Submit your Article

The main opposition party, Nepali Congress (NC), has sought a response regarding Prime Minister Balendra Shah's leaving from the assembly hall while President Ram Chandra Paudel was addressing the joint sitting of the Federal Parliament on Monday.

Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal allocated the NC Chief Whip Basana Thapa time to speak at the outset of today's meeting of the House of Representatives after the MPs stood up from their seats.

Chief Whip Thapa said, "It is not a trivial matter but a serious issue that Prime Minister Shah left the House during the President's address; a clear response from the government is needed on this."

She also urged the Head of Government to respect the constitutional position and not to weaken the parliamentary tradition.

President Paudel had presented the government's policies and programs for the fiscal year 2083/84 in a joint meeting of both houses of the Federal Parliament on Monday.

The CPN-UML has nominated party secretary and former minister Padma Aryal as the Deputy leader of its Parliamentary Party. . 

According to Chief Whip Ain Mahar, UML Parliamentary Party leader Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal) nominated former minister Aryal to the post. 

Aryal, who serves as the UML secretary, is currently a member of Parliament elected through the proportional representation system. 

Earlier, the party had appointed Mahar as Chief Whip and Nita Ghatani as Whip of the Parliamentary Party. .

Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Dol Prasad Aryal called on President Ram Chandra Paudel at the Office of the President Shital Niwas on Tuesday. 

During the meeting, the two exchanged views on contemporary issues, according to the President's Secretariat.

The Gandaki Province government has begun pre-budget discussions for the upcoming fiscal year, 2083/84. 

The principles and priorities of the budget are dwelt on during the deliberations. 

The provincial government is obliged to announce the annual budget on Ashar 1 as per Nepali calendar.

Minister for Economic Affairs Jit Bahadur Sherchan said that the principles and priorities of the budget and programs would be presented in the Province Assembly before introducing the annual budget. 

"Pre-budget discussions are going on now. The government is planning to incorporate suggestions from local levels on the budget," he said.

According to him, homework is on for introducing mega projects to contribute to the province's journey to prosperity. However, enforceability of budget would be taken into account while formulating it, he shared.

Chief of Budget Division at the Ministry Dilli Ram Rijal said that the pre-budget discussions were organized in all districts of the province except Kaski. 

"Discussions are also being held with the local levels, private sector and other stakeholders on budget formulation," he said. Thematic ministries are coordinated in this bid. 

It has been informed that the budget size this year would see slight decline. 

Last year, the Gandaki Province government had announced a budget of Rs 31.98 billion. 

As the province government has not been able to increase internal resources, it is facing stress during budget formulation.

The revenue collection has not met the target either.