Election of NA members on January 26

The government has slated the date for the election to the member of the National Assembly on January 26. The meeting of the Council of Ministers was held on Thursday to this decision.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology and government spokesperson Gyanendra Bahadur Karki informed on Friday that the meeting decided to allow the forthcoming participation of the Nepali delegation to be led by CIAA Chief Prem Kumar Rai in the ninth conference of the countries party to the UN Convention against Corruption.

Similarly, the meeting decided to nominate Deputy Auditor-General Baikuntha Bahadur Adhikari, Joint Secretary Baburam Subedi, and Joint Comptroller General Umakant Acharya as the ex-officio member of Nepal Charters' Accountants.

The government decided to accept Rs 60 million US dollars as grants to be provided by the Asian Development Bank for the electric grid modernization project.

Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Hydro Resources and Irrigation, Sagar Kumar Rai, has been granted permission to attend the International Executive Council IEC in Morocco. Minister Karki further shared that a delegation led by Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Dilendra Prasad Badu, is also given permission by the Cabinet meeting to attend the 59th annual general assembly of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO). The other team to get permission to participate in the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Meeting in South Korea is the delegation to be led by Defense Minister Dr Minendra Rijal.

Also decided by the Cabinet meeting was consent provided in principle to devise a bill on livestock protection and infectious livestock disease. Even a committee will be formed to prevent cruel behavior against animals.

The government spokesperson also informed about the decision on the promotion of officials in the health service.

In response to the journalist's query, Minister Karki said the government was committed to devolving the rights and authority concentrated in Singha Durbar at people's doorstep via local levels. So, democratic institutions would be made strong by timely election at the local level, he stressed.