House meeting postponed due to lack of quorum
A meeting of the Legislature-Parliament has been postponed due to lack of quorum.
Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota announced that the meeting has been postponed as the lawmakers present in the meeting stood at 67 which should be 69.
Finance Minister Janardan Sharma had presented the Public Debt Management Bill, 2079 for discussion during the meeting today.
During the meeting, lawmaker Prem Suwal demanded that the number of lawmakers be counted.
Later, Speaker Sapkota ordered the Parliament Secretariat staffers to count the number.
The staffers did and found that only 67 lawmakers were present in the meeting.
Consequently, Speaker Sapkota announced that the meeting has been postponed.
The next meeting will take place on Tuesday.
Bhattarai urges Mayor Shah to come to UML headquarters with concrete proposal to manage waste
CPN-UML lawmaker Yogesh Bhattarai has urged Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balen Shah to come to the UML headquarters with a concrete proposal to manage waste.
Saying that the government has not shown any interest in managing the waste of Kathmandu, Bhattarai urged Mayor Shah to come to the UML headquarters.
He said so while speaking at the meeting of the House of Representatives.
“It has already been 71 days that the waste has not been collected from Kathmandu. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has not taken any initiatives for the same,” adding, “That is why, I urge Mayor Balen Shah to come to the UML headquarters with a concrete proposal.”
“The UML will support you fully and firmly,” Bhattarai further said.
He urged all to be united to protect Kathmandu which is rich in culture.
Sri Lanka says China survey ship can dock in its port
Sri Lanka said on Saturday it has agreed that the Chinese survey vessel pol can dock at its southernmost port, the Chinese-run Hambantota on August 16, despite security concerns raised by neighbouring India and the United States, Reuters reported.
Foreign security analysts describe the Yuan Wang 5 as one of China's latest generation space-tracking ships, used to monitor satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
Both China and India have tried to expand their influence in Sri Lanka, which is facing its worst economic crisis in its post-independence history.
India has provided more help to Sri Lanka this year than any other nation. But it fears its bigger and more powerful rival China will use the Hambantota port near the main Asia-Europe shipping route as a military base.
Sri Lanka formally handed over commercial activities at the port to a Chinese company in 2017 on a 99-year lease after struggling to repay its debt.
The Pentagon says Yuan Wang ships are operated by the Strategic Support Force of the People's Liberation Army, according to Reuters.
On Friday, India rejected claims that it has put pressure on Sri Lanka to turn the vessel away.
"We reject categorically the 'insinuation' and such statement about India. Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and makes its own independent decisions," Arindam Bagchi, a foreign ministry spokesman, said.
Jammu and Kashmir ‘is rising’
India on August 5 marked the third anniversary of the revocation of the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir. India did so through the abrogation of Article 370 of its constitution.
Over the past three years, says the Indian government, many reforms in the region have heralded a new era of peace and development. In this period, it claims, a record number of development projects were completed, transforming the lives of millions of ordinary people.
One of them is the rapid expansion of roads targeting every village in Jammu and Kashmir which has ensured the safety, connectivity, and mobility of the people. Similarly, 125 bridges are under construction under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
Similarly, there has been massive construction of transmission lines and distribution of the power to the people. Drastic measures have been taken to transform the governance system which remained dismal for decades.
This state is now becoming a new destination for international investors, says the government. Rebuilding the education system through massive addition of infrastructure and trained human resources is taking place with a view of quality education with academic excellence driven by policy reforms is the new mantra.
The Indian government also claims to have taken measures to ensure equality and justice for all. For the same purpose, reservation rules were amended to extend benefits to left out categories. The number of tourists are also significantly increasing. ‘Mission Youth-My J&K’ is the first-of-its-kind initiative to empower the youth, according to an Indian government report.
