Submit your Article

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to visit India next week, according to government sources.

PM Deuba is attending the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, a development summit organized by the Gujarat Province of India.  After attending the Summit, Deuba will hold bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  

According to Indian Express, the heads of State of five nations, including Prime Ministers of Russia, Mauritius, Nepal, and Slovenia, and the President of Mozambique will attend the Vibrant Gujarat Summit scheduled to be held from January 10-12. A total of 26 nations will be partnering the summit as “partner countries”, the highest number since the summit began in 2003.

Government officials are working on the issues that PM Deuba should take up with the Indian side during the bilateral talks. euba who became prime minister in July has not visited India yet. Deuba and Modi held sidelines talks during COP26 Summit held in Scotland in November.

The Embassy of Israel has launched an Environment Conservation Activity initiative to highlight the issues related to the environment. Under the initiative, various activities will be organised particularly in schools with a slogan ‘stop pollution: used batteries collection.’

The embassy has already cooperated with schools of the valley including Kathmandu Pragya Kunja School, Shanti Sikshya School, KMC School, Kavya School, etc. in reducing pollution with individual steps of their students; the students collected used batteries (alkaline batteries, coin cell batteries, and other non-rechargeable batteries), brought it to the school, which later were taken for recycling at DOKO Recyclers, according to a press release issued by Embassy.

On 3 January 2022, an event was held at Kathmandu Pragya Kunja School to hand over collected used batteries with an important message of responsibility of an individual step towards a cleaner environment. The jars of batteries were collected and handed over to DOKO Recyclers.

Ramsahay Prasad Yadav, Minister for Forests and Environment has attended the program. Appreciating the initiative of collecting old batteries and sending them for recycling, Yadav said, “This activity is very important in today’s time. Human activities are hampering themselves, flora, fauna, and nature, as a whole. This initiative will definitely contribute to environmental protection, as batteries are something that is used in everything, ranging from mobile phones, computers to other electronic devices hence, it’s crucial to recycle them.” He further said that socio-economic development should not happen at the expense of environmental degradation and we should preserve our nature. 

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that his country was ready to convene the 19th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at the earliest. 

He further added that India can join it virtually if the leadership in New Delhi is not willing to visit Islamabad. The 19th SAARC Summit which was scheduled to take place in Islamabad on November 9-10, 2016 was postponed indefinitely due to India-Pakistan tensions.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on January 3, the Pakistani foreign minister accused India of making SAARC dysfunctional through its stubbornness by refusing to come to Islamabad for the Summit meeting.

"I reiterate the invitation for the 19th SAARC summit. If India is not ready to come to Islamabad, it can join virtually… but it should not stop others from attending,” he said.

For five years, India has stated that the regional environment is not appropriate for holding the Summit. SAARC chair Nepal is also pressing other member countries for holding the summit.

Parliament-elect Resham Chaudhary, the prime suspect of the Kailali killings, has registered a new party Nagarik Unmukti Party on January 3.  

The party was registered at Election Commission under the name of his spouse Ranjita Shrestha.

Chaudhary who is in Dillibazar jail had sought permission to go for EC for the registration but authorities declined his request.  

Following then prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s ‘instruction’ to federal lower house Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara had administered oath of office and secrecy to Chaudhary in 2019.

Kailai District Court in 2019 handed down a life sentence to 11 people including Chaudhary in connection with the 2015 Tikapur incident in which nine people were killed in a violent clash.

Madhes-based parties are pressing government to withdraw the cases against Chaudhary. CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli-led government in 2020 had started the process of withdrawing the cases against Chaudhary.

When the first draft of the con­stitution was finalized in July 2015, some political parties and groups protested against it. In the far-western Tarai districts, the Tharu community organized a series of protests demanding an autonomous Tharu province.

The Tikapur killings took place on Aug 23, when high-level police officials were trying to negotiate with the Tharu protestors. It took several weeks to bring the situation under control and prevent possible communal tension.

Chaudhary was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from the Kailali-1 constituency in the 2017 national elections. He had filed his nomination in absentia and had conducted his election campaign secretly.