Mount Everest to witness fashion show

Kathmandu, Aug. 30

The Mount Everest Fashion Runway has announced a sustainable fashion project in Nepal with the aim of supporting the Himalayan community and preserving environment.

It has joined hands with the Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI) and launched '8848.86 - A Dollar a Meter initiative' which includes programmes to produce sustainable clothes, jewelries and special souvenirs of the prototype of Sagarmatha, the world's tallest peak.

The event will be organised as a fashion show at the highest altitude of 5,600 metres in Khumbu region which also will be an official attempt for the Guinness World Records and feature 17-day trekking on Mt. Everest region. A television reality show will also be developed featuring the event.

"We want to convey the sustainability fashion message to the world. It’s about reducing pollution as well," Chief Executive Officer of the Fashion Runway Pankaj K. Gupta said at a press conference organised in Kathmandu to inform about the event.

"Guinness Word Records is just a byproduct for us. Nepal has so many things to give to the world. We will create something that people can carry back to their home from this country," he added.

The initiative would develop some completely 'made in Nepal' things such as garments of silk, jewelries of precious stones found in Nepal and replica of Mt. Everest.

According to Gupta, they don't want donation to support the mountain community rather they want to promote social business. The profits made by selling the special products will go to the HCI and local community.

Chairman of HCI and Asian Trekking, and Everest summiteer, Dawa Steven Sherpa, said that the initiative is a solution to the people who are impacted by climate change.

"World record holder Appa Sherpa and I reached Denmark at the COP15 and raised the voice of the Himalayan community. Appa was himself a climate victim, a glacial lake outburst had swallowed his house and property. But the world asked for the solution from us," he said.

Therefore, this event is an attempt to draw the attention of the world to the Himalayas, he maintained.

The 20-day event will be held in September 2021. Prince and princess of Tuscany, Italy, will be the guests while some models from Europe have already arrived in Kathmandu. Tented camps will be erected to accommodate the guests and participants which will engage about 300-350 porters and 40 local guides.

"Everything will be filmed and developed into a reality show for the larger audience," said Gupta.

Gemologist and CFO of the Fashion Runway, Riken Maharjan, presented the model of the miniature Mt. Everest at the press conference and said, "It will be made of Kyanite, a precious stone. The gem and jewelry industry in Nepal will have new opportunities with this initiative," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Chair of Ward No. 4 of the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, Laxman Adhikari, said that the Khumbu region which lies in the Sagarmatha National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – has a unique environment for researchers, tourists and students owing to its biodiversity and varied topography.

He maintained that the local people, national park and the government would host the programme that aims to develop sustainable fashion and sustainable tourism, however everything would be done respecting the rules of the community, national park, UNESCO and the country.

He said that the government budget was insufficient to meet the development demand as the money is allocated on the basis of the local population while Khumbu region serves about 100,000 people a year.

The organisers the Runway Season 2 said that they are planning to organise the event twice a year.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 August 2021.

Additional 50 Nepalis arrive in Kathmandu from Afghanistan

Kathmandu, Aug 30

Additional 50 Nepali nationals arrived in Kathmandu from Afghanistan Sunday evening and Monday.

Of them, 45 landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport via a regular flight of the Turkish Air on Monday while five arrived via a flight of Fly Dubai Sunday evening. 

 “With additional 50 Nepali nationals arriving in Kathmandu on Sunday and Monday, total number of returnee migrants has reached 828,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) in its statement Monday.

The Ministry said that necessary coordination was being made to rescue and bring back Nepalis stranded in Kabul.

The MoFA has requested the Nepali nationals stranded in Afghanistan to contact the Department of Consular Services (DoCS) at +977-9749326458, MoFA at +9779749326459 and Embassy of Nepal in India at +918929601925 on cell phone, Viber and WhatsApp. A Situation Room at the MoFA can also be reached via +9779841792774.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 August 2021.

PM Deuba directs public servants to be transparent and accountable

 Kathmandu, Aug. 29

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has directed the Chief Secretary and secretaries to perform their duties in transparent, accountable and lawful manner.

After listening to the presentations on the Auditor General’s Report of the Fiscal Year 2019/20 at the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday, the Prime Minister also directed the officials to maintain fiscal discipline in government financial transactions, rationale of the expenses and ensure an increase in the productivity.

Directing them to immediately settle the arrears, Prime Minister Deuba said that civil servants should fulfill their role in the preservation and utilisation of public properties through their transparent and accountable economic activities.

He had summoned the secretaries of the ministries and constitutional bodies to the the Office of the Prime Minister to direct them to clear the arrears.

“Make an annual work plan to clear the arrears pointed in the AG report of 2019/20. Make a timely settlement of arrears that need to be regularised,” he directed.

Expressing concerns over the growing size of arrears in the recent years, Prime Minister Deuba directed the civil servants to work for increasing the development expenditure and maintaining economic transparency.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 August 2021. 

Finance Ministry welcomes Pushkar and Aryal

Kathmandu, Aug 29

The Ministry of Finance has welcomed newly appointed Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar Karna and Financial Comptroller General Suman Raj Aryal on Sunday.

The post of revenue secretary was vacant after incumbent Ram Sharan Pudasaini retired while FCG Madhu Kumar Marasini was transferred to the Ministry as the Finance Secretary.

Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma welcomed the new secretaries and directed them to perform their special responsibilities through an integrated work system.

He expressed confidence that the high-level government officials would play their role for productive results in resource generation, its mobilisation and monitoring. He took the opportunity to direct the concerned officials to submit the plans he demanded on revenue increment, customs, public corporations, monitoring and research at the earliest.

Finance Secretary Marasini stressed the need for bringing positive results in the economic indicators. According to him, enhancing revenue, capital budget expenses and maintaining fiscal discipline are the areas that must have positive results.

Newly appointed Secretary Pushkar said that although the bureaucracy has many experienced administrators, only a few of them are ‘performers’ and expressed his commitment that he would work in a way that other government offices will also take ownership of his performance.

He stressed on taxpayer-friendly service and maintained that he would work on the basis of ‘home grown trend’.

Likewise, FCG Aryal expressed commitment to strengthen the system at the Office of the Financial Comptroller General with the policy reform, professional capacity and adoption of information technology.

He also stressed on the importance of fiscal discipline. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 August 2021. 

Nepal SBI, ICFC sign deal

Kathmandu, Aug 29

Nepal SBI Bank Limited has agreed to provide non-fund-based banking facilities to the customers of ICFC Finance Limited.

Under this agreement, customers of the ICFC Finance will be able to avail Nepal SBI services like Letters of Credit, Document against Payment (DAP), Document against Acceptance (DAA), and Local Bank Guarantee.

Nepal SBI is a class ‘A’ commercial bank and ICFC a class ‘D’ finance company.

The agreement was signed by Deputy CEO and Chief Financial Officer of Nepal SBI Bank Md. Rizwan Alam, and Deputy CEO of ICFC Finance Amit Shrestha.

 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 August 2021. 

Bohra elected chairman of NICCI Eastern Chapter

Kathmandu, Aug 29

The third annual general meeting of the Purbanchal Chapter of Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) has elected a new working committee under the chairmanship of Abinash Bohra.

The meeting on Saturday elected a 15-member committee with Mukesh Upadhyaya Bhattarai as the first Vice Chairman, Shyam Poudel as the second VC, Ramesh Kumar Rathi as General Secretary and Bikas Choudhary as Treasurer.

Likewise, elected members include  Beni Gopal Mundada, Yadav Pokharel, Bijaya Kumar Dalamiya, Gayatri Bhandari, Santosh Kumar Chaudhary and Shrawan Kumar Agrawal.

Bohra nominated additional four members – Som Adhikari, Binod Basnet, Mahesh Poudel and Rabin Dahal – to the committee.

The eastern chapter of NICCI has played an important role in facilitating cross-country trade between the two countries and coordinating among the NICCI head office, Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and government offices, said the bi-national chamber in a statement on Sunday.

NICCI President Shreejana Rana said that the organisation has long been working in facilitating the trade and investment promotion and resolving the issues of trade between the two neighbours.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 30 August 2021. 

Efforts continue to rescue Nepalis from Afghanistan

Kathmandu, Aug. 28

Amidst the confusion of exact number of Nepalis stuck in war-torn Afghanistan, 504 Nepalis have returned home, 11 have reached New Delhi and eight have left Kabul on Saturday, while 398 Nepalis have registered their whereabouts in the government portal.

US Media, including the New York Times, reported that about 15,000 Nepalis were working in Afghanistan at the time when the Taliban forces took over Kabul a few months after the United States began to withdraw its forces from the war-torn country.

But Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction estimated that about 7,000 foreigners were in Afghanistan as the contract workers while Nepal government puts the number at a maximum of 1,500 Nepalis.

Speaking at the Labour and International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives about a couple of weeks ago, Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal said that there were over 1,500 Nepalis working in Afghanistan with labour permits. He also refuted the media reports about the staggering number of Nepalis staying there illegally.

While the government presents the data of the Nepalis who left the country for Afghanistan through formal channel and fed by the manpower agencies, a large number of Nepalis were recruited informally and taken to the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) bases and elsewhere in Afghanistan.

Most of the Nepalis hired by the contractors like Fluor Corporations and many others for the NATO forces in Afghanistan were first taken to Dubai in ‘Tourist Visa’ and lifted from there without any visa or entry stamps, said Prajal Choudhary, who worked for a couple of years at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

Only the contractor companies could have the exact number of Nepalis in Afghanistan but since multiple companies are involved in hiring, transporting and managing foreign workers including mercenaries in various bases of NATO there, it is difficult to obtain cumulative data.

According to Choudhary, Nepalis were working in Afghanistan as the security guards, drivers and helpers. War equipment disposal was also managed by Nepalis, hundreds of Nepalis were involved in such works, he said.

There were more than 100 bases of NATO about a decade ago which were increased in the later years and most of them had Nepali guards, drivers and helpers, stated Choudhary.

Another Afghanistan-returnee said that although he worked for NATO forces in Afghanistan for more than five years and made a round-trip to Nepal during his service, his passport bears no stamp or visa information to and from Afghanistan. Officially, he never visited Afghanistan but in reality he had earned millions of rupees there.

He said that food supply companies like Supreme Foodservice also hired Nepali workers. In later years, Afghanistan allowed foreign workers to enter the country which contributed to the increased number of migrants.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said that all diplomatic channels were opened to facilitate the rescue of Nepalis from Afghanistan. It has launched a portal https://nepalconsular.gov.np/ to register information of Nepalis in Afghanistan which can be filled by the concerned individuals themselves or by their families and relatives.

Likewise, people can contact Department of Consular Services (DoCS) at +977-9749326458, MoFA at +9779749326459 and Embassy of Nepal in India at +918929601925 on cell phone, Viber and WhatsApp.

The MoFA said to The Rising Nepal that if the exaggerated number about illegal migrant workers was true, the portal would have been flooded with the information since their families can fill the form.

“The portal is not only for the Nepalis who reached Afghanistan through formal channel but for all,” Spokesperson of the Ministry Sewa Lamsal said.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, additional eight Nepalis have left Kabul for Nepal. Thirty-four Nepalis who were stuck out of the Kabul Airport are transferred to safer location and the government is making necessary coordination to bring them home, said the MoFA in a statement. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 29 August 2021.