based sales tech stack also includes solutions like customer portals, digital onboarding, and field force automation. The platform currently has 2000+ customers worldwide. LeadSquared aims to increase the productivity of sales reps by reducing the total time taken on manual sales and operational tasks. MentorLab is an emerging startup based in Kathmandu specializing in the sales and marketing of EdTech and innovative ICT solutions. Both companies are committed to providing outstanding customer service and support to ensure smooth implementation and successful adoption of the solution. “We are thrilled to be partnering with LeadSquared to offer this cutting-edge solution to our customers,” said MentorLab Chairman Bhanu Dabadi. “Their expertise in sales management complements our service, and we are confident that this partnership will result in a truly valuable product for businesses in the region.” “We are excited to be working with MentorLab to bring this comprehensive SaaS solution to this part of the market,” shared LeadSquared’s Co-founder & COO Prashant Singh. “Their reputation for quality and customer service is second to none, and we are confident that this partnership will be a success for both our companies and the customers we serve.”

The Indian government has increased its annual grant to Nepal for the fiscal year 2023/24 by 29.41 percent. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the union budget for the fiscal year 2023/24 in the Indian parliament on Wednesday, in which Rs 8.8 billion (IRs 5.5 billion) has been allocated to Nepal as a grant. India had initially allocated Rs 12 billion (IRs 7.5 billion) to Nepal for FY 2022/23 but it was later reduced to Rs 6.8 billion (IRS 4.25 billion). The grant pledged by the Indian government for Nepal is the second-highest among South Asian countries. Like in past years, Bhutan stood at the top in terms of receiving Indian grants. According to grants and loans to foreign governments under the Finance Ministry expenditure profile for FY 2023/24, Bhutan has been allocated financial assistance of IRs 24 billion. In FY 2021/22, India had announced Rs 15.87 billion (IRs9.92 billion) during the budget presentation but it was later reduced to Rs 10.4 billion (IRs 6.5 billion). In FY 2019/20, Nepal received a Rs 19.16 billion (IRs 11.98 billion) grant from the southern neighbor, which was significantly reduced by 26.54 percent to Rs 14.08 billion (IRs 8.80 billion) in FY 2020/21. Sitharaman presented a USD 550.7 billion spending in the budget for the next fiscal year starting in April to boost India's economic growth. With the election in 2024, The Indian government through a new budget unveiled one of its biggest jumps in capital spending in the past decade. The capital spending increased to about USD 122.3 billion, which would be 3.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), in the next fiscal year. The Indian government has targeted to keep the budget deficit at 5.9 percent of GDP for FY 2023/24 compared to 6.4 percent for the current fiscal year. The economic growth of 6-6.8 percent has been targeted for FY 2023/24. The Indian government has raised the education budget to IRs 1.13 trillion from IRs 999 billion. Similarly, the health budget has been increased to IRs 889.5 billion while the allocation for the rural job guarantee program cut to IRs 600 billion from the existing IRs 894 billion. The defense budget has been increased to IRs 5.94 trillion from IRs 5.85 trillion. The Indian budget has allocated IRs 350 billion for the energy transition.