82.8% of revenue target met

The government has collected about 82.81 per cent of revenue of the total target in the last Fiscal Year 2020/21, according to the annual report of the Financial Comptroller General's Office (FCGO). Chief Financial Comptroller General, Suman Raj Aryal, submitted the report to Finance Minister Janardan Sharma on Tuesday. The government had targeted to collect Rs. 1072 billion revenue, including Rs. 912.94 billion tax and Rs. 159.33 billion non-tax revenue, last year. But it was able to collect Rs....

Need To Commercialise Coffee Farming

Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Out of two most important species of coffee, Nepal's plantation is Arabica Coffee which accounts for more than 70 per cent of the world’s production. Coffee has stimulating effect on human health because of its 'caffeine' content. Along wi

Inflation hurts consumers, remittance shrinks

The consumer price inflation has increased in the first three months of the current fiscal year 2021/22. According to the current macroeconomic and financial report published by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Tuesday, the year-on-year (y-o-y) consumer price inflation stood at 4.24 per cent in the third month of 2021/22 compared to 3.79 per cent a year ago. Food and beverage inflation stood at 3.63 per cent whereas non-food and service inflation stood at 4.72 per cent in the review month.

Nip Corruption In Bud

Corruption is an enemy of the development, progress and peace of the country. It may be creeping in every layer of institutions - be it in the public or private spheres of the society. Abuse of authority, financial misappropriation, bribery and poor public procurement practices can be described as corruption or irregularity but it may have wider tentacles and may be prevalent in subtle forms. Laxity in work, under performance, evading taxes, exploiting peop

Leaders, Lackeys And Lapdogs

A season of political jamborees has started in Nepal. Parties are set to hold mandatory national congresses. All major parties are doing their homework for their gala meetings probably within a couple months. CPN-UML seems to be ahead in this process. The UML is holding its national congress in Chitwan this month in which it expects to pull a crowd of at least half a million people on the bank of Narayani River. Other parties are to follow. Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre, too, have announced...

Enacting Effective Cybersecurity Policy

Early one morning a woman and her husband called me from a neighbouring district of Kathmandu Valley (names not disclosed for her privacy purpose) in a frantic emotional state. After I calmed her a bit, she shared the following facts with me. I knew that she had been stalked by a police officer for some time and it was disturbing her. We had addressed that harassment case. Her husband was supportive, so they had overcome it. That morning, she informed me that her 15 year old daughter was being

Economic Disparity

In schools and colleges, students can learn about various revolutions that have occurred throughout the world history. And most of these revolutions started due to the strife originated through socioeconomic differences and discriminations. The history of human civilisation has often seen a tussle between haves and have-nots. Haves are the wealthy and privileged members of societies while have-nots are those on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic strata. Wealth is certainly a sign of privilege which...

Interference in census work hampers quality of data: CBS

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said on Tuesday that its attention was drawn to the written statements issued by some individuals and organisations to influence people regarding their response to the ongoing 12th Census

Tourists to Ilam outnumber accommodation capacity

Gokul Kafle, who had come to Shree Antu from Kathmandu to watch the rising sun, returned home without getting his desire fulfilled after he was unable to find a hotel room and homestay there. A few days ago, Kafle, who arrived in Shree Antu with his family in the evening, was answered by the local homestay and hotelier that all the rooms over there were booked in advance. He then reached Pashupatinagar to stay overnight.

Most irregularities occur in federal affairs, education & land administration

Federal affairs, education and land administration have been the sectors with highest irregularities for the last several years. Consecutive reports of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for the last several years have shown that these three sectors were at the top of the corruption log. Of the total 22,625 complaints, including 8,200 transferred from previous year, registered at the CIAA last year, 32.72 per cent involved federal affairs, followed by 15.61 per cent...