Lamsal to sing 'Bihe garna kar la chha'

Singer Kishor Lamsal is coming with his latest lokdohori song ‘gharbata bihe garna kar la chha’. His third musical venture talks about the marriage in the modern day society where the singer is afraid of marrying a girlfriend of someone else.

‘Malai pani gharbata bihe garna kar laa chha.

Tara, arkai ki girlfriend parchhe ki dar laa chha.”

मलाई पनि घरबाट बिहे गर्न कर ला छ, 

तर, अकैकी गर्लफ्रेण्ड पर्छे कि डर ला छ । 

Lamsal said that with the light romantic song, he was trying to entertain the youth. Another popular singer Muna Thapa will also give her voice to the song.

He started his singing career in 2011 with a song – Mafi magne mauka. He gave vocal and music in the latest hit song ‘Gaunkai jeeban thik chha.’ Muna Thapa and Sagar Birahi assisted him in female vocal, and lyrics and rhythm. The song was liked by the audiences of all ages.

“My demand soared with the popularity of ‘Gaunkai jeeban thik chha’ and I travelled to various parts of the country to sing in festivals and concerts,” said Lamsal.

A resident of Bachchhauli VDC in Chitwan, he has been singing in various restaurants in the capital for last four years. 

UNCON donates 500,000 to JMC

USA Nepal Community Outreach Network (UNCON) Monday handed over Rs. 541,000 to Janamaitri Multiple Campus to assist the later in the reconstruction of the college buildings.

Two of the buildings of the campus were damaged by the April 25 earthquake.

Rajendra Giri, chairman of Kailash Bikash Bank and brand ambassador of Lions Club of Kathmandu Kailas, handed over a cheque equivalent to USD 5,000 to Dr. Dilli Raj Khanal, chairman of the Campus Management Committee, and Bhola Nath Ojha, campus chief, amidst a ceremony organized at the campus.

"It it a small initiative to help the education institution in the post-quake scenario," Giri said.

Dr. Khanal said that the money would be used for the reconstruction of campus infrastructure.

Rudra Hari Gyawali, governor of Lions Club International, District 325A2, stated there would be more support to education from the Lions.

Established as a community college, Janamaitri has about 1,600 students enrolled under various faculties. 

CBS collects data of only 160,000 quake-hit families

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has collected details of loss incurred to more than 160,000 households in the districts affected by the earthquakes in April and May last year so far.

The CBS started Earthquake Stricken Settlement Reconstruction Data Collection program on January 25.

“The survey is undergoing in 11 of the 14 severely quake-hit districts. The data collection in Dolakha is about to be concluded,” informed Dr. Rudra Suwal, deputy director general of CBS.

The data collection program was kicked off from Dolakha.

About 500,000 houses were completely damaged and more than 250,000 houses were partially damaged by the tremors in April and May last year rendering approximately 8 million people homeless in the immediate aftermath of the quake.

According to the earlier estimates of Ministry of Home Affairs, the tremors affected almost 11 per cent houses in 30 districts.

As per the Post Disaster Need Assessment of the government there were more than 8,790 casualties and 22,300 injuries.

As the number of houses affected by the quake continuously inflated, by more than 50 per cent in some of the districts, the government initiated fresh data collection program in collaboration with the World Bank (WB) and other organizations.

Dr. Suwal informed that 1,400 engineers, enabled with tablet, were mobilized in the field and they were submitting more than 6,000 records every day.

This is the first paperless survey in Nepal where the data input by the surveyors is directly recorded in the server of the CBS.

“Except some of the villages in the mountains, survey of all the severely-hit districts will be completed by mid-April this year. Although we are trying to finish it at the earliest, problems in network has been affecting the data transfer,” said Dr. Suwal.

National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) spokesperson Suresh Adhikari said that the delay in data collection would not affect the reconstruction of the quake-damaged building.

“Data of about 144,000 household has been processed and verified. The reconstruction will be carried out in those areas at the earliest,” he said.

He informed that by mid-April house reconstruction work would be launched in all the quake-affected districts.

“If there are any problems in creating bank accounts, the Resource Centre, the lowermost unit of the NRA, will facilitate the people in that process,” said Adhikari. 

NRA bans house construction

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has forbidden the people from constructing their houses, and organizations from distributing money to the quake-victims without its approval.

The NRA issued a notice on Friday saying it would be illegal to construct building and distribute money as it was formulating a working procedure for the same.

“The NRA is drafting working procedure for mobilizing assistance of non-government organizations (NGOs) in reconstruction and rehabilitation. Therefore, all concerned people and organizations are requested to halt the construction of buildings and distribution of monetary assistance as it would be against the prevailing policies and laws,” read the NRA notice.

According to the National Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Policy 2016, the government grant for reconstruction of individual houses damaged in the earthquakes in April and May last year would be channeled through the NRA to respective agencies.

The notice said that the NRA would coordinate and assist for the construction of safe and quake resistant building.

It asked all respective organizations to contact NRA for further process.

 NRA spokesperson Suresh Adhikari said that the Authority put a moratorium on building construction and money distribution to enable the reconstruction body for the coordination in construction of houses and to create uniformity, and to ensure the technical aspects of the buildings.

“We just want to manage the involvement of the NGOs. Our intention is not to ban them forever. The NRA has received information that various organization are distributing money and initiated building construction in the quake affected districts,” he maintained.

The reconstruction body is engaged in formulating policies and working procedures, developing implementation process and building organizational structure needed for the post-quake reconstruction and rehabilitation works. 

Nepal SBI & NCHL sign agreement

Nepal SBI Bank Limited and Nepal Clearing House Limited Wednesday signed an agreement for Inter-bank Payment system (NCHL-IPS).
V.K. Tyagi, deputy chief executive officer (CEO) of Nepal SBI Bank and Nilesh Man Singh Pradhan, CEO of NCHL exchanged the agreement amid a ceremony.

Nepal SBI Bank said in a press statement that it entered into NCHL-IPS agreement with a motive to providing modern banking services to the customers.

As per the agreement, Clearing House will provide NCHL-IPS system to the Bank to facilitate inter-bank electronic payment service.

Banks and financial institutions associated with Clearing House can provide direct credit and direct debit facility to the customers through this system.

Member banks and financial institutions can provide services like customer’s cash placement, dividend payment, Initial Public Offering refund, bill payment, premium payment, allowance payment and remittance services through this system.

“Transactions through the system are transparent wherein the large number of transactions can be easily conducted, risk is minimized and customers can avail international standard payment services,” said the bank.

CSOs urge UN for financial access to Nepal

The civil society organizations (CSOs) in Nepal Thursday urged the United Nations to guarantee Nepal’s easy and justifiable access to the international financial resources and development assistance.

Issuing a common declaration on Sustainable Development Agenda (SDA) 2030, more than 10,000 CSOs suggested the UN to implement the principles of climate justice and ‘polluter must pay’, and urged for additional assistance to Nepal other than the current Official Development Assistance (ODA) under international assistance of climate finance.

“Poor country should not be burdened with international loans in the name of climate finance,” read the declaration.

Welcoming the sustainable development agenda ‘Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Nepalese CSOs praised the UN for its role in developing the SDA.

They asked the government to establish accountability system for result-oriented implementation of the SDA. “We urge the government to clarify the role of central, provincial and local level governments in implementing the SDA in the respective areas in the future.” 

Nirdhan to provide collateral free loan to micro-entrepreneurs

National Micro Entrepreneurs Federation Nepal (NMEFEN) and Nirdhan Utthan Bank Limited (NUBL) Thursday signed an agreement to provide access to finance for micro-entrepreneurs.

According to the MoU, the NUBL will provide collateral free loan of up to Rs. 300,000 to the micro-entrepreneurs promoted by Micro Enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP) and government’s Micro Enterprise Development for Poverty Alleviation (MEDPA) programme.

The bank will also provide loans to other entrepreneurs requiring higher amount.

NMEFEN chairperson Lakpa Lama and chief executive officer of NUBL Janardan Dev Pant signed the agreement.

Over 40 thousand micro-entrepreneurs from 52 districts, mostly from hill and mountain, are expected to benefit from the deal.

After signing the MoU, Lama said that access to finance was major obstacle for micro-entrepreneurs who operate business in remote and rural areas. He hoped that this agreement would help entrepreneurs to overcome the obstacle.

Pant said as NUBL’s main goal was to contribute to poverty reduction by providing access to financial services to the rural and poor people, the bank would provide loan to rural entrepreneurs on priority basis. 

NMEFEN is the umbrella organization of over ninety thousand micro-ntrepreneurs. It has member organizations – the District Micro Entrepreneurs Groups Associations (DMEGA) in 50 districts which will facilitate in identifying potential micro entrepreneurs who require access to finance.

NirdhanUtthan Bank is a leading micro finance institution in the country with its network in 75 districts.

ADB President suggests govt to increase capital expenditure

Visiting Asian Development Bank president Takehiko Nakao Thursday suggested the government to increase capital investment to fill the infrastructure gap.

“Nepal’s public capital spending has been low at an average of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) over the last 5 years compared to the 8-12 per cent required to fill the critical infrastructure gap within a decade,” Nakao said in a meeting with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

He said that it’s essential to accelerate the pace of investment for reconstruction and other development programs in order to achieve its economic growth potential for 7-8 per cent per annum in the medium term. 

Nakao, who arrived her on Wednesday, met with PM Oli and Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel and discussed Nepal’s economic recovery and social development after the devastating earthquakes last year.

During his meetings, Nakao said that the bank was willing to expand annual lending to Nepal by 70 per cent to 500 million USD per year from the current 300 million USD to support critical investments and reforms.

“Under it’s country partnership strategy with Nepal for 2013-17, ADB is prioritizing major investments in hydropower generation and transmission, enhancing the capacity of international airports, building new economic corridors to promote regional trade, and reforming higher education systems,” ADB’s Nepal office said.

It said that the bank would continue its support for inclusive growth through investments in agricultural diversification and productivity, urban and rural water supply and sanitation, and rural roads.

ADB forecasts Nepal’s economy to grow by 1.5 per cent in the current fiscal year after 3 per cent growth in the previous year.

Nakao praised Nepal’s enactment of its new constitution as a major milestone in its political transition process.

“The new constitution marks a new era for Nepal and lays the foundation for lasting peace, stability, and more rapid socio-economic progress. I hope the remaining political differences over the new constitution will be amicably resolved soon, paving the way for its timely implementation,” he said.

He said that ADB was ready to provide assistance for Nepal’s transition to the new governance structure and public management systems as envisaged in the constitution.

Nakao said that the government and ADB should work together to speed up project implementation, including by promoting timely and proactive decision making by project implementing agencies.

The bank said that a large portion of ADB’s currently committed assistance of 1.75 billion dollars remained unspent. 

PM Oli visited Hindustan Uniliver

Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli visited the Head Office of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) Wednesday along with his wife Radhika Shakya, Ministers, ambassador of Nepal to India, and Business leaders from Nepal.

PM Oli was welcomed by HUL’s chief executive officer and managing director Sanjiv Mehta and his wife Mona Mehta, and Unilever Nepal chairman Pradeep Banerjee and his wife Sarmistha Banerjee. HUL’s joint venture Partner and Director of Unilever Nepal Limited Ravi Bhakta Shrestha was also present on the occasion.
During the visit, PM Oli said, “Nepal offers excellent opportunities for growth to industries. The policies of present government will foster growth of existing and new industries in Nepal.”

He added that Unilever Nepal was an excellent example of how the businesses had prospered and grown in Nepal and at the same time catalysed local development through direct and indirect employment.
Mehta said, “Nepal holds a lot of significance for us culturally, socially as well as in our business. Unilever Nepal happens to be one of the successful operating units among Unilever countries contributing significantly to the growth of local industry and economy.”

Govt initiates works for Strategy for Resilient Urban Communities

The government has begun ground works to develop ‘national strategy for resilient urban communities’ with an aim of building disaster and climate change resilient cities in Nepal.

An inception workshop was organized Sunday to present initial concept of the strategy and get the feedback of experts on it. 

“New strategy will focus on community resilience, including disaster resilience and climate change adaptation. It will try to address resilience and adaptation, assessment of the community assets, vulnerability of infrastructure, potential systems interventions for community resilience,” informed Gopi Krishna Khanal, joint secretary of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD).

He said that the strategy would also include national, regional and local policies on resilience and adaptation.

The MoFALD, Institute for Social and Environmental Transition – Nepal (ISET-N), Practical Action Consultation and Genesis Consultancy are jointly developing the strategy.

The strategy formulation committee started its work from January this year and will complete its work by the end of May.

Kunti Kumari Shahi, Minister for State of the MoFALD, suggested for coordination among the respective agencies in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

She urged to make an assessment of the limitation of resources, inherent risks and estimated cost while applying the resilient development measures.

 Nepal’s population lives 217 municipalities. Given the disaster vulnerability of the country, security of those people living in the urban areas must be addressed,” said Khanal.

“About 42 per cent of

He said that implementing land-use plan in the urban areas was a major challenge and the ministry was preparing approach to address the issue.

Executive director of ISET-N and leader of the committee Ajay Dixit said that the first draft of the strategy would be made public on March 30 for further discussion and public suggestion.

“We will review all the existing policies in the country as well as international practices. There will be discussions with local experts about the local and traditional knowledge on resilient construction and development,” he informed.

The team will also study international declarations on disaster resilience and climate change adaptation, like Sendai Framework and Paris Climate Declaration.

Bimal Gadal, director of Sustainable Development Directorate at Oxfam, said that Nepal should have developed such strategy much earlier as the country was attributed as the 4^th most vulnerable country in terms of climate change, 11^th in terms of earthquake and 30^th in flood.

Another member of the committee, Ashutosh Kumar Shukla said that at least two national level consortiums would be organized to formulate the strategy.

He stressed the need to create resilience index for the municipalities.

Dr. Jiba Raj Pokharel, vice-chancellor of the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, urged the committee to find out local resilient measures and apply them with modern technology.

“We have 300 years old temples standing tall even after half a dozen powerful earthquakes. They are the testimony of our knowledge on resilient technology. We must not ignore it,” he said. 

Nepal-Japan relations enteres into 60 years

The government Wednesday formed a High-level Committee to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and Japan under the convenorship of Kamal Thapa, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

According to a press statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the committed was mandated to select, implement and coordinate various commemorative programs and events of diamond jubilee celebrations throughout the year 2016.

“The members of high level committee consist of the secretaries of relevant ministries, former ambassadors of Nepal to Japan, chief executive officers of relevant boards, Japan experts, representatives of apex bodies of Nepalese business associations,” read the statement.  

Diplomatic relations between Nepal and Japan was established on 1^st September 1956.

Japan to provide Rs. 3.5 billion for Rehabilitation

Japan agreed to provide grant assistance of Rs. 3.5 billion to Nepal for post-quake rehabilitation and recovery projects.

Joint secretary of International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division at the Ministry of Finance (MoF) Baikuntha Aryal and chief representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for Nepal Tsutomu Shimizu signed on the agreements of ‘The project on rehabilitation and recovery from Nepal earthquake’ amid a function at the MoF.

The agreement was done in response to the exchange of notes of grant assistance between Nepal and Japan on December last year.

The grant will be used for the reconstruction of Paropakar Matarnity and Women’s Hospital, Bir Hospital, rehabilitation of water transmission system in Chautara, Sindhupalchowk and bridge construction along Barhakili-Barpak road in Gorkha, informed JICA.

“JICA Nepal believes that the reconstruction of Bir Hospital will support to provide quality health service to the general public while reconstruction of Paropakar Maternity Hospital will support in quality reproductive health service to women and provide essential care for women and newborn babies.”

Bir Hospital, the oldest and one of the busiest hospitals in Nepal, was established in 1889 and Paropakar Hospital came into operation in 1959. 

JICA to assist CBS in Economic Census

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed to provide technical assistance to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) for the capacity development needed for Economic Census 2018 in Nepal.

Both the organizations signed a technical cooperation project ‘Projection capacity development for the implementation of Economic Census 2018 in Nepal’.

JICA chief representative Tsutomu Shimizu and CBS director general Suman Raj Aryal signed on project’s record of discussion.

“The Project targets to develop the Capacity of CBS to conduct Economic Census and enhance such skills in conducting other related statistical surveys. Projects aims CBS staff be able to plan and implement Economic Census, process and scrutinize Economic Census Data,” read a press release issued by JICA.

Statistical results provided by CBS will be utilized for planning and implementation of policies, plans, and strategies of line ministries, local governments, universities, research institutions and private sector.

JICA informed that the duration of the Project will be tentatively for five years.

It said that the technical assistance provided by JICA for Economic Census would be an innovative statistical undertaking in Nepal in enhancing integrated economic statistics. It provides a consistent and reliable assessment of a country’s economic activity for policy and analytical uses.

“The Economic Census will provide essential statistical information on economic activities, which is necessary in order to plan for, and implement, economic and social development, administrative activity or research,” read the release.

According to JICA, Economic Census would be inevitable to fulfill the broad economic data needs in achieving the prevailing challenges towards upgrading the country to developing country.

“The census will also be able to supplement the indicators required to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the country.”

The Economic Census 2018 aims at strengthening statistical infrastructure by establishing both statistical business register and a sampling frame containing all establishments and enterprises.

The government is drafting the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics. 

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli Thursday said that the misunderstandings that emerged between Nepal and India in the past six months would be cleared during his state visit to the southern neighbour.

Addressing the 68^th anniversary programme of the Nepal Council of World Affairs (NCWA), PM Oli stated that both the countries now want to bring the bilateral relations back on the track.

“My endeavour will be to develop relations with India for mutual benefits and respect. It will be a successful visit,” remarked the Prime Minister.

He said that the diplomats had to play an important role in developing relations with the foreign countries and other international organizations as well.

Speaking on a different note, PM Oli said that the country had entered into another phase of transition after the promulgation of the new constitution.

He briefed the ambassadors of foreign countries and head of the diplomatic missions to Nepal preset on the occasion that the constitution did not discriminate against any individual or group or ethnicities.

The NCWA fecilitated former Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat for the contributions he made to enhance Nepal’s image in the international arena.

Dr. Mahat said that Nepal’s dependence on external assistance was declining.

“Even after political upheaval, armed conflict, disasters and blockade, our macro fundamentals are good. The international community has also appreciated Nepal for this,” he said.

Rajendra Bahadur Shrestha, president of the NCWA, said that the Council had played an important role to promote government to government relations around the globe.

He urged the government to learn from China and India and redesign its diplomatic policy.

Shrestha expressed hope that the PM’s India visit would help to resolve misunderstanding and improve ties between the two neighbours. 

Deposit dividend in bank account: SEBON

The Security Board of Nepal (SEBON) Friday directed all the listed companies to make necessary provisions deposit the dividend to the bank account of the respective investors.

It said that the deposit could be made in the account of bank and financial institutions that were members of the Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL).

NCHL offers electronic medium cheque clearing service to the banks and financial institutions in the country.

"The investors were complaining that the process of receiving dividend was complex and costly. Therefore, SEBON has directed the listed companies to deposit the money to investors' bank accounts," read the directives.

Investors, specially those from outside the Kathmandu Valley, would be benefitted as they need not to reach to the respective organizations' head office to receive their dividend, said the capital market regulator.

In an attempt to modernize the capital market in the country, all the shares had been dematerialized recently and SEBON has directed the companies also to deposit the right shares and bonus shares in the investor's account.

Acting PM says govt will establish an Engineering University

Acting Prime Minister Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar Saturday said that the government would establish engineering university and staff college to make the engineering services and education more effective.

Addressing the closing ceremony of SAARC Engineers' Convention, he urged the engineers to dedicate themselves in playing roles to materialize the map and imaginations of the government and politicians.

The SAARC level seminar on ‘Regional cooperation and knowledge management for innovation’ was jointly organized by Nepal Engineers Association (NEA) and Federation of Engineering Institutions of South and Central Asia (FEISCA) – an association of SAARC member countries’ engineering institutions.

"Engineers are the development agents and they should be sincerely involved in construction and development," Gachchhadar said.

Acting PM Gachchhadar said that the political engineering of the country was not good and the engineers should not be affected by it.

NEA president Dhruba Raj Thapa said that the government should involve engineers in every step of development works. "The government should create an environment for it by developing new policy."

Senior engineers from SAARC members and other countries participated in the conference.

Chairman of Nepal Engineering Council Satya Narayan Shah, coordinator of Technical Committee Kamal Pandey and engineer of Asian Development Bank Bindu Nath Lohani discussed about the post earthquake reconstruction in Nepal.

The conference has brought out a 10-point declaration on post-quake reconstruction.

The convention’s major focus was the post-quake reconstruction and rehabilitation, along with disaster management and solution to the energy crisis.

It declared that for the post-quake reconstruction and economic prosperity, the government should expand the engineering services to every local body.

“The convention discussed the reasons behind Nepal’s underdevelopment and the steps that the government needs to take specially in the reconstruction and rehabilitation process,” said Thapa. "We will submit the declaration to the respective government agencies and other stakeholders."

Earlier, NEA concluded its 14^th national convention with the slogan ‘Engineering Excellence: Impetus for National Advancement’ in Kathmandu on Friday.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the convention attended by about 1,500 engineers across the country and 50 foreign delegates.

The NEA, which is one of the oldest professional associations in the country, was established 53 years ago. 

'Three avenues of local government monitoring'

Federalism expert Dr. Anwar Shah Wednesday said that the performance of the local governments should be monitored on three avenues – fiscal health, service delivery and citizen’s satisfaction.

He said that the fiscal health of the local government should be monitored through fiscal rules and commercially audited statement while service delivery should be mapped through performance budgeting.

“Citizen satisfaction is best measured by independent survey of open website for complaints,” said the lead economist and team leader for public sector governance at the World Bank Institute.

He was speaking at a 2-day workshop on ‘Implementing Federal Governance – Lessons for Nepal’ for the journalists organized by Forum of Federations in collaboration with the Forum of Development Journalists’ in Bhaktapur.

Dr. Shah suggested local fiscal equalization transfers to address the financial and economic resource gaps in the provinces and local bodies in order to overcome threat of secession and create a sense of national unity, and also to secure a common economic union.

However, he warned that it could be a disincentive for local economic development, and it might weaken fiscal discipline and endanger the long term growth prospects.

Another expert Ms. Roberta Ryan, director of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government, said that balanced motivations for decentralized federal systems promote democratization and was a must for appropriate, effective and efficient service delivery.

“It also promotes effective and inclusive decision making at the local level which will have positive impact on social cohesion and economic development,” she opined.

Jaap de Visser, professor at Utrecht University, South Africa, stated that the federalism should accommodate diversity by combining self rule and shared rule.

“The shared rule – integration and cooperation between centre and sub-national units – is about sharing of national positions and bringing the sub-national units into the centre to participate in federal decision making,” he said.

As the resources mostly located at centre and people in provinces claim inclusion, shared rule is critically important in developing countries, he maintained.

“Shared rule can be exercised through federal parliament, federal executive, federal civil service and independent institutions.” 

Hillary's Rolex sold at Rs. 4.2 million

A Rolex watch worn by Sir Edmund Hillary during his successful ascent of the world's highest peak, Mt. Everest, sold at record price £27,000 (Rs. 4.23 million) in an auction in London Friday.

Hillary was one of the first summiteers of Mt. Everest along with Tenzing Norgey Sherpa in 1953.

It was the first successful climb of the world's highest peak.

A German bidder took home the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Explorer after paying £27,140 including premium and other costs.

According to East Anglian Daily Times, collectors from around the world fought it out on telephone lines in the main saleroom of Martlesham auctioneers Lockdales as the price was pushed up to a world record.

Bidding was started at £5,000 in front of a packed audience for one of the most unusual lots ever to be sold by the company.

Auction manager James Sadler, said that the watch was truly ultra-rare as it was one of a rare batch that were designed to work perfectly at altitude, reported the East Anglian.

"Rolex brought a very limited number out ahead of the epic climb by the party which saw Sir Edmund Hillary reach the summit with Tenzing Norgay. “The 11 bidders are all dedicated specialists in their field. Many of them have told us that the previous high for an explorer watch like this was £17,000. So we are so proud of the staggering figure achieved on our premises,” the newspaper quoted Sadler.

The successful climb of Everest took place in 1953. The team was led by Sir John (later Lord) Hunt, with Hillary and Norgay reaching the summit on May 29.

There were 15 official members of the Everest team – who were also accompanied by The Times journalist James (now Jan) Morris.

But they used a further 360 Nepalese porters to make the ascent – so a total of almost 400 people were involved in the ascent.

Special equipment able to operate at very high altitude – like the Rolex watch – was supplied to team members because they were facing conditions no one had come across before.

The story of the conquest remains one of the great achievements of the 20^th century.

New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary died at the age of 88 in 2008, Tenzing Norgay died at the age of 71 in 1986 and Lord Hunt died in 1998 at the age of 88.

Ford Endeavour hits Nepalese market

GO Ford, authorized distributor of Ford vehicles in Nepal, Tuesday launched SUV Ford Endeavour in Nepali market.

Ford Endeavour has 3.2-litre Duratorq five-cylinder TDCi diesel engine with 200 PS of power, and 470 Nm of torque delivers a fuel efficiency of 10.91 kilometre per litre.

“This engine has been tuned to deliver maximum power and torque and is perfect for frequent off-road adventure,” read a press release issued by GO Ford.

Ford has also offered 2.2-liter Duratorq four-cylinder TDCi diesel, putting out 160PS of power and 385 Nm of torque. This engine is paired to both a six-speed manual and automatic transmission. With manual transmission, the 2.2L engine delivers fuel economy of 14.12 kmpl.  The Automatic transmission will deliver a fuel economy of 12.62 kmpl.

These SUVs price ranges from Rs. 10.2 million to Rs. 11.9 million in Nepali market.

The new SUV is equipped with an advanced coil spring suspension and the company claimed that it delivers ride comfort and agile handling.

Endeavour can accommodate up to seven passengers. It has seven airbags – including industry-first knee airbag for extra level protection.

The vehicle has intelligent four-wheel drive and a first-in-segment advanced Terrain Management System (TMS) to help drivers navigate challenging terrain with ease and confidence, read the release.

“TMS enhances Endeavour’s capabilities by allowing drivers to chose from four preset modes for different road conditions. These modes alter the vehicle’s throttle response, transmission, intelligent four-wheel drive system and traction control,” said the company.

According to the company, its robust front fascia with signature LED daytime running lights and wide stance give it a powerful presence on the road.

With all the rear seats folded, Ford Endeavour can hold up to 2,010 litres of cargo. It also features Electric Panoramic Sunroof that opens up to the first two seating rows.

“Be it the everyday commute or the most extreme off-road terrain, Endeavour will be the new benchmark in the SUV segment because of its rugged off-road capability, exceptional ride quality and dynamic handling, “said Nigel Harris, president and managing director, Ford India.

NTC to lay off 796 employees

Nepal Telecommunication Company (NTC) has decided to bid farewell to at least 796 of its staff as per the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).

A meeting of the company board chaired by Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communication, Wednesday took the decision in this effect.

As per the decision, the employees, who have served the company for more than 25 years, will be benefited by the scheme.

VRS is a method used by companies to reduce surplus of staff. Also known as ‘golden handshake’ scheme, it’s applied in various government and private companies. However, the service tenure and age limit is different country to country.  

This is the first golden handshake offer in the history of the NTC, and the farewell scheme will start from Saturday, informed Buddhi Prasad Acharya, managing director of the company.

The oldest telecom service provider of the country has decided to reduce employees in a plan to lessen the financial burden to the company. The company currently has around 5,100 staff.

“We had announced the golden handshake scheme targeting the employees that have long served the company. The telecommunication technology has been rapidly upgraded in the last decade so we need new engineers and other administrative staffs,” said Buddhi Prasad Acharya, managing director of the company.

The company needed young human resources who could contribute for new management system and have better understanding of latest telecommunication technology.

“In the long run the VRS will help cut down the operation cost, enhance efficiency of the staffs and increase profit.”

He informed, in the first phase, 822 employees, grade 1 to 11, applied for the VRS.

Remaining employees, who have applied for VRS, will be allowed to have that facility in the second phase.

Those who are willing for the VRS will receive amount up to Rs. 10 million including their gratuity, salary of their remaining tenure and money as per their service assessment grade, said the company.

The government owned Telecommunication Company is facing tough competition from the private sectors. Therefore, we needed competitive employees, NTC said. 

'Incentive package needed to motivate private companies'

Security Board of Nepal (SEBON) chairman Dr. Rewat Bahadur Karki Friday said that there should be an incentive package to motivate the private companies to be listed in the stock exchange.

Speaking at an interaction on ‘Need of New Dimension and Derivatives in Nepali Capital Market’ organized by Media Plus, he said, “The private sector is not interested to be listed in the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE). If we want more private sector companies to be listed in the stock exchange, the government should offer some incentives.”

He suggested an overhaul in present legal and structural provisions as they barred the real sector companies from being listed in the stock exchange.

“Recently, there were discussions about forcing Ncell to be listed in the stock exchange. The government or the regulator should have worked about the modalities and incentives required to have more private companies in the stock market,” said the chief of the security market regulator.

Till date 240 companies are listed in the stock market.

Dr. Karki demanded for a separate regulator in the sectors that needed to be mandatorily listed as the public limited companies like the hydropower sector in order to ensure the safety of the public money.

“If we allow every hydropower company to raise money from the public after getting registered at the Company Registrar’s, that might be a disaster.”

He said that the country did not need a second stock exchange.

He noted a recent merger of three stock exchange in Pakistan to create a national stock exchange and said that the international scenario was moving towards merger and unification.

Niranjan Phuyal, assistant manager of NEPSE, said that instead of establishing another stock exchange, NEPSE should be upgraded and strengthened because the establishment of another exchange would increase operating cost.

The NEPSE was soon announcing a tender to implement complete online system in the stock market, he said.

Phuyal informed that the NEPSE was positive about raising the number of stock brokers.

Central Depository System and Clearing Limited chief executive officer Dev Prakash Gupta said that very few companies were listed in the stock market and efforts should be made to increase the market participation.

He said that economic and political events had minimal impact on the stock market in Nepal.

“Investors are focused on capital gain rather than the dividend. Most of the investors are investing their money without any fundamental analysis of the market and listed companies. Therefore, sometimes Nepalese stock market is driven by rumours.”

Gupta informed that all shares would be dematerialized within a week. “So far shares of 184 companies have been dematerialized and 11 are in the process.”' 

PM Oli to visit India Next week

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will visit India from 19 to 24 February, informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Friday.

Issuing a press statement, the Foreign Ministry informed that PM Oli was visiting the southern neighbour at its Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation and both would hold official talks on matters of mutual interest.

The Prime Minister is also scheduled to call on Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari as well as leaders of various political parties.

“He will also interact with the business community and address an event of the Indian Council of World Affairs while in Delhi,” read the press release.

PM's foreign affairs advisor Gopal Khanal informed that the visit would focus on normalizing the bilateral relations between Nepal and India.

PM Oli will meet Indian business community in New Delhi and Mumbai, and will attend a dinner hosted by the Nepalese Embassy in Delhi.

The bilateral relations between the two countries witnessed an upset when India expressed its dissatisfaction over the promulgation of Nepal’s constitution on 20^th September last year and tightened the customs points on the southern border.

Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel concluded his three-day trip to India this week to make necessary arrangements for PM Oli's maiden foreign sojourn.

During his visit, Minister Paudel held meetings with the Indian Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh, his counterpart Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, and discussed Nepal’s post-quake reconstruction, bilateral trade and economic cooperation and other issues of bilateral interest. 

Indian leaders pay tribute to Koirala

Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj Tuesday said that former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President late Sushil Koirala was a man of ‘high thinking and simple living’.

After paying a tribute to late Koirala Swaraj has written in the condolence book, “The sad demise of former PM of Nepal and leader of NC Koirala has deeply saddened the leadership, government and people of India. A dedicated leader he was a man of high thinking and simple living.”

She also has written that Nepal’s crucial political transformation was successfully concluded under his leadership and said that India has lost a true friend.

Swaraj arrived Kathmandu Tuesday afternoon leading a delegation of Indian parliamentarians and political leaders to pay tribute to late Koirala.

The delegation included Indian National Congress leader Anand Sharma, general secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yachury, Presiednt of Janata Dal – United Sharad Yadav, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national defense advisor Ajit Doval, Nepal Desk chief at the Ministry of External Affairs Abhaya Thakur and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Ray.

All leaders paid tribute to late Koirala and have written their remarks in the condolence book.

Likewise, they met Koirala family and expressed condolence. During the meeting they remembered the contribution of Koirala family in the freedom movement of India.

Meanwhile, the delegation met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli at his official residence in Baluwatar.

During the meeting PM Oli praised Indian support during the time of crisis in Nepal.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affiars Minister Kamal Thapa was also present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, the delegation also met acting president of NC Ramchandra Paudel where senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, general secretaries Praksh Man Singh and Krishna Prasad Sitaula and leaders Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, Mahesh Acharya and Minendra Rijal were present.

Meanwhile, Indian President Pranab Mukharjee, in condolence message, expressed condolences on the death of Koirala and lauded the role of late Koirala during Nepal’s political transition and promulgation of new constitution.

According to Koirala’s aide Prakash Adhikari, Indian ambassador to Nepal Ray, Chinese ambassador Wu Chuntai and chief of other diplomatic missions in Kathmandu paid tribute to late Koirala.

Bhutanese Home Minister Lyonpo Dawa Gyaltshen and Nationalist Congress Party of India’s general secretary D. P. Tripathi are scheduled to arrive Kathmandu to pay tribute to him. 

China expressed Condolence to late Koirala

China expressed condolence over the demise of former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President late Sushil Koirala.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Tuesday sent a letter of condolence and sympathy to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa and said that China was sad to learn the unfortunate news of passing away of Koirala.

He sent a message of sympathy to the Koirala family members and people of Nepal.

“Koiral was a prominent political leader of Nepal who was committed to developing a good Chinese and Nepali relationship of cooperation and friendship,” Wang said in his message.

Early in the morning Tuesday, Chinese ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai went to NC Headquarters and paid tribute to late Koirala.

NEA 14th National Convention starts on 17th February

Nepal Engineers Association (NEA) Thursday informed that it was going to organize its 14^th national convention with the slogan ‘Engineering Excellence: Impetus for National Advancement’ in Kathmandu from 17 to 19 February.

NEA president Dhruba Thapa informed in a press release that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will inaugurate the convention to be attended by about 1,500 engineers across the country and 50 foreign delegates.

The convention’s major focus would be the post-quake reconstruction and rehabilitation, along with disaster management and solution to the energy crisis.

“The convention will try to find out the reasons behind Nepal’s underdevelopment and the steps that the government needs to take specially in the reconstruction and rehabilitation process,” said Thapa.

On the occasion, a SAARC level seminar on ‘Regional cooperation and knowledge management for innovation’ will be organized jointly with Federation of Engineering Institutions of South and Central Asia (FEISCA) – an association of SAARC member countries’ engineering institutions.

Thapa said that senior foreign engineers would address the seminar.

Meanwhile, Engineering and Development Expo – 2016 will also be organized on the occasion where various service providers, construction companies, investors, information technology companies, businesses and various government and non-government organization will participate, informed the NEA.

“We are hopeful that the convention would bring out a resolution which will help in building modern and prosperous Nepal,” said Thapa.

He informed that on the occasion of national convention, the NEA will felicitate the best engineers, architect and organizations in seven various categories.

The NEA has set up a 217-member Main Organizing Committee in the chairmanship of Thapa and various sub-committees are set up for technical management, resource mobilization, publicity, hospitality, food management, registration, publication, transportation and convention venue management.

The NEA, which is one of the oldest professional associations in the country, was established 53 years ago. 

NRA to use line ministries in reconstruction

Acting Secretary of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) Madhu Sudan Adhikari Thursday said that the reconstruction and rehabilitation works would be executed through the line ministries as the Authority did not have administrative structure required to implement the task.

“The reconstruction works would be carried out in a faster and efficient way if it is given to the ministries that have been long involved in the same type of job. We hope that this implementation model will work,” he said while addressing a two-day seminar on ‘Media sensitization on post-earthquake green recovery and reconstruction’ jointly organized by the USAID, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists.

However, he said that present structure and working-style of the ministries lacked efficiency.

“Therefore, new project implementation units would be created in respective ministries as per the directives of the reconstruction body, and programs will be launched to enhance their capacity and empower them with latest knowledge and technologies.”

Those units will have the administrative structure as that of a government department, he said.

 According to Adhikari, there will a central level project implementation unit to execute bigger projects while small projects of reconstruction will be carried out by the district level project implementation unit.

While presenting the execution concept of the reconstruction programmes and institutional structure to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday, NRA chief executive officer Shushil Gyawali said that the reconstruction body would directly disburse the budget to the project implementation units in the ministries in order to carry out the impending task of rebuilding the structures damaged by the devastating earthquake in April and May last year.

The NRA also planned to bring skilled and efficient manpower from other sectors if required.

Adhikari assured that green reconstruction concept would be applied in the reconstruction as far as possible. “There is a challenge to balance between environment and conservation. We are working with other stakeholders to expedite the reconstruction while considering the environmental aspects.”

Sadhana Ghimire, team leader of Conflict Prevention Programme, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said that permanent job creation, improved quality of life and adequate income should be the post-quake sustainable development goals.

Raju Man Manandhar, superintendent engineer of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, said that the government would initiate land pooling projects in some of the core city areas in order to build quake-resistant buildings, and also to create space and maintain green environment.

He informed that the government was planning to develop Barpak village of Gorkha as a model human settlement.

Dr. Pralad Thapa, team member of Rapid Environment Assessment conducted by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment in the aftermath of the quake, urged the government and NRA to develop livelihood opportunity of the people and resettlement simultaneously.

He also stressed to carry out the reconstruction works without affecting the biodiversity.

Rajendra Dahal, press advisor to the former President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, said that every transition period in the country had detrimental impacts to its natural resources including forest, water and sand.

He criticised the government for delaying the post-quake reconstruction, and urged the media to be more vigilant in order to create pressure on the government to conduct reconstruction works at the earliest possible.

Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of the Annapurna Post daily, said that environmental concerns might occasionally halt the development work.

MEDEP and Gandaki Bee to jointly promote Honey-based enterprise

Micro Enterprise Development Programme (MEDEP) and Gandaki International Pvt. Ltd. have reached an agreement to jointly develop and promote honey-based enterprises.
According to the agreement, at least 250 new Micro Entrepreneurs will be created and 100 existing Micro Entrepreneurs will be supported to expand their business.
"The MEDEP will provide social mobilization, entrepreneurship and trainings while Gandaki International will provide technical training, technology support, counseling and market linkages," read a press release issued by the MEDEP.  
Gandaki will provide 1,800 beehives and other technologies such as gloves, honey extractor and honey processors to the Micro Entrepreneurs in 50 percent subsidy.
MEDEP informed that the Gandaki had also assured buyback guarantee of the honey produced by the micro entrepreneurs.
The MoU was signed by MEDEP National programme manager Dr. Ramji Neupane and chairperson of Gandaki International Dev Gurung.
After signing the contract, Dr. Neupane said that the ongoing fourth phase of MEDEP aimed at bringing contribution of private sector in Micro Enterprise Development and the MoU with Gandaki was a major milestone towards that end.
Gurung said that the agreement would help in establishing sustainable honey eco-system in Nepal and eventually contribute to increase in production and quality.
MEDEP is a poverty alleviation initiative of the Government of Nepal and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), currently funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Australia.
It has created over 75,000 Micro Entrepreneurs since 1998 and about 5,000 of them are bee-keeping and honey based entrepreneurs.
Likewise, Gandaki International is a joint venture between Gandaki and a Dutch company, Honey International. It is established with an objective to promote honey enterprises in Nepal and to export honey from Nepal.

NRA completes Reconstruction Policy draft

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has prepared the National Reconstruction Policy, execution concept and institutional structure for sectoral reconstruction agencies at different ministries.

NRA Chief Executive Officer Sushil Gyawali informed that the draft of the policy had been prepared and soon it would be presented to the National Reconstruction Steering Committee led by the Prime Minister.

While presenting the execution concept of reconstruction programmes and institutional structure before Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and other Ministers at the PM's residence, Baluwatar, Wednesday, he said, "We hope that the committee will endorse the policy within a week. Respective ministries and donor agencies have the common viewpoint on the policy."

He also informed that about 600 engineers had been mobilized in every district with the commencement of National Reconstruction Campaign while more 430 were obtaining training.

The campaign was launched on 26^th January by laying a foundation stone of a temple at the Ranipokhari by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

 "Rural Residence Reconstruction will be launched on 24^th February from a Resource Centre in Dolakha. By 25^th March, reconstruction will be initiated in one Resource Centre in each quake-affected district, and by 28^th April, reconstruction will be started in every village," Gyawali said.

Gyawali said that the Authority would directly disburse the budget to the project implementation units in the respective ministries. "We need to apply the fast-track approach in reconstruction process as it has been delayed for more than 10 months."

Meanwhile, NRA Executive Committee Member Dr. Chandra Bahadur Shrestha said that the Authority would promote green recovery and reconstruction practices in the reconstruction drive, and urged the concerned stakeholders to suggest suitable model for the same.

He was addressing a seminar on 'Media sensitization on post-earthquake green recovery and reconstruction' organized by Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists in Kathmandu.

He said that the NRA would try to meet the expectation of the society and stakeholders. "There is a gap between what need to be delivered and what is being delivered. Therefore, people are not satisfied."

Bhuwan Karki, under-secretary at the International Economic Cooperation Division, Ministry of Finance (MoF), said that the budget disbursement was very slow due to the poor implementation of development projects.

According to the MoF, the government was so far unable to spend a single rupee from the reconstruction budget.

Then Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat allocated Rs. 74 billion for the NRA while Rs. 17 billion for the concerned ministries to initiate reconstruction works until the establishment of the Authority.