Broadsheet dailies (both in Nepali and English) published in Kathmandu on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, have given considerable space to the Nepali cricket team’s second win in as many matches over Namibia in the World Cricket League fixture in Kathmandu. Nepali Congress’ demand that the government convene Parliament has also received attention.
Important
Nepal’s second win over Namibia
Almost all broadsheet dailies have given space to Nepal’s second win in the World Cricket League (2015-2017). Most papers have given skipper Paras Khadka, who made 103, and batsman Sharad Vesawkar, who completed his half century, credit for the three-wicket victory. The Himalayan Times in its four-column lead story with a banner headline says, “This was Khadka’s first century in List A matches and second overall for the national team. Khadka, whose previous best in List A was 77 runs, had scored his first hundred against Kuwait in the AA Trophy Elite in the United Arab Emirates four years ago.”
Nepal Samacharpartra, Naya Patrika, Republica, Rajdhani, Gorkhapatra, Annapurna Post and Nagarik have also given space to the story on their front pages. While most papers’ reports detail how the victory was achieved, Nagarik has a story on how a 12-year-old cricket fan from Parbat got a chance to meet his idol Paras Khadka.
NC demands House session
The principal opposition in Parliament, Nepali Congress, has demanded that the government convene the House at the earliest. Republica and state-run Gorkhapatra have given space to the story on their front pages. In its two-column story below the fold, Republica says, “A joint meeting of NC central working committee and parliamentary party held at parliament building at New Baneshwar on Monday decided to pressure the government to summon House session, which remains prorogued for the past two months.”
Gorkhapatra, meanwhile, says that although the new constitution says that the Budget Session should begin before the second week of the second Nepali month (May end), the governmnt is not prepared to do so. It also says that Speaker Onsari Gharti is not in the country.
RPPN wants its assistant minister sacked
Annapurna Post and Republica have given space to ruling alliance partner RPPN’s decision to ‘recall’ its assistant minister Biraj Bista. Annpaurna Post says that Deputy Prime Minister and RPPN chief Kamal Thapa decided to recall Bista after realisation that after unity with Lokendra Bahadur Chand’s RPP, he could be in a weaker position.
Republica, meanwhile, says, “The decision to recall Biraj Bista from the government comes within three weeks of the party’s Central Committee deciding to sack co-chairman of the party Keshar Bahadur Bista, who is the father of Biraj, from all party positions for three years.” Bista is considered a staunch opponent of Thapa, within the party.
Ignored
Quake-affected hydels yet to return to normal
In its lead story for the day, Republica says eight of the 15 hydropower projects affected by the April 25 quake and its aftershocks are yet to operate in full capacity. Of the six projects, Bhote Koshi (45 MW) is the biggest project. The report says, “Eight of the projects, including the 45 MW Upper Bhotekoshi Hydropower, have not yet been restored even a year later and the energy loss amounts to millions of rupees in total. Loss of energy generation at Upper Bhotekoshi alone has amounted to 236 GWh, or $30 million in monetary terms.”
4G Spectrum usage rights likely to be sold, not auctioned
Abhiyan’s second main story for the day is on how Nepal’ frequency distribution law makes it unlikely that the government will auction 4G spectrum usage rights, as is the practice worldwide. The report says that under prevailing laws, the government has to sell the rights at a price it fixes, and this could have a bearing on the amount the government gets by selling the usage rights. The law is not in line with the government policy to auction new frequency usage rights, says the report. It quotes a Nepal Telecom Authority official as saying that since it would take a long time to amend the laws, NTA can roll out the new service as quickly as possible only if it fixes a charge and drops its plans to auction the rights.
Interesting
Tax department writes to NCell
Nepal’s Department of Inland Revenues has written to the telecom operator NCell, which was recently acquired by Malaysian giant Axiata, to pay capital taxes for capital gained during the recent acquisition. Nagarik, in its report, says that although the deal was carried out outside Nepal, the company needs to pay more than Rs 33 billion in taxes to Nepal. The department says that although Swedish TeliaSonera is no longer involved with NCell, the tax liability is now with NCell.
