KATHMANDU, Nov 2: House of Representatives (HoR) member Surya Prasad Dhakal has said people's representatives have to deliver by remaining within the people's sphere and those holding these positions are widely perceived as people's development partners and friends in times of need.

KATHMANDU, Aug 31: The US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) initiative of the United States has kicked off its implementation phase. The project's execution was formally initiated as Finance Minister Prakash Saran Mahat and Cameron Alford, Vice President of MCC for Compact Operations, exchanged the 'Entry into Force' (EIF) agreement on Wednesday.

In a move that raises concerns for Nepal's developmental trajectory and its potential for foreign investment, a section of leftist parties, including some from the ruling coalition, has launched a fresh protest against the implementation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact, even after their key concerns have been addressed by the US government.

KATHMANDU, Aug 22: Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma has said Nepal is eager to collaborate with the international community for the development of information technology.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) organized the second edition of the Prof Yadu Nath Khanal Lecture Series on June 25, 2023, focusing on the theme "Safeguarding Nepal's National Interests: Foreign Policy Choices in the Changing International Environment." Late Khanal is often regarded as the great pioneer who formulated Nepal's foreign policy. He served as an advisor to the government on external affairs from the time of Late King Mahendra to Late Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.

In the past 10 months of the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23), Nepal has witnessed a concerning trend: over 660,000 Nepalis leaving the country in search of overseas employment opportunities. The number does not include those leaving the country as students, with many of them choosing to settle in other countries.

In the ancient city of Bhaktapur, a remarkable transformation is underway—a blend of tradition and innovation, paving the way for vibrant growth. While the Bhairab Rath of Bhaktapur has been garaged after the Biska Jatra, the chariot of development continues to parade through the Island of Goodness.

With the end of Biska Jatra, the Bhairab Rath of Bhaktapur has been garaged for this year. However, the chariot of development continues to parade in the Island of Goodness, Bhaktapur Municipality. The new development practices initiated by the municipality have made the ancient city of Lichhavi era more vibrant. In contrast to other municipalities in the country, Bhaktapur Municipality has charted a unique path towards development symbolized by the moving-forward chariot of Bisket.

Dhangadhi, a city in Sudurpaschim Province, is the only sub-metropolitan city in the region. It serves as the primary commercial, industrial, and educational hub for Sudurpaschim, which comprises seven hill districts and two Terai districts. The progress achieved in Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City is a testament to how visible development can be accomplished with appropriate policies, strong willpower, and honest implementation.

KATHMANDU, May 2: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has stressed the need for the cooperation of the private sector for the country's development.

GORKHA, Jan 11: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that he will fulfill the promises he made before the election. On Wednesday, addressing the 11th Gorkha Festival organized by the Gorkha Industry and Commerce Association in the Gorkha district headquarters, he said, “I have not forgotten any of the promises and confessions I made before the election campaign. I remember all those promises well.”

Bangladesh saw the completion of quite a few mega transport and communication projects in 2022, marking a revolution in the development of these sectors.

KHAJURA, Dec 18: US Ambassador to Nepal, Dean R Thompson, has said that the US government has been providing special support for Nepal's economic prosperity. The US envoy shared that the main priority has been given to education, health, agriculture, and environment through different projects for the overall development of Nepal.

KATHMANDU, June 6: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that the government is committed to making necessary work plans to mainstream the provinces which are comparatively backward in terms of cooperation among the three tiers of government.

Nepal’s Karnali Province is the only province that is not connected to neighboring India. And as the province has no road-link with the northern neighbor China, either, this province has remained under shadow despite huge potentials for development. But this story of the sorry state of Karnali Province is going to change for the better in a few years because the Karnali and Bheri corridors, which are currently under-construction, are set to emerge as game-changers for Karnali.

MORANG, May 8: CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli has pledged to establish Biratnagar as a glorious city through the development of its environment and industries there.

Gandaki Province counts on the recently-built international airport in Pokhara, under-construction roads connecting it to the country's both southern and northern neighbors, hydroelectricity projects in different parts of the province, and its immense tourism potential to embark on the journey to prosperity.

KATHMANDU, April 21: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has stressed on the need to invest in qualitative health education and development of health infrastructures.

KATHMANDU, April 10: CPN-UML Chairperson KP Sharma Oli claimed that he had set records in construction of suspension bridges, roads and culverts when he was the Prime Minister.

KATHMANDU, March 22: The Chinese State Construction Corporation, which was awarded the tender for the construction of the Butwal-Narayanghat road project, has requested to extend the project’s deadline by two years.

DOTI, Feb 12: It has already been eight years since the construction work began. However, a bridge over the Seti River in Shikhar Municipality-10 in Doti district has witnessed only 20 percent physical progress.

KATHMANDU, Feb 12: Chandragiri Municipality is to establish a sister city relationship with two municipalities of South Korea. The relations will also feature exchange of experiences on seasonal workers, agricultural technology, cultural, historical and other subjects.

KATHMANDU, Feb 11: The projects declared as national pride could not spend their budgets effectively, to say the least, according to the half-yearly evaluation and review report of the budget for the current fiscal year 2021\/2022 released by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday.

Despite all odds, there are also wonderful things that happened this year, some big and small, and remarkable factors contributing to making our world better, and we must acknowledge that. As 2021 is coming to an end, I am contemplating on valuable learning happening in the development sector, and came up with seven points as follows:

RUKUM, Nov 28: Finance Minister Janardan Sharma has said that development cannot take place without the support and participation of the people at the project site.

If we compare the development performance under the Panchayat Raj from 1960 to 1990 and that under the multiparty system from 1990 to 2020, there is no indication that things have really improved in the post-democracy period in terms of job opportunities, living standard, physical infrastructure development, agriculture development, institutional and industrial development, control over corruption and maintaining law and order.

The findings of the survey paint a rather somber picture.  Of the 2,000 youth surveyed between 18 to 40 years of age, only around a third (34%) believe that the country is headed in the right direction. This is significantly less than a 2018 National Governance Survey that found 80 percent of respondents between 18 to 39 years of age considered the country to be heading in the right direction.

KATHMANDU, April 23: Experts have said that any policy of the government should seek to foster the culture of research, development and innovation.

“You are not supposed to make false claims at such programs where you are never questioned.”

Big employment generating programs must be carefully evaluated while small innovative pilots should be supported.

If proper environment is created for cooperatives to work in remote areas, it would be easier to bring rural areas in mainstream of development.

Enabled by youth, local forums can help generate a new sense of civic engagement focused on achieving the Agenda 2030.

GORKHA, Nov 2: The blacktopping on the Chhewetar section of the Bahrakulo-Barpak road in Gorkha has already started peeling off though it was constructed only on Sunday evening.

How Bangladesh-India-Nepal Initiative (BIN) can trigger connectivity and prosperity for Nepal, Bangladesh and India

Amid deepening crisis of Covid-19, scores of opinions have been thrown by various scholars suggesting that the government should employ the overseas Nepali migrant returnees in farm production. Some experts further state that it is high time for Nepal to rope in youths to the farm sector which has long been neglected and can generate ample employment opportunities. Very true.

KATHMANDU, May 6: Amid ongoing nationwide lockdown, construction works in Kathmandu are going on.

KATHMANDU, April 6: With the traffic being minimal in the capital due to the ongoing lockdown, the Department of Roads is accelerating road repair works in some parts of the capital.

BANEPA, Feb 20: Minister for Energy, Water Resource and Irrigation Barshaman Pun spoke the need of exploring reasons behind dismal development performance.

Nepal needs to take advantage of emerging favorable investment climate to boost private investment from both domestic and foreign investors for accomplishing its target

Reboot of 1974 horror classic 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' is in the works at Legendary Pictures. Reportedly filmmakers Ryan and Andy Tohill are directing the movie from a script penned by Chris Thomas Devlin.

One could claim the best thing federalism brought to Nepal is speedy development. No matter which corner of the country you visit today, you see construction works happening around. Big yellow machines seem to be operating everywhere—from high hills to the plains. The dust across the nation has become a sign of development and progress. You can see it along Pathlaiya-Birgunj Highway, Birgunj-Kaliya route, Biratnagar-Itahari route or track opening for Madhya Pahadi Lokmarga. Biratnagar is in its worst. Here every road is in the phase of rebuilding.

KATHMANDU, Jan 13: People’s expectations from the two-thirds majority government seem to have fallen flat due to the sluggish progress of the government toward addressing the country’s main economic agendas. It is almost two years since the left alliance led by Prime Minister KP Oli took charge.

KATHMANDU, Jan 9: The Government of Nepal has expressed its serious concerns on recent developments in the West Asian region.

KATHMANDU, Dec 31: Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ishwar Pokharel said on Monday that trans-Himalayan connectivity is key to Nepal's development and prosperity.

One of the biggest ironies of Nepal’s budget system has been that while the country somehow manages to allocate budget for development of infrastructure projects, huge portion of such budget remains unspent, even frozen in some cases. During the pre-budget discussion period, leaders from local, provincial and federal spheres demand money for different development activities. The respective governments address their concerns too by allocating it for the development projects demanded by them.

The quest for economic development and materialism has been almost like Faustian saga in the modern times. As the learned Dr Faustus had to make a deal with evil Mephistopheles who tempted him to exchange his soul for carnal desires, we modern human beings, are exchanging clean environment with the quest for development and industrialization.

BARA, Nov 26: The construction of the Birgunj-Kalaiya-Bariyarpur road section of the Postal Highway has picked up pace for the easy movement of devotees coming to Mahagadhimai Municipality to attend the Gadhimai festival.

RUPANDEHI, Nov 10: Rupandehi, Kapilbastu and Nawalparasi have given top priority to construction of concrete bridges. The three districts have already completed five such bridges while 51 are under construction. According to the office of the road division, Butwal, the bridges have been designed to widen the road network in the villages and towns. Among the three districts, most of the bridges are being built in Rupandehi. The development has quite elated the locals, who are highly suspicious about timely completion of other projects.

In yet another deadly road accident in Sindhupalchok district at least one and half a dozen people have lost their lives and over 50 persons sustained injuries when a passenger bus en route to Kathmandu from Dolkha plunged into the Sunkoshi River. The cause of the accident is over-speeding and overloading as in most such cases of road accidents. All seats in the bus were occupied, and 20-25 passengers were standing, according to the survivors. Most of these passengers were returning to Kathmandu after Tihar celebrations. Sindhupalchok accident is the latest in the series of bus accidents happening in the country. Nearly every month, people lose their lives to road accidents. According to the data released by Nepal Police in May this year, road accidents killed 11,005 people across the country during the last five years and altogether 19,877 people were seriously injured in such accidents. The data shows that road accidents have been increasing every year—at the rate of 28 percent. These are the alarming records and yet the government bodies, including Nepal Police, have not been able to do much about controlling such accidents.

Types of economic activities, degree of infrastructure development, inter-connection with the outer regions and way of living of people determine whether a place is rural or urban. Human civilization has developed through the rural mode in every part of the world. From the hunter-gatherers to discovery of fire and shift toward agriculture and technology, the basis of way of life of people has always been the activities they are involved in. Today, there has been a paradigm shift of way of life of people, from the rural to the urban. Urbanization has continued to ascend in a rapid way.