News

• Dr. Dijan Bhattarai, Under Secratary of NDRRMA highlighted the importance of Private sector in DRR&M. NDRRMA is looking for technical assistance form the thematic group in matters that relate to the DRR&M in Nepal. There needs to be research on items are used in DRR&M and focus on loss due to disasters. The main objective should be preparing for disasters and reduce the loss of life and property.
• Dr. Raju Thapa, Acting Chair of DPNet Nepal, shared about the 9 thematic groups of the NPDRR, and explained how they were established under the recommendation of UNDRR which emphasizes “all of society” approach to ensure DRR&M. He shed light on the agenda and the major points of discussion such as tax exemption for the goods helps in collection of fund for DRR, the modification of the NPDRR guideline for the Private Sector and many more.

• The list of goods for tax exemption should be further refined.
• The tax exemption should not follow a blanket approach, only if the item has been recommended by the Ministry of Finance only then it can be exempted.
• The process of receiving recommendation by the ministry should swift in a disaster event.
• There should be an eligibility criteria for the items that can be exempted from tax.
• To ensure that there is no misuse of the of the tax exemption, a set quantity for import should be set looking at the severity and the kind of disaster events.