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A man died in a auto tempo accident at Zero Point in Dhankuta on Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as tempo driver Lal Bahadur Darlami (60) of Haatikharka, Chatharjorpari-1.

The vehicle (Me 1 Ha 4474) was heading towards Zero Point from bazaar area when the incident occurred at around 8:30 pm yesterday.

Critically injured in the incident, Parlami was rushed to the District Hospital Dhankuta but doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

Police said that they are looking into the case.

People from the Tamang Community are celebrating Sonal Lhosar with much fervour by extending wishes to each other and feasting on traditional cuisines on Wednesday.

On the occasion of the community's New Year festival, President Bidya Devi Bhandari  extended greetings to the Tamang Community.

The day is celebrated on the first day of the new moon during the Nepali month of Magh. In her message, the President wished the people from the Tamang community peace, happiness, prosperity, good health, fraternity and progress.

She believed that the Sonam Lhosar will strengthen the national unity.

Similarly, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba urged all the people to celebrate the festival by following the health safety protocols.

Tamangs divide their years into 12 cycles, each one for a year, which is given a special name, represented by one of the 12 animals for each year.

The government has declared a public holiday today to celebrate the festival.

The Tamang Community is the fifth largest community in term of population in Nepal, comprising 5.64 percent of the total population, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Kathmandu- India-Nepal Centre (INC)  in association with the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and Nepal SBI Bank Ltd (NSBL), PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) hosted the India-Nepal Startup Summit 2022. The key purpose of the Summit was to bring the important stakeholders of bilateral economic cooperation on a common idea platform from both India and Nepal to discuss some of the most crucial aspects concerning investment and partnership to support the thriving Startup Ecosystem in both India and Nepal.

The session was attended by the key policymakers from both the government and industry to ideate the way forward for ever closer cooperation between India and Nepal with a focus on fostering the startup ecosystem in both countries.

K V Rajan, Chair, India-Nepal Centre, PHDCCI & India’s Former Ambassador to Nepal mentioned that we must constantly revisit the critically important aspects like simplification, handholding and funding aspects of startups.

Ram Prasad Subedi, Chargé D'Affaires, Embassy of Nepal in India reflected on the broad trends concerning the bilateral economic cooperation between India and Nepal and identified startup cooperation as a very important factor of economic development.

 Dipak Kumar De, MD & CEO, Nepal SBI Bank Ltd (NSBL) said that India continues to be the most formidable economic partner due to deepen bilateral ties. Foreign investments and approval are the real issues. However, Indian investment in Nepal has been significantly impressive. NSBL is the partner in Nepal’s progress and it looks forward to supporting the startups, he said.  The Summit was curated and coordinated by  Atul K Thakur, Nodal Coordinator, India-Nepal Centre, PHDCCI.

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has hiked the prices of petroleum products yet again on Tuesday. 

Earlier, the state-owned monopoly had increased the prices of petroleum products on January 19.

The NOC has decided to increase Rs 3 per litre in petrol, diesel and kerosene.

According to the new revised rate, the petrol will cost Rs 142 per litre and diesel and kerosene will cost Rs 125 per litre.

The NOC has also decided to hike the price of aviation fuel for domestic airlines by Rs 10. Now, the aviation fuel for domestic airlines will cost Rs 116 per litre. 

Similarly, the NOC has decided increase the aviation fuel for international carriers by $100 per kilo liter.

Now, aviation fuel for foreign companies will $1095 per kilo litre.

Rumor has it that Salman Khan is planning to visit Nepal. Khan, who last traveled to Nepal in 1992, is said to have been invited by Nirmal Purja, the renowned Nepali mountaineer and a member of the British Army. The Bollywood superstar is positive about a possible visit, according to reports.

Posting a picture with Khan on his social media, Purja writes, "What a pleasure meeting Salman Bhai! Humble and Legendary! See you soon in my country brother!”

Nepal logged 5, 583 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths on Tuesday. 

With this, the country's active caseload mounted to 1,088,251. Similarly, the death toll has climbed to 11,752. 

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 10,776 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 3,657 returned positive. Likewise, 6,898 people underwent antigen tests, of which 1,926 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 8,267 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 74,532 active cases in the country. 

The Ministry said that 871,165 infected people have recovered from the disease so far.

The Ministry said that 73,178 people are staying in home isolation while 1, 475 are in institutionalized isolation.

Meanwhile, the Kathmandu Valley reported 1, 907 new cases today.

According to the Ministry, 1,404 cases are reported in Kathmandu, 304 in Lalitpur and 195 in Bhaktapur.

The Election Commission has asked Rs 12 billion with the government to hold the local level elections. 

During a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday, the Election Commission office bearers said that it would cost around Rs 12 billion if the elections are held in 753 local units in one phase. 

The Election Commission said that the budget will be spent on the salaries, allowances and daily allowances among others of the people deployed in the elections.  

The poll body said that mthan Rs 8 billion was spent in the elections held in 2017.

India's government will step up spending to 39.45 trillion rupees ($529.7 billion) in the coming fiscal year to build public infrastructure and drive economic growth, it said on Tuesday, but it involves a wider fiscal deficit than targeted and record borrowing, Reuters reported.

Asia's third-largest economy has been on the mend after the government lifted mobility measures in June to curb the spread of coronavirus, after contracting 6.6% in the previous fiscal year.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the annual budget to parliament, said total government spending in the 2022/23 fiscal year beginning in April will be 4.6% more than the current year.

Trillions of rupees will be allocated to expressways, affordable housing and solar manufacturing to put growth on a firmer footing, she said.

Growth is estimated to be 9.2% for 2021/2022, coming off the low base and slowing to 8 to 8.5% in the coming fiscal year, still the fastest among the world's major economies.

The recovery from the pandemic has been swift but incomplete, officials say. Private consumption has been hampered by a lack of jobs, depleted household balance sheets and wider income inequalities.

Sitharaman said public investment must continue to take the lead and pump prime private investment and demand.

"The economy has shown strong resilience to come out of the effects of the pandemic with high growth. However, we need to sustain that level to make up for the setback of 2020/21," she said.

She announced spending of 200 billion rupees ($2.68 billion) for a highway expansion programme and said 400 new trains would be manufactured over the next three years.

The fiscal deficit for the current year would be 6.9% of GDP, slightly more than the 6.8% targeted earlier, Sitharaman said, drawing concern in the bond market.

For the next fiscal year, India is targeting a deficit of 6.4% of GDP, hoping to build on higher tax revenues and privatisation of state firms including a share sale of giant insurer Life Insurance Corporation.

“It’s a big bang budget, but depends on where one stands on the bang perimeter. The massive ramp-up of capital spending and focus on infrastructure cements the budget’s credentials as a firmly growth-oriented one," said Aurodeep Nandi, India Economist and Vice President at Nomura.

The 10-year benchmark bond yield surged 22 basis points to 6.87% from its pre-budget level, hitting levels last seen in early July 2019, while the rupee weakened to 74.8650 per dollar from 74.55.

Gross borrowing for 2022/23 was raised 40% to 14.95 trillion rupees. Gross borrowing by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has more than doubled during the pandemic as New Delhi went on a spending spree to cushion the economy and provide relief to poor.

"The sharp rise in bond yields after the budget announcement is testament to the surprise for bond markets, which now will need to absorb this large borrowing," said Nandi.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 stock index (.NSEI) gave up some early gains to trade 0.76% higher at 17,472.35 by 0809 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) was up 0.88% at 58,522.42.

LESS AMBITIOUS ON PRIVATISATION

The government sharply reduced its plans about privatisation of state-run companies after political criticism and market turmoil, expecting to raise 650 billion rupees from the privatisation programme next fiscal year, lower than the revised 780 billion target for the current fiscal year.

Initially, it had announced it would raise 1.75 trillion rupees this fiscal year. After years of efforts the government succeeded in selling loss-making carrier Air India last month, but failed to move forward on other companies and banks identified for sale.

It is now banking on the IPO of giant insurer Life Insurance Corporation, expected in the next few weeks, to bring revenues and reinvigorate the privatisation programme.

CRYPTOCURRENCY

Sitharaman also said the central bank would introduce a digital currency in the next fiscal year using blockchain and other supporting technology.

"Introduction of a central bank digital currency will give a big boost to the digital economy. A digital currency will also lead to a more efficient and cheaper currency management system," Sitharaman said.

India's central bank has voiced "serious concerns" around private cryptocurrencies on the grounds that these may cause financial instability.