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Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has requested additional air entry routes to Nepal through Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj, and Janakpur.

Deuba made such a request in the bilateral talks with his Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I also requested for the concurrence of near border flight operations to smoothly operationalize the Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa,” Deuba told the media after meeting with Modi. 

For a long time, Nepal is requesting air routes but India has not agreed on it. 

Nepal and India have jointly issued a vision statement to expedite the cooperation in the power sector. After the talks between Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two leaders agreed on a joint statement.

Prime Minister Deuba appreciated India's recent cross-border electricity trade regulations that have enabled key partners like Nepal to access India's market and trade power with India.

 He also acknowledged with appreciation India's contribution to developing Nepal's power sector, through capacity building and direct support to infrastructure projects related to generation and transmission.

Here is a key highlight of the agreement: 

• That there are unprecedented opportunities for expanding and further strengthening mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in the power sector including (a) joint development of power generation projects in Nepal, (b) development of cross-border transmission infrastructure, (c) bi-directional power trade with appropriate access to electricity markets in both countries based on mutual benefits, market demand and applicable domestic regulations of each country, (d) coordinated operation of the national grids and (e) institutional cooperation in sharing latest operational information, technology and know-how.
• To expand such cooperation to include their partner countries under the BBIN framework subject to mutually agreed terms and conditions between all involved parties.
• Based on their respective national policies and climate-change commitments, to make renewable energy production, hydropower in particular, a cornerstone of their energy partnership.
• That Indian investment into Nepal's renewable power sector, in particular the Hydropower sector, has the potential to benefit both the countries by strengthening their economies generating employment, enhancing export earnings and contributing to further development of industrial and financial capacities, and mutually agreed to share of other benefits.
• Nepal invited Indian companies to invest in the development, construction, and operation of viable renewable power projects, including in the Hydropower sector in Nepal, including storage-type projects, through mutually beneficial partnerships.
• Recalling discussions during earlier high-level visits on the Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project, including during the State Visit of the Prime Minister of Nepal to India in August 2017, and recognizing the immense benefits for the people of both countries from this project, the two Prime ministers directed their concerned officials to expedite the bilateral discussions towards early finalization of the project’s DPR.
• Both Prime Ministers agreed to prioritize expeditious movement on projects and initiatives on the basis of this joint vision. They agreed to continue supporting each other's national growth and prosperity guided by mutual respect and equality.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to visit Nepal at his convenient time.

In the meeting with Modi, Deuba extended the invitation. “I have invited Prime Minister Modi-Ji for a visit to Nepal. We eagerly look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modiji to Nepal,” Deuba said while addressing the press after bilateral talks. In his first five-year tenure, Modi had visited India four times. 

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has taken up a border dispute with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in a meeting held on Saturday.

Deuba raised the issue in the bilateral talks with Modi. “We discussed the boundary issue and I urged Modiji to resolve it through the establishment of a bilateral mechanism,” Deuba said.after the meeting with Modi.

In response, Modi urged Deuba not to politicize the border disputes that exist between the two countries.

Addressing a press meeting after the bilateral talks, Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla said the two sides had a brief discussion on the boundary issue. There are several mechanisms that involve both countries. We need to have dialogues in a responsible manner, he said. The Indian Foreign Secretary said that given close and friendly relations, India does not wish to politicize the issue.

Nepal reported 11 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 083 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 10 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 277 people underwent antigen tests, of which one was tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 90 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 942 active cases in the country.

Nepal and India signed four agreements during Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's three-day visit to India on Saturday.

The two countries signed agreements on International Solar Alliance, technical assistance related to railways, supply of petroleum products and technical expertise between Nepal Oil Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation.

Earlier, Prime Minister Deuba and his Indian counterpart held a one-on-one meeting at Hyderabad House.

The agreements were signed after the meeting between the delegation of two countries.

As per the technical assistance agreement related to railway, India will help in producing railway manpower.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi inaugurated the Janakpur-Jayanagar rail service on Saturday.

The prime minister of the two countries jointly inaugurated the rail service by showing a green flag during a program organized at Hyderabad House, New Delhi this afternoon.

With the inauguration, the train will carry passengers regularly from Jayanagar to Kurtha from Sunday.

The train, which will run up to 35 km from Jayanagar of India to Kurtha of Janakpurdham, will be operated twice a day.

Political parties are gearing up for the May 13 local elections and busy selecting candidates for 753 local units across the country. Meanwhile, the Election Commission is also preparing. As the election date gets close, the past functioning of the local bodies is being evaluated and campaign spending is again under discussion. Kamal Dev Bhattarai talked to Ayodhi Prasad Yadav, the former chief election commissioner who successfully conducted the all three ties of elections in 2017. 

What is your impression of the upcoming local elections?

This is a periodic election being held in line with the constitutional provisions. Even though there are contradictory provisions in the constitution and electoral laws, the Election Commission in the end decided to hold the polls before the expiry of the local governments’ term.

Holding elections in a timely manner would help institutionalize the new federal structure. People’s trust in federalism and republicanism will increase. The upcoming elections will further strengthen this political system. 

How do you evaluate the first five years of local governments?

I recently visited some areas of Madhes and talked to common people. Frankly, they were not pleased with the performance of local representatives. Instead of focusing on public services, local representatives seem more interested in securing facilities and luxury for themselves.

In terms of resources, the local units are better equipped now than in the past. But this isn’t reflected in service delivery. There are many anomalies and problems in our society. The local governments haven’t been able to address them in a timely manner.

Most of them haven’t been able to meet the expectations of their local electorates. Some local bodies, however, were unable to work for a full five-year term, as the elections were held in multiple phases. 

How can we improve the performance of local bodies? 

Local governments have been heavily politicized, which has affected their work. To address this problem, we have to elect non-political representatives. Doing so will encourage independent candidates to enter politics. We can adopt a full proportional representation (PR) system in local governments. In many countries, local bodies have non-political representatives.

Political representation in local governments has led to poor public services and added economic burden. If a full PR system is adopted, we can address such problems. The first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system at the local level is creating a lot of problems. 

What is the possibility of vote-rigging in local elections?

During the 2017 elections held under my leadership there were no reports of vote-rigging or fraud. There were some obstructions created by the Netra Bikram Chand-led group, and some political parties were also in protest. But we nonetheless managed to hold the elections in a fair manner.

But now, there is cut-throat competition. Candidate-selection process has become tough. This is because elected representatives get good facilities. More youths are active in politics as they want to get some positions in local bodies. So there is a high possibility of violence at some polling centers. Candidates have already started to influence voters and polling stations. 

Elections have become expensive. How do we minimize electoral costs?

Candidates are spending a lot of money on campaigns. To address this issue, we have to remove the current FPTP system. If we adopt a PR system, it will help curtail election costs. The Election Commission has a ceiling for campaign expenditure. This means the state itself is encouraging parties and their candidates to spend money on election campaigns. Better remove the spending ceiling, which is unnecessary for a campaign that doesn’t last more than two weeks.

To bring change, we should create public awareness. I just returned from my village. There, the political parties and prospective candidates have already started organizing parties to woo voters. They are also distributing “fuel money” to the youths.

Another way of reducing election expenditure is by removing the provision of salary for local representatives.