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A meeting of the National Assembly held on Thursday endorsed the Nepal Citizenship (first amendment) Bill, 2079 with majority votes.

Home Minister Balkrishna Khand had presented the proposal, seeking its passage in the NA meeting.

Earlier, responding to the queries raised by the NA members on the bill, Minister Khand said that the bill on amendment of citizenship act was brought to ensure citizenship certificates to millions of Nepali youths, who had been deprived of it even seven years after the country introduced a new constitution.

He made it clear that the bill was brought by holding adequate discussions with the ruling and opposition parties.

The people deprived of citizenship certificates were frustrated, he said, urging the lawmakers to forge consensus on the points agreed so far, while the points that need additional homework can be sorted out gradually.

He further made it clear that initially, the bill had not mentioned naturalized citizenship (by marriage). The citizenship bill was initially registered at parliament in 2075BS.

Police have arrested seven cadres of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal for showing black flags to US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs, Donald Lu on Thursday.

The cadres showed black flags to Lu, who arrived in Kathmandu on a two-day visit to Nepal this afternoon, at Gaushala while he was heading towards the hotel. 

They showed the black flags demanding annulment of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and State Partnership Program (SPP).

Police arrested All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISUR) Chairman Prakash Shahi, General Secretary Lalit BK, Secretariat member Tara Sanjel, central members Prem Sijapati, Lalit Bam and Ramesh Rawat and Bhaktapur Coordinator Ashok Mahara, Secretariat member Subash Joshi said.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs, Donald Lu, arrived in Kathmandu on a two-day visit to Nepal on Thursday.

US Embassy Deputy Head Manuel P. Micaller welcomed Lu at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu who came to Nepal with a three-member team this afternoon.

During this stay in Nepal, he is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

He will hand over the US Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) to Purnaa, a US manufacturing company in Nepal that promotes ethical manufacturing by empowering traditionally marginalized people and survivors of exploitation.

Assistant Secretary Lu will also meet with business, civil society, and government leaders.

The US Embassy, issuing a statement on Thursday, said that Lu is arriving in Nepal for a two-day trip as part of a regularly scheduled visit.

His visit to Nepal, at a time when the parties are divided over the issue of implementing the State Partnership Program (SPP), has been taken meaningfully.

Earlier, Lu, who visited Nepal on November 17, 2021, had held separate meetings with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka among other leaders.

The US Embassy in Nepal said that Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, is arriving in Nepal for a two-day trip as part of a regularly scheduled visit.

During his stay in Kathmandu, he will hand over the US Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) to Purnaa, a US manufacturing company in Nepal that promotes ethical manufacturing by empowering traditionally marginalized people and survivors of exploitation, read a statement issued on Wednesday.

Assistant Secretary Lu will also meet with business, civil society, and government leaders.