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The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu has handed over a package of relief aid for the flood survivors.

Second Secretary duo of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu Ashish Sinha and Narayan Singh handed over the relief materials to Chief District Officer of Banke Khagendra Prasad Rijal for the floods survivors.

Materials worth Rs 11.85 million were handed over to CDO Rijal at the ‘Humanitarian Assistance Site’ on the premises of the Nepalgunj Airport.

On the occasion, CDO Rijal thanked the Indian government for the humanitarian assistance. The materials include chlorine tablets, sleeping bags, water bottles and tarpaulin sheets.

CDO Rijal informed that additional aid from the Indian government once arrive will be sent to Kathmandu by air.

Nepal is set to receive Rs 1.6bn from carbon trade within a month. 

According to REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) Implementation Center under the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Nepal is receiving the amount for reducing carbon dioxide through forests in 13 Tarai districts between 2018 and 2024. The country is receiving this amount for sequestering 2.4m tons of carbon over six years in the 13 districts from the Bagmati river to the Mahakali river under the Tarai Arc Landscape Program. According to the unit, the ministry will receive the amount within October. Nepal is receiving $5 for every ton of carbon sequestered.

Badri Raj Dhungana, spokesperson for the Forest Ministry, said the initial agreement with the World Bank stipulated that the funds would come through the Forest Development Fund. However, the Finance Ministry insisted that such funds should come through the Consolidated Fund as per the country’s legal provisions and then be transferred to the Forest Development Fund. As per the agreement with the World Bank, 80 percent of the funds received from carbon trading must be spent on local  indigenous communities. “The government has already prepared and approved a plan for this,” said Dhungana.

The government brought National REDD+ Strategy and National Forest Reference Level in 2018 for carbon trading. Subsequently, a benefit-sharing plan for carbon trading was prepared for the 13 Tarai districts under the Emission Reduction Program from 2019 to 2024. 

Chief of the center, Navaraj Pudasaini, said the program has been implemented in 1.7m hectares across 13 districts. On an average, 167 tons of carbon is sequestered per hectare in Nepal’s forest areas. “The goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 34.2m tons by 2028 through the Emission Reduction Program in 13 Tarai districts,” he added.

According to some conservative estimates, forests in Nepal reduced carbon emissions by 2.3m tons in 2023.

Another LEAF deal

A market-oriented and results-based public partnership mechanism of 25 major corporations and 26 forest governments, the LEAF Coalition has received funding commitments from four governments.

Ghana, Brazil and Costa Rica have already signed agreements under the LEAF Coalition and determined carbon prices. The Forest Ministry has announced that Nepal is preparing to sign such an agreement during the 29th International Conference on Climate Change to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from Nov 11 to 22. Pudasaini said preparations were underway for carbon sale from forests in Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces.

According to this agreement, which lasts until 2028, Nepal will sequester 7m tons of carbon in 3.2m hectares of forestland in these three provinces and will receive $100m for this in return. The rate for carbon sequestration is $25 per ton for corporations and $10 per ton for sovereign nations.

Carbon trading expert and former joint-secretary at the Forest Ministry, Purushottam Ghimire, said that the success of carbon trading can only be achieved if the forest ministry moves forward with the private sector. “Carbon trading is not possible without involving the private sector. After allowing the private sector, they should be regulated within the legal framework. Main thing is, they need to be given freedom in the rest of the work. The ministry should not interfere in every aspect,” he added. 

Kathmandu University (KU) and Southasia Institute for History and Philosophy (SIHP) today signed an agreement to launch Master’s in History and Philosophy program offered in the three streams of Society, Technology and Environment.

The agreement was inked by the Acting Dean of the KU School of Arts, Associate Professor Ekku Maya Pun and Kanak Mani Dixit, Chair of SIHP.

At the signing ceremony, KU Vice Chancellor Professor Bhola Thapa emphasised the importance of quality social science instruction to fill a gap in Nepal’s higher education. He was confident that the Institute’s programme of instruction would be quickly institutionalised, with the support of national and international partners, and that the course offerings would attract students from other parts of Southasia as well.

Registrar at KU, Professor Achyut Wagle said it was important for higher education not only to produce well-trained professionals but also to graduate “committed citizens”, which is what the present collaboration sought to achieve. He was confident that this cooperation would help generate an intellectualism that would benefit both Nepal and the Subcontinent as a whole.

Acting Dean, Pun expressed enthusiasm that the collaboration sought to enhance humanities learning, which would help enrich the academic community as a whole. She said the collaboration would provide students with curricula tailored to Himalayan and Southasian socio-ecological realities and aspirations, to produce competent and socially committed graduates.

SIHP Chair, Dixit expressed gratitude to Kathmandu University for understanding the need to fill a significant gap in higher education, relating to the arts, social sciences and humanities. He was confident that KU-SIHP’s Master's graduates would enrich a variety of fields from academia to state administration, law and justice, media and a variety of professions. Under the able guidance of noted historian Yogesh Raj, Director of SIHP’s academic programme, he said the instruction would be specifically tied to Nepal, the Himalayan region, and Southasia as a whole.

Today’s agreement follows on an MOU signed between KU and SIHP on 24 June 2024. The Master’s programme is planned to launch in February 2025. Details on the curriculum and admission process will soon be available on the websites of the KU School of Arts and SIHP.

Two persons died and 15 others were injured when a commuter bus met with an accident in Sindhuli on Monday.

The bus (Pradesh 01-006 Kha 6785) was heading towards Bhojpur from Kathmandu when the incident occurred at Mahendrajhyadi Bhalkhada in Hariharpurgadhi Rural Municipality-5 Sindhuli along the Madan Bhandari Postal Highway.

Rural Municipality Chairman Bajradhoj Waiba informed that two persons died on the spot in the accident.

The injured are being taken to Kapilkot and Sindhuli Hospitals.

The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded Monday to Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated.

The Nobel Assembly said that their discovery is "proving to be fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function."

Ambros performed the research that led to his prize at Harvard University. He is currently a professor of natural science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Ruvkun's research was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, where he's a professor of genetics, said Thomas Perlmann, Secretary-General of the Nobel Committee.

Perlmann said he spoke to Ruvkun by phone shortly before the announcement.

"It took a long time before he came to the phone and sounded very tired, but he quite rapidly, was quite excited and happy, when he understood what, it was all about," Perlmann said.

Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Hungarian-American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 that were critical in slowing the pandemic.

The prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million) from a bequest left by the prize's creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.

The announcement launched this year's Nobel prizes award season.

Nobel announcements continue with the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Oct. 14.

The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.AP

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 37. 13 points to close at 2,690. 72 points on Monday.

Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 7. 32 points to close at 483. 78 points.

A total of 15,845,449-unit shares of 305 companies were traded for Rs 7. 09 billion.

Meanwhile, Three Star Hydropower Limited (TSHL) with its price surging by 99. 3 percent. Likewise, Eastern Hydropower Limited (EHPL) was the top loser as its price fell by 10.00 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 1. 50 trillion.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 22. 36 points to close at 2,464. 40 points on Sunday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 2. 56 points to close at 444. 89 points.

A total of 10,311,885-unit shares of 327 companies were traded for Rs 4. 05 billion.

Meanwhile, Wean Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (WNLB) was the top gainer today with its price surging by 6. 55 percent.

Likewise, Upper Syange Hydropower Limited (USHL) was the top loser aa its price fell by 9. 99 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 1. 38 trillion.

Nepal's monthslong festival season began on Tuesday with tens of thousands of devotees pulling a wooden chariot with a young girl revered as a living goddess.

Families gathered for feasts and lit incense for the dead at shrines. Men and boys in colorful masks and gowns representing Hindu deities danced to traditional music and drums, drawing throngs of spectators to Kathmandu's old streets.

The Indra Jatra festival marks the end of the monsoon and rice farming season and signals the dawn of fall. It's celebrated mostly by the Newar community, the native residents of Kathmandu. It is also known as the festival of deities and demons and especially honors Indra, the Hindu god of rain.

The masked dancers, one of the highlights of the ceremony, can be fearsome, entertaining and awe-inspiring, depending on the performers' movements.

Kumari, a young girl who is revered by both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal as a living goddess, left her temple palace and was driven around the center of the capital in a wooden chariot pulled by devotees, who lined up to receive her blessing. Among the spectators were President Ram Chandra Poudel, officials and diplomats.

The weeklong Indra Jatra precedes months of other festivals in the predominantly Hindu nation. They include Dasain, the main festival, and Tihar, or Diwali, the festival of lights, in November. AP