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Nepal Army is making preparations to hold a military drill with the People's Liberation Army of China after a gap of two years. With China easing the covid restrictions, the two armies are finally set to hold the joint exercise, which they had been holding regularly since 2017.    

According to NA spokesperson Narayan Silwal, the army has started the necessary homework for the joint drill.   

“The date has not been decided yet, but we are eagerly waiting to start the joint exercise, which was stalled after 2020 due to China’s zero-covid policy. ” India and the US have already resumed joint military exercise with Nepal. In fact, a two-week long joint military exercise between the NA and the Indian Army is currently underway in Rupandehi.  

Nepal and India have been holding military drills for the past 13 years.  The military drill between the NA and US Army resumed from last year, and they have already held two joint exercises.  While China maintains that its covid policy was the reason why the PLA did not conduct any military drills with the NA, security analyst Binoj Basnyat says the pandemic might not be the only reason.

“This is part of Beijing’s strategy. In the last two years, China may have been analyzing how things work with Indian, American and Nepali militaries.” Nepal is important for China in regards to its security strategy.  “China was not going to pause the joint military drill with Nepal for long, since India and the US had already resumed theirs.”

At a time when dark clouds of uncertainty have shrouded the country's economy, cooperative institutions have landed into financial problems leading to the collapse of such financial institutions one after another. Last week, the officials of Sunaulo Diyalo Savings and Credit Cooperative in Indrachowk, Kathmandu, went out of contact, while its depositors filed complaints against the institution at the Cooperative Department of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). The depositors sought government intervention to recover Rs 400 million that they said they'd deposited at Diyalo. Gautam Shree Multipurpose Cooperative in Kuleshwor, Kathmandu, faced similar problems a few months ago. The operators of the cooperative have been accused of embezzling nearly Rs 2 billion in deposits by its members. Over 1,100 depositors took to the Department of Cooperatives under the Ministry of Land Management, Co-operative and Poverty Alleviation, after they failed to get back their deposits of over Rs 1.75 billion. Likewise, Asta Savings and Credit Cooperative in New Road, Kathmandu, has also been facing similar issues. Two weeks ago, 35 depositors filed complaints to recover Rs 6 million from the cooperative, after the cooperative operators suddenly went out of contact. Paritosh Poudyal, Chairman of the Nepal Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Unions, said malpractices in the city and town-based cooperative institutions are the main problem behind the current crisis in the cooperative sector. “The cooperatives that have their money heavily in asset class investments such as real estate and stock trading than production-oriented business, have been seen landing into financial troubles,” he said. With growing cases of misconduct by cooperative institutions, the regulators have been receiving an increasing number of complaints. The records with the KMC show that it has registered complaints against six cooperatives accused of embezzling more than Rs 40 million deposited by their members in the first four months of the current fiscal year. Devendra Poudel, Director at KMC's Cooperative Department, said many cooperatives landed into problems due to their investment in real estate and the stock market. According to him, cooperatives were unable to return the money of depositors after these sectors crumbled over the past year. He said it has become necessary to make it mandatory for the cooperatives to maintain some reserves at the Nepal Rastra Bank. "Also, the members of cooperatives themselves need to be aware of the financial situation of their respective institutions which will help to avoid problems in the future," he said. Although the number of failing cooperatives has increased significantly over the past two years, the government has hardly taken any measures to penalize the misconduct of the operators of such financial institutions. Most of the depositors of Oriental Cooperative have failed to get back their money over the past decade despite Oriental being declared problematic for the past few years. Instead, the government declared Oriental a problematic cooperative for the second time on September 22 and asked the depositors to submit claims for the amounts embezzled by the cooperative's operators. Due to the government’s dilly-dallying it is unclear whether those who've lost their deposits will ever get back the doused amounts. Keshab Prasad Poudel, Chief of the Office of Problematic Cooperative Management Committee, cited the lack of proper documents related to deposits and loans of the 'troubled cooperatives' as one of the reasons for non-action against the operators of such institutions. "Government’s commitment to resolving the issues is also important in this context," he mentioned.

Solar power project developers have called the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to return to the old power purchase agreement (PPA) rate of Rs 7.30 per unit for electricity generated from solar projects. They have argued that PPA less than this rate is unfeasible for them to produce electricity. NEA had been concluding PPAs with developers at a predetermined price of Rs 7.30 per unit as per the 'Working Procedure on Grid Connected Alternative Electric Energy Development-2017'. However, in March this year, the state-owned power utility decided to set a maximum fee of Rs 5.96 per unit to be paid to solar power producers. NEA solicited proposals from developers on November 28 to build grid-connected solar installations. The authority intends to purchase a maximum of 100MW of electricity from such solar power plants that the private investors are looking to build at 16 different places across the country. Solar power project developers have however been against the price cap set by the NEA arguing that it is not scientific. “Our executive committee meeting reached a conclusion after the calculation that less than Rs 7.30 per unit is not feasible to recover the cost in 10 years,” said Prakash Bikram Basnet, President of Solar Electric Manufacturers’ Association of Nepal. “We have also decided that our member companies won’t participate in the bid invited by the NEA until our demand is addressed.” According to Basnet, 123 solar energy companies are members of the association currently. “As many as 15 of them are involved in large-scale commercial projects,” he informed. He said that implementation of the maximum price cap imposed by NEA would mean the developers have to wait 12-15 years to recover the investment. “As the solar plants should be returned to the government including the lands covered by it after 25 years, there will be little time left to make profits from the investment,” said Basnet. NEA decided to abolish the three-year fixed pricing system and only accept bids for solar energy earlier in January. It took the step to introduce a competitive pricing mechanism in light of the declining cost of solar energy globally. Under open bidding, solar energy costs in India reached a record low of INR 2 per unit in November 2020. However, proponents of solar energy say prices of solar modules, which account for about 40 percent of costs, increased by 20 cents per watt in foreign markets like Singapore and China. According to Basnet, prices of iron and steel, cables, and shipping expenses have increased. International reports also suggest that solar and wind energy prices have risen due to supply chain constraints. However, NEA is not in favor of revising the rate as sought by the private developers. According to NEA Spokesperson Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai, the authority has set the PPA rate based on global market trends. "Those who want to participate in the bid are welcome. We have not forced them to join the bid," he said. As per NEA’s tender notice, only the companies that offer prices less than Rs 5.94 per unit will be eligible to sell electricity to NEA after developing the plant. This is for the first time that the state-owned power utility sought to buy solar power through a competitive bidding process. The bid notice states that Requests for Proposals (RfPs) must be submitted by February 26. The solar project must be finished within 18 months of the day the NEA and developer signed the PPA, according to the bid notification. The bidders cannot offer to deliver less than 1MW at the delivery point. Depending on the location, they can provide a maximum capacity set for particular places ranging from 10MW to 30MW. The bidders can propose any solar photovoltaic power-producing technologies. The developer will also be responsible for evacuating power from the plant to the nearby NEA substation, reads the RFP notice. Solar energy currently makes up a very small portion of the nation's energy mix. As of the previous fiscal year, which concluded in mid-July, up to 44 megawatts of solar energy had been connected to the national grid, according to the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation. This accounts for only 1.94 percent of Nepal's total installed capacity of power projects. According to the energy ministry, Nepal generated 2268MW of electricity overall in the middle of July. As part of implementing the government policy to raise the percentage of alternative renewable sources like solar and wind to 10 percent of the total installed capacity, the power monopoly made a drive to buy solar energy in large quantities.

Tobacco Emergency is one of the most serious preventable public health hazards the world is facing, something that’s killing more than 8 million people per year, including nearly 1 million from exposure to second-hand smoke. Tobacco consumption and addiction lead to poverty by diverting household savings on tobacco rather than on basic needs such as food, shelter, and health. Over 80 percent of the 1.3bn tobacco users worldwide live in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of tobacco-related illnesses and deaths is the heaviest. The economic costs of tobacco use are substantial and include significant healthcare costs for treating the diseases caused by tobacco use as well as the lost human capital that results from tobacco-attributable morbidity and mortality. The scale of the human and economic tragedy that tobacco imposes is shocking, but it’s also preventable. In 2007, WHO introduced a practical, cost-effective way to scale up the implementation of the main demand reduction provisions of the WHO FCTC on the ground. Called 6 MPOWER, it involves the following steps: 1. Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies 2. Protect people from tobacco use 3. Offer help to quit tobacco use 4. Warn about the dangers of tobacco 5. Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship 6. Raise taxes on tobacco Many countries have ratified and implemented this measure to control tobacco consumption. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of this measure are essential for determining its effectiveness. Consumption of E-Cigarette, Vape, Hookah is also a rising trend among the youths. Sadly, there are no strong policies to control it. Second major cause of death in Nepal According to the Nepal Development Research Institute's recent report titled “Health Impact of Tobacco in Nepal”, around 1.34m Nepalis will die from tobacco consumption in the next 30 years at current rates. Nepal became a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on 5 Feb 2007. The Tobacco Product (Control and Regulation) Act, of 2010 is the primary law governing tobacco control in Nepal and regulates, among other things, smoking in public places, workplaces, and public transport; tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship; and tobacco packaging and labeling. One regulation and three directives have been issued under the Act to implement its provisions: 1) The Tobacco Products (Control and Regulation) Regulation – 2068 (2011); 2) the Directive for Printing and Labeling of Warning Message and Graphics in the Boxes, Packets, Wrappers, Cartons, Parcels and Packaging of Tobacco Products; (3) Tobacco Product Control and Regulatory Directive, 2014; and (4) Directive on Printing Warning Messages and Pictures on Tobacco Product Boxes, Packets, Cartons, Parcels and Packaging Materials, 2014. The last directive listed increased the size of the graphic health warnings from 75 percent to 90 percent of the front and back of all tobacco products packaging starting from 2015. Reports suggest that enforcement of these provisions has not been comprehensive and widespread. Balen Shah, Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, and Chiribabu Maharjan, Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, have led a policy of “Banning Smoking in Public Areas” of Kathmandu and Lalitpur Metropolitan Cities recently but the consumers do not strictly follow it. Finance Minister’s solemn pledge NDRI is one of the think tanks of Nepal that is working on tobacco control by researching, analyzing, and recommending the required response strategy to deal with the Tobacco Emergency.  It initiated a campaign seeking written commitments from election candidates to work on reducing tobacco consumption in Nepal. At least 36 influential leaders of major political parties signed on the pledge. They were from the Nepali Congress, UML, CPN (Maoist Center), RSP, RPP, CPN (United Socialist), and others. Finance Minister Janardan Sharma, signing on the pledge, expressed solidarity with the campaign on Dec 15, 2022 (29 Mansir, 2079). Chief Minister of Karnali Province, Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, also expressed his solidarity. Former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and general secretary of Nepali Congress, Gagan Thapa also signed the pledge ahead of federal elections, 2022. The pledge includes the following four points: 1. Match the levels of tobacco taxation in India by 2025 2. Ban the sale of cigarettes as single sticks 3. Stop reopening of government cigarette factories 4. End tobacco sale within 100 meters of schools and hospitals The NDRI team plans to follow up on implementation of tobacco control commitments during their tenure. Box Disturbing findings Annapurna Media Network conducted a survey to examine public perceptions regarding tobacco use in Nepal. The major objectives of the study were to know what people think about tobacco use and how the government can take action to control it. The findings of the study, among other things, point that adolescents seem to be highly involved in addictive activities. Among the users surveyed, the study found that some teenagers consume tobacco to show off and influence others. It found that 95 percent of the respondents want to see the new government take the Tobacco Epidemic seriously.