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Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President and suspended parliamentarian, Rabi Lamichhane, held a meeting with Speaker Devraj Ghimire, over the issue of his suspension.

During the meeting held at the office of the Speaker at Singha Durbar, today, President Lamichhane submitted a petition requesting Speaker Ghimire to lift his suspension from the post of a member of the Parliament.

Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar, acting RSP Chair Dol Prasad Aryal, Vice-Chairperson Dr Swarnim Wagle, Chief Whip Santosh Pariyar, among others were also present along with Lamichhane in the meeting.

The Federal Parliament Secretariat had suspended the member of House of Representatives, Lamichhane, from the post on December 23.

Nepal has raised the issue of new air routes with India yet again.

During a recent meeting with the visiting Ministry of External Affairs Additional Secretary, Munu Mahawar, in Kathmandu, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Azu Rana Deuba raised the issue of new air routes that Nepal has been demanding for a long time. 

Nepal has been in discussions with India for over a decade regarding new air entry routes. The government has been negotiating with the Indian government to utilize the airspace of Bhairahawa, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj and Janakpur for air route access. However, Nepal has not yet secured air routes from these locations.

Gyanendra Bhul, the information officer at the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), said that Nepal has presented all proposals to India regarding new routes. “Nepal has raised the issue of new air routes in all bilateral meetings - from the Prime Minister level to the ministerial level. While Nepal has presented its case, the Indian side has not yet reached a decision,” he added.

Due to India’s inability to provide a conclusive decision on new routes, the government’s plan to bring aircraft into Nepal using the airspace of Bhairahawa, Mahendranagar, Nepalgunj and Janakpur has been stalled.

Nepal had formally requested India to allow air access through Janakpur, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj and Mahendranagar during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kathmandu in 2014. In May 2023, talks were held in New Delhi between officials from Nepal's Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, and the Airports Authority of India, but no conclusion was reached.

According to CAAN, if India provides new air entry routes as requested by Nepal, it would save flight costs and time, and also resolve the issue of air traffic congestion. Currently, 90 percent of international flights enter Nepal through Simara, while flights from China enter through the Makalu region in Sankhuwasabha district and flights from Bhutan enter through Mechi. The air routes for exiting Nepal include Simara, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Mahendranagar and Bhairahawa.

Nepal has been facing several challenges such as air traffic congestion, disrupted flight schedules, and the need to hold aircraft in the air for extended periods due to the reliance on a single route. CAAN has been saying that if additional routes are made available, managing air traffic would become easier. If India agrees to at least allow the Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj routes, the distance for flights entering Nepal would be significantly reduced, CAAN officials say.

Currently, aircraft coming to Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa from Gulf countries enter the Nepali airspace from Simara and fly westward to Bhairahawa as they are not allowed to enter the country from the west. Experts say new international airports in Bhairahawa and Pokhara will be unfeasible if aircraft are not allowed to enter from the west.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 2, 300 per tola in the domestic market on Friday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 162, 800 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 160, 500 per tola on Thursday.

Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 30 and is being traded at Rs 1, 915 per tola today.

The Winter session of the Federal Parliament is convening at 1 pm today. This session is also called the 'bill session' as it will mainly focus on deliberation and endorsement of important bills, besides other regular business. 

Top leaders of the political parties, including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, are scheduled to address the opening meeting of the session today.

As per the preliminary meeting agenda of both houses of Parliament shared by the Federal Parliament Secretariat, Speaker Devraj Ghimire will nominate members to preside over the meetings in accordance with the Rile 10 of the House of Representatives Regulations, 2079 BS.

Prime Minister Oli is scheduled to table the Ordinance Amending Some Nepal Acts Related to Promotion of Good Governance and Public Service Delivery, 2081 BS in the meeting today.

Similarly, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel will present in the Parliament meeting today the Economic Procedures and Financial Responsibility (First Amendment) Ordinance, 2081 BS, the Privatization (First Amendment) Ordinance, 2081 BS, and the Ordinance Amending Some Nepal Acts Related to Improvement of Economic and Business Environment and Investment Promotion, 2081 BS.

Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Balaram Adhikari, will present the 'Ordinance to Amend Some Nepal Acts related to Cooperatives, 2081BS' and the 'Ordinance to Amend Some Nepal Acts related to Land, 2081 BS'.

Likewise, the ordinances, including the ordinance to amend some Nepal Acts related to the promotion of good governance and public service delivery, to be presented in the House of Representatives meeting today, will also be tabled in the meeting of the National Assembly.

According to the agenda, PM Oli will present the Ordinance Amending Some Nepal Acts Related to the Promotion of Good Governance and Public Service Delivery, 2081 BS in the National Assembly meeting.

President of the Legislation Management Committee Tulasa Kumari Dahal will present the committee's reports on the Media Council Bill, 2080 BS and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Bill, 2081 BS in the meeting.

At a time when the winter session of Nepal’s Federal Parliament is about to commence following protracted delays resulting from factors best known to the government amid the opposition parties’ plans to hit the streets against some ordinances, it will be worthwhile to start with relevant quotes from some famous personalities.

Walter Bagehot, an English journalist and essayist, goes: A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people.

Jean-Louis de Lolme, a Genevan and British political theorist and writer, fires, with the British parliament in his crosshairs: Parliament can do everything but make a woman a man and a man a woman.

Arun Jaitley, an Indian politician and lawyer, argues: Parliament's job is to conduct discussions. But many a time, Parliament is used to ignoring issues, and in such situations, obstruction of Parliament is in the favour of democracy. Therefore, parliamentary obstruction is not undemocratic.

These nuggets of wisdom may not be music to the ears of the government and at least a section of the Parliament. But even a super-powerful government and a sovereign parliament should not stop critics from being critical and skeptics from being skeptical.

Looking back, our decades-long tryst with parliamentary democracy has chapters that are far from glorious. These chapters feature unethical means employed to pass laws with a brute majority mustered through unethical means like horse-trading and floor crossing, with long-term consequences for the country and the people.

In those instances, lawmakers from various political parties have done the bidding of a whip-cracking executive without bothering to protect the interests of the very sovereign people they claim to be serving. More often than not, ruling parties have chosen to bulldoze opaquely drafted laws through the parliament instead of bothering to listen to the opposition. Throughout the years, the main agenda of the opposition bench seems to be to topple the government.

The winter session has given the constituents of the parliament yet another opportunity to mend ways. Magnanimity won’t  hurt the government, restraint won’t hurt the opposition.

For the apex leadership of our country, here’s part of a quote from APJ Abdul Kalam, an  aerospace scientist who went on to become the president of India: When I took over as president, I studied the Constitution, and the more I studied it, the more I realized that it does not prevent the president of India from giving the nation a vision.

A midair collision between an Army helicopter and a jetliner killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft, officials said Thursday, as they scrutinized the actions of the military pilot in the country’s deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century, Associated Press reported.

At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet late Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the river from Washington, officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

President Donald Trump told a White House news conference that no one survived.

“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital.

The crash occurred before 9 p.m. in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over 3 miles (about 4.8 kilometers) south of the White House and the Capitol.

Air crash investigations can take months, and federal investigators told reporters they would not speculate on the cause, according to Associated Press.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 airplane, agency spokesperson Peter Knudson said. They were at the agency’s labs for evaluation.

The plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water, and first responders were searching miles of the Potomac, Donnelly said. The helicopter wreckage was also found. Images from the river showed boats around the partly submerged wing and the mangled wreckage of the plane’s fuselage.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said the plane was making a normal approach when “the military aircraft came into the path” of the jet.

One air traffic controller was responsible for coordinating helicopter traffic and arriving and departing planes when the collision happened, according to a report by the Federal Aviation Administration that was obtained by The Associated Press. Those duties are often divided between two people, but the airport typically combines the roles at 9:30 p.m, once traffic begins to slow down. On Wednesday the tower supervisor directed that they be combined earlier.

“The position configuration was not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” the report said. A person familiar with the matter, however, said the tower staffing that night was at a normal level.

The positions are regularly combined when controllers need to step away from the console for breaks, during shift changes or when air traffic is slow, the person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal procedures.

The Federal Aviation Administration has long struggled with a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Officials said flight conditions were clear as the jet arrived from Wichita, Kansas, carrying, among others, a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches, and four union steamfitters from the Washington area.

A top Army aviation official said the crew of the helicopter, a Black Hawk, was “very experienced” and familiar with the congested flying that occurs daily around the city, Associated Press reported.

“Both pilots had flown this specific route before, at night. This wasn’t something new to either one of them,” said Jonathan Koziol, chief of staff for Army aviation.

The average non-performing loans (NPLs) of finance companies have nearly doubled over the past year. 

A study of second-quarter financial statements of Class ‘C’ finance companies for the fiscal year 2024/25 shows that the average NPLs reached 11.72 percent in mid-Jan this year, up from 6.55 percent in mid-Jan last year. This spike is due to the high non-performing loans of two finance companies—Janaki Finance and Pokhara Finance. While Janaki Finance has an NPL of 40.88 percent, Pokhara Finance has an NPL level of 33.44 percent. 

The NPL levels of four other finance companies have reached double digits. Nine finance companies have single-digit NPL levels, with Gurkhas Finance reporting the lowest NPL of 3.06 percent. 

The second-quarter results show that Janaki Finance and Pokhara Finance are in deep trouble. The accumulated loss of Janaki Finance, which has a paid-up capital of Rs 690m, has reached Rs 969.8m. Similarly, Pokhara Finance, whose paid-up capital is Rs 1.08bn, has an accumulated loss of Rs 1.55bn. 

Other finance companies with high NPL levels include Samriddhi Finance, Reliance Finance, and Central Finance. The NPL level of Samriddhi Finance increased from 4.68 percent in mid-Jan last year to 19.34 percent. Similarly, Reliance Finance’s NPL rose from 9.67 percent to 14.31 percent during the review period. Central Finance also reported a 2.5 percent point increase in its NPL level, reaching 11.94 percent in mid-Jan. 

Likewise, Multipurpose Finance’s NPLs have increased from 1.48 percent to 5.45 percent, while Nepal Finance has managed to slightly decrease its NPL from 10.52 percent to 10.46 percent. While the NPL of Progressive Finance has declined from 11.45 percent to 7.57 percent, Shri Investment Finance and Manjushree Finance saw their NPLs go up from 1.94 percent to 3.71 percent and 3.5 percent to 3.86 percent, respectively.

The meeting of the opposition parties has decided to reject the ordinances brought by the government.

The meeting of the opposition parties held at the Parliamentary Party office of the CPN (Maoist Center) in Singha Durbar on Thursday morning decided to reject the ordinances.

After the meeting, Hit Raj Pandey, Chief Whip of the Parliamentary Party of the CPN (Maoist Center), informed that the meeting of the opposition parties has decided to reject the ordinances.

“The process of bringing the ordinances at the time of convening the House session was wrong,” he said, adding, “A unanimous decision has been made the reject the ordinance.”

Similarly, the meeting also discussed issues about good governance, public- livelihood among others in a serious way, he said.

The government is preparing to table six ordinances on the first day of the winter session scheduled for Friday.

Leaders of CPN (Maoist Center), Rastriya Swatantra Party, CPN (Unified Socialist), Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Nepal Samajbad Party and Janamorcha among other parties were present in the meeting.