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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.

Mark Tolley is the regional director of inDrive Asia Pacific region with over 15 years of experience driving growth and operational excellence in the global QSR, cloud kitchen, and mobility industries. As the Regional Director for inDrive, he oversees several markets across [SEA+O], focusing on strategic market expansion, operational efficiency, and sustainable growth. Here’s an interview excerpt between Tolley and ApEx:

What factors have driven inDrive’s success in Nepal?

inDrive is always looking at markets where we can make a significant impact to local communities, we can bring affordable convenient mobility solutions and Nepal is one of those markets that we identified very early. There is a tangible transformed infrastructure where urbanization is outgoing. And Nepal again is a key market where we have seen right across 30 percent year in a year. The passengers  growth in the platform again is 30 percent plus and we have seen our drivers grow over 50 percent as well. And really what we put into that, I think the big thing we see in many countries and Nepal is our pay to pay model system and  where we are focused on fare transparent pricing for our customers. So, they can have the choice of value for money when you use our services. 

And on top of that we can have our low market leading commissions and when we put this together in a package when we enter a market, we see that there is a fairness and transparency that reflects with customers and drivers expectations. With this, the ecosystem has really allowed us to have more markets in Nepal and grow the market significantly. We only hope to continue growing up with this model of fairness without disrespecting our passengers.

inDrive emphasizes a people-centric and community-based approach. How does this strategy translate into the regional operations, and how do you ensure it resonates with local markets?

It’s always a case of how do we take a business at a lower price and I think we really work through this model allowing the environment through choice and control towards drivers and passengers.  So, what I mean by that is while our passengers are making their trip, they can choose the ride on the basis of ratings, varied costs and based upon the car that is comfortable and on top of that also the distance that they are. So, we have given these options to make their choice. In addition, the drivers can accept and decline too where I have also given power to the drivers and to be some of the entrepreneurs where they can choose when they work, how they work and which passengers do they want to take. And what this allows us to do, I am thinking of Nepalis in flexibility in freedom and underlining that this  you see great pricing which between the passenger and the driver is so unique and so aligned to people-centric mission and we see quite success.

Recently, we have been facing challenges related to some roaming cases. We have addressed this matter, and as part of our commitment to safety, inDrive maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy toward any harmful behavior or misconduct by users. The safety and satisfaction of our users, especially the safety and experience of women, is our top priority. We deeply regret and apologize for the incident experienced by our user.

At inDrive, we are a responsible company, and we are fully cooperating with the relevant authorities to ensure fairness and justice in this matter. We are dedicated to continually improving our services, as trust is a core value for us globally. Incidents like this do not reflect the values of inDrive or the quality of service we aim to provide. In fact, we are strengthening our measures to do better in the future. We want to ensure that every choice made on the inDrive platform is safe and secure. To that end, we offer several safety features to protect our users: Safety Button that provides quick access to contact support, the police, or ambulance services from the main screen. You can also easily access the phone numbers of their friends or family, which can be activated at any time, even during a ride. Share Your Ride feature allows passengers and drivers to share their ride details with friends or family, including real-time tracking. Rate Your Passenger/Driver where they can rate each other, providing transparency and helping others make informed decisions based on ratings. Lastly, a 24/7 Customer Support team is available around the clock to assist with any concerns. We are fully committed to enhancing safety on our platform and ensuring that every experience with inDrive is safe and secure.

Sustainability is a growing concern in the transportation industry. What steps is inDrive taking to incorporate sustainable practices in its operations?

Sustainability has been a focus of inDrive for a while and globally we see the shift among more sustainable options in a mobility industry. If we look at inDrive in Nepal, what are we doing to address that is, a few months ago we started the feature of comfort cars and that allows for comfortable ride among passengers in certain vehicle types. One important thing to know about the comfort cars is that most of them are electric vehicles and we have seen the response from the customers to want this type of ride. So, we are fully committed over the next year and beyond to  increase the demand for electric vehicles that we have.

What are the biggest challenges facing the ride-hailing industry in this region, and how is inDrive positioning itself to overcome them?

The biggest challenge we’ve observed in South and Southeast Asia is the growing demand for mobility options. In South Asia, the sector is expected to experience double-digit growth over the next 4-5 years. With this growth comes tighter regulations and constant changes, which require us to collaborate closely with local regulators. It’s essential to ensure that the regulations support businesses, drivers, and passengers alike. This is a challenge we see across Asia, and we’re addressing it in Nepal by fostering strong partnerships and adapting to regulatory environments. The second challenge stems from the increasing demand, which brings heightened competition. In many markets, we see more players entering the space, and sometimes we compete with ourselves. To stand out, we rely on our unique and straightforward model. By focusing on affordability and maintaining market-leading low commission rates, we’re able to enter and thrive in these markets. Our approach not only makes rides affordable but also supports drivers in maximizing their earnings. This innovative strategy allows us to remain resilient and adaptable as new challenges and competitors emerge.

How is the company leveraging innovation to enhance user experience and stay ahead in a competitive market?

Besides affordability, inDrive differentiates itself through our unique peer-to-peer pricing model, which promotes transparency and fairness, ensuring that both riders and drivers are satisfied with the mutually-agreed price.

Our peer-to-peer model is both innovative and highly suitable for entering this nascent market. This model of transparency and fairness is a significant advantage for us and reflects the innovation we aim to bring. When it comes to commissions for drivers, we are deeply focused on ensuring fairness and maximizing their earnings. By maintaining low commission rates, particularly in countries like Nepal, we enable drivers to earn more per order. This approach ensures that at the end of the month, they have more money in their accounts.

Additionally, we prioritize safety. We have a rigorous onboarding process and a robust verification system for drivers. Real-time tracking is another essential feature that enhances safety. These elements, combined with our continuous efforts to innovate, demonstrate our commitment to both safety and fairness.

What are inDrive’s primary goals for Nepal, and how do you see the brand evolving over the next five years?

Personally, I would say our focus is to continue expanding in the Kathmandu market while exploring new opportunities as they arise. Beyond that, we aim to ensure added insurance benefits for our drivers, providing them with greater security. We are also in the process of establishing a local office, which will serve as a valuable resource for customers and passengers who wish to engage with us directly. Additionally, we are actively working to grow our electric vehicle fleet within Nepal, which aligns with our commitment to sustainability and innovation. These three areas—expansion, driver support, and the adoption of EVs—are key priorities for us over the next five years

Can you share some impact/CSR projects by inDrive in Nepal?

Nepal is one of the cornerstones of our focus for 2025 and beyond. We have our invision program, which collaborates with communities worldwide. Recently, we partnered with the Nepal Centre of Disaster Management (NCDM) to officially unveil our first inDrive house for victims of floods and landslides. This marked the first of five houses in the region, and seeing the tangible impact of these collaborations was truly a proud moment. We have our YourPace program, where we actively engage with the community. For instance, we’ll be participating in the Kathmandu Marathon with a dedicated team encouraging people to run—I’ll personally be there as well. Furthermore, we’ve supported cultural initiatives, such as sponsoring several events, including the Alternative Film Awards.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire has said that festivals of every Nepali caste and community have further enriched the Nepali society.

Extending best wishes for happiness, peace and prosperity to all Nepali sisters and brothers at home and abroad on the occasion of Sonam Lhosar-2081 BS, he said festivals like Lhosar have provided an opportunity to strengthen mutual unity and cooperation among the Nepali community.

Sonam Lhosar, an important festival of the Tamang community, is celebrated with great enthusiasm as the beginning of the New Year.

Speaker Ghimire said that this festival, Lhosar, in which 'Lho' meaning year and 'Sar' meaning new, will give a message of new energy, prosperity and positive change.

"Sonam Lhosar is the indigenous festival of the Tamang community. The festival has become a unique example of cultural vibrancy, celebrated amidst the playing of the traditional Damphu musical drum and singing of Tamang Selo folk songs, wearing traditional costumes and relishing special dishes," the Speaker stated in his message.

President Ram Chandra Paudel has expressed the conviction that festivals like Sonam Lhosar contribute to further consolidating national unity.

In his message of best wishes on the occasion of Sonam Lhosar, festival of the Tamang community today, the Head of State expressed the belief that festivals such as Sonam Lhosar would foster mutual goodwill, tolerance and the sentiment of fraternity in the Nepali society characterized by multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural diversity.

"I wish that the Sonam Lhosar festival further strengthens the unity among all Nepalis and gives energy to all to move ahead to build an economically and socially prosperous country," president Paudel said.

The Sonam Lhosar is celebrated on the day of Magh Shukla Pratipada, the first day of the bright fortnight in the month of Magh as per the lunar calendar. It is the New Year festival of the Tamang community.

On this festival, the Tamang community people offer worship to their clan deity, perform nature worship and recall Buddha's teachings, and also exchange happiness among each other amidst festive celebrations in gatherings.

Along with the Tamangs, other communities such as the Hyolmo, Thakali, Jirel, Nesyangwa, Bhote, Dura, Lepcha, etc living in different parts of the country, have also been celebrating this festival according to their own customs and tradition.