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The price of gold has increased by Rs 800 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 144, 900 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 144, 100 per tola on Wednesday.

Similarly, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 144, 200 per tola. It was traded at Rs 143, 400 per tola.

Meanwhile, the price of silver has increased by Rs 15 and is being traded at Rs 1,885 per tola today.

A woman died after a landslide buried a house in Baglung district on Wednesday night.

The deceased has been identified as Khil Kumari Sharma (55) of Titaura, Baglung Municipality-7, according to Meghnath Gaire, Ward Chairman.

Sharma had been living alone. The neighbors informed the people's representatives and police about the disaster this morning.

Landslide obstructs Mid-Hill Highway

Meanwhile, the landslide triggered by incessant rainfall obstructed the Mid-Hill Highway.

The landslide occurred at Bayaldanda of Kathekhola Rural Municipality in the district.

The obstruction has disrupted vehicular movement to and from Purba Rukum, Paschim Rukum and Jajarkot districts, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police in the district, Bijay Yadav.

Similarly, Baglung bazaar has been waterlogged due to heavy rains that occurred since Wednesday evening. 

Inundation in the marketplace has caused a huge loss of property.  

The Prithvi Highway has been obstructed due to a landslide at Mauwakhola of Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality-3 on Thursday.

Nirala Bhandari, police inspector at the Area Police Office, Muglin, informed that an excavator is being used to remove the debris.

However, it would take time because continuous rainfall and mudslide is hampering the work. With the obstruction, the vehicles are stranded on the road.

As the rainy season began during the upgrading of the road, it has caused frequent mudslides, thereby obstructing the traffic on one of the busiest highways in the country.

A total of 55,979 tourists visited the Khumbu region in the last 11 months of the current fiscal year.

The Sagarmatha National Park shared this information.

Information officer at the Park, Manoj Kumar Mandal, said most of the tourists were foreign- 48,402, while the number of domestic tourists was 7,577.

Most of the tourists visited the region in April. April is the tourist season.

Meanwhile, the Park collected Rs 136 million in revenue in the last 11 months. Every Nepali is charged Rs 100, while those from SAARC countries Rs 1,500 each and others Rs 3,000.

The Nagarik Unmukti Party has withdrawn support extended to the government.

A meeting held at the Parliamentary Party Office in Singha Durbar on Wednesday, Parliamentary Party leader Ganga Ram Chaudhary said that the party has withdrawn support to the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led government.

A letter about withdrawing support will be submitted on Thursday.

“We have withdrawn support to the government. The letter will be submitted tomorrow,” he said.

With this, Prime Minister Dahal will not get a vote of confidence from the Nagarik Unmukti Party.

The party withdrew its support after the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML forged an agreement to form a national consensus government.

Resham Chaudhary, the guardian of the Nagarik Unmukti Party, had already said the party would participate in the national consensus government.

He had expressed his commitment to participate in the national consensus government by holding a meeting with Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Only three lawmakers were present in the meeting.

Party Chairperson Rajita Shrestha was not present in the meeting.

The Gross foreign exchange reserve of the country has increased by 27.8 percent to Rs 1967.19 billion as of mid-June 2024 from Rs 1539.36 billion in mid-July 2023. In US dollar terms, the gross foreign exchange reserves increased 25.7 percent to 14.72 billion in mid-June 2024 from 11.71 billion in mid-July 2023.

According to a statement released on the 'Current Marcoeconomic and financial situation' of the country based 11 months data as of mid-June, of the total foreign exchange reserves, reserves held by NRB increased 30.2 percent to Rs.1752.77 billion in mid-June 2024 from Rs 1345.78 billion in mid-July 2023.

Reserves held by other banks and financial institutions increased 10.8 percent to Rs 214.42 billion in mid-June 2024 from Rs 193.59 billion in mid-July 2023. The share of Indian currency in total reserves stood at 22.3 percent in mid-June 2024.

Likewise, Balance of Payments (BOP) remained at a surplus of Rs 425.67 billion in the review period against a surplus of Rs 224.9 billion in the same period of the previous year.

The current account remained at a surplus of Rs 200.39 billion in the review period against a deficit of Rs 79.53 billion in the same period of the previous year.

In the review period, capital transfer decreased 25.7 percent to Rs 5.46 billion and net foreign direct investment (FDI) remained a positive of Rs.8.16 billion. In the same period of the previous year, capital transfer amounted to Rs.7.35 billion and net FDI amounted to Rs 4.65 billion.

Furthermore, the consumer price inflation moderated to 4.17 percent in mid-June 2024 compared to 6.83 percent a year ago. Food and beverage category inflation stood at 5.76 percent whereas non-food and service category inflation stood at 2.94 percent in the review month.

During the period, the total trade deficit decreased 1.7 percent to Rs 1314.44 billion. Such a deficit had decreased 15.2 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year. The export import ratio decreased to 9.6 percent in the review period from 9.7 percent in the corresponding period of the previous year.

This is due to a decrease in merchandise exports by 3.0 percent to Rs 139.26 billion compared to a decrease of 22.7 percent in the same period of the previous year. Exports to India decreased 4.5 percent while that to China increased 57.7 percent. Similarly, export to other countries decreased 1.7 percent. Exports of zinc sheet, particle board, juice, readymade garment, and oil cakes among others increased whereas exports of palm oil, soyabean oil, woolen carpet, brans, tea among others decreased.

In the review period, total revenue mobilization of the Government (including the amount to be transferred to provincial and local governments) stood at Rs 919.19 billion. Revenue mobilization recorded a growth of 9.8 percent in the review period in contrast to a decrease of 11.2 percent in the same period of last fiscal year. The tax revenue amounted to Rs 829.04 billion and non tax revenue Rs 90.15 billion in the review period.

According to the Ministry of Finance, Financial Comptroller General Office (FCGO), the total expenditure of the Government stood at Rs.1181.30 billion during the eleven months of 2023/24. Compared to a growth of 13.6 percent in the last fiscal year, government expenditure increased by 0.4 percent in the review period. The recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure and financial expenditure amounted to Rs.822.81 billion, Rs 134.98 billion and Rs 223.51 billion respectively in the review period.

In the meantime, remittance inflows increased 19.3 percent to Rs 1327.51 billion in the review period compared to an increase of 22.7 percent in the same period of the previous year. In the US Dollar terms, remittance inflows increased 17.3 percent to 9.98 billion in the review period compared to an increase of 13.0 percent in the same period of the previous year.

More than 50 percent of the community schools in the country have less than 100 students, according to a report recently made public by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The report – Educational Information, 2080 BS – stated that the number of community schools with less than 100 students is 15,965.

This is despite the ongoing efforts from the governmental and non-governmental sectors to improve public education.

This number of public schools with less than 100 students is 57.03 percent of all the 27,990 community schools throughout the country.

According to the report, this situation is attributable to the decline in population, increase in migration and the influence of private schools in the urban areas. 

The number of community schools with less than 100 students was 14,000 in the fiscal year 2076/77 BS. This number has increased at present despite the operation of the 'school merger' policy.

The report puts the number of community schools having 100 to 500 students at 9,704, that of schools with 500 to 1,000 students at 1,636, that of schools with 1,000 to 1,500 students at 409, that of schools with 1501 to 2,000 at 136 and the number of community schools with more than 2,000 students at 100.

A total 35,876 schools (from Basic level to Class 12), including 27,990 community schools and 7,886 institutional (private) schools, are in operation in the country at present.

The Nepali Congress has expressed grief over the loss of lives and property in the natural disasters including landslides and flooding throughout the country.

Stating that the life of the people has become difficult due to the adverse situation in the aftermath of the disaster incidents, the NC through a press release expressed sympathies to all the disaster-affected people.

The Nepali Congress has urged the three tiers of the government to immediately dispatch rescue teams to the affected areas for saving the lives of the disaster-hit people and for carrying out rescue and relief works. It has also called for making the rescue, relief and rehabilitation works more effective and for preventing further losses.

"The Congress urges the government to expedite the search for those gone missing, to provide relief to the affected families, to make arrangements for shelter for them and to carry out necessary works to ease the life of the people in the present difficult situation resulting from the natural disasters," reads the NC press release.

Congress has appealed to all the people affiliated to the party, the sister organizations and well-wisher organizations in the affected districts to extend support in the rescue and relief works through mutual coordination and by mobilizing the human resources in the entire organizational structure.

The NC stated that a large number of people have been injured and several others are still missing in the disaster incidents caused by the incessant rains since some days. It said many citizens have been displaced and their cultivable land damaged by the disasters. Passengers are also stranded due to the disruption of roads throughout the country.