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The World Environment Day is being marked today with the theme #BeatPlasticPollution. The World Environment Day started to be celebrated on June 5 every year since 1973 at the call of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). It has been 50 years since this day started to be commemorated. On this occasion, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said that the Day will contribute towards prodding all those concerned to transform into results the several initiatives and commitments the government has made at the national and international levels to combat the overall environmental problems including the management of plastic in Nepal. Stating that this year the World Environment Day is being marked to highlight with priority the plastic pollution, one of the major global environmental challenges, PM Dahal stressed on the need of managing the plastic and reduce the environmental pollution caused by plastic which has become an integral part of modern life. He expressed concern, saying the excessive and haphazard use of plastic has created a huge environmental challenge. The PM added that oceans, landfill sites, plains, hilly, high hilly and mountainous regions are filled with piles of plastic trash which increases the risk of causing adverse effects on human health and irreversible impact on the entire ecosystem. More than 400 million tons of plastic is produced throughout the world each year and a big part of this reaches to the oceans via various river systems. This can harm the ecosystem and in efforts to fight its adverse impact, efforts are being made at the initiatives of UNEP to forge a ‘Plastic Pollution Treaty’. The Prime Minister stated that Nepal is also participating in this initiative. He expressed the government’s commitment to enhancing the effectiveness of the Environment Conservation and Climate Change Management National Council which he chairs. According to the PM, the topic of environment conservation requires the active concern, interest and participation of all sides including the government, the non-governmental sector, academia, private sector, general public and consumers. As per the Constitution of Nepal, environment conservation comes under the jurisdiction of all three levels of government – federal, provincial and local. He has called upon one and all working in the environment protection sector to be united in the practical implementation of the theme of this year's World Environment Day.    

The Supreme Court has issued an interim order directing the government not to implement the Citizenship Bill authenticated by President Ram Chandra Paudel immediately. Hearing the writ petitions filed by senior advocate Surendra Bhandari and Bal Krishna Neupane on Sunday, a single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma issued a short-term order directing the government to not implement the Citizenship Bill certified by President Paudel. The apex court has called both sides for the discussion. The government has already published the Citizenship Bill in the Nepal gazette. Earlier on Friday, senior advocate Bhandari and Neupane had registered separate writs against the authentication of the bill. The writs were filed at the Supreme Court after President Paudel certified the controversial Citizenship Bill on Wednesday. On August 15, 2022, President Bidya Devi Bhandari had returned this very Bill to the House of Representatives for a review, in accordance with a constitutional provision, 15 days after its submission for authentication after endorsement from the House of Representatives and the National Assembly on July 22 and July 28, respectively. But the Parliament had again sent the legal instrument to the President’s Office for authentication without incorporating presidential concerns. Subsequently, President Bhandari kept the Bill on hold, courting controversy with a section of the legal fraternity pointing that it was a breach of authority on the part of the head of the state. Amid a continuing controversy, the country went for federal and provincial elections on November 20, 2022 and a new Parliament took shape along with new governments and a new President. This meant the expiry of the old Bill, per experts. But the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led coalition government chose to press ahead with the same Bill and got an express seal of approval, without the President bothering to send it back to the HoR for review. When the then President Bhandari refused to authenticate this Bill, some parties accused her of violating the Constitution. Later, the government chose to submit the Bill to the President instead of tabling it to the House of Representatives or the National Assembly for approval. Subsequently, the President authenticated it. Meanwhile, the main opposition CPN-UML obstructed the Parliament meeting today over the authentication of the bill.  

The Ministry of Health and Population has directed health facilities across the country to allocate 10 percent of beds to indigent, helpless and neglected patients for free treatment. The Ministry dispatched a separate letter to health facilities at each local level and to all the government, community and private health institutions across the country to set aside 10 percent of total beds they each have for providing free treatment to the target groups. This is the third time the Ministry is sending instructions to hospitals at 753 local levels to implement the provision mandated by the Clause 64 of Public Health Service Act and the Clause 70 (D) of Health Facility Operation Standard-2077 BS. The standard mandates each health facility to allocate 10 percent of beds for free treatment of poor, helpless and neglected people. The Ministry has said it would be monitoring whether its directive was endorsed by hospitals.  

President Ram Chandra Paudel has appointed ambassadors to various countries on Sunday. The Head-of-the-State has appointed six resident ambassadors and non-resident ambassadors to various countries in accordance with the Constitution of Nepal, said the Office of the President. The newly-appointed resident ambassadors are Dilli Raj Poudel for Malaysia, Nirmal Raj Kafle for Brazil, Bharat Kumar Regmi for Austria, Milan Raj Tuladhar for the Russian Federation, Prof Dr Ram Swartha Raya for Denmark and Sushil Kumar Lamsal for Egypt. Similarly, the President has designated Paudel as the non-resident ambassador to Brunei Darusalam, Kafle the non-resident ambassador to the Republic of Chile, Regmi the non-resident ambassador to Croatia, Tuladhar the non-resident ambassador to Kazakhstan, Raya the non-resident ambassador to Lithuania and Lamsal the non-resident ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Algeria, the President's Office said.