Aarthik News English

माघ २०८०

“Revenue mobilisation can be increased by double”

KATHMANDU, MARCH 7: Newly appointed Finance Minister Dr. Barshaman Pun has said that the revenue collection can be increased from the current 10 per cent to 20 percent. He made such a statement while assuming office at the Ministry of Finance at Singh Durbar yesterday. “After 12 years, I am again handling the responsibility of […] The post “Revenue mobilisation can be increased by double” appeared first on Aarthiknews:: A leading business & economic news portal from Nepal.

पूर्ण विवरण

सम्बन्धित सामग्री

Ukraine 'referendums': Soldiers go door-to-door for votes in polls

SEPT 24: "You have to answer verbally and the soldier marks the answer on the sheet and keeps it," one woman in Enerhodar told the BBC. In southern Kherson, Russian guardsmen stood with a ballot box in the middle of the city to collect people's votes. The door-to-door voting is for "security", Russian state media says. "In-person voting will take place exclusively on 27 September," Tass reported. "On the other days, voting will be organised in communities and in a door-to-door manner." One woman in Melitopol told the BBC that two local "collaborators" arrived with two Russian soldiers at her parents' flat, to give them a ballot to sign. "My dad put 'no' [to joining Russia]," the woman said. "My mum stood nearby, and asked what would happen for putting 'no'. They said, 'Nothing'. "Mum is now worried that the Russians will persecute them." The woman also said there was one ballot for the entire household, rather than per person. Although the evidence is anecdotal, the presence of armed men conducting the vote contradicts Moscow's insistence that this is a free or fair process. Experts say the self-styled referendums, taking place across five days, will allow Russia to claim - illegally - four occupied or partially-occupied regions of Ukraine as their own. In other words, a false vote on annexation, seven months into Russia's invasion. The "annexation" would not be recognised internationally, but could lead to Russia claiming that its territory is under attack from Western weapons supplied to Ukraine, which could escalate the war further. US President Joe Biden described the referendums as "a sham", saying they were a "false pretext" to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force in violation of international law. "The United States will never recognise Ukrainian territory as anything other than part of Ukraine," he said. British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, said the UK had evidence that Russian officials had already set targets for "invented voter turnouts and approval rates for these sham referenda". Mr Cleverly said Russia planned to formalise the annexation of the four regions - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - by the end of the month. A source in Kherson told the BBC there was no public effort to encourage voting, apart from an announcement on the Russian news agency that people can vote at a port building, which had been disused for 10 years. Another woman in Kherson said she saw "armed militants" outside the building where the vote seemed to be taking place. She pretended to forget her passport, so she didn't have to vote. The woman said all her friends and family were against the referendum. "We don't know how our life will be after this referendum," she said. "It is very difficult to understand what they want to do." Kyiv says the referendums will change nothing, and its forces will continue to push to liberate all of the territories. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent mobilisation of at least 300,000 extra troops has caused many Russian men of fighting age to flee. One young Russian man who left St Petersburg for Kazakhstan to avoid the draft told BBC World Service's Outside Source programme that that most of his friends were also on the move. "Right now, I feel like it's a total collapse. I know only maybe one or two folks that don't think about exile right now," he said. He said some, like him, are travelling across the border, whereas others have gone to small Russian villages to hide. "The big problem of Russia is that we didn't think about the war in Ukraine in February as we think about it right now," he said. With inputs from BBC.

Ratopati English भाद्र २०७९

Local Governance Agenda

The local election held recently has imparted a fresh lease of life into the body politic of local democracy in Nepal. It has given rise to new bursts of optimism and hope for democratic renewal and rejuvenation of democratic institutions in the country. The election has helped in maturing democratic process, and set a strong basis for political socialisation and citizen mobilisation. The election results have challenged the political parties which do keep guarding zealously the traditional pattern of organisation ethos and leadership. The results generate the message that the parties can lose their relevance and meaning should they fail to attend and respond to the needs and aspirations of the people in an accountable and democratic way.

The Rising Nepal बैशाख २०७९

Why 9 May Victory Day is so important for Russia

MAY 9: Under Vladimir Putin, Victory Day has become a show of strength of troops and military hardware, as well as a chance to remember the sacrifices of World War Two. Twenty-seven million Soviet citizens died, by far the greatest loss of any country, in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War. This year, the event has taken on a significance of its own. Far from liberating Europe, Russia has waged months of war against its neighbour Ukraine and is devoid of any real form of military victory that it can celebrate. Regiments that played a key role in the war will parade in front of the top brass and the president, whose address will echo across Red Square and be scrutinised for what to expect next. Russia's leader often uses this moment to send messages of intent. The Victory Day parade was occasionally marked in the Soviet era and revived by President Boris Yeltsin for the 50th anniversary in 1995, but it was Vladimir Putin in 2008 who made it an annual event featuring military hardware. Russian identity has been largely created with Victory Day in the background, with schoolbooks and history books focusing on Russia as Europe's wartime liberators. "Even in a normal year it's a huge show of Russia strength, of Putin's control and everything he stands for," says Ammon Cheskin of Glasgow University. "And that's just amplified this year." Claims that he will declare an end to the campaign have been denied, as have reports that he will announce a full declaration of war or a mobilisation of Russian men. Russia's military would not "artificially adjust" its actions to any particular date, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Something short of full mobilisation could be announced, in response to Russia's big losses on the battlefield. Dozens of ads have appeared on job websites in recent weeks looking for "specialists in mobilisation work", but such a step could hit the president's popularity and 9 May might not be the right time to announce it. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Vladimir Putin marked Victory Day with a speech in Red Square about defeating fascism, before flying to the Black Sea port of Sevastopol to celebrate his new victory in front of thousands of onlookers. "This year the primary objective was to announce the victory that was supposed to happen in February," says Ernest Wyciszkiewicz of the Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding. "They are preparing a PR stunt for Monday: it's important for Russians to see that the special military operation they have been hearing about has led to something tangible." Instead of celebrating the overthrow of Ukraine's government, the Kremlin will have to settle for the capture of most of Mariupol. The city may lie in ruins, but Russia has repeatedly talked of "de-Nazification and demilitarisation" of Ukraine and it may claim defeat of the Azov battalion, which it has falsely portrayed as Nazi. That would resonate on a day marking World War Two. "In Russian cities and regional capitals we can see signs with the Victory Day symbol," says Olga Irisova, co-founder of analysis group Riddle Russia. "Usually the signs say 9 May 1945 but this year it's 1945/2022, so they're trying to provide people with the idea that once again they're standing up to Nazis." In Mariupol itself there will be no Victory Day parade because of apparent security threats. Russia's proxy leader in the region, Denis Pushilin, has said a parade will have to wait until Mariupol becomes part of his so-called Donetsk People's Republic. There will be unspecified festive events, though, and it could feature prominently in Russian coverage. In the run-up to 9 May the city has had visits from Kremlin TV spin doctor Vladimir Solovyov and a delegation from the Kremlin led by the president's deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiryenko. The Red Square Victory Day parade is about aesthetics too, and military hardware in particular. It is a chance for the Kremlin to show off its latest weaponry. It was the Armata T-14 tank that turned heads on Victory Day in 2015, but it has been conspicuous by its absence in the war in Ukraine, because it is not yet ready for frontline combat. Ukraine says it has destroyed well over 1,000 less modern Russian tanks on the battlefield. There will be less hardware and fewer troops this year than in 2021. But there will still be some 10,000 troops and 129 pieces of military equipment, according to an analysis by BBC Russian. Gone will be one of Russia's newest tanks, the T-80BVM, as well as the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile system. The aerial display will be just as big as before, with 77 planes and helicopters, and the air force has been rehearsing over Red Square in a Z-formation - the controversial symbol adopted by invading forces. But there will be no foreign leaders this year, which the Kremlin puts down to the 77th anniversary not being a significant event in itself. Most of the messaging around Victory Day is directed at the Russian population anyway, says Olga Irisova. By harnessing the Nazi narrative from World War Two, the Kremlin is able to stir up strong feelings because most Russians have relatives who either died or struggled in the war. While events will take place across Russia, in neighbouring countries 9 May has become less and less significant. Ukraine saw some of the greatest losses in the war and a recent opinion poll suggested that the date should be seen as a day of remembrance rather than victory. Kazakhstan has cancelled its military parade for a third year running and Latvia has declared it a day of remembrance - for victims of Russia's war in Ukraine. With inputs from BBC

Ratopati English चैत्र २०७८

Ukraine war: Russia denies it plans to declare war on 9 May

MAY 5: Moscow has up until now denied it is at war, instead referring to the invasion as a "special military operation". But Western officials have speculated that President Vladimir Putin could use the 9 May Victory Parade to announce an escalation of military action. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, said there was no truth to the rumours "at all". UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said last week that the Moscow parade - commemorating the defeat of the Nazis and end of World War Two - might be used to drum up support for a mass mobilisation of troops and renewed push into Ukraine. "I would not be surprised, and I don't have any information about this, that he is probably going to declare on this May Day that 'we are now at war with the world's Nazis and we need to mass mobilise the Russian people'," he told LBC radio. Russian officials only refer to the invasion as a "special military operation" to "demilitarise" or "de-Nazify" the country, referencing a baseless claim about Nazis in the Ukrainian government which Moscow used to justify the invasion. As well as the annual parade in Moscow, there are also long-standing reports that the Kremlin is planning some sort of additional parade in the city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, almost all of which is now under Russian control. Ukrainian forces remain in one area of the city - a vast industrial steelworks called Azovstal. Latest reports suggest that after the recent successful evacuation of some civilians, attacks on the steelworks have resumed and contact has been lost with the last remaining soldiers inside. Ukrainian officials say the streets of the city centre are being cleared of debris, bodies, and unexploded bombs. Large parts of the city lie in ruins, after Russian forces bombarded it relentlessly for weeks under siege. Ukrainian politician Alyona Shkrum told the BBC she was expecting things to become more difficult alongside Russia's victory day celebrations. "For Putin and for the empire he's trying to build, basically this is a symbolic day, right?" she said. "So he takes some kind of victory day and he turns it into a big fight right now against Nazis, which is obviously Russian propaganda and completely ridiculous. "We are expecting that there will be quite tough times here in Kyiv and in Odesa and in Mariupol, and in other cities for 9 May." At the risk of stating the obvious, there is only one person who can be absolutely sure of how Russia plans to mark its annual Victory Day on 9 May and that is Vladimir Putin. And he is keeping his cards close to his chest. Moscow's denial that it plans to declare war that day need to be taken with a hefty pinch of salt. In the days leading up to the invasion on 24 February Russian officials queued up to ridicule suggestions of an imminent invasion as "western hysteria and propaganda". Yet invade they did, catching even many Ukrainians by surprise. So the very least we can expect is some triumphant announcements of objectives achieved and enemies (real or imagined) vanquished. Blame for the slow pace of Russian advance in the eastern Donbas region will likely be placed on Nato and there will probably be further warnings to the West to stop helping Ukraine defend itself. Whatever happens on 9 May it is hard to see this war ending any time soon.

Ratopati English चैत्र २०७८

COVID-19 has shown countries, policymakers, technocrats, businesspersons, and the media the mirror

The Himalayan Times चैत्र २०७८

Ensure Quality Infrastructure

In the modern era, it is a universally acknowledged fact that without constructing robust infrastructure, a country cannot prosper. A country's overall economic, social and cultural development hinges on infrastructure. Without having vibrant networks of transport (roads, railways, airports, shipping ports, and others), energy, health and education infrastructure, no country can expedite the development process and thus lag in bringing prosperity to its people. The construction of development infrastructure largely depends on how resourceful a country is. A rich nation always has a robust infrastructure while a poor nation cannot. Also true is the fact that the mobilisation of technology and technicians is of supreme importance for infrastructure building. Here, the contractors play a paramount role. If we look at our country's construction scenario, we find that contractors of all sizes and shapes have not played by the rules when it comes to performing their tasks with utmost honesty and diligence.

The Rising Nepal फाल्गुन २०७८