Senior HoR member Arjun Narsingh KC today taking oath today
President Ram Chandra Paudel is scheduled to administer the oath of office and secrecy to the senior most member of the House of Representatives (HoR), Arjun Narsing KC, today.
The oath-taking ceremony is being held at the President's Office, Sheetal Niwas at 11:15am.
KC is the senior most leader elected as a HoR member from the March 5 elections.
KC is a 78-year-old leader elected under the proportional category of election from the Nepali Congress.
Following the oath-taking, he would administer the oath of office and secrecy to other HoR members tomorrow.
In the 275-member HoR, the lower house of federal parliament, 165 were elected directly while 110 from proportional category.
The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), established just four years back, became the largest party in the parliament securing 182 seats in HoR, while the NC became the second with 38 seats, while the CPN-UML was the third one with 25 seats.
NC will responsibly serve as opposition: Thapa
Nepali Congress President Gagan Kumar Thapa has said that the party will responsibly fulfill its role as the opposition.
Addressing the Central Working Committee meeting of the party, which started today at the party's central office in Sanepa, he stated that the party would responsibly fulfill the opposition role given by public mandate in the federal parliament as expressed through the March 5 House of Representatives (HoR) Member election.
“We will fulfill the role of the opposition based on the constitution, the party statute, and manifesto. From 2082 to 2087, the Nepali Congress will support the Rastriya Swatantra Party in matters of good governance, service delivery, and development. In the next five years, we will perform our role in a way that no political conflict or mishap occurs,” he elaborated.
The party president stated that the party had to contest the election under adverse circumstances and mentioned that he resigned from the position of the party president to be accountable following the 'dismal' election results for the party.
He said, "The central committee has made a decision different from my expectation, the remaining right or wrong decisions will be made by the party's upcoming general convention. Now we will move forward towards the general convention."
President Thapa mentioned that there are specific expectations of citizens from the next government regarding good governance.
He emphasized the need for a thorough investigation into the misuse of the authority and policy-related corruption.
"After 1990, the assets of everyone who held public office should be investigated, illegal assets should be confiscated, and a commission should be established for this," he said.
The NC president stated that the party's review on the election had been completed and that a decision would be made at today's meeting to conduct a review in all seven provinces.
NC to hold 15th general convention from September 9
Nepali Congress President Gagan Kumar Thapa has presented a proposal of holding the party's 15th general convention from September 9 to September 11 in the Central Committee.
In today's NC Central Working Committee meeting held at the party central office, Sanepa, President Thapa presented a schedule for the preparation of the general convention from April 4 as well as the schedule to hold the general convention on September 9.
As per the schedule, a special campaign would be launched from April 4 to update active membership and active membership would be distributed in all 6, 743 wards from April 14.
Similarly, an action plan has been prepared to send membership in distribution centers till June 14 and the center would finalize the membership after necessary investigation till June 29.
Likewise, the name list of updated active members would be submitted to the central election committee by July 16 and hold municipal level convention on July 22.
42 percent TB patients still out of treatment in Nepal
World Tuberculosis Day is being marked across the country today by organizing various awareness programs under the theme 'Yes! We Can End TB: National Campaign, Our Contribution'.
Director at the National Tuberculosis Centre, Dr Bhuwan Poudel said that this Day is being observed with the commitment of fulfilling responsibilities by all from their respective fields with an objective of ending tuberculosis by 2035 and making the country tuberculosis-free by 2050.
Stating that 42 percent TB patients are still out of treatment in the country, he mentioned that problems have surfaced as most of the patients do not openly talk about their disease as well as inability to use technology.
Poudel shared that 39,151 new patients were detected in fiscal year 2024/25. Of them, 39 percent were women, 61 percent men and 5.6 percent children below 15 years.
The government has been running tuberculosis treatment service in 6,241 health institutions to control the disease, he said, adding 785 health institutions have been providing specified microscopy service while 142 health institutions are providing rapid testing service free of cost.
He added that 31 centers and 98 sub-centres are providing treatment for drug resistant tuberculosis as well as the 'Tuberculosis-free Nepal Campaign' has been expanded in 149 local levels and nine AI-assisted digital X-ray machines are being used to test tuberculosis.
Poudel underlined that 10.7 million active tuberculosis are detected in the world every year. Of them more than 1.2 million people lost their lives.
