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August Analysis: National Security and Climate Change
The performance of the agencies involved in Covid-19 pandemic response in Nepal: Given the steady rise in the number of hospitalizations and slow rate of recovery in Covid-19 patients, public health experts suggested that another lockdown was unavoidable. However, Government of Nepal, disinclined to enforce a lockdown, announced prohibitory orders instead. Authorities decided to restrict…
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Spotlight
News Digest: International Relations & Foreign Affairs (September 30 – October 6, 2021)
Nepal will receive 5.9 million doses of the Vero Cell vaccine through the COVAX facility at the beginning of November. COVAX has also committed to giving 13 million…
News Digest: Economy & Development (30 September – 06 October, 2021)
Money and Banking Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) started a research study on the possibility of enabling digital currency use across the country with the aim of minimizing the…
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Democracy and Governance
September Analysis: Domestic Politics and Governance
A controversial ordinance related to the Political Parties Act facilitated party splits of CPN-UML and JSP. Parliament obstruction by CPN-UML halted government spending for eight days. After the splits, the Political Parties Act ordinance was repealed and the Appropriation Bill was passed. Timeline of major events DateMajor eventsSeptember 2CPN-UML chairman KP Oli filed petitions in…
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August Analysis: Domestic Politics & Governance
Domestic Politics On August 18, 2021, President Bidya Devi Bhandari under the recommendation of the Sher Bahadur Deuba government promulgated an ordinance in order to to amend the the Political Parties Act-2017 in order to facilitate party splits. Previously, provisions of the Political Parties Act-2017 said that if a party has control over 40 percent…
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Economy and Development
August Analysis: Economy and Development
The month of August saw the unveiling of the Monetary Policy for the Fiscal Year 2021/22 by the Governor of the Nepal Rastra bank, Maha Prasad Adhikari. The major focus of the policy for the new fiscal was refinancing, rescheduling and restructuring of loans and maintenance of liquidity on targeted credit programs for tourism businesses,…
July Analysis: Economy & Development
Nepal continued to direct its remittance earnings on imports of agricultural products and commodities, unfazed by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) which released it 11 months data via the report ‘Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation’ revealed that the country received NPR 870.94 billion in remittances during the period between mid-June…
Federalism
August Analysis: Federal Affairs
Widespread Arrears and Irregularities in Nepal Auditor General of the Office of the Audit General (OAG), Tankamani Sharma on August 20th presented the 58th Annual Report to President Bidhya Devi Bhandari. In the said report, huge arrears including irregularities in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019/20 were found to be made by the three tiers of…
July Analysis: Federal Affairs
With 37% of the budget spent in the last month of the Fiscal Year – a huge chunk indeed, tendency of Asadhe Bikas does not seem to fall despite three and a half years of local governance. Looking for a political space, Bibeksheel Sajha’s Party President Rabindra Mishra proposed abolishing federalism and calling for a…
Gender and Social Inclusion
August Analysis: Gender and Social Inclusion
Digital Divide in the age of technology The COVID crisis has significantly impacted the education system in Nepal. The government has imposed online teaching and learning, but very few have the access to internet and computers. Even schools seem to struggle with the access of the digital infrastructures. After the decline in COVID cases and…
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July Analysis: Gender and Social Inclusion
Nepali Migrant Workers in the “New Normal” The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the prospects of many social, economic and political sectors. Among the most impacted sectors is of foreign employment. As COVID-19 hit hard in many parts of the world including the destination countries of Nepali migrant workers, the job market in both Nepal and destination…
International Relation and Foreign Affairs
August Analysis: International Relations and Foreign Affairs
The newly formed coalition government in Nepal led by Sher Bahadur Deuba divulged the Common Minimum Program (CMP) also on August. The General Secretary of Nepali Congress led the team to draft the CMP. The CMP includes the areas in which the government envisions to focus, such as fostering national interest, enforcing rule of law,…
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July Analysis: International Relations & Foreign Affairs
Since the appointment of the new PM, the US has been actively engaging with the Deuba and other ministers. The US provided 1.5 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines to Nepal though COVAX facility. The American Ambassador to Nepal stated that the US will not engage in the vaccine trade to derive political gains.…
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