Seethos starts services in Nepal

Kathmandu, Oct. 19

Seethos Nepal, a New York, USA based technology company, has started its services in Nepal from Friday.


"Seethos is a global emerging technologies firm specializing in artificial intelligence (AI) that aims to solve high impact problems across industries and specifically banking use cases," said Khagendra GC, President of Seethos Inc., USA.


AI in banking is a powerful ally when it comes to analysing real-time activities in any given market or environment. The accurate predictions and detailed forecasts it provides are based on multiple variables and vital to business planning, said GC.


According to him, the AI can improve compliance in banks by improving efficiency with automation, providing accurate and streamlined reporting and offering speed answers to prevent risks, enhancing fraud detection.


Daksha Poudel Subhas, President of Seethos Nepal, said that the company's multidimensional AI Assistants help users receive the right content at the right time to address their needs while providing efficiencies to organisations.


The company claimed that its AI frameworks empower banks and financial institutions by accommodating to customers' demand for faster, accurate options while organisations aim to reduce serving costs.


AI is recognised with having multiple benefits like personalised banking, process automation, credit decision, loan eligibility approval, risk management, predictive analytics, fraud prevention, customer support chatbots, smart wealth management advisors and virtual digital assistants.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 20 October 2019. 

Pant elected NRNA global president

Kathmandu, Oct. 18

Kumar Pant has been elected as the global president of the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA).


The 9^th NRN Global Conference and NRNA International General Assembly organised in the Capital from 15 to 18 October has elected the Germany-based entrepreneur as the new leader of the association.


He defeated Kul Prasad Acharya by 147 votes. Pant secured 1217 votes against 1070 votes garnered by Acharya.


Dr. Badri KC, Arjun Kumar Shrestha, Man KC and Sonam Lama are elected as the vice-presidents. Nine candidates were vying for the four vice-presidents of the organisation.


Likewise, Rabina Thapa defeated Sapila Rajbhandari to become the Woman Vice-President.

Dr. Hem Raj Sharma of Pant panel has been elected as the General Secretary of the NRNA. He defeated Janaki Gurung.


Similarly, Mahesh Kumar Shrestha has been elected to the post of Treasurer, Lok Prasad Dahal Joint-Treasurer, and Gauri Raj Joshi and RK Sharma Secretaries.


Bhoma Devi Limbu and Himal Gurung have been elected as the Woman Coordinator and Youth Coordinator respectively.


The General Assembly has also elected about one and a half dozen regional coordinators for the regions across the globe.


Pant, after being elected as the President of the association, said that he would implement some reforms in the organisation.


He also said that he would try to bring in an investment of Rs. 10 billion in Nepal.


The NRNA assembly this year witnessed multiple controversies with political interference, rejecting the use of voting machine, skirmishes in the venue and postponement of the programmes due to election controversies.


In an unfortunate statement, newly elected president Pant announced that the NRNA would not organise future assemblies in Nepal due to increasing political interventions.


The election controversies shadowed the NRN's humanitarian works and investments in many projects in the country.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 October 2019. 

Get 2nd tranche of grant in time, Gyawali urges beneficiaries

Kathmandu, Oct. 18

Chief Executive Officer of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) Sushil Gyawali on Friday urged the beneficiaries of the post-quake reconstruction to obtain the second tranche of the housing grant before mid-November this year.

Speaking at a programme in Lalitpur, he requested them to get the grant money in due time. The NRA has set the mid-November 2019 as the deadline to obtain the second instalment of the grant.

The beneficiaries are entitled of Rs. 300,000 for the reconstruction of their houses damaged in the devastating earthquake in 2015 which is being distributed in three tranches of Rs. 50,000, Rs. 150,000 and Rs. 100,000.

The reconstruction body has signed grant agreement with 776,910 families, of which 768,549 have obtained the first tranche, 612,105 second and 507,048 the third tranche.

About 469,259 houses have been reconstructed while 194,456 houses are under construction.

But, only 32 per cent beneficiaries in Lalitpur district have obtained the third instalment of the grant.

Gyawali said that it was necessary to understand the reasons behind the delay in house reconstruction in urban area, and directed the staff to be mobilised as per 'one house, one project' plan.

Deputy-Director of the Central Project Implementation Unit (Grant Management and Local Infrastructure) Narayan Prasad Shrestha said that support from one and all was needed to expedite the reconstruction in the urban areas otherwise the beneficiaries would be deprived of the government grant.

According to District Project Implementation Unit (Grant Management and Local Infrastructure Lalitpur) Shiva Ram Gelal, the beneficiaries had the problems like landlessness, small piece of land, dispute in land ownership and unwillingness in house reconstruction.

Meanwhile, the Reactive Monitoring Mission of the Unesco, which is in Nepal to study the recent status of the Unesco World Heritage Sites in the Kathmandu Valley, has met CEO Gyawali on Thursday.

He informed the visiting delegation that the NRA had given special attention to heritage reconstruction. He said that while the reconstruction of the cultural monuments was going on, the government was also developing a detailed Master Plan to develop them.

 He also informed that the work had been expedited to develop three heritage settlements each in the Valley and outside.

The Unesco Mission is led by Gamini Wijesuriya, International Export at the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Properties. He suggested maintaining the records of the heritage reconstruction.

Of the quake-damaged 140 heritages in the Valley, 90 have so far been restored.

Pashupatinath Temple, Swayambhunath Stupa, Hanumandhoka Durbar, Patan Durbar, Bhaktapur Durbar, Changunarayan Temple and Bauddhanath Stupa are the Unesco World Heritage Sites in the Kathmandu Valley.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 October 2019. 

World Bank targets to half the learning poverty by 2030

Kathmandu, Oct. 18

The World Bank on Thursday introduced an ambitious new Learning Target, which aims to cut by at least half the global rate of Learning Poverty by 2030.

Learning Poverty is defined as the percentage of 10-year-olds who cannot read and understand a simple story. 

Using a database developed jointly with UNESCO Institute of Statistics, the WB estimates that 53 percent of children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read and understand a simple story by the end of primary school.

In poor countries, the level is as high as 80 percent. Such high levels of learning poverty are an early warning sign that all global educational goals and other related sustainable development goals are in jeopardy. 

“Success in reaching this learning target is critical to our mission,” World Bank Group President David Malpass said. “Tackling learning poverty will require comprehensive reforms to ensure domestic resources are used effectively. The target points to the urgency of investments in better teaching and better coordination of vital learning priorities.”

This new target aligns with the Human Capital Project’s efforts at building the political commitment for accelerating investment in people. Much of the variation in the Human Capital Index – used to track countries’ progress in health, education, and survival – is due to differences in educational outcomes, said the bank in a statement.

Vice President, Human Development at the WB Annette Dixon said that education was a critical factor in ensuring equality of opportunities.

According to the bank, several developing countries, such as Kenya, Egypt and Vietnam, are showing that accelerated progress is possible through technology-enabled teacher coaching, teacher guides, delivery of textbook, change in curriculum and assessment systems, reforms focused on learning, instead of getting a school credential,  and low absenteeism among students and teachers.

Unfortunately, in many other countries the current pace of improvement is still worryingly slow. Even if countries reduce their learning poverty at the fastest rates seen over the past 20 years, the goal of ending it will not be attained by 2030.

The WB aims at using three pillars of work to help countries reach this target and improve the human capital outcomes. – literacy policy package, refreshed education approach to strengthen entire education system, and ambitious measurement and research agenda.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 19 October 2019. 

V17 Pro with 32 MP dual pop-up selfie camers arrives in Nepal

Kathmandu, Sept. 17

Vivo has launched V17Pro smartphone with 32MP dual pop-up selfie camera with moonlight flash in the Nepali market.

The device sports the world’s first dual pop-up front camera along with 48 MP AI quad-rear camera setup with 13MP 2x optical zoom.

The camera setup is equipped with 48MP HD rear camera, 13MP Telephoto, 8MP AI Super wide-angle + Super Macro (2.5cm) and 2MP Bokeh cameras. With 48 megapixels and superb light sensitivity, the primary rear camera guarantees bright and vivid pictures in all situations.

The device comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB ROM and will be available in two color variants – Crystal Black and Crystal White. It is priced at Rs. 52,490.

“The 32MP dual pop-up front camera is be able to capture selfies even in low-light without any loss in details. As a global technology company, we love innovating; and shall continue to set benchmarks and create a memorable experience for our customers,” said Brand Manger of Vivo Pengda.  

The Super Night Selfie smartly combines multiple frames to optimize picture brightness and capture a clearer and more radiant you. Meanwhile, Front Moonlight Glow lights up the dark, highlighting the subject even in low-light conditions.

The V17Pro has Super Macro mode, which helps in focusing on objects as close as 2.5cm and capture life’s little wonders.

The smart phone features a super AMOLED display 16.36cm (6.44) full-view display with a 91.65% screen-to-body ratio. The latest E3 OLED offers a 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, bringing vibrant and authentic colors to life.

The vivo V17Pro comes with optimized fingerprint technology and an updated algorithm to further improve the unlocking experience.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 18 October 2019. 

UAE to support Nepal in workers' skill development

Kathmandu, Oct. 16

The United Arab Emirates and Nepal are likely to cooperate in skill development of Nepali workers going to the gulf country.

Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista and UAE’s Human Resources and emiratization Nasser Bin Thani Al Hamali, in a meeting today in Dubai, discussed about the issue.

The Embassy of Nepal in the UAE said in a statement that the two ministers also discussed about increasing the pay to the Nepali workers there.

They also agreed to hold the meeting of Joint Working Committee as mentioned in the Memorandum of Understanding on Labour singed by the two countries in June this year.

Minister Bista was accompanied by Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security Binod KC and Ambassador of Nepal to UAE Krishna Prasad Dhakal.

He reached Dubai Wednesday afternoon to participate in the fifth minister-level Abu Dhabi Dialogue being organised on 16 and 17 October.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 17 October 2019. 

Financial access reaches 61 per cent

Kathmandu, Oct. 16

Financial access in the country has reached about 61 per cent in 2019, revealed the latest study of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).


The number is much higher as compared with the previous statistics of 40 per cent in 2014 and 45 per cent in 2017.


FinScope Survey conducted in 2014 had concluded that about 40 per cent adults in the country – 56 per cent in the urban and 36 in the rural area - had bank accounts.


Likewise, the Global Findex Database published in 2017 concluded that 45 per cent Nepalis – 50 per cent male and 42 per cent female – aged above 15 years have their bank accounts.


The central bank has drawn the results from the analysis of the bank accounts of Nepali citizens in the banks and financial institutions (BFIs).


By mid-June 2019, there were 27.86 million bank accounts in all BFIs, which is 94.1 per cent of the total population in the country.


“After removing the duplication on the basis of Know Your Customer (KYC) forms and the details of three generations mentioned in the forms, there are 18 million bank accounts in the country,” concluded the report.


According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) – a statistical body under the National Planning Commission, the population of the country has reached 29.6 million. It means 60.9 per cent people in the country have at least one bank account in the BFI.


Likewise, each branch of a BFI is serving 3,633 people on an average. The BFIs in Karnali State are serving the largest number of people and a branch in Gandaki State is serving the smallest number of people. They have 4,958 and 2,257 people per branch of a BFI respectively.


Similarly, a branch of the BFI in State 2 is serving about 4,938 people and Sudurpaschim 4,409 people while in State 1, a BFI is serving 3,481 people, 2,770 in State 3 and 2,951 people in State 5.

There are 8,805 branches of 171 BFIs.


The NRB study has found that there are 27.8 million deposits accounts and 1.44 million loan accounts.


The number of mobile banking users has reached 8.34 million while about 67.9 million debit cards are in circulation.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 17 October 2019.