Today's Top 20 News: From Finance Minister's India Visit to Flood-Affected Children's Protection
Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle held high-level diplomatic meetings during his visit to India. The government has initiated a process to manage the protection of children affected by the devastating floods in the Bhote Koshi–Trishuli River in Rasuwa through the state's designated child protection system.
Kathmandu. The top 20 news stories from throughout the day, covering political activities both domestic and international, as well as the economy, society, sports, international events, and other important topics, are as follows.
1. Finance Minister Wagle Meets Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar
Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle, currently on a visit to India, held a meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi. During the meeting, discussions were held on Nepal–India relations and further strengthening cooperation in the areas of economy, energy, and connectivity networks.
After the meeting, Jaishankar expressed happiness at meeting Finance Minister Wagle through social media. He expressed deep sorrow over the humanitarian and physical losses caused by the recent devastating floods in Nepal and extended condolences to the families of the deceased. According to Jaishankar, discussions particularly focused on expanding cooperation in the areas of economy, energy, and connectivity networks.
Finance Minister Wagle is in New Delhi as part of a three-day official visit to India. During the visit, he also held a meeting with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed post-flood reconstruction, trade, investment, energy, and connectivity networks.
2. Finance Minister Wagle Participates in High-Level Diplomatic Dialogue
Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle, on an official visit to India, participated in a high-level diplomatic dialogue in New Delhi on the second day of his visit. Finance Minister Wagle addressed the high-level diplomatic roundtable dialogue organized on Friday at the India International Centre in New Delhi.
The following personalities participated in the program:
- Former Foreign Secretary of India and former Ambassador to Nepal Shyam Saran
- Senior leader of the Indian National Congress and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh
- Former National Security Advisor and former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon
- Former Deputy National Security Advisor and diplomat Pankaj Saran
- Economist and Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University Dr. Deepak Nayyar
- Chairman of the India Trade Promotion Organisation Javed Ashraf
- Former Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae
- Head of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Bharatiya Janata Party Dr. Vijay Chauthaiwale
- Scholar of South Asian geopolitics and connectivity networks Dr. Constantino Xavier
- Director at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Manusmriti
The program also saw the participation of Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor of the Indian media outlet 'The Hindu', as well as members of the Nepali delegation.
3. Government's Attention on Protection of Flood-Affected Children
The government has initiated a process to manage the protection of children affected by the devastating floods that occurred on Bhadra 10 (August 26) in the Bhote Koshi–Trishuli River in Rasuwa, through the state's designated child protection system.
The Ministry of Women, Children, Senior Citizens, Gender and Sexual Minorities, and Social Security has expressed serious concern over activities by individuals or organizations taking flood-affected children into their custody in the name of care, education, and protection, attempting to influence them through various means, and trying to exert unwanted religious influence in the name of counseling.
According to the ministry, activities that take advantage of the sensitive situation of a disaster to arbitrarily take children into custody or relocate them elsewhere could pose risks to their safety, psychosocial condition, emotional development, and long-term future.
To ensure the best interests and safe protection of children, a temporary protection service center has been brought into operation at Godawari Municipality–12, Thecho in Lalitpur under the National Child Rights Council. The ministry has stated that children who are found to require immediate safe protection based on preliminary investigation and assessment will be placed in the center according to established procedures.
To bring children who have been orphaned or deprived of immediate family protection due to the floods into safe protection, the ministry has requested the relevant agencies through the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation and the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration to coordinate and facilitate with the concerned local levels.
Similarly, the ministry has directed local levels affected by the Bhadra 10 floods and those declared as crisis-hit areas by the government to coordinate with relevant state agencies for rescue, identification, protection, family reunification, and necessary services, keeping the best interests of children at the center.