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President Ram Chandra Paudel has summoned the budget session of the federal Parliament.

A Cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar on Tuesday had decided to recommend to the President to summon the session.

The President called the session for April 25 on the recommendation of the government as per Article 93 (1) of the Constitution of Nepal, reads a statement issued by the President’s Office spokesperson Shailaja Regmi Bhattarai.

The Cabinet meeting had also decided to summon the Parliament session to pass the School Education Act which is sub judice in the Parliament.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has signed a legally binding pact to increase global preparedness for future pandemics, following more than three years of negotiations sparked by the COVID-19 catastrophe, Reuters reported.

The pact outlines measures to prevent future outbreaks, including the creation of a global pathogen access and benefit-sharing system, improved research capabilities across regions and the development of a global supply chain and logistics network. It also advocates for stronger, more resilient healthcare systems around the world.

“This marks a major step forward in efforts to make the world safer from pandemics,” the WHO said in a statement.

The agreement is widely seen as a victory for the global health agency, at a time when multilateral organizations like the WHO have been battered by sharp cuts in U.S. foreign funding, according to Reuters.

The United States withdrew from the talks earlier this year after President Donald Trump exited the WHO through an executive order in February.

The cooperative movement in the country has entered its 68th year. Looking at this long period of time, the challenges created by the anomalies seen in some of the financial cooperative institutions that conduct savings and credit transactions have also affected the financial cooperative institutions that are operating legally based on the community. When the legal provisions with autonomy were made in 1991 for the operation of cooperative institutions, it was found that there was a quantitative increase rather than a qualitative increase in the number of cooperatives that conduct financial transactions. In this, cooperative institutions were operated focusing on cities rather than rural communities.

In accordance with the then legal system, it was also seen that the Department of Cooperatives was somewhat eager to make the regulation more effective by issuing some instructions and standards from time to time. Even at the beginning of the sixth decade, there were examples of problems arising in city-centered cooperative institutions and some institutions migrating.

For the development of cooperatives as well as the effectiveness of the operation of cooperatives, the Federal Law of Cooperatives 2017 and Regulations 2018 were issued based on the federal structure based on the Constitution of Nepal 2015. This legal provision has made many provisions for the bases of operation and has special provisions for cooperatives engaged in savings and credit transactions, and it is also found that the provisions for penalties, fines, and punishments have been made stricter than the previous legal provisions. With the implementation of federalism in the country, the provinces and local levels have also been regulating cooperatives by making their own legal provisions. There is also a sense of competition in the regulation, supervision, and monitoring of cooperatives.

Despite the strictness of the penalties, fines, and punishments delegated to the current legal system and the provision of fines in the integrated directives issued by the federal department, the increasing discrepancies in cooperative organizations has become a subject of in-depth study. Not only this, but the Anti-Money Laundering Act is also a matter of direct concern to financial cooperatives. Despite so many legal structures and regulatory managements, where there has been a mistake in operating organizations in the spirit of cooperation and the collapse of cooperative organizations, it is necessary to take it as a serious matter.

Thus, the reason why the arrangements for the operation of cooperatives have not been effective so far is that the state has amended the current law and made provisions for the regulation and management of cooperative institutions engaged in savings and loan transactions, and the authority has already been established. In particular, the state seems to have failed to make provisions for the establishment of a credit information center, a debt recovery tribunal, a savings and loan protection fund, etc. For the regulation of cooperative institutions, provisions have been made in different sections and act which have specifically made provisions such as what can be done by the registrar or an officer authorized by the registrar and what can be done by a joint team of the ministry, Nepal Rastra Bank, provincial government, and local government.

Section 151 of the Cooperative Act provides for the formulation of standards, guidelines, or procedures that can be implemented and separate standards can be made in the case of institutions engaged in savings and loan transactions. The Cooperative Act, 2017 was amended in 2023 by adding (1a) to Section 151, allowing the Nepal Rastra Bank to formulate and implement standards for cooperatives that primarily engage in savings and credit transactions. The Cooperative Act, 2017 was amended through an ordinance in 2024, and the National Cooperative Regulatory Authority was formed, and provisions were made in Section 103 (h) for regulation, supervision, monitoring, regulatory standards, etc.

The effectiveness of the regulatory system has laid the foundations for future improvements. However, the current regulatory system and the revised legal system do not address the priority of resolving the problems of cooperative organizations and their affiliated members that have been in trouble in the past. Among the problem areas, there is a first need to make special arrangements to force members to repay the loans taken from the organization. It is very important to address and resolve the problems of cooperative organizations that have collapsed or were formed without legal investment.

Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak has directed the police administration to conduct an investigation to find the facts and truth in connection with the death of 24-year-old Anandi Devi Sadaya of Jagatpur, Nawarajpur Rural Municipality-3 in Siraha district.

Sadaya, who was sexually assaulted some four months ago, was found dead at her home on Tuesday.

Home Minister Lekhak expressed serious concern over the incident and called Inspector General of Police Deepak Thapa, directing him to investigate the facts regarding the incident, according to the Home Ministry Secretariat.

Sadaya was sexually assaulted by Sanjeev Kumar Yadav (22) and Shyam Sundar Yadav (32) of Bariyarpatti Rural Municipality-1 in Siraha on December 24, 2024, when she had gone there to meet her older sister, according to District Police Office Siraha Chief and Superintendent of Police Anantaram Sharma.

According to him, a case has been registered against them on the charge of attempted extortion, but they have not been arrested. He said the District Police Office has been carrying out a more thorough investigation into this case since the beginning.

"A case was registered against them on March 9. The perpetrators are absconding right after the incident. Although a search for them is challenging since the perpetrators are hiding in India, the police administration is constantly carrying out its investigation," he said.

Superintendent of Police Sharma said that he reached the incident site today and met with the victim's family.

"The deceased, Anandi Devi, has a two-year-old daughter. Anandi Devi had been living with her parents for a year. Anandi Devi was found hanging yesterday when there was no one at her parents' house," he said.

The body of the deceased has been kept at the Provincial Hospital in Lahan for post-mortem, police said.

A detailed investigation into the incident is underway, according to the District Police Office.

Madhes Province Chief Minister Satish Kumar Singh has called for maintaining social harmony and mitigating unrest and violence that broke out between the Hindus and Muslim communities during the procession organized on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti.

In a press release issued today, Chief Minister's Press Advisor Anil Kumar Karna said that the concerned administrative and police officials are in constant touch to ease life by holding discussions with the sides concerned.

The Chief Minister has directed the police administration to investigate into and bring to book anyone involved in spreading unrest and violence in the community, as peace and tolerance can be maintained only through respect and harmony among all religious, cultural and ethnic communities of the society," reads the press release.

Meanwhile, Minister for Water Supply Pradeep Yadav has urged the local administration to act in accordance with the law to punish anyone who makes provocative statements and is involved in vandalizing public or private property.

Protests have been staged in various places of Birgunj, which has been in turmoil following a dispute between two communities since Saturday, on Wednesday by burning tyres.

A clash had occurred between the two communities while taking out the procession on the occasion of Hanuman Janma Ustav on Saturday.

The District Administration Office (DAO) had imposed the curfew order with effect from 6:30 pm on Saturday after a clash between two groups took a violent turn in the Birgunj municipal corporation area.

Though the DAO lifted the curfew, a prohibitory order was imposed putting a ban on any kind of gatherings, meetings, processions and demonstrations with effect from April 14 and until further notice.

Chief District Officer of Parsa, Ganesh Aryal had said that those violating the order will be taken into custody and action will be taken according to the law.

But the youths affiliated to Hindu organizations tried to stage a protest in front of the District Police Office, Parsa boycotting the prohibitory order on Tuesday evening.

Police, however, resorted to lathi charge and dispersed the mob.

Three journalists, who were collecting the new, were injured in the incident.

A large number of the security personnel were deployed after the youths affiliated to Hindu organizations started staging protests in various places by burning tyres since this morning.

CDO Aryal has called Nepal Police SP Gautam Mishra and Armed Police Force SP Radhe Shyam Dhimal to discuss the issue.

Nepal received foreign direct investment (FDI) commitments totaling nearly Rs 58bn over the first nine months of fiscal year 2024-25.

According to the Department of Industry (DoI), Nepal received FDI commitments worth Rs 57.97bn for 480 projects during the review period.

Recent reforms in Nepal’s business and investment laws appear to have made a positive impact, with FDI commitments over the past two months—between mid-February and mid-April—alone reaching Rs 31.10bn. Nepal received investment commitments of Rs 17.79bn for 40 projects in Falgun (mid-February to mid-March) and Rs 13.31bn for 53 projects in Chaitra(mid-March to mid-April), shows the monthly report of the DoI.

If these commitments materialize, the 480 projects will generate direct employment for 12,435 people.  Of these projects, 468 are categorized as small industries, eight as medium industries and four as large industries. All 53 investment proposals received in Chaitra were for small industries.

The tourism sector attracted the highest number of investment commitments over the past nine months. According to the Department of Industry, a total of 189 proposals were received in this sector. The ICT sector was next with 185 proposals, followed by services (63), manufacturing (34) and agriculture (7). The DoI received one proposal each in the energy and industrial sectors.

In terms of committed amount, 60 percent of total FDI proposals were in the services sector, which attracted over Rs 34.92bn. Tourism followed with Rs 18.38bn, manufacturing with Rs 2.74bn, ICT with Rs 1.11bn and agriculture with Rs 761m.

Although the commitments look optimistic, actual FDI inflows have historically remained low in Nepal. According to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), only 36 percent of approved FDI commitments from 1995-96 to 2022-23 translate into actual investments.

In 2022-23, the total FDI stock rose by 11.8 percent to Rs 295.5bn, but net FDI inflow stood at just Rs 6bn. In 2023-24, only Rs 8.4bn, or 13.59 percent, of the Rs 61.78bn in committed investment was realized.

Experts say inadequate physical infrastructure—including roads, reliable energy supply, and industrial zones—are a major barrier to attracting FDI in Nepal.

While electricity supply has improved in recent years, industrialists say it remains inconsistent, forcing them to rely on generators. Restrictions on profit repatriation and rigid labor laws have also discouraged investment in the past.

However, government officials claim that recent legal reforms have begun to address these long-standing challenges. 

The Birgunj Customs Office has collected public revenue of Rs 124. 7 billion in nine months of the current fiscal year.

According to the office, Rs 12.15 billion was collected in July (Shrawan), Rs 13.42 billion in August (Bhadra), Rs 13.47 billion in September (Ashoj), Rs 11.10 billion in October (Kartik), Rs 14.40 billion in November (Mangsir), Rs 15.47 billion in December (Poush) and Rs 14.44 billion in January (Magh).

Similarly, Rs 14.63 billion was collected in February (Falgun) and Rs 15.47 billion in March (Chaitra).