Submit your Article

On Jan 7, a sleepy nation woke up at 6.50am to a magnitude-7 quake epicentered at Tingri County (Tibet), China as eastern districts of Nepal, including Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga, Khotang, Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur, shook vigorously along with the federal capital of Kathmandu. Much to the relief of the nation, there was no loss of life and no major property loss in the jolt, though some private houses and the office building of Thame Post of the Sagarmatha National Park at Thametyang suffered damage.

The quake comes close on the heels of a season of disasters that just passed us by. Last monsoon, more than 230 people died, at least 169 people suffered injuries and many went missing as floods and landslides further destabilized a country where political instability has become the norm rather than the exception. The rescue of around 17,000 people during the monsoon season gives an indication of the scale of the disaster. 

Against this backdrop, a polity with a very short memory and a weak institutional capacity to deal with disasters would do well to learn some humble lessons from the disasters old and new. 

Monsoon floods, landslides, wildfires and quakes claim lives every year, render thousands homeless and cause infrastructural losses worth billions of rupees. 

For example, around 80 people died, several others suffered injuries, thousands became shelterless and the nation suffered infrastructural losses worth billions when a magnitude-6.4 temblor epicentered at Ramidanda (Jajarkot district) shook districts of western Nepal, including Jajarkot and Rukum West, at 11.47 pm on 3 Nov 2023. More than a year after the disaster, humanitarian assistance continues to ‘elude’ many shelterless survivors of the Ramidanda jolt. 

It’s time the government realized that disasters don’t kill, lack of preparedness does. Anyway, a government tasked with protecting the life and property of its people cannot get away by blaming death, devastation and displacement on ‘natural’ disasters.       

Let the recent jolt and other disasters wake up all three tiers of our government and prompt them to step up preparedness that can go a long way in protecting life and properties during such disasters.

The Madhes Province government has launched the health insurance program with the goal of improving the health of the family members of the martyrs. 

Addressing a press conference today, Minister for Home, Communications and Law, Raj Kumar Lekhi, said the health insurance program targeting the martyrs' families has been implemented since December 24. 

According to him, the health insurance program aims to provide free of cost health services to the martyrs' family members. He expressed the belief that this program will assist in the treatment of health problems of the targeted population, as it has the objective of relieving the beneficiaries of the burden of health expenses.

Minister Lekhi also informed on the occasion that a taskforce has been formed under the convenorship of the Home Minister for making amendments to the laws related to the local services and structures.

He added that this task force will prepare the draft for reformation in the local level structure.

Apart from this, the Madhes Province government cabinet meeting has also passed some important work procedures related to the Ministry of Education, Health and Transport.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 18. 14 points to close at 2,635.09 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 2. 97 points to close at 448. 54 points.

A total of 15,723,379-unit shares of 308 companies were traded for Rs 7. 30 billion.

Meanwhile, Barahi Hydropower Public Limited (BHPL) and Himalayan Power Partner Ltd. (HPPL) were the top gainer today with their price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Saptakoshi Development Bank Ltd (SAPDBL) was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 23 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 4. 37 trillion.

The Koshi Province government Cabinet meeting held today decided to organize the province investment summit in May.

The meeting held at the office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers under chairmanship of Chief Minister Hikmat Kumar Karki at Biratnagar took the decision to organize the two-day investment summit from May 1.

Similarly, a decision was taken to present the bill designed to manage the Province Mass Communication in the Law, Justice and Province Affairs Committee and to hold discussion on it, said Spokesperson of the Koshi government and Minister for Internal Affairs and Law, Rewati Raman Bhandari.

The meeting took the decision to present in the Koshi Province Assembly the bill designed to regulate pesticides as well as the bill designed to amend the Chief Attorney's functions, duties, powers and other conditions of services Act-2075, as revised by the Law, Justice and Province Affairs Committee, he mentioned.

In some local levels, farmers receive double the price for their produce when it is not immediately sold in a warehouse. A prime example is the ginger storage house in Tansen-13, Palpa, where 34 farmers benefited in the first year of the trial period.

One of them, Yagya Basyal, a farmer from Palpa, did not sell the 152 kilograms of ginger he produced last year at the price of about Rs 95 per kilogram. Instead, he paid rent and stored the ginger at the Tansen-13 storage house, even though it was some distance from his home. After four months of storage, he sold it for almost double the price—Rs 180 per kilogram. According to his calculations, he earned a total of Rs 24,900, making an additional profit of about Rs 8,000.

Farmer Basyal says, “The storage house made it very easy when the produce was not sold immediately or was priced low. Moreover, there is no need to find a trader because they come directly to the warehouse.” He also learned that when storing agricultural products, ‘C’ grade should not be kept in storage, while ‘A’ and ‘B’ quality should be prioritized. Basyal shared this insight at a workshop organized by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Nepal in the capital on pilot learning of the Inclusive Warehouse Receipt Financing Model.

Palpa, a region known for its high-quality ginger production, was targeted for the warehouse, says Prachanda Kattel of CRS Nepal. The warehouse was built in collaboration with Tansen Municipality in the first phase, and infrastructure development took place in the second phase. The municipality invested Rs 40m in the construction, while CRS Nepal contributed Rs 20m. The warehouse has a storage capacity of 25,000 kilograms.

Kamala Bhandari, chairperson of the Friendly Social Entrepreneur Women’s Cooperative Society Limited, which operates the warehouse, shared that 4,900 kilograms of ginger from 34 farmers were stored during the first year. She also mentioned plans to increase storage to 20,000 kilograms in the second year. The facility, which targets small farmers, allows each farmer to store up to five quintals of ginger. Bhandari explained that small farmers benefit more from storing smaller quantities.

The cooperative charges Rs 2 per kilogram as a service fee for storage. Tansen Municipality Deputy Mayor Pratiksha Sinjali informed that the municipality encourages farmers by providing a subsidy of Rs 5 per kilogram for storage. The total investment in the warehouse is Rs 4m, with Tansen Municipality contributing Rs 1m. Sinjali added that the municipality has also supported the building’s structure and has ensured the provision of services like electricity and water. This year, a Rs 5 per kilogram subsidy is available for farmers, even though no federal regulations for the warehouse have been enacted.

Under Section 102, Sub-section 2 of the Local Government Act 2017, the municipality has been empowered to operate the ginger storage house, according to Deputy Mayor Sinjali.

Swiss Contact Nepal representative Padmalal Bhandari emphasized that farmers need credit and insurance facilities to invest in production and protect stored goods. He urged Nepal Rastra Bank to adjust its monetary policy to allow farmers to take loans using storage receipts as collateral. While NGOs and INGOs have shown the way, Bhandari believes it is now up to the government to take action. Nepal Rastra Bank is reportedly studying potential policy changes on this issue.

A representative from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies advised caution in expanding warehouses, noting that over 300 warehouses exist in Nepal, yet half are non-operational, and those that are functioning operate at only 35 percent capacity. However, agriculture expert Jeevnath Sharma pointed out that Nepal loses 89 kilograms of produce per capita per year, underscoring the need for improved warehouse operations.

The Ministry of Health and Population has said that the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) spread in China is a common virus and there was no need to panic about it.  

Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, the Ministry has said that its attention was drawn to the false information spread in different media outlets and social networking sites, urging all not to have trust on such rumors.

"It is common to have a higher infection rate of respiratory illness in the winter season. HMPV is not a new virus. This is just a virus causing a cold and was observed in Nepal in the past too. Nepal has already prepared for the test, monitoring and recovery measures for this virus," read the statement.

The Ministry has also stated that the risk of serious health issues from this virus was low and normally the virus is spread on the people having poor immunity, children and senior citizens.

Likewise, the Ministry has said that monitoring and alertness have been intensified by the Ministry, Department of Health Services, hospitals and laboratories.

Some local levels in Kanchanpur district in the Sudurpaschim Province have decided to halt classes of schools for four days with the biting cold following the cold wave in the district.

The district has witnessed a cold wave for a week. The local levels have announced the winter holiday for four days beginning today.

Shuklaphanta Municipality, Punarbas Municipality and Krishnapur Municipality decided to grant the winter holiday in view of adverse impacts on students' health due to the rising cold and have also asked all the concerned schools to halt classroom-based teaching and learning in the private and community schools.

Chief Administrative Officer of Shuklaphanta Municipality, Khemraj Bista, said the decision was taken as the regular classroom activities were affected and the students had adverse effects on their health from the cold wave.

Progress on the Mid Hill Pushpalal Highway, the project of national pride, has reached a significant milestone with 193 kilometers of the road along the Kaski-Parbat-Baglung section blacktopped so far.

Out of the total 250 kilometers, only 38 kilometers from Bhainse in Madi Rural Municipality to Yamdi in Pokhara Metropolitan City in Kaski, and 13 kilometers from Upallachaur to Ghodabandhe in Baglung district, are yet to be blacktopped.

According to the project officials, preparatory works for infrastructure development to upgrade the road in 51 kilometers are going on.

Shambhu Prasad Acharya, the Chief of the Project Office in Parbat, said that the development of the Upallachaur to Ghodabandhe section has begun under a new contract after terminating the previous contract due to delayed progress. Additionally, the construction of the 99 kilometers of road from Ghodabandhe to Patihalne, bordering Rukum Purba to Baglung districts, has been completed.

Likewise, maintenance works of the roads in some areas have also been initiated. 

Construction of several bridges along the Kaski-Baglung section is underway, with designs for some bridges awaiting approval after contract management.

A total of Rs 204 million has been spent in the first five months of the current fiscal year out of the total Rs 768 million allocated for road and bridges along the Kaski-Parbat-Baglung road section.