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Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has left for Uganda, leading a Nepali delegation, to attend the 19th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). He left here early this morning via Qatar Airlines.

The NAM summit is being held in Kampala, capital city of Uganda, on January 19-20.

PM Dahal-led delegation comprises his daughter Ganga Dahal, Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud, Foreign Secretary Sewa Lamsal and senior officials of Nepal government. 

PM Dahal is scheduled to address the summit that is being held under the theme, 'deepening global cooperation for shared global affluence' on Friday.

He is attending the special ceremony to be organized by the Ugandan President in honor of the visiting delegation chiefs the same day.

In the course of the summit, the PM will be holding bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the attending countries. Foreign Minister NP Saud had already left for Uganda for the ministerial meeting on the run up to the main event of the NAM summit.

It is said the 19th summit is to dwell on the ministerial report, review implementation status of the 18th NAM summit and pass a Kampala declaration.

Nepal is a founding member of NAM and has been attending the NAM summit actively since establishment. Non-alignment is one of the fundamental foreign principles of Nepal. NAM was established in 1961.

PM Dahal will return home on January 21.

On Jan 22, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram. Over 7,500 invited participants are expected to attend the opening ceremony which has drawn international attention.  In 2020, Modi laid the foundation stone of the Ram temple at Ayodhya.

Ayodhya’s Vedic ritual began from Jan 17 which included the Pran Pratishtha ceremony which marked a pivotal step in the festivities following the worship of Lord Ganesha. Thursday will witness the commencement of special rituals like Mandap entry puja, vastu puja and Varun Puja. On Jan 19, a Yagya fire pit will be prepared and on January 20, the sanctum Sanctorum of the Ram Mandir will undergo purification with the placement of 81 Kalash with water from various rivers, and on Jan 22, Indian PM Modi will inaugurate the temple.  

According to AP, the temple is being built at an estimated cost of $217m, but it is far from complete. The site is filled with roaring bulldozers and busy builders still working on the elaboration of 46 doors—42 of which will have a layer of gold totaling around 100 kilograms—and numerous carvings that will form the final architecture of the temple, AP reports.

The temple, a three-story structure clad in pink sandstone stretches across 2.9 hectares in a 28-hectare complex. According to AP, it will have a 1.3 meter idol of Lord Ram. The temple has been divided into six parts, including the sanctum sanctorum and five pavilions—Gun Mandap, Rang Mandap, Nritya Mandap, Kirtan Mandap, Prathana Mandap.

The opposition Indian Congress has declared that it would skip the inauguration ceremony dubbing it a political project of BJP and RSS. “Religion is a personal matter. But RSS\BJP have long made a political project of the temple in Ayodhya. The inauguration of the incomplete temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS has been obviously brought forward for electoral gain,” read a statement from senior party leader Jairam Ramesh.

The Ayodhya Ram Temple is one of important pilgrimage sites and it is significant for Hindus worldwide, including the Hindus in Nepal which constitute more than 80 percent population. Janakpurdham has dispatched bhar special gifts as offerings to Ayodhya; a team has gone there carrying the special offerings for Ayodhya under the Janakpurdham-Ayodhyadam religious procession.

According to RSS, upholding the tradition, Janakpurdham, as the maternal home of Sita, who was married to the then crown prince of Ayodhya sent the offerings. The offerings encompass various types of jewelry, utensils, clothing and sweets, decoratively arranged in specially crafted bamboo baskets.  A team of around 300 devotees has left for Aydohya with Gharbasak Bhar or gifts for a housewarming occasion. Two Shila big boulders lifted from the bank of the Kaligandaki River of Nepal were also sent last year.

Parbat Kumar Karki has been appointed as the Executive Director of the Citizen Investment Fund.

A Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday appointed Karki as the Executive Director of the Citizen Investment Fund on the recommendation of the Finance Ministry, government spokesperson Rekha Sharma said.

Similarly, Kiran Babu Pun of Rukum has been appointed as the General Manager of the Sanskritik Sansthan.

Likewise, the government has appointed Ramesh Chandra Neupane as the Chairman of the Nardevi Ayurveda Hospital Development Committee and Dr Ravi Malla as the Executive Director of the Gangalal National Heart Center.

The cabinet also decided to recommend to the President to issue the Ordinance (2080) designed to amend the Economic Procedures and Financial Liability Act, 2076. 

The meeting gave approval to submit the bill to amend the Political Parties Act, 2073 before the Federal Parliament.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has instructed the government bodies including the ministry concerned to promptly resolve the problems related to cooperatives.

The PM issued this directive in the course of the discussions held at Baluwatar this morning with officials of the related bodies, said a press note issued by the PM Secretariat.

The Prime Minister on the occasion said provisions should be made in the Act itself so as to promote the cooperatives as infusing the embryo of socialism and focussed on collectivism and the interests of the lowest section of society. He further added that the cooperatives should be made systematic by adopting immediate and long-term measures.

He instructed the ministry and bodies concerned to carry out the required homework on an immediate and long-term basis for resolving the problems seen in the cooperatives.

Stating that his attention was drawn towards forming an effective regulatory body for the monitoring of cooperatives, PM Dahal directed the existing cooperatives regulatory agencies to present a report, classifying the cooperatives as well-performing, in crisis and bankrupt.

He called for paying attention to the security of the amount kept by depositors in the cooperatives, pointing out the need of taking effective steps in coordination of all the three tiers of the government for this.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Ranjita Shrestha, Chief Secretary of Government of Nepal, Baikuntha Aryal and officials of the related ministries, departments and bodies were present on the occasion.

Leading a Nepali delegation, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is leaving for Uganda tomorrow.

The visit is aimed at attending the 19th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit to be held in Kampala of Uganda on January 19-20. The PM will board the Qatar Airlines' 2:15 am flight for Uganda, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The PM will be accompanied by his daughter Ganga Dahal, Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Prasad Saud, Sewa Lamsal, Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other senior government officials, the Ministry said.

On the first day of the two-day Summit, PM Dahal will address the plenary session on the theme 'Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence'.

On the same day, Dahal will attend the state banquet hosted by the President of Uganda, General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, in honor of the Heads of the delegation from the NAM member states.

In addition to the Summit activities, PM Dahal is slated to hold bilateral meetings with the Head of the States, Head of the Governments, and other dignitaries attending the event.

Foreign Minister Saud has already left here for Uganda on January 15 to participate in the ministerial meeting taking place in Uganda from January 17-18. Preceding the ministerial meeting, the senior officials meeting was held from January 15-16.

Agendas of the Summit include considering the report of the preparatory ministerial meeting, reviewing the progress achieved in the outcome of the 18th NAM Summit held in 2019 and adoption of the Kampala Declaration among others.

Nepal, being a founding member of the NAM, has been actively participating in all NAM Summits. The principle of nonalignment is one of the bedrock principles of Nepal's foreign policy.

PM Dahal is scheduled to return to Kathmandu on January 21.

Following the 19th NAM Summit, the Third South Summit is taking place in Uganda itself from January 21-22 which will be led by Foreign Secretary Lamsal, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Election Commission has directed the government to ensure security arrangements necessary for holding the National Assembly (NA) elections scheduled for January 25 in a cordial atmosphere.

A meeting of the EC today directed the government to make the NA-election related security arrangements in coordination of the Home Ministry in involvement with security agencies.

The government has been urged to consider potential security challenges for voters, election candidates, offices of the election officers, election employees, and for the management of election logistics and in the voting stations and put security arrangements in place accordingly, according to EC assistant spokesperson Shreedhar Panthi.

The EC has set up the offices of the election officers in its province offices in Morang, Dhanusha, Makwanpur, Kaski, Dang, Surkhet and Kailali.  It has sought the security arrangements in those routes using the election voters for visiting polling stations and in their residential areas as well.

Province Assembly members, chairs and vice chairs of rural municipalities, mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities are the voters of NA election.

The EC has directed for coordination hoteliers in the districts where polling centers have been established to facilitate voters with accommodation at their personal expenses and the coordination with the respective District Administration Office during the movement of voters and for the security of polling centers and stations.

It has also urged the district election security committee to deliver actively to ensure the effective and reliable election security arrangements.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has directed the bodies concerned to take measures immediately to stop the inconveniences faced at the airport by abroad-bound Nepalis going on visit visa and taking work permit. He said that complaints of this have been received.

The PM issued this instruction in the course of discussions today with Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha, the Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Sarat Singh Bhandari, Chief Secretary Dr Baikuntha Aryal and the secretaries of the related ministries.

Stating that complaints have been received of those bearing the visit visa and labor permit facing inconvenience at the airport, the PM has instructed for immediately creating a conducive environment, according to the PM's Private Secretariat. 

"I have heard of the complaint that those going abroad on the visit visa are turned back from the airport citing lack of proper documents, but they are allowed to travel after some days through a 'setting' (meaning in collusion). Please do and get done according to the Immigration Work Procedures in connection with those going abroad on visit visa. Please, stop pestering the people," he said.

The Prime Minister has directed the bodies concerned to conduct awareness programs on foreign employment and visit visa reaching the local levels and to work in favor of the nation and people.

The Ministry of Water Supply has urged one and all to trust the quality of water supplied through the Melamchi Drinking Water Supply Project which was resumed from Monday in the Kathmandu Valley.

Issuing a notice today, Ministry Joint Secretary and Spokesperson, Meena Shrestha, said the water supplies from the Melamchi River meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards as it is distributed to consumers only after processing it at the water processing plant at Sundarijal.

The Ministry said that initially, the water may appear muddy due to soil residues within the water pipes, a consequence of the prolonged disruption in water supplies. It assures the public that the water will become clear with continued flushing after the resumption of regular supplies. The notice urged consumers not to be swayed by rumors and to trust in the water quality.

Simultaneously, the government has established a facilitating committee to address any issues in the Melamchi drinking water supplies. In case consumers encounter problems, they are requested to contact the committee.  The government aims to supply 170 million liters of water daily from the Melamchi River in Sindhupalchowk to meet the needs of the Kathmandu Valley.