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This year's media headlines in regard with the availability of school textbooks for a new academic year are something heartening compared to the past. This time students from almost all community schools across the country have already got textbooks and in case of some districts, they are likely to get it before the completion of the enrollment campaign. According to the Janak Education Material Centre (JEMC), textbooks are likely to be dispatched to all schools by April 23. As the JEMC said, community schools’ students in 59 districts have received almost all textbooks and in the remaining 18 districts, it will be made available by the next one week. This time students will not be forced to sit for exams without seeing textbooks, it is said. The government took the help of the private sector to print the school textbooks from grade one to five and the JEMC, the government entity, was authorized to publish the books from class six to ten for the academic year 2080 BS. The private sector is sending books to schools as per its responsibilities and the JEMC has already finished the printing and distribution of 10.5 million textbooks. It may be noted that earlier Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had pledged to ensure the timely distribution of school textbooks for the new academic session and it was his special concern that students should get textbooks on time unlike the past culture. JEMC Managing Director Anil Kumar Jha said the Prime Minister's constant concern over the timely supplies of textbooks also played a role for making it possible. This is the time that students could get textbooks on time after the 1990's multiparty movement. Mountainous districts such as Jumla, Humla and Dolpa were the priorities of the Centre for the dispatch of textbooks.

Nepal reported 104 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Monday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 571 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 63 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 061 people underwent antigen tests, of which 41 were tested positive. The Ministry said that 60 infected people recovered from the disease. As of today, there are 379 active cases in the country.

Lawmakers have called on the government to be accountable to the Parliament and implement the directives given by the parliamentary committees. Taking part in a discussion on the evaluation and follow-up report on the implementation of National Concern and Coordination Committee's annual reports for the fiscal year 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22, they urged the government to be serious on implementing the reports brought by the parliamentary committees after intensive deliberation. Lawmaker Sonam Gyaljen Sherpa criticized the government for not being serious towards the directives and suggestions given by the committee to the government. Gopi Bahadur Sarki Achhami stressed on fully implementing the directives related to implementation of the federalism and finalizing the issue on fiscal federalism. Jayanti Devi Rai said the national pride projects were not giving the due returns commensurate with the investments made in them. Anita Devkota said many national pride projects were in limbo and there was lack of coordination at different structural levels. She complained that projects which were said to be completed in five years have not been completed even in 15 years. Khimlal Devkota alleged that the federal government has a mentality of centralization when it comes to making various legislations facilitating the provincial governments. Tulasa Kumari Dahal pointed out the lack of inter-ministry coordination in implementing the national pride projects. She wanted to know about the government's preparation in the face of increasing COVID-19 cases. Kamala Panta complained about the overly delay in the construction of Budhigandaki Project despite adequate budget. Devendra Dahal said the government has not even implemented 30 percent of the directives of the parliamentary committees. Ganga Kumari Belbase drew the attention of the government over the tardy progress in the construction of the Nijgadh Expressway. Madan Kumari Shah (Garima) called attention of the government to vigorously resolve the problems encountered in the construction of the national pride projects and also to pay attention to the quality of works. Bimala Rai Paudyal stressed on the need of improvement in the process and procedures of project construction. She said the 'track record' of the construction companies should be thoroughly evaluated before awarding them the contract for construction of projects. Jitendra Narayan Dev said the government is not taking the committee's directives seriously while Shekhar Kumar Singh urged the government for implementation of the directives of all the four committees of the National Assembly as they are to assist the government. He also called attention to the government over the renting out of the land belonging to the Pashupati Development Trust. Before this, the meeting unanimously approved a proposal seeking consideration over the evaluation and follow-up reports. Committee president Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa had presented the proposal in this connection.

Air pollution across the country including the Kathmandu Valley has gone rampant in the past few days, and the condition is expected to high remain for three more days. Wind and rainfall are unlikely in some days, thus resulting in the continuation of the atmospheric pollution, said the Meteorological Forecasting Division (MFD). A lack of rainfall and wildfires in most parts of the country in the past few days are blamed for air pollution, said Shankar Prasad Paudel, Spokesperson for the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. Satellite pictures have showed that air pollution has increased in the Kathmandu Valley (Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur), Bara, Parsa and Chitwan districts in particular, he said, adding that the Valley witnessed air pollution due to failure for the wind flowing into and accumulated in the Valley from Bara, Parsa and Chitwan through the Bagmati corridor to blow elsewhere. The Department has urged people to take precautions and not to step outside home and to use facemasks and sunglasses. It will take some days for the clearance of air pollution, said meteorologist and disaster expert Dr Dharma Upreti. Air pollution increases risks of diseases like pressure, heart problems and cancer, said Paudel. As a result of air pollution, flights have also been affected. Domestic flights were affected on Sunday due to low visibility, according to the Tribhuvan International Airport Office. However, international flights are generally operating. The Kathmandu Valley has been ranked as the most polluted city in the world, according to the WHO with the Air Quality Index (AQI) reading above 200. Bhaktapur, and Patan of Lalitpur district were mostly polluted. Similarly, Kirtipur and Ratnapark in Kathmandu district, Madhyapur Thimi in Bhaktapur, Hetauda in Makawanpur and Dhankuta district were also among polluted cities with the AQI reading around 200. Air quality with AQI between 51 and 100 is considered to be normal, and air quality with AQI above is said to be unhealthy. Air quality with AQI above 300 is considered to be dangerous and detrimental. Generally, people with deteriorating health are prone to air quality with AQI above 50, and air quality with AQI above 100 is unhealthy to all.