KATHMANDU, March 2: A public holiday has been declared today across Province 1 to commemorate the success of renaming the province as Koshi Province.

Welcome to Federal Nepal, Koshi!

March 2, 2023 08:00 am

According to the Nepali tradition, a newborn is ‘baptized’ on the ninth day of its birth. But Province 1 could not find a name for itself for a long, long time. But on March 1, a week ahead of the presidential election, and after much difficulty and years of wait, Province 1 was finally able to shed its embarrassing numerical identity and adopt the name ‘Koshi’, after the largest river in the country. The proposal to name the province as ‘Kirant-Limbuwan-Sagarmatha’ was rejected after discussions in the provincial assembly. This decision is particularly significant as it avoided a name based on ethnic identity, which could have divided the province along ethnic lines.

KATHMANDU, March 1: The Province 1 Assembly has officially named the province as Koshi Province, despite protests from some political parties that were pushing for an ethnicity-based name. The decision was made through a two-thirds majority vote in the Province 1 Assembly meeting on Wednesday, with 82 votes in favor of Koshi and only four votes against it.

KATHMANDU, March 1:  A protest has erupted outside the state assembly of Province 1 after it was proposed to rename the province as Koshi Province.

KATHMANDU, March 1: Majority of the members of the provincial assembly have approved the name of Province 1 as ‘Koshi’ for discussions. Similarly, the proposal to name the province as ‘Kirant-Limbuwan-Sagarmatha’ was rejected after discussions in the provincial assembly.

KATHMANDU, March 1: CPN (Unified Socialist) has claimed that the CPN-UML and Nepali Congress (NC) have abandoned their previous stance and proposed ‘Koshi’ as the name of Province 1.

BIRATNAGAR, March 1: The District Administration Office, Morang, has declared the areas around the Province Assembly Secretariat Building of Province 1, the office of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers and the area around the Chief Minister's residence as prohibited zones.

KATHMANDU, Feb 6: The Provincial Assembly of Province 1 has formed a business advisory committee.

Province 1 Assembly meeting tomorrow

February 5, 2023 15:00 pm

KATHMANDU, Feb 5: Provincial Assembly Secretary Gopal Prasad Parajuli has said that the meeting of Province-1 Assembly will be held tomorrow at 1 PM.

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 14: Deputy Speaker of Province 1 Srijana Danuwar has taken the oath of office and secrecy.

KATHMANDU, Jan 14: CPN-UML's Sirjana Danuwar has been elected as the Deputy Speaker of Province 1 Assembly. She was elected with 57 votes.

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 11: Baburam Gautam has been elected unopposed as the Speaker of Province 1.

Biratnagar, Jan 8: An all-party meeting in Province 1 has decided to complete the election of the Speaker of the provincial assembly by January 12.

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 8: The deadline set by the provincial head for the establishment of the government in province 1 is expiring at 5 pm today.

BIRATNAGAR, Dec 29: Three candidates have been nominated for the parliamentary party (PP) leader of the Nepali Congress (NC) in Province 1. Two of these three candidates are from the establishment faction and one from the rival faction of the Nepali Congress.

KATHMANDU, Dec 9: A report prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank has pointed out the need for financial access for the economic development of Province-1.

BIRATNAGAR, Sept 13: Elected representatives of local governments in Province 1 have demanded the federal government to allocate more budget to the local level governments.

KATHMANDU, August 23: The (CM) of Province 1, Rajendra Kumar Rai, has alleged that development has become dictatorial after the formation of the provincial structures under federalism.

BIRATNAGAR, August 9: Mayor of Biratnagar Metropolitan City (BMC) Nagesh Koirala has said there can be no compromise with anyone on naming Biratnagar as the permanent capital city of Province 1. He made it clear that BMC would extend support in creating infrastructures necessary for the provincial capital.

KATHMANDU, August 2: Chief Minister of Province 1, Rajendra Kumar Rai has been infected with COVID-19.

Province 1 Assembly meeting today

July 24, 2022 09:13 am

KATHMANDU, July 24: The meeting of Province 1 Provincial Assembly will be held today at 1 PM. The meeting of the Provincial Assembly was put off on July 3 until further notice.

MORANG, July 23: Political parties have reached an agreement to name Province 1 through the current session of the Province Assembly.

BIRATNAGAR, July 22: An all-party meeting has started discussing the name of Province 1. The meeting was organized by the provincial speaker Pradip Kumar Bhandari

BIRATNAGAR, July 9: An all-party meeting took place at the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers on Friday to finalize the name of Province No. 1.

BIRATNAGAR, June 30: The incessant rain for the past two days has wreaked havoc in Province 1. Floods and river erosion have created panic in the plain region of Province-1 whereas landslides have caused damage in the hill areas.

BIRATNAGAR, June 19: Province 1 lawmaker Bimal karki has said that the shipment of fertilizers will be stolen mid-way similar to the incident in Dhading that took place on Saturday if the government fails to immediately provide fertilizers to farmers.

BIRATNAGAR, June 16: Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of Province 1, Indra Bahadur Angbo, has presented a budget of Rs 39.73 billion for fiscal year 2022/23.

Monsoon active in four provinces

June 11, 2022 10:51 am

KATHMANDU, June 11: This year's monsoon system has entered four provinces of the country. According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the monsoon system has entered Province 1, Madhesh, Bagmati and Gandaki.

With a population of about 5 million, Province 1 is quite rich in resources. There is ample basis for the province to achieve development and prosperity through agriculture, clean energy, tourism and industrialization.

ITAHARI, March 29: Sixty-one percent of the population of Province 1 has obtained the complete dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

BIRATNAGAR, March 27: The Cabinet meeting of Province 1 held on Sunday decided to end the ongoing winter session of the provincial assembly.

MORANG, March 8: Chief Minister of Province 1, Rajendra Kumar Rai has said that we all should be responsible for controlling female foeticide.

JHAPA, March 5: CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, has suggested naming Province 1 as Koshi Province.

KHANDBARI, MArch 3: Province-1 Chief Minister Rajendra Rai warned of terminating the contract of the construction company leaving the bridge to be constructed over the Lamsuwaghat-based Arun River in limbo.

MORANG, Feb 15: The Rajbansi Society Upliftment Committee (Birat) has demanded the Province 1 government to name Province 1 as Birat Province.

ITAHARI, Feb 5: A group of students affiliated to All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU) close to CPN-UML on Friday staged protest programs against Chief Minister Rajendra Kumar Rai for increasing the number of ministries to 12 in Province 1.

BIRATNAGAR, Feb 5: The main opposition party, the CPN-UML, has accused the government of Province 1 of being involved in a feud regarding splitting ministries between the ministers. On Friday, the CPN-UML Parliamentary Party held a press conference and accused the provincial government of being involved in a tussle of splitting the ministries even three months after the formation of the five-party coalition government.

KATHMANDU, Feb 1: Bird flu cases have been confirmed at two locations of Morang in Province 1. According to the Department of Livestock Services, the detection of avian influenza (H5N1 virus) has been confirmed at Khuniyakatta of Gramthan-1 and Budhiganga-5 through laboratory tests.

BIRATNAGAR, Feb 1: The provincial government is preparing to split the existing ministries in Province 1 into 12 ministries. Sunday's cabinet meeting decided to split the existing seven ministries into 12.

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 26: Voting held to elect National Assembly members has completed in Province 1. According to Election Officer Bharat Lamsal, 270 out of 272 local level members and 91 out of 92 province assembly members cast their votes in the election held from 9AM to 3PM on Wednesday.

KATHMANDU, Jan 25: The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) has decided to cast their votes in Province 1 alone in the National Assembly elections to be held on January 26.

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 18: Chief Minister Rajendra Rai of Province 1 has said that a provincial assembly meeting will be convened by February 3 and that the official name of the province will be finalized in the ongoing winter session.

KATHMANDU, Jan 18: A new committee has been elected by the first convention of the CPN-UML Provincial Liaison Committee held in the capital of Province 1.

BIRATNAGAR, Jan 4: Eight candidates have registered for the three posts of National Assembly members in Province 1. The ruling coalition, CPN-UML and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) have registered eight candidates

BIRATNAGAR, Dec 7: Candidate Guru Raj Ghimire has fallen short of victory for the post of Nepali Congress (NC) president of Province 1 after the party’s central leaders who supported his candidacy did not vote for him in the provincial convention of NC.

BIRATNAGAR, Dec 6: Uddhav Thapa has been elected the President of the Nepali Congress (NC) Province 1 Committee by defeating his contender Gururaj Ghimire.

KATHMANDU, Dec 2: Three candidates are vying for the presidency of Nepali Congress (NC) Province 1 Committee.

KATHMANDU, Nov 16: The Provincial Assembly meeting of Province 1 has been postponed after the lawmakers belonging to CPN-UML party denied attending the meeting.

BIRATNAGAR, Nov 16: The main opposition CPN-UML has demanded postponement of the meeting of the Provincial Assembly of Province 1 scheduled for Tuesday. The main opposition party, CPN-UML, has demanded the postponement of the meeting as Chief Minister of Province 1 Rajendra Rai is preparing to table a vote of confidence motion in the meeting.

BIRATNAGAR, Nov 12: Chief Minister of Province 1 Rajendra Kumar Rai has promised to protect and develop the Kirat language, culture and heritage.