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CPN-UML lawmaker Yogesh Kumar Bhattarai has said the policies and programs presented in the House are youth-oriented and investment-friendly. In Tuesday’s meeting of the House of Representatives, he said the policies and programs have ensured suitable policies for providing employment to the youth and for investment.

“There are provisions related to the integrated plan bank and to industrial, environment and youth-centric policies and programs, while priority has been given to policies and programs for agriculture, industry, production and infrastructure development,” Bhattarai said. He argued that if the capital of Nepalis scattered in different parts of the world could be integrated, there would be no need to look to others for national economic development. Lawmaker Bhattarai was of the view that the country would progress through the development of energy, agriculture and tourism.

Rastriya Swatantra Party leader and lawmaker Swarnim Wagle described the government's policies and program as routine. He was airing his views on party basis during a discussion on the government’s annual policy and programs for the upcoming fiscal year 2025/26 in Tuesday’s meeting of the House of Representatives. “This is merely a list of the old programs brought reluctantly by a tired government. The order of the budget is also not aligned. Tourism has been lumped under the physical infrastructure and agriculture under trade. There is also no coordination between ministries of foreign affairs and finance,” he said.

According to him, although the agreement reached between the Nepali Congress and the UML during the formation of the government was aimed at banishing corruption and maintaining good governance, this is completely missing in practice. He said though the NC and UML had agreed to amend the constitution, they could not bring out the details of amendment even after 10 months of the formation of the government.

Wagle pledged his party’s support if the high-level economic reform suggestion report included in the policies and programs was implemented practically. Referring to his party’s support to the government in the Economic and Business Environment Reform and Investment Promotion Bill, he said the issue of re-prioritizing physical infrastructure projects in the policies and programs was positive.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) leader and lawmaker Gyanendra Shahi said, “The government’s policy document speaks of bringing about a revolution in agriculture, but the situation is such that farmers are not able to sell fish due to the import of foreign fish, the apples of Jumla remain unsold; at least if a policy is made to not import agricultural products from outside, then the people themselves will be engaged in production.”

‘Policies and programs traditional’

Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) and member of the House of Representatives Devendra Paudel described the government’s policies and programs as ‘traditional’. During a discussion on the policies and programs for the fiscal year 2025/26 in Tuesday’s meeting of the House of Representatives, Paudel said, “Public policy synchrony, social justice, employment of students 20 hours a week and provisions on citizen apps, online tax system, digital foundation, cyber security, digital Nepal and bank system were included in last year’s policies and programs. These have been copied and included in the new policies and programs.” 

Stating that the policies and programs should incorporate strong resolve for nation-building, Paudel slammed the policy document for failing to cover the overall national development. According to him, the projects of national pride in the current fiscal year are facing problems due to lack of budget. Paudel said only 31.9 percent of the development budget has been spent in the 10 months of the current fiscal year.
Stressing the need to increase investment in the manufacturing sector, he said, “We sell electricity to neighboring countries at cheaper price but buy it at higher price. This should not be the way.”

Friedrich Merz has been elected Germany’s chancellor after securing 325 votes in a second round of parliamentary voting, following an unprecedented initial defeat, BBC reported.

Merz, 69, leads the CDU/CSU alliance, which gained 28.5 percent in the February election. The conservatives formed a partnership with the SPD, which gained 16.4 percent when Olaf Scholz's cabinet collapsed.

Merz received only 310 votes in the first round, despite having 328 seats in total. He was formally appointed by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and will take the oath in the Reichstag.

The new coalition claims tax cuts, lower energy prices, higher defense expenditure, and continuing support for Ukraine, all while addressing the emergence of the far right and strained US-Ukraine economic relations, according to BBC.

Israeli Ambassador to Nepal Shmulik Arie Bass paid a courtesy call on Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav.

During the meeting held today at the Vice President's Office, various issues including bilateral relations between the two countries, cooperation in the agriculture and labour sectors were discussed, according to the Vice President's Office.

CPN-UML leader and former minister Pradeep Nepal passed away this afternoon. 

Suffering from Parkinson's disease for some years, leader Nepal breathed his last at Norvic Hospital in Kathmandu, UML parliamentary party's chief whip Mahesh Bartaula said.

Nepal served as the Minister for Information and Communications in the country's first communist government led by then Prime Minister Manmohan Adhikari.    

Likewise, leader Nepal took charge of the Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Education during his political journey. 

The former politburo member of the UML, leader Nepal served as the spokesperson and chief of publicity department of the UML. 

Also an established literary figure, leader Nepal used to write his opinions and literary creations in the name of Sanjaya Thapa when he was underground during the Panchayat era. 

With multiple feathers in his hat, Nepal served as the Editor of Nabayug, Chhalphal and Prakash weeklies and used to write for different newspapers as a columnist. 

Leader Nepal was born in 2010 BS at Gogane village in Bhojpur district.