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A parliamentary committee’s report on Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Third Amendment) Bill, 2081 has been tabled in the House of Representatives (HoR).

Chairperson of the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee, Bimala Subedi tabled the committee's report on the bill in the Parliament meeting today.

The HoR had sent the bill to the committee for clause-wise discussion. It may be noted that the committee’s meeting on August 8 had unanimously passed the report on the bill.

Also today, Chairperson of the Infrastructure Development Committee Deepak Bahadur Singh tabled the committee’s annual report, 2080.

Chairperson Singh shared that some development projects have fallen victims to political reasons, making their outcome uncertain.

There are several problems such as transfer of employees with the change of minister, not allowing the employees engaged in the program to work in the same project until completion, and political interference in project works.

Likewise, Chairperson of the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee Amar Bahadur Thapa tabled the annual report of the committee for the year 2081 BS.

In the meeting, Speaker Devraj Ghimire informed the House that the names of the members in the implementation of the state directive principles, policies and responsibilities under the joint committee, and monitoring and evaluation committee have been changed.

The next meeting of the Parliament will be held at 1 pm on August 14.

Altogether 170 people have lost their lives to various incidents of monsoon-induced disasters in the last two months.

Similarly, 44 have been reported missing while 195 have suffered injuries in disasters such as floods, landslides and inundation among others from June 10 to August 8.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said that the number of deaths of people in the monsoon-triggered disasters has gone up compared to last year.

Natural disasters claimed lives of 72 persons, left 100 injured while 28 went missing last monsoon, according to the NDRRMA.

Altogether 2,998 households have suffered damages from monsoon-induced disasters while 197 houses were completely destroyed and 170 houses were partially destroyed this monsoon.

So far, three public offices, five concrete bridges, 15 suspension bridges and one hydro power plant have suffered damages from the disasters.

Over 169 cases of flood, 336 cases of landslides, 228 cases of heavy rainfall and 88 lightning cases were recorded during the two months.

Likewise, 471 disasters such as fire, storm, animal attacks, wildfire and snake bites were also reported during this period in which 19 people died, the NDRRMA statistic showed.

Since the arrival of monsoon, on an average 171.7 millimeters of rainfall has been measured to have taken place across the country. The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology had predicted more than average rainfall this monsoon.

Chandani Dodhara in Kanchanpur district recorded the highest rainfall in the past 77 years at 624 millimeters this monsoon, according to the Department.

A total of 8,252 police personnel from Nepal Police, 5,817 from Armed Police Force, 4,708 from Nepali Army were involved in search, rescue and relief distribution operation during the disasters.

The government has approved a plan of action for overall reforms in the civil aviation sector. 

A meeting of the Council of Ministers on August 12 also approved the plan of action on the operation of Gautam Buddha International Airport and Pokhara International Airport, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung said on Tuesday at a news conference at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. 

The Cabinet meeting appointed Ramesh Acharya of Dhading district to the post of General Manager of Food Management and Trading Company Limited and Prakash Prasad Pokharel of Ilam district as the General Manager of Nepal Transit and Warehousing Company Limited.

Minister Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson, said that the Cabinet meeting appointed Dr Rewati Raman Poudel, Dr Yamuna Ghale, Dr Reshma Shrestha and Jagat Bahadur Deuja as the members of the Federal Land Utilization Council. 

Similarly, the meeting has approved the participation of Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya in the 12th Conference on South Asian Election Management to be held from August 13-16 in Bhutan.

Furthermore, the meeting has approved the loan assistance of USD 110 million to be received from the Asian Development Bank for irrigation projects and formed a panel under the leadership of a joint secretary at the Finance Ministry to hold talks on receiving US Dollars 15 million in grants.

Likewise, the meeting approved the resignation tendered by two first-class officers, Indu Bikram Joshi and Komal Prasad Dhamal, of the Civil Service.

Lawmakers have expressed concern over 'unsafe' aviation service, drawing the attention of the government to make civil aviation safe.

During an emergency hour of today’s meeting of the House of Representatives, lawmaker Sobita Gautam stressed the need of formulating laws to make the country's aviation sector safe immediately if needed.

“A serious problem has been seen in the country's aviation sector. All bodies concerned are requested to make this sector safe. Let’s immediately formulate laws making the aviation sector systematic and safe,” she mentioned.

Sharing that air and road travel has become unsafe in recent periods, lawmaker Bina Lama drew the government's attention towards making it safe. 

Similarly, lawmaker Birendra Mahato drew the government's attention towards the incident of the disappearance of Arun Sharma (20) of Kalyanpur-3 in Siraha district for the past 35 days from Kathmandu.

He said Tarai settlements are at the risk of encroachment of rivers, demanding construction of embankments.

Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Md. Golam Sarwar called on Minister for Foreign Affairs Arzu Rana Deuba at the latter’s office in Singh Durbar today.

During the meeting, they discussed the current state of regional cooperation in SAARC and revitalizing this forum in the shared interests of Member States, the Ministry stated.

On the occasion the SAARC Secretary General congratulated Rana on the assumption of important responsibility as the Foreign Minister and the Chair of the SAARC Council of Ministers.

The two dignitaries discussed ongoing initiatives in SAARC, forward movement, and upcoming meetings, according to the SAARC Secretariat.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 8. 18 points to close at 2,923.46 points on Tuesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 1. 32 points to close at 511. 15 points.

A total of 52,764,832-unit shares of 332 companies were traded for Rs 21. 51 billion.

Meanwhile, Matribhumi Lagubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (MATRI), People's Power Limited (PPL) and Dolti Power Company Limited (DOLTI) were the top gainers today with their price surging by 10. 00 percent.

Likewise, Kisan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 93 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 4. 64 trillion.

The Ministry of Health and Population has taken efforts to prevent and control cholera and dengue after the infections started spreading at different parts of the country.

With the increasing number of dengue and cholera patients, Minister for Health and Population, Pradip Paudel, instructed the bodies concerned to launch effective steps immediately. Soon after Minister Paudel’s instruction, the Ministry forwarded short-term and long-term steps to that end.

According to the Ministry, Rapid Response Teams have been carrying out activities at dengue and cholera hit areas collaborating with province and local levels under leadership of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division to bring cholera under control.

The teams have been searching for the people who were in direct contact with patients and observing the symptoms. It would help to bring cholera under control, added the Ministry.

According to Minister Paudel’s Secretariat, activities were initiated immediately by holding discussions with bodies concerned of respective places to improve quality of drinking water to bring water-borne diseases under control.

The Ministry has made a plan of making food quality monitoring tasks effective at the center, provinces and local levels to prevent further problems in coming days. It has also been making preparations for carrying out necessary activities, formulating the National Cholera Control/Prevention Plan 2024-2030. 

Three children of Naresh Ram in Jhawani Tole, Simraungadh Municipality-7, Bara, have died of food poisoning.

According to Bara Police, the deceased have been identified as Lalima Ram (7), Pushpa Ram (7) and Ramnandan Ram (5).

The entire family on Sunday night consumed the same meal, which included rice and curry made from fish harvested from a local pond.

Despite this, only the children were affected. The children's mother and grandparents, who also ate the same food, did not experience any symptoms, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Prakash Sapkota of the District Police Office.

The preliminary investigation has not suggested any toxic substances in the home, and police are looking into whether the children might have consumed something else before their evening meal.

According to Area Police Office's inspector Nabin Rai, the children were initially taken to a local polyclinic after they complained of health complications, and then to the Provincial Hospital in Kalaiya, Bara.

One child died on the way to the hospital. The remaining two children were referred to the National Medical College in Birgunj, where they also passed away during the course of treatment.

Autopsies have been completed, and the bodies have been handed to the family. Their father, Naresh Ram, is said to be in Punjab, India in the course of employment, it has been said.