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The 26th and 27th Annual General Meeting of the Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NICCI) unanimously elected one president and nine executive members for the next two years' tenure.

 The AGM held in Kathmandu on 26th May 2022.  Shreejana Rana representing Hotel Annapurna unanimously elected in the post of the President and Nine Executive Members were also unanimously elected in the post executive committees are Achyut Kharel,  Arun KC, Hem Raj Dhakal,  Harkirat Singh Bedi, Kunal Kayal,  Mahesh Bahadur Basnet, Ramesh Sharma,  Saibal Ghosh, and Sunil KC.

 President of NICCI Shreejana Rana welcomed all the distinguished guests and informed the endeavors that NICCI has been putting in the various forums for the promotion of FDI from India and promotion of Nepal-India Trade, Transit, Tourism, and bilateral cooperation for the overall economic development of the country.

Chief Guest Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Narayan Khadka, inaugurated the AGM by lighting the Panus and expressed his happiness on the effort that has been made by NICCI from its establishment to date Minister Khadka wishes NICCI a great success in the days ahead also.

Minister Khadka also highlighted the Nepal-India bilateral relations and the cooperation extended by the Indian Government to Nepal as important for the economic development of the country. The Visit of the Prime Ministers of both the countries in both countries within the month of the period has been a benchmark as it helped strengthen the bilateral relationship into new height also.

Special Guest Suresh Pravu, Member of Parliament and Former Minister of Railway, Power, Industry, and Commerce, Government of India has also highlighted the importance of bilateral relations and the short term solution to the currently emerged economic crisis in the world. He further highlighted the remittance which is now the major source of foreign currency as it needs to be increased by skilling those out going human resources so that the more foreign currency could be brought in form of remittance which help manage the current economic crisis in short term.

Former Ambassador of India to Nepal Ranjit Rae also expressed his happiness on the endeavors made by NICCI during his tenure as an ambassador in Nepal and wish to see continuing those efforts in the coming day as well. Mr. Rae highlighted the area where Nepal need to focus, like, Hydropower, Tourism, Agriculture, Education, Healthcare, IT sector and few more others as they can change the scenario of economic development.  Prasanna Srivastava, Consular of Embassy of India, Shekhar Golchha, President of FNCCI, Vishnu Agrawal, President of CNI, and Rajendra Malla, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce have also expressed their views and wished NICCI for future collaboration and success.

The Nepali film ‘Lori’ (Melancholy of My Mother’s Lullabies) has won the Special Mention Award in the short film category at the 75th Cannes Film Festival.

Directed by Abinash Bikram Shah, the movie has become the first Nepali film to be officially screened at Cannes Film Festival and won the award.

Shah himself has written script and dialogues while Ujjwal Kumar Bastakoti is the cinematographer.

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma presented a budget of Rs 1, 793. 83 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23 on Sunday.

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma presented the budget at the Federal Parliament today.

Out of the total budget, the government has allocated Rs 753 billion or 42 percent for recurrent expenditure, Rs 380. 38 billion or 21. 2 percent for capital expenditure and Rs 230. 22 billion or 112.8 percent financial provision.

Similarly, the government has allocated Rs 429. 83 or 24 percent for grants to sub-national governments.

The government will take Rs 1, 240. 11 or 69.1 percent from revenue and Rs 55. 46 billion or 3.1 percent from foreign grants to bear the source of estimated expenses.

Likewise, the government will take a total loan of Rs 498. 46 billion—Rs 242. 26 billion or 13.5 percent from foreign loans and Rs 256 billion or 14.3 percent from domestic loans.

The government has allocated Rs 1.40 billion for transitional justice.

Presenting the budget for the fiscal year, 2022/ 23 at the federal parliament, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma said that the government has allocated Rs 1.40 billion for transitional justice.

Media Action Nepal (MAN), a member of the Media Freedom Coalition- Consultative Network (MFC-CN), has been selected as the Council member of the South and Southeast Asian University Network Sub-committee of Journalism and Communication.

Recognizing MAN's active and influential role in promoting ethical, independent and credible journalism in Nepal and South Asia, the Council, the highest decision-making body of the sub-committee, on May 27 has decided to include MAN as one of the Council members.

The sub-committee established by the School of Journalism and Communication of Yunnan University, China and comprised of university media departments and research based media organizations of South and South-East Asia regions, aims to promote cooperation among members in the field of journalism and communication.

The sub-committee is expected to enhance the development of journalism and communication in universities in China, South Asia and Southeast Asia, and build an international platform for disciplinary cooperation and common development.

Thanking the Sub-committee for selecting MAN as the Council member, Laxman Datt Pant, MAN Chairperson said, "We look forward to contributing with our insights and expertise to strengthen cooperation among members in the journalism and communication disciplines and to promote joint projects among members including training, exchanges and research."

In addition to encouraging joint application of scientific research projects and building joint laboratories, this network aims to establish an information and resource sharing platform between members and open up cooperation channels.

The government is to provide an old-age allowance under the Social Security Program from 68 years of age from the new fiscal year.

Presenting the budget at the federal parliament on Sunday, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma said that the old-age allowance will be provided from 68 years of age from the next fiscal year.

Earlier, the government had been providing the allowance from 70 years of age.

The elderly citizens have been receiving Rs 4, 000 per month under the Social Security Program.

The government is going to review the diplomatic mission.

Finance Minister Janardan Sharma said that the budget has been allocated to review the diplomatic mission on the basis of necessity.

In the budget, the government said that virtual embassy services will be provided in the places where there is no embassy.

Similarly, the government has planned to make the electronic passport service easier and to make the consular more effective.

The government is going to provide national identity cards to all the citizens within two years.

Presenting the budget at the Parliament on Sunday, Finance Minister Janardan Sharma said that the government will provide national identity cards to three million more people in the fiscal year.