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Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) Netra Bikram Chand held a meeting on Thursday to discuss contemporary political issues. During the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar this morning, the two discussed the atmosphere in the aftermath of the declaration of Socialist Front of four leftist parties including the CPN on June 19 and the country's contemporary political affairs, according to the Prime Minister's Secretariat. The Prime Minister's private secretary Ganga Dahal said that the two leaders exchanged views focusing on the effective presence of the Front, further institutionalizing the accomplishments of Maoist movement and the possibility of unification between the parties: CPN (Maoist Centre) and the CPN.    

A big portion of foreign assistance meant for the program to strengthen democratic system and to enhance capacity for governance improvement remains to be spent. This situation has arisen in the Provincial and Local Governance Support Program (PLGSP) as the province and local levels failed to give adequate concern and attention, it is said. The PLGSP is run under the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration and it is the main national project of the government focused on promoting federal good governance. PLGSP commenced officially on the very first day of the Nepalese fiscal year 2076/77 (16 July 2019) for a duration of four years. PLGSP was formally launched at the Cabinet meeting when the project document was approved on 23 August 2019. A Joint Financing Arrangement (JFA) was signed between the Ministry of Finance and Development Partners (DEID, Norway, SDC and EU) on 4 September 2019. Of the Rs 14.95 billion mobilized for operating the program from Fiscal Year 2076/77 to 2079/80 BS, only Rs 3 billion 238 million 700 thousand has been spent, said the National Program Directorate Manager, Bhupendra Sapkota at a program here on Wednesday. It was shared in the program that several provinces and local levels did not turn up for taking the assistance for implementation of the targeted program within the stipulated time while some failed to utilize the funds properly even after taking the assistance. This has resulted in the program running into arrears. The objectives of the program are to strengthen provincial and local governance systems and procedures with an improved inter-governmental relationship to maximize benefits of cooperative federalism for Nepali citizenry and to enhance the capacity of provincial and local governments to deliver services and development outcomes effectively to citizens. Similarly, the major activities of the project   are to prepare policy, laws, strategies, directives and guidelines for federal governments, Provincial and the local governments, and to strengthen inter-governmental mechanisms for full functioning. Establishing and strengthening the Provincial Center for Good governance (PCGG (re-structured LDTA regional training center) at the province as a center for excellence to drive the overall capacity development activities for the local governments is also one of PLGSP's activities. The government has provided Rs 3 billion and 450 million while Nepal's development partners as the United Nations, the European Union and Norway among others Rs 11 billion 500 million as grant for PLGSP. Of this amount, Rs 1 billion 897 million 500 thousand was allocated to the federal government, Rs 7 billion and 222 million to the provincial governments and Rs 5 billion 830 million and 500 thousand to the local governments. The program envisaged 14 different outcomes including formulation of Acts and policies required for the new federal structures and the strengthening of inter-governmental mechanism and public finance management. It particularly aims to make the government bodies at all levels and the inter-governmental mechanisms fully functional to support the federal governance system as per the Constitution. A latest meeting of the National Implementation Committee and National Fiscal Risk Advisory Sub-committee, chaired by the Ministry Secretary, made an assessment of the achievements of the PLGSP so far and the initiatives made to achieve these outcomes. The meeting also pledged to put in maximum efforts for making the program result-oriented in the coming days. Sapkota said the meeting held extensive and intense discussions on implementation of its decisions and future action plan, the progress report of the current period, the proposed budget and programs for the upcoming fiscal year and on the monitoring and evaluation report presented by the third party. The meeting concluded that the coming year would be taken as the transitional year in the context of a big chunk of the support amount remaining to be spent even though the program implementation term is about to terminate. Then after, the PLGSP's new action plan and framework would be determined on the basis of wide-ranging discussion with the stakeholders.

Lawmakers have demanded formulation of laws for implementation of fundamental rights including right to employment, food security and housing. During the deliberations on the budget headings of Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development under the Appropriation Bill-2080 at the House of Representatives today, they mentioned that it was the matter of concern that laws required to realize the fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution have not been formulated even eight years after promulgation of the Constitution. Lawmaker Arjun Narsingh KC said the government should pay attention as two types of human resources have been produced due to lack of amendment to the Education Act-2028. Stating that guardians are complaining that Budhanilkantha School has become a place of corruption, he drew the attention of the education minister in this regard. Lawmakers—Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan, Prakash Adhikari, Sher Bahadur Kunwar, Abdul Khan, Arun Kumar Chaudhary and Yogendra Mandal among others expressed their views on the headings of Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. They stressed that the Sports Council should not be developed as a political center.

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song said that the Pokhara International Airport was constructed under the BRI project. Speaking at a program organized after the Sichuan Airlines plane from Chendu landed for the first time at the Pokhara International Airport on Wednesday, the Chinese ambassador claimed that the airport was built under the BRI project. Ambassador Chen said that the Pokhara International Airport was designed and constructed by the Chinese company. “The Pokhara International Airport was constructed by China. This was constructed under the BRI project,” he said. Although Nepal signed the BRI project in 2017, it has been controversial as it is not clear whether it is a grant or a loan. Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba during a meeting with China's State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi had said that it would not be acceptable for Nepal if the projects under the BRI are loan. The Nepal government has been urging the Chinese government to clarify whether the BRI Project is a loan or a grant. Earlier, the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu had claimed that the Pokhara International Airport is a project under the BRI.