May 27: A meeting of the National Assembly (NA) today passed the Policies and Programmes of the Government by overwhelming majority.    
National Assembly Chair Ganesh Prasad Timilsina had presented the government's policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2022/23 for endorsement.    
Before the endorsement of the policies and programmes, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary affairs Govinda Prasad Sharma Koirala, on behalf of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, replied to the questions raised in course of the deliberations on the document.    
Majority of National Assembly members rejected the proposal for amendment to the policies and programmes .    
Lawmakers Dr Bedu Ram Bhusal, Shekhar Kumar Singh, Dr Bimala Rai Poudyal, Bhairav Sundar Shrestha, Devendra Dahal and Bhagawati Neupane had sought clarifications on the government's policy. In reply, Minister Koirala said all the queries are obvious and the government has kept production and processing of herbs in priority. This topic would be included in the budget for the next fiscal year.    
He made it clear that since the price of petroleum products fluctuated due to the impact of the international market, the government did not have control over the prices as such.    
Regarding the clarification related to the topic of Nijgadh International Airport, he said more cannot be said on this topic as the full text of the Supreme Court's verdict is not yet available.    
The National Assembly held deliberations on the policies and programmes of the government on Thursday and Friday before endorsing it. President Bidya Devi Bhandari had presented the government's policies and programmes in a joint session of the Federal Parliament on May 24.    
Chairman Timilsina directed the lawmakers to be seated in the Federal Parliament's assembly hall 15 minutes before 4 pm on May 29, when the budget for the next fiscal year is to be presented before the joint session of the Federal Parliament.    
The National Assembly will next meet at 3 pm on May 29.  -- RSS