Day at a Glance: From CPN (Maoist Centre) commenting on peace process To NC demanding formation of inquiry committee in cooperative scandal

31st March, Sunday: The major events of the day have been compiled in this segment ‘Day at a Glance!’

The major Headlines of the day include:

• Devendra Paudel: Let’s not make peace process a subject of bargaining
• Repeated power interruption in parliament, MPs in confusion
• Prasai gives ultimatum to government to return his bodyguard’s seized weapon
• High-level Committee on Tax System Reforms submits report to government
• Education Ministry mulling two intakes in a year
• NC demands formation of Inquiry Committee in Cooperative fraud scandal

1. Devendra Paudel: Let’s not make peace process a subject of bargaining

The ruling coalition CPN (Maoist Centre) has said the activities must be performed to complete the peace process. Participating in the parliament on Sunday,  CPN (Moist Centre) Secretary and Member of Parliament (MP) Devendra Paudel said that the activities must be performed to complete the peace process soon. Paudel said, ‘We must all be united in the context of completing the peace process. Let’s not make this a subject of bargaining.’ He said without laws, three tiers of government are unable to function among people.

2. Repeated power interruption in parliament, MPs in confusion

There was a repeated power cut in the House of Representatives (HoR) meeting on Sunday. The Members of Parliaments (MPs) appeared quite confused by the repeated power cut. At the beginning of the meeting, the Spokesperson Devraj Ghimire gave time to Nepali Congress (NC) MP Sanjay Kumar Yadav. The power was gone even at this time. There was also an interruption in the power during the zero hours when the CPN (UML) Eknath Dahal and Independent MP Amaresh Kumar Yadav were in the parliament.

3. Prasai gives ultimatum to government to return his bodyguard’s seized weapon

Medical entrepreneur Durga Prasai has said to repay all the loans taken from the bank. Prasai said to repay all the bank’s debt after the Supreme Court ordered the affiliation of B and C Medical College, Jhapa. He said that he had never talked about not paying the bank loan. Likewise, Interacting with the media at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), after his return from Delhi, Prasain claimed of only speaking for the poor citizens and only requested the government to clear the loans of the poor, as political parties weren’t speaking about it. He said that even though the medical college was affiliated. However, his campaign to save the nation, nationality, religion, culture, and citizens would not stop.

4. High-level Committee on Tax System Reforms submits report to government

The High-level Recommendation Committee on Tax System Reforms has submitted its study report to the government. The Committee handed over the report to Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun on Sunday. The government made provision for constituting this committee in the budget statement for fiscal year 2024/25. Under this provision in the budget statement, a meeting of the Council of Ministers on September 15, 2023, constituted the Committee. Former Finance Minister and Finance Secretary Bidhyadhar Mallik was the coordinator of the committee while former secretary Laxman Aryal, professor at the Tribhuvan University, Central Department of Economics Dr. Ram Prasad Gyawali and former administrator and customs expert Ram Prasad Dahal were its members.

5. Education Ministry mulling two intakes in a year

The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology has shared that it was mulling two intakes in a year in secondary schools and universities. Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Suresh Adhikari, said it during an inaugural session of a conference organized by the Monitoring Educational Foundation here Sunday. Secretary Adhikari said that the policy was being mulled in response to the latest fad among the youths that they quit education halfway once failing their annual exams or drop in the middle of their study for foreign employment. He said that the new policy would be put in place acknowledging the need for policy review and institutional reform in the education system since 43 percent of students in Grades 9 to Grade 12 had dropped out the school while 15 to 20 percent were admitted to the higher education and some 1.5 million students would go abroad annually.

6. NC demands formation of Inquiry Committee in Cooperative fraud scandal

The major opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) has demanded to form of a high-inquiry constitutional committee for investigating the Cooperative fraud case. Addressing the House of Representatives (HoR) meeting on Sunday, NC Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Kumar Gautam demanded the investigation. ‘The savings of more than 90 thousand depositors have been lost. A high-profile constitutional inquiry committee must be formed for the investigation,’ said MP Gautam, ‘We cannot move ahead without the formation of the committee. The Committee must be formed, we need this.’