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			'id' => '2811',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Zoo Model Of Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Despite the efforts of seven decades to catch the bus of development, Nepal has not been able to do so. What may be the reasons? Before 1951, Nepal&rsquo;s economy stood on a single leg only. As a result, the country&rsquo;s development would limp on the Chandra Shumsher-path or Tribhuvan-path as and when the Palace so wished. Otherwise, it would stand still. A decade later, the economy acquired another leg to become two-legged and development started treading the Mahendra-path. The two-legged economy was named mixed economy wherein the public and private sectors were supposed to work as partners of development.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It was the time when a number of European, Russian, American, Chinese and Indian bipeds were brought in for the sake of Nepal&rsquo;s development. However, the country&rsquo;s development wagon could not gather the desired pace. Rather, Nepali revolutionaries got a chance to learn and copy the Russian and Chinese ways of doing things. The effects of this learning are evident even today.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	After the political change of 1990, attempts were made to amputate the older leg of the two-legged economy arguing that the private sector would lead the economy from now onwards. The economy got another name &ndash; free market economy. But in essence, the economy started following the path shown by a handful of people from the private sector. The economy was free to few privileged people only.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, another revolution took place in 2006 and the resultant government vowed to make the economy three-legged - the third leg being the cooperatives. The performance of this three-legged economic model, too, hasn&rsquo;t been satisfactory. But the new third leg or cooperatives has proved very beneficial for one of the political parties and is working as one of its own legs. However the economy is still limping. These experiments with one-legged, two-legged and three-legged economy have convinced this scribe that the country needs a four-legged economy for the development process to gallop. The simple reason is a four-legged thing is always stronger than one-, two- or three-legged ones. Examples abound &ndash; tables, chairs or quadrupeds like oxen, tigers or elephants.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	In fact, it is evident everywhere that quadrupeds standing on their two legs are running this country. In doing so they burn taxies and motorbikes, demolish houses and buildings and take the entire country a hostage whenever they like to do so. They seem to be hell-bent on torching petrol and diesel vehicles in order to reduce noise pollution in the cities! Going for a four-legged economy is vital also for clearing the confusion created by the mixture of these two- and four-legged creatures. In the past, there were three organs of the state &ndash; executive, legislative and judiciary. Later, somebody suggested adding a fourth organ &ndash; the media. And all the media industry became so happy. But what would be the fourth leg of the economy? The question is natural as well as tricky. You may argue that a four-legged economy sounds too animal-like, not human. However, I don&rsquo;t think we should worry about that. In fact, I say we should have the economy like that &ndash; animal like.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	To prove my point let me draw your attention to &lsquo;the animal spirit&rsquo; that renowned British economist John Maynard Keynes had mentioned way back in the 1930s as the major motivator to the entrepreneurs to work with enthusiasm. By extrapolation, this means we need the economy to be as agile and strong as animals. All of us have seen how the western countries have developed after Keynes made that remark.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, it is very much necessary to have an animal spirit in the economy and that naturally demands the economy to be a four-legged one. And it is a humble proposal of this scribe that the NGOs and INGOs that claim to be dedicated for the country&rsquo;s development should be made the fourth leg of the economy! Afterall the INGOs are already running the show in Nepal. It is said that they have also already drafted the new constitution that now needs just endorsement of the Constituent Assembly.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Or, alternatively, shall the remittance sector be made the fourth leg of the economy? But does remittance really stand a chance in front of the mighty INGOs?</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Whatever! The main thing is we should give the country a four-legged economy and push the development process forward on Prachanda-path, Baidya-path or other similar paths. After all, the way of thinking and activities of many Nepali citizens, businessmen, and especially politicians, resemble those of the quadrupeds! &nbsp; Moreover, the economy is in danger of turning into a zoo. If it happens and when one visits the monkey section of the economic zoo she/he may start laughing at seeing their behaviours. Therefore, we should adopt the four legged economic policy or you may call it a &#39;zoo model of economy&#39; before it&rsquo;s too late.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2015-06-01',
			'modified' => '2015-07-31',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Despite the efforts of seven decades to catch the bus of development, Nepal has not been able to do so. What may be the reasons? Before 1951, Nepal’s economy stood on a single leg only. As a result, the country’s development would limp on the Chandra Shumsher-path or Tribhuvan-path as and when the Palace so wished. Otherwise, it would stand still.',
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			'id' => '2802',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Fundamental Right To Corruption',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<div>
		It is a common understanding in Nepal that everyone in the country is corrupt. Be that bureaucrat or businessman, politician or physician, lawyer or lawmaker, academician or architect, judge or journalist, or any profession or person you name it, is corrupt on prima-facie. The onus of proving otherwise entirely lies on you, should you choose to do so. If you point to someone claiming that he may not be a corrupt, every eyebrow is raised and instant conclusion would be: that could not have happened by integrity but due to sheer lack of opportunity. In every sense, corruption is our national character, thus a national identity.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Nepal has made several efforts to curb corruption and bribery. It has enacted several laws, instituted constitutional bodies like CIAA and invited international NGOs like Transparency International. But the corrupt practices could hardly be reduced. Instead, the investors and businessmen complain that measures like anti-money laundering has caused massive capital flight and investment is shying away due to provisions like declaration of source of income. Therefore, these hurdles have become serious bottlenecks on economic growth and prosperity of the country.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Human civilization has taken many bold decisions to streamline very difficult trades and behaviour. Everybody would agree that prostitution is not a good thing. But secretly everybody would like to extract the pleasure bestowed by this profession. Nobody feels same sex marriages are natural. But many countries have legalized both the sex trade and same sex marriages. There is no reason why corruption should be treated in a different way than the prostitution. Besides, it has many similar characteristics. You are honest until you are caught in the act and everybody enjoys the more of it, clandestinely.&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		For Nepal, it is an opportune moment to do this bold thing as we are writing a new constitution. We have the opportunity not only to legalize but also to constitutionalize both corruption and bribery. My recommendation is that let&rsquo;s make the right to corruption as part of the fundamental rights in the new constitution.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The benefits would be immense. Nepal truly will be as Switzerland as it used to be some decades ago: a true haven for all ill-gotten money of the world. All the money that is now concealed under pillows of the corrupts will be taken out. Money sent abroad will be brought back and there will be open rates of commission in government offices for providing services or approving tenders for public procurement. Just to repeat, since everybody is already charged of this lucre, what&#39;s the harm on just lifting the curtain from it?</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The FDI would flood in and Nepal will enter into an unprecedented phase of growth and development. Country&#39;s administrative cost will drastically reduce, as we no longer need the institutions like CIAA, Vigilance Centre, Anti-Money Laundering Department and Special Court. The load of cases in the courts of law will be far less and policemen can directly ask money from the public for nothing without going through the trouble of creating one or another pretext. So much so, constitutionalizing corruption would also help make entire Nepal instantly educated since if corruption and bribery are legalized even an illiterate can buy a BA or an MA passed certificates at one&#39;s will.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		This will make our bureaucracy more contended and happy. Government official will not scramble to get their posting to customs points and tax offices when every office will have freedom to collect as much bribe as possible. Politicians in the district who are swallowing entire development budget in collusion with different experts will be relieved of responsibility of creating stacks of fake papers.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		As the country now reels under uncertainty in absence of a powerful binding agenda for consensus, the proposal to insert the corruption and bribery as the fundamental right in the constitution could be one such issue that can bring all politicians together. We know everybody loves money and whenever there is question of monetary benefit, there were seldom any discord among them.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Our lawmakers should seriously consider incorporating this provision in the new constitution. I am sure, all six hundred and one members of the Constituent Assembly will vote for it. This will be the dawn of new era on absolute national consensus.</div>
</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-11-21',
			'modified' => '2015-06-01',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'It is a common understanding in Nepal that everyone in the country is corrupt. Be that bureaucrat or businessman, politician or physician, lawyer or lawmaker, academician or architect, judge or journalist, or any profession or person you name it, is corrupt on prima-facie. The onus of proving otherwise entirely lies on you, should you choose to do so. If you point to someone claiming that he may not be a corrupt, every eyebrow is raised and instant conclusion would be: that could not have happened by integrity but due to sheer lack of opportunity. In every sense, corruption is our national character, thus a national identity.',
			'sortorder' => '2658',
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	(int) 2 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2808',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Rule Of Dogs',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	I &nbsp;have no intention of passing any derogatory remark on this faithful, trustworthy, friendly and beautiful animal called dog. With due apology to it, allow me to uncover some of present day Nepal&#39;s great eco-political mysteries with the help of this metaphor. You may have noticed, one of the greatest secrets of Nepal&#39;s perennial perils has just been revealed: it was because this country for so long was ruled by dogs. Watchdogs, barking dogs, biting dogs, wagging dogs, walking dogs, stray dogs, guarding dogs and running dogs. (Readers are welcome to add some or many more to this list depending on their own observations). How can you expect our human development indices to go up where everything is &#39;of the dogs, by the dogs and for the dogs?&#39;&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Our parliament has a big bunch of vigilante dogs who keep good watch on some of hydropower projects of their interest. Many members of parliament are the &#39;jhola ma khola&#39; agents. Therefore, if anybody sniffs in their project they bark back loudly as a dutiful guarding dog. These honourable members of this genre of canine community were quick to warn the CIAA chief Lokman Karki just not to cross the limits of a watchdog. &nbsp;Karki, who is the size of a Tibetan Mastiff declared himself just as a &lsquo;barking dog&rsquo;, thus would not accept the label of a &lsquo;biting dog&rsquo;.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Questions have been raised about the hunting abilities and choice of prey by this barking dog. People outside the political circle allege that he is running behind the small fries leaving big sharks unscathed. &nbsp;The wagging dogs who are often seen at the gates of big political leaders, heave a sigh of relief that Karki&#39;s canine teeth were blunted at the very moment of appointment, rendering him truly a mere barking dog, only capable to chase away the stray dogs in the bureaucracy, leaving alone big hounds. Karki can bark really very loudly as seen recently during the acrimonious dogfight between several parliamentary committees and the CIAA. Parliamentarians like Gagan Thapa who considers himself as a very skilled barker, anywhere everywhere, has been silenced by the just snarls of Karki.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But, crucial question here is, why these wagging dogs are having problem with this barking dog? They should instead bark at their bosses who appointed him with an unprecedented consensus in the history of Nepal. Karki&#39;s appointment as the CIAA chief had taken onboard every possible power centre that is otherwise guarded by Polar Alsatians, German Mastiffs, Chinese Chow Chow and Indian Rajapalayams, among others. So, Karki&#39;s metamorphosis was obvious from a mere barking to a biting dog, given he finds some feebler flocks.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	And Karki has every reason to bark on these new bunch of stray dogs who dared to protest against the erection of his father&#39;s statue at Duhabi thoroughfare, which ultimately had to be demolished and a part of the ruin still pierces his heart. He knows this new barking license for him has come at a very dear financial cost and a very high degree of coalesces between red communists and pink ex-Panchas. For all these reasons, he is not deterred by any amount of barking by these new breed of dogs. Moreover, these naive and novas do not recognize the supernatural sniffing ability of Karki. That is exactly the reason he chose to avoid the successive summons by the parliamentary committees. He has the ability to tame these raucous packs by using supersensitive remote controls.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It is also not surprising that Karki has chosen to scare some of the hydropower promoting jackals. He knows they are fleshy and if caught, the feast would be more than plentiful. This is what the bone of contention is. The stray dogs sense that this flesh may be taken away from them by this gradually becoming English Hunter from a Tibetan barking dog.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-12-23',
			'modified' => '2015-06-01',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'I  have no intention of passing any derogatory remark on this faithful, trustworthy, friendly and beautiful animal called dog. With due apology to it, allow me to uncover some of present day Nepal's great eco-political mysteries with the help of this metaphor. You may have noticed, one of the greatest secrets of Nepal's perennial perils has just been revealed: it was because this country for so long was ruled by dogs. Watchdogs, barking dogs, biting dogs, wagging dogs, walking dogs, stray dogs, guarding dogs and running dogs. (Readers are welcome to add some or many more to this list depending on their own observations). How can you expect our human development indices to go up where everything is 'of the dogs, by the dogs and for the dogs?'',
			'sortorder' => '2653',
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	(int) 3 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2797',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Sexy Settings',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	What is most popular these days in Nepal? You may say, it is betting or netting and dating. You may be right to some extent, but I say the most practiced thing is the setting. Let&rsquo;s look it into more details.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Yes, betting is quite popular in Nepal&rsquo;s share market. Till recent past, the Nepali casinos were ahead in betting than the share market. But as the setting in the casinos became a bit weak, share market was ahead in the betting game. The retail investors in Nepal&rsquo;s share market buy or sell the stocks going by the grapevine than reading the balance sheets of the companies. This can be called betting. Therefore, when Dr Baburam Bhattarai became the Finance Minister, he had termed Nepal&rsquo;s share market as a casino where betting is the mainstay. And he was not wrong. However, even the betting in share market will not yield returns if the setting is not right.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Again, it is true that dating after netting, such as checking facebook, is quite popular and it is personal and a most favoured pastime of most Nepalis - be a youth or a senior citizen. They seem to spend most of their productive three to four hours of their day or night in netting and dating. If they don&rsquo;t spend few hours in netting, they feel they have missed a lot in their lives. Therefore, their eyes may be in one of the social sites. But again setting plays more dominant role also here. Netting and dating are not successful if the setting of the dating is not right. &nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	To be successful in Nepal in any field, especially in business and politics, you must know the art of setting. Otherwise you will fail. There is a special class in Nepali society which has become super rich just by the art of setting rather than by making a huge investment or knowledge of business. Therefore, setting is a new management mantra in Nepal. In fact, the management colleges should start teaching the art of setting to their students so that they are successful in their future profession as well as everyday life.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nowadays, there are many news reports in the Nepali media that people, especially government officers, are caught or interrogated by the anti-corruption body, the CIAA. But the fact is that they were caught or interrogated just because they did not know the art of setting. Many who commit bigger wrongs are never caught because they know the art of setting.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you look at it minutely, it is an open secret that nothing moves in Nepal if one doesn&rsquo;t have proper setting in government offices or in the court, or in the company registrar&rsquo;s office or the customs offices. Be it for receiving a license or getting a job transfer or promotion in the bureaucracy, the role of setting is paramount. So, more than the educational certificates or anything else, setting is the most important factor. If you don&rsquo;t know this art, you may have to lose your job or your business also.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nobody seems to have peeped deep to see why the constitution could not be made in the first Constituent Assembly. It was just because the setting among the top gang-of-four leaders of three parties could not happen. Even now, however hard the people or CA members harp on the new constitution string, if the setting among this gang-of-four is not proper, it will not happen again. This gang calls it &lsquo;consensus&rsquo;, but it is nothing but another word for setting.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, this &lsquo;setting&rsquo; is not only omnipresent and omnipotent, but also cool and sexy. Don&rsquo;t you agree?</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-10-10',
			'modified' => '2014-12-23',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'What is most popular these days in Nepal? You may say, it is betting or netting and dating. You may be right to some extent, but I say the most practiced thing is the setting. Let’s look it into more details.',
			'sortorder' => '2647',
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	(int) 4 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2782',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'The Frog Country',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If I propose to make frog the national animal of new Nepal, I am sure, you will happily agree and also congratulate me for this brilliant idea. Nepal&rsquo;s every bit of life has been touched by the benevolent frog and its various qualities. One of our revolutionary finance minister a few year ago declared that Nepal&rsquo;s economy should now grow not in a reptiles&rsquo; dragging but in leap-frogging pace. Leap-frogging indeed is a right simile for Nepal. No Nepali believes in being rich taking a long route walk. Inspired by the frog, everybody wants to leap- frog from penury to instant prosperity. We never get tired of emphasizing that Nepal is an agrarian economy. The plantation season begins with the beacons of twaar-twaar-twaar of the frogs in the banks of the river and main fields. For many, frogs provide for a barbequed lunch or snack at the middle of the hard day&rsquo;s work in the field.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you think of less relevance of iconic frog in the civilized life, you are wrong. The fortunate ones who have got employment must have fine qualities of a frog -- to jump a queue, to jump enter into influential leader&rsquo;s living rooms jumping off the high fences and learn to find some excuses to jump across the process of meritocracy.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you happen to meet a frog-mouthed personality in the busy city, you can be sure that he must be a high-ranking official in bureaucracy, bank or NGO. If not, he must be a seasoned politician whose skin is gradually transforming into that of rhino from that of a frog. These are the key people for the very existence and functionality of the country.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	You might ask, how would you recognize these frog-mouthed ones in crowded cities? It is pretty simple. Bring along a dead frog with you and begin to compare the looks of people with it. Protruding eyes, lumped eyelids as the result of over drinking, large potbellies, twisted legs and habit of jumping the queues anywhere possible, be that temple or service station. The growth rate of the country may be low, but these frog-mouthed talents can make it sound great with their hoarse voice. The bank CEOs can ensure great profits regardless of the fact that only twenty percent people have access to the banking services. (How much profit will they earn if every citizen has a bank account in the country?)</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you meet a proper frog-mouthed politician, he must be a youth leader of the party as he is aged just 65 years or so. &nbsp;You can argue that frog mouthed ones are spared by nature from entering into the old age.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are other great qualities of the frog we have emulated. The best among them is to live life free of all worries in any degree of precariousness. You must have seen a frog that is being swallowed by a snake that still wants to catch a spider, not being concerned that it will die in next few seconds. The country has long hours of load-shedding, we Nepalis don&rsquo;t worry. There is no sign of new constitution being written, we rather worry about American visa. We don&rsquo;t have enough supply of petrol, but it doesn&rsquo;t stop us from buying a car. We prefer big LED to mount on our living room wall, without counting hours we actually have power supply.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Also, you have heard the fable of Nepali frogs exported to the USA in an open basket and all of them reached intact, not even a single one jumping out from the basket as each of them had learnt the leg-pulling skills from our politicians. It is no wonder, our politicians and decision makers also have learnt many skills from the frogs, as mentioned above. Since, Nepalis and frogs have developed such a cordial bond, only suitable thing is to call Nepal a frog country and declare frog as the national animal.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-06-08',
			'modified' => '2014-09-08',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'If I propose to make frog the national animal of new Nepal, I am sure, you will happily agree and also congratulate me for this brilliant idea. Nepal’s every bit of life has been touched by the benevolent frog and its various qualities. One of our revolutionary finance minister a few year ago declared that Nepal’s economy should now grow not in a reptiles’ dragging but in leap-frogging pace.',
			'sortorder' => '2633',
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	(int) 5 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2777',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Lords Of Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are bunch of worried people who constantly think that Nepali economy is sinking, rather sooner. This indeed is absolutely unnecessary concern. Because, first, Nepali economy is not a ship as we happen to be a land-locked country. Second, even if it were a ship we have had not a herd but a fleet of captains to save or rescue it from capsizing; present in every bit of history in different guise, which I shall elaborate further. And, if none of them happened to be at the deck, there will be our own ever-present Pashupatinath to steer clear the whole Nepal out of the danger zone, let alone economy. At least, that is what we Nepalis have believed for generations and still have the largest faith on the Lord at the banks of Bagmati than the banks owned by the lords &ndash; feudal-lords, warlords or landlords.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Our business community understands at which point of time, who can save the Nepali economy best from absolute melt down. In other countries, the business leaders and related organizations first take responsibility of captaining the ship of economy and look for support on whatever is not adequate in them. Our case is just opposite. Nepali brand of business leaders keep on changing the captain, express confidence on a particular one and shift to new one according to changing tide of time.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	When democracy was reinstated in 1990 and the Nepali Congress government adopted the &#39;free market&#39; economic policy, everybody thought that free market means freedom to do anything one can imagine&ndash; hoarding, black marketing, tax evasion, carteling and forged invoicing. Even in the political circles, impact of free market was so huge that the system produced billionaire overnight. Not only likes of Khum Bahadur and Chiranjivi Wagle who turned out to be the most unfortunate among the lot, so to be behind the bars, others who are moving freely are no different in amassing assets as the gift of free market, read freedom to corruption. Look at bulging bank accounts of incumbent ministers under a beggar prime minister. So, in all those years, GP Koirala was assigned captaincy to save economic ship, which he did. You can test its calibre by looking the total amount saved by his daughter Sujata during these two decades.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Then came the Sher Bahadur, Madhav Nepal and so on as new captains and our business community unfailingly expressed confidence in their captaincy. They did save the economy. Whether the economy of their own or that of the nation is irrelevant here. The point here is: there should be an economy and it had to be saved. That was done, without fail.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	That followed the direct rule of King Gyanendra. The queue of business people to bow to him, as the newfound captain was always longer than any wide-angle zoom of television/movie camera could capture in a single shot. He did save our economy. He is still the one single person in Nepal who has got the largest amount of saved assets in the country, or, may be outside too. He indeed made our business people most jubilant when he picked-up a former FNCCI president to help him in this &#39;save economy&#39; mission. &nbsp;One of the techniques in saving is not to let it decay or decompose by letting it remain cool. So this entrepreneur was asked by the King to launch an ice-cream factory. A brilliant idea of saving the economy.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The ability of the Maoist brigade of captains can make an epic. They in fact manned the economic ship in multiple ways. They had multiple captains who wanted to steer the economy in different directions. So it was first saved from moving into any direction. When the ship was not at all leaving the dock, it automatically got saved from sinking. Secondly, they had all fist-raising comrades with red band on their heads. Whoever else thought of moving this ship called economy, they used all tactics possible -thrashing, chasing, extorting and even killing if required. They were practically the real saviours.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	At present, all these forces are together, represented in the Constituent Assembly. Some great captains are with their entire family &ndash; spouse, son, cousin or in-laws. So, there is no question Nepali economy will ever sink. That is the reason even our newly elected FNCCI executives have more faith in political lords than on those who elected them.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-05-07',
			'modified' => '2014-07-30',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'There are bunch of worried people who constantly think that Nepali economy is sinking, rather sooner. This indeed is absolutely unnecessary concern. Because, first, Nepali economy is not a ship as we happen to be a land-locked country.',
			'sortorder' => '2628',
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	(int) 6 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2636',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Electric Thoughts',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<div>
		<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		<img alt="No Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy)(1).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 369px;" />Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		There is no reason that lack of electricity supply should stop you to feel proud and productive if you can think in the speed of electric current itself; like the bosses in NEA do. The other week they organized a press meet to make their scoop achievement public: &lsquo;there will be no more than eighty hours of load-shedding per week. We are working all day to make sure that it doesn&rsquo;t increase even during the on-setting dry season.&rsquo;</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		In fact, there was no need of organizing such a press meet as every Nepali by now has accepted the fact that we cannot live without load-shedding. It has become such an undeniable part of our lives that we are now all prepared to make it our heritage. One more along the line of Mt Everest, Lumbini or Durbar Square. The biggest advantage of this is: whole country can become a world heritage site, as load-shedding is not limited to a small area, like cities of archaeological or natural significance.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The load-shedding can contribute in a great way to the economic prosperity of the nation. The recent growth stories of our neighbours India and China has been attributed to the outcome of demographic dividend, meaning that since they have more people the growth is faster. Our load-shedding can contribute greatly to baby-boom. As there is no light for long hours right since the evening, couples can be more productive.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Recently, there were news reports that some energy-intensive factories like sugar mills got closed due to load-shedding. That is in fact very good news. Low production of sugar will reduce the chances of diabetes in the populace and they don&rsquo;t have to worry about the doctors who prefer to go for strikes than to serve the patients.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		You must have heard about electric shocks, electric jolts or electric drinks, meaning our famed bijulipaani. But I have introduced here a very new concept of electric thought. It flows like the electricity itself and once guided to certain direction, it hardly changes the direction or comes back. New NEA executive director recently enlightened us by revealing that load-shedding is caused not only because less amount of electricity was produced but also due to lack of transmission lines to transport the produce. There are not enough transmission lines even to bring in the electricity India is prepared to give. When private producers start production, this bottleneck is sure to remain there. It is apparent that the electric thought of NEA so far was directed only to the production of electricity. Yet, NEA&rsquo;s electric thought has not been redirected to other than production aspect, to ensure longer years of power outages even when there is production aplenty.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Some thoughts were non-electric so they did never reach the other end of the objectives. We heard the plans of setting up diesel plants of some 120 MW, heard about bio fuel-fed generators and augmenting the supply by solar panels or air turbines. But these were the plans never implemented, duly understanding the importance of the load-shedding for the country.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		By all standards, the very concept of load-shedding is the true personification of the electric thought. Everybody knows, darkness can travel faster than the electricity itself. Therefore NEA needed to call a press conference to explain there is ensured darkness for any foreseeable years. It was a great idea propelled by none other than the electric thought to make presence of NEA felt to the public.</div>
</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-02-20',
			'modified' => '2014-02-20',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.',
			'sortorder' => '2479',
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	(int) 7 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2442',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Corruption Proofness',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nepal is no doubt the land of uncountable miracles. The recently added one is that Nepal has substantially fallen down in corruption index. It is confirmed by none other than global corruption watch-dog, Transparency International (TI). It must be credible as we are constantly taught that whatever these global institutions influenced by the West say must be blindly trusted and followed.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are few occasions when falling is not only beautiful but desirable too, like falling in love and falling in corruption index. Therefore, Nepal is now enjoying the honeymoon of this miraculous fall from 139th position of the last year to 116th this year, out of 177 countries. The fall is miraculous for more than one reason. Nepal has constantly been branded as the country with a crisis in governance. For last couple of decades, our main industry has been to produce at least one prime minister each year. Sometimes, that too was very difficult like at present, and our last House was unable to produce even one prime minister in seventeen attempts. What it effectively says is: corruption can be reduced without governance. This is new theory, innovated in Nepal by TI.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But there must be some reason for this impressive improvement in Nepal&#39;s corruption ranking. Facts in hand are -- we had the Maoist government on the year the index data was collected and non-political government of bureaucrats is in Singhadurbar forts when it is made public. A former bureaucrat with the most corrupt reputation was appointed as the chief of constitutional commission CIAA. Unquestionably, all these factors must have singly or jointly contributed to this fall.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If so, there are one or two lessons for the most corrupt countries to take home from Nepal. First, political instability and Maoist government are the best panacea for controlling corruption. To begin, let Maoists of any country run a decade-long armed rebellion when the term bribery and grease-money dealing in petty sum disappears and every clandestine large endowment becomes &#39;voluntary donation to the revolution&#39;, even if the amount surrendered is at gun point. As the corruption index researchers pasturing on the surface hardly smell about these deals, consequently the index drops. The instability has direct anti-corruption effect. It is so simple. The instability helps to root-out all major business, production and service industries. Who pays the bribe? The private sector, i.e. the business people or industrialists. When they are gone, corruption is bound to reduce, substantially. So, if any country is committed to reduce corruption, make sure you have prolonged political instability.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Second, political parties must stop forming the government of their own and they should install a fully bureaucratic government, hopefully headed by the incumbent chief justice of the supreme court of the country. This latter arrangement is crucial. When the government apparatus indulges in corruption, the road to judiciary to seek redressal is practically blocked, as the head of the government is also the head of the judiciary, simultaneously.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Third, if the anti-corruption institutions like CIAA are filled by the most corrupt bureaucrats in history, they are sure to make history either way. They know how not to make it more felt even if there were rampant corrupt practices. Or, it might also be the case that they are done with money, with their infamous fathers&rsquo; statues erected at the middle of busy highways, offsprings off to foreign countries and a couple of bank accounts in safe havens. So, the amount of money to be bribed in a poor country suddenly starts to look too small relative to their pride. Then they might rather pose as ascetics than avarices. The situation really contributes to reduce the corruption and helps country to ride on the freedom-from-corruption ladder, very soon.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Finally, with this astounding success, Nepal can think of setting up a training institute for those countries to run course on &#39;how to make a country corruption-proof and improve in the (anti?) corruption index!&#39; This has business rationale too!</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-01-10',
			'modified' => '2014-01-27',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Nepal is no doubt the land of uncountable miracles. The recently added one is that Nepal has substantially fallen down in corruption index. It is confirmed by none other than global corruption watch-dog, Transparency International (TI). It must be credible as we are constantly taught that whatever these global institutions influenced by the West say must be blindly trusted and followed.',
			'sortorder' => '2363',
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	(int) 8 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2265',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Sea Of Conspiracy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The revolutionary vision of Puspa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda suddenly encountered a deep sea of conspiracy surrounding the landlocked Nepal. As the results of CA elections-II 2013, were pouring in last month and he lost the Kathmnadu-10 constituency, he could see a devilish sea fast inundating his philosophized Prachanda Path, dampening his as well as his party&#39;s election prospects and perishing the party&#39;s Perish Danda headquarters in rapid pace.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	How could this happen to the &#39;sole hero of the revolution&#39; ? (&#39;Revolutionary Hero&#39; that was how he was nicknamed during the campaign.) His dreams of becoming all-powerful president suddenly got evaporated. And, the cum-red was naturally perplexed, outraged and restless. He cried &#39;FOUL!&#39; &nbsp;But there was nobody to listen. But as a devout communist, he was creative enough to take hold of theory - &#39;the conspiracy theory&#39; - to attribute as the cause of his and his party&#39;s apparently humiliating defeat.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It is the outcome of &#39;national and international conspiracy&#39; he declared, hastily calling a press meet. But he would not point out which particular national or international agency was at play. That was natural for a former prime minister, who has personally experienced the extent and strength of the functions of these conspirators, particularly international ones, to guess who could be the spoilsport. Nepali people would certainly appreciate if he identifies them in public.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	When the water level receded from his hypothetical sea, he could see some ground. At least there were still some hopes which had not drowned. At least one such hope survived when he got elected from another constituency in Terai. His worries were confounded not because the party suffered a big set-back, but his all other family members --daughter, daughter-in-no-law and a brother got defeated in the polls.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Traumatized, Prachanda turned to his brainy comrade Baburam for solace. Baburam quickly came up with highly consoling prognosis that &#39;though we may have lost election, our agenda is not defeated.&#39; It was equivalent to saying that the &nbsp;people &nbsp;who represented the Maoist agenda were bad and got defeated, not the agenda itself. &nbsp;It was easy for Baburam to reach to this beautiful conclusion looking at the face of his only wife Hisila Yami and her defeat from one of the Kathmandu constituencies.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;Can&#39;t you see comrades, the sea of conspiracy in drowning us soon? It must be internationally imported political waters that is causing this&#39;, Prachanda concluded and his top-ranked comrades nodded in consent akin to true communist party discipline. &nbsp;&#39;But chairman comrade&#39; Baburam volunteered, &#39;we must point at the international force&#39; to make this allegation convincing.&#39;&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;As you know, all the sea water is in the south and entire north is Himalayas,&#39; said Prachanda</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;Then I am not in your boat,&#39; Baburam begged to differ. The southern sea waters cannot rise so high at this time. Even if they do, I am not to see it,&#39; Baburam deviated. Then, the duo concluded to accept the election outcome.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The fables have it even a sinking lion wouldn&#39;t spare to pounce on simultaneously sinking goat, regardless that both would be dead in the next minute. Then no wonder, Prachanda came up with a new proposal: &#39;majority provision of the constitution to form the government should be removed, retaining only the provision of consensus.&#39; &nbsp;Again he is not likely to be heard. He is asking for a too long a rope which had to be unleashed much before the election. But he is doing it after his party got defeated. Anyway, clever people never lack creativity even during the ordeal.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	As the political climate is changing fast, the effects of warming again and often may cause the rise of water levels in the sea of conspiracy. &nbsp;When a man is survived by a whisker from drowning, he soon becomes hydrophobic and begins to be terrified even by a village pond, considering it a Black Sea. &nbsp;Prachanda too from now on might seek &#39;Sea of Conspiracy&#39; whenever there is a storm in a tea cup.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-12-13',
			'modified' => '2013-12-16',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'The revolutionary vision of Puspa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda suddenly encountered a deep sea of conspiracy surrounding the landlocked Nepal. As the results of CA elections-II 2013, were pouring in last month and he lost the Kathmnadu-10 constituency, he could see a devilish sea fast inundating his philosophized Prachanda Path, dampening his as well as his party's election prospects and perishing the party's Perish Danda headquarters in rapid pace.',
			'sortorder' => '2110',
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	(int) 9 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2141',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Manifestation Of Everything',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<img alt="NO Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 409px;" />Manifestation is the crux of all civilizations. There is unfailing debate throughout the human civilization about the beauty and duty about manifestations. Great wars have been fought on the mere issue of manifestation, be that Mahabharat or Anglo-Saxon. In ancient times, men and women manifested their parts of attractive bodies to entice the opposite sex. In modern cinema civilization, you know better how the issue of manifestations has been debated as part aesthetics or sex. If you watch a well-manifested cinema, you talk more about it than the storyline it carried.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	On duty-side as well, the principle of enticement has not changed much. For instance take Nepal&rsquo;s political parties&rsquo;, that are contesting the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, hope to hold CA elections in the month of November. They have made their supposedly election manifestoes public and all of them seem to be greatly influenced by the tinsel town concept of selling the cinema inserting some more manifestations in the story. Political heroes also probably forgot the storyline that they are going to write the constitution through the new CA. Their indulgence in the act of enticement by overt manifestation of the to-do-list in CA elections manifestoes establishes nothing else.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	No credible commitment is found expressed in manifestoes to write a constitution that guarantees the rights of the people. But, regardless of whether constitution would be actually written or not, these manifestoes instead surely promise you everything possible from prostitute to prosperity. If you are on the plank of arguing that, prosperity cannot be promised without writing a new democratic constitution, then you don&rsquo;t understand the culture of political prostitution that is in vogue in Nepal. You never know which leader will partner with which party during the day and the same leader will lean to other party during the night.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But, without worrying much about the constitution, if you look at the list of promises made by these manifestoes, you are sure to relish. Everything to everyone, that&rsquo;s how you can sum-up these manifestoes. Home to homeless, power to politicos, tax rebate to tax evading community, partners to young, food to humans, feed to animals, cloths to kids, cure to olds, power connection to houses, empowerment to housewives, love to poor and luxury to riches. The list is so long that, you will be bored if all of them are copied here. You can actually call it your own wish-list.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	No doubt, the political parties and political leaders are doing the right thing. The private sector of Nepal had long complained that the political leadership has ignored the economic and developmental concerns of Nepal. But these manifestoes have compensated all past lacunae of these sorts. In fact, this time around, all they have done is, shown utmost concern only to the economy and prosperity of the country, nothing else.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	This is very right strategy to adopt. Because, by this, both the new constitution and the prosperity can be ensured simultaneously. It is natural for them not to worry about constitution and mention its whats and hows in their manifestoes. Every Nepali is well aware that our sovereign constitution is being written with great care, by great experts, somewhere in the world. Could be, it is done in more than one place and we lucky Nepali will have chance to chose the best instant constitution from a fairly long menu. We will get to see it when it is brought here, ready to be implemented.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Similarly, it is pointless to ask how our leaders are going to fulfill such an extraordinarily long list of promises without arranging resources and plans. Their duty is just to make the list, not to consider about the feasibility and finance of the related projects. For that, we again know, money will come from the same window where the constitution would be coming.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	My only last confusion is: whom to vote whereas all manifestoes look the same? Oh yeh! I can console saying that every party in Nepal is not different in vital issues. That is manifested!</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-11-24',
			'modified' => '2013-11-24',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Manifestation is the crux of all civilizations. There is unfailing debate throughout the human civilization about the beauty and duty about manifestations. Great wars have been fought on the mere issue of manifestation, be that Mahabharat or Anglo-Saxon.',
			'sortorder' => '1989',
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	(int) 10 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2016',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'In Love  With The Peg',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<img alt="No Laughin Matter" src="/userfiles/images/NLM.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 451px;" />The &lsquo;peg&rsquo; must have been the second most loved word for Englishmen after &lsquo;sex&rsquo;, but for Nepalis, it (its meaning to be precise) is unquestionably the first. Whether it is expressed or muted, the presence of the peg is ubiquitous in our daily national or economic life. The moment you touch the Nepali Currency (NC), you are bound to remember that it is strictly pegged to the Indian Currency (IC). You may or may not always believe in the value of the NC, but it is this peg that gives you the confidence you need.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The recent devaluation of the Nepali currency was not an outcome of a downturn in our economy, but was the effect of the NC-IC peg that has a history of more than six decades. If your business has suffered from this devaluation, you are free to shift the peg to console yourself -- a shift from the currency peg to a whisky peg. Do not complain if more than ninety five percent of Nepali bar-tenders cannot say &lsquo;peg&rsquo; and often make do with &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. When asked, &lsquo;Sir would you like a pack?&rsquo; you must have the intelligence to understand that he is actually asking if you would like a peg of some alcohol. If you are a novice drinker, just graduated to whisky to drink in a bar from a &lsquo;pouch&rsquo; in a tavern, you may be familiar with the &lsquo;pack&rsquo; than the &lsquo;peg.&rsquo; It is just a question of civilization, not economics.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But in our economic system, unlike you, there are big bosses who are more familiar with the &lsquo;peg&rsquo; than the &lsquo;pack&rsquo;, so that they don&rsquo;t want to pack the peg at any cost. When it comes to packing-up, or stopping the NC-IC peg, they don&rsquo;t even want to hear it out. They have good reasons for maintaining this status quo until our currency faces the fate of the Zimbabwean dollar when it was in its last days of existence. In other words, the love for this peg is the simplest strategy to make the Nepali richer in no time. If the present rate of devaluation continues, we Nepalis will soon be so rich that we will be paying ten thousand rupees for a cup of tea, one hundred thousand rupees for a kilogram of rice, a million rupees for a kilogram of mutton or cheese, and so on.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you are in the business of stock price analysis or actual stock trading and brokerage and haven&rsquo;t heard of the capital &lsquo;PEG&rsquo;, or price/earnings to growth ratio, you are sure to be doomed and forced to take refuge in the smaller &lsquo;peg&rsquo; that is re-christened by Nepali barmen as &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. There are people in the financial service industry in Nepal who argue that ninety-nine percent of our stock brokers, the licensed ones, never heard of the &lsquo;PEG&rsquo;, or the &lsquo;peg&rsquo;, and is managing everything with the replacement of the &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. The result: many of them are, therefore, helping the trading of many scribs to pack-up within a few days of listing instead of using the PEG tool to analyze.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you ask our policy makers -- the finance minister, the central bank governor, or the prime minister as soon as we get one -- &lsquo;How long will the NC-IC peg continue?&rsquo; they all will have very intelligent answers for it: &lsquo;Oh! Peg. Yes, we have. Good question, I mean, not bad at all. It is important. How about having a peg together tonight? Thanks!!&rsquo;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	You may ask me how I know that their answer would be exactly like that. It is simple: every generation of our authorities for the last half century have said nothing different than this. Feel like listening to the popular number the &lsquo;Peg&rsquo; by Steely Dan? Do it in the bar, that&rsquo;s the place to admire the real beauty of the &lsquo;peg&rsquo;!&nbsp;</div>',
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			'description' => 'The ‘peg’ must have been the second most loved word for Englishmen after ‘sex’, but for Nepalis, it (its meaning to be precise) is unquestionably the first. Whether it is expressed or muted, the presence of the peg is ubiquitous in our daily national or economic life. The moment you touch the Nepali Currency (NC), you are bound to remember that it is strictly pegged to the Indian Currency (IC).',
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	(int) 11 => array(
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			'id' => '1632',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'New Budget's Growth Tricks',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	Growth is what Nepal needs today. The recent budget for this fiscal year has aptly embodied this national aspiration. The very size of the budget has ballooned-up by almost forty percent compared to last year. Accordingly, the deficit gap, revenue targets, inflation estimates, government employees&#39; pay and many more have grown substantially. if you point to a few aspects like GDP growth projections and proposed capital expenditure, you must be an anti-democrat for sure. When majority of things are so rapidly growing, one should not bother about a few things that are in such declining trend.<br />
	<br />
	Besides, this budget has all ingredients to fuel growth. No sooner the budget declared that the government employees&#39; pay would be hiked by 18 percent plus straight one thousand bucks, the market has reenergized instantly.From vegetable venders to taxi drivers, grocers to airline operators, everybody has concrete plans to increase the prices, even before the salary-earners pocket their first added pay. The magic of this budget is: twenty percent increase in pay has the power to increase the price by at least forty percent.</p>
<p>
	As an axiom, the rise in prices is indeed the sign of growth and development. Look at the most expensive cities in the world, Tokyo, London, Moscow, Shanghai or Mumbai. They are developed because they are most expensive. Now Kathmandu can be a new candidate in that category, thus a developed city.<br />
	<br />
	We have some extra qualities to ensure growth and development, by using unique model of &#39;growth by price rise&#39;. No mechanism exists to control price and goods and service providers of all kinds have a free hand to fix their price and enforce cartels. Taxi drivers often bring the city to stand-still within hours if any regulators questions about their tampered fare meter and private water suppliers can stop the supply if authorities try to question about the potability of it. The only party that has to backdown invariably is the government. There are thousands of such examples which ensure prices in our country would only rise, and rise regardless of anything. This means, in other words, our growth and development is guaranteed.<br />
	<br />
	Just the talk of elections would provide an additional impetus to growth. Political parties will actively engage themselves in &#39;donation&#39; collection, while the businessmen and industrialists &#39;voluntarily&#39; set aside a big sum for the cause. That means they need to earn more by every possible means of black-marketing to hoarding. This the time the country sees a true business-friendly climate, when no business person is penalized or admonished for making arrangements of extra earnings.<br />
	<br />
	Elections have all other economic advantages. Donors come with offers of assistance in many forms -- cash, kinds, experts, observers, clergies and copies of bibles. Business activities in all sectors multiply, transports,hotels, goons, contract killers and armed robbers -- virtually everybody and everything will be hired by politicians and political parties to win the elections. Unemployment problem will be solved at once. That is the reason Nepal has taken up the technique of very often announcing the dates for elections but never actually holding them. From this experience, we can foretell that the proposed November elections will also be postponed for next April, so that Nepali economy can get double boost from the same elections fever.<br />
	<br />
	In any case, if we were to develop and grow, we must stop thinking about aspects of decrease, decline or fall..Those In any case, if we were to develop and grow, we must stop thinking about aspects of decrease, decline or fall. Those who don&#39;t believe in incremental thinking, they must be socially boycotted. Therefore, along with the salary of the government employees, the rate of grease money must be increased. Business people, transport operators and contractors must increase their costs. Government must increase the taxes; business community then increases the tax evasion. No matter whatever is increased, it is growth. That is the reason our finance minister is so sure, his budget will only develop the country. You just don&#39;t worry, which direction it grows, however.<br />
	&nbsp;</p>',
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			'created' => '2013-08-18',
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			'description' => 'Growth is what Nepal needs today. The recent budget for this fiscal year has aptly embodied this national aspiration. The very size of the budget has ballooned-up by almost forty percent compared to last year. Accordingly, the deficit gap, revenue targets, inflation estimates, government employees' pay and many more have grown substantially. if you point to a few aspects like GDP growth projections and proposed capital expenditure, you must be an anti-democrat for sure.',
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	(int) 12 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '1057',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Development Riddle Solved',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p>
	<br />
	<img alt="development riddle" src="/userfiles/images/1371635301.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 378px;" /><br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Everyone in Nepal is equally concerned about and committed to the development of this &ldquo;rich-mines, poor-minds&rdquo; country. But, what puzzles everyone is the fact that Nepal has, so far, truly lagged far behind in development despite so much effort and foreign aid.</p>
<p>
	But not anymore will we have these qualms since the riddle of this big WHY has now been solved. Nepal can now embark on a development track with rocket speed, absolutely different from the frog jump pattern proposed by former PM Dr Baburam Yami Bhattarai.</p>
<p>
	We had had such difficulty in developing the country mainly because the lost key of development lied elsewhere - somewhere outside the country. Thank God! This mystery has been resolved now after the appointment of Lokman Karki as the CIAA chief. Every Nepali by now understands that the key to our development lies in the hands of foreign countries, maybe our neighbours or the superpowers. Or, possibly, there could be many keys with many &lsquo;partners&rsquo; that we got to find out and bring them back.</p>
<p>
	It is this realisation that is pushing every Nepali regardless of age, gender, origin, religion or profession to foreign lands. Recently, Nepal&rsquo;s quintessential leader Comrade Prachanda visited both our northern and southern neighbours in quick succession, last month. He not only talked about Nepal&rsquo;s development, but also proposed a new vision of &lsquo;triangular model&rsquo; involving China, India and Nepal. His wisdom did highly impress the leaders of both sides, akin to his claims. The likelihood is that he might be hired as a consultant by the planners of these countries to generate such great angular visions which they could never think of so far. In the power corridors of New Delhi, he was even asked if his triangle could be made a quadrangle by adding a &lsquo;people&rsquo;s war dimension to it&rsquo; so that it could be copyrighted as the new Prachandapath model of development!</p>
<p>
	Not only Prachanda, but also his party rank and file believes that the key to Nepal&rsquo;s development is indeed in the hands of foreigners. His deputy, Dr Bhattarai, in a recent trip to Australia made it clear that the people who live in Nepal are unable to develop it, so those who have left Nepal and become foreigners should develop it.</p>
<p>
	See the impact of foreign trips! These leaders who believed in putting schools on fire, bombing suspension bridges in remote hinterland, felling telephone and electricity polls and destroying public property have suddenly started talking about development. If you still don&rsquo;t believe that the key to Nepal&rsquo;s development lies in foreign hands, consider the following examples as well.</p>
<p>
	Not only politicians, but also most civil servants are dying to grab any possible opportunity for a foreign trip. Because they realize that their years of experience in service has failed to teach them how to develop the country and, therefore, seek the compensation for it a foreign trip. &nbsp;Therefore, senior officers prefer to participate in foreign trainings, workshops or seminars where nominations are actually sought from junior positions. Simply, the more senior people who participate, the more cakes of development they would bring back.</p>
<p>
	Such love for Nepal&rsquo;s development is not limited to politicians and civil servants. You can simply say that anyone very keen to go abroad is a true lover of Nepal&rsquo;s development. Every Nepali student believes that s/he cannot develop this nation by studying here. That&rsquo;s why visa applications are filed as soon as the completion &nbsp;of +2 education. Those who fail to leave the country are even more patriotic. They do not miss even a single opportunity to protest against any anti-development move of the government. And they make sure that they destroy some amount of existing public property so that it could be replaced by a new one.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	The members of the general public who are smart enough want to leave the country at any cost. They too realize the fact that no development is possible within the country. Manpower agencies, planners and development experts, all by now agree that the country will not develop from within, so we must bring everything from other countries. Everything means everything- a constitution, directives for the government dictating who should be appointed where and what model of development should be followed. With this, one can be pretty sure of the faster development we have missed thus far.</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-06-06',
			'modified' => '2013-10-21',
			'keywords' => 'No laughing matter, new business age, Madan Lamsal, Development Riddle Solved',
			'description' => 'Everyone in Nepal is equally concerned about and committed to the development of this “rich-mines, poor-minds” country. But, what puzzles everyone is the fact that Nepal has, so far, truly lagged far behind in development despite so much effort and foreign aid.',
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	(int) 13 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '977',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Size Zero Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p>
	Size zero is the contemporary fad. Your potbelly wife, struggling models, overage heroines, all want to be zero-sized. Because you crave for that and with your wish granted the Nepali economy has now come to a real good shape of zero, and anyone surviving in it can only be skinny. You know the reason.</p>
<p>
	The economic meaning of zero could be something different than the blissful imaginative hollow universe of a meditating sage. It is either recession or depression. Nepal has simplified the definition of these terms too: recession is when the builder of a housing company shifts to an apartment in his own project site and, it is depression when he is shifted to a free-to-live public apartment called jail.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	The definition could be as many as the number of economists. That means you are free to have your own tailor-made definition of it. Many have it already. Our central bank governor says, an economy with zero growth rate &nbsp;and 10 percent inflation is still not in recession, and the finance minister doesn&rsquo;t have a say since he already has zero economic sense -- recession, depression, possession, obsession but commission are all the same for him. So why can&rsquo;t you have your own take on recession or depression and its shape and size.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	You may take some variables into account: once regarded successful business heroes have turned zeros, call it their size of the firm now. It is old news that CEOs of many banks are looking for alternative professions. Some have refused to take a paid forced leave fearing that someone might just play a prank with some zeros in their absence. This is the confidence indicator of our banking industry. Since, this leave is a compulsory one and he had but no alternative to take, some dedicated CEOs are seen loitering around bank&rsquo;s headquarters premises despite officially being &nbsp;on leave, enjoying their favorite chocolate bar called &nbsp;&lsquo;credit crunchy&rsquo;. What would you say to the new trend that CEOs of banks themselves are working as chief of the marketing department? It is a trend reversal and also a cost-saving measure.</p>
<p>
	Not only banks, academic institutions that promised jobs to their MBAs, in the once lucrative but now leery sector called banking now taste a pinch of salt. Some new MBAs are asking their school to return their money as they are ultimately landing on a zero chance job zone. Many other ambitious MBAs are trying for jobs in the sectors they had never imagined &nbsp;working &nbsp;in.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;Good old days have returned. Dishonored cheques have become a normal phenomenon and nobody bothers why it got returned. The recipient never asks the bank whether the fund was insufficient in the account of the person who issued the cheque or in the coffers of the bank itself. The account holders don&rsquo;t have enough guts to send an enquiry note to the bank about the issue. These are good signs. &nbsp;No one is hostile to anyone else. Everyone knows we are revolving around a big zero and will continue to do so until this zero of &nbsp;an economy &nbsp;actually becomes a black hole or the Bermuda Triangle.</p>
<p>
	The signals in television channels are less wired and more weird. Don&rsquo;t blame it &nbsp;on load shedding. We will not have electricity pretty soon, when we are about to reach to a point of zero supply, thus no need of it. Call it a zero-gain bid that channels are showing the same program at least four times a week if not a day. They are selling &nbsp;commercial packages with schemes like buy one and get five free.</p>
<p>
	As the economy slims down to play &nbsp;the heroine of a big movie called &lsquo;New Nepal&rsquo;, many heroes are trending-up themselves. You must have seen the newspapers pictures of Min B Gurung rehearsing the act of shopping at his own Bhatbhateni stores, carrying a jute bag. Business tycoons like Golchhas and Jyotis are pictured practicing racing bikes, leaving luxury cars. Television clips show that leaders of proletarian parties are often in the public wearing Harrods suits and designed dresses. Looks like though finally we all are ready for &nbsp;a movie with Shakespearian tragedy, &nbsp;when this has a box-office success, Nepal will surely prosper.</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-05-18',
			'modified' => '2013-10-21',
			'keywords' => 'No Laughing Matter, Size Zero Economy',
			'description' => 'Size zero is the contemporary fad. Your potbelly wife, struggling models, overage heroines, all want to be zero-sized. Because you crave for that and with your wish granted the Nepali economy has now come to a real good shape of zero, and anyone surviving in it can only be skinny. You know the reason.',
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	(int) 14 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '935',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Rise Of Generation-J Who After CJ? DJ, RJ Or VJ?',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Nepal has entered in the new era after CJ (Chief Justice) is made the head of government. Some people may not be very happy with this. However, many especially DJ (Disc Jockeys), RJ (Radio Jockeys), VJ (Video Jockeys) are very happy as they think that after CJ the role to head of the government may fall on the shoulders of DJ, RJ or VJs. &nbsp;Even the BJ (Bureau of Justices) and YJ (Young Justices) are happy besides MJ (The fans of Michael Jackson and MJ Akbar), OJs (Orange Juice Lovers) etc. So much so that even the Court Jesters who earned their living by entertaining the king during the period monarchy are happy that even the shortened version of their profession is CJ!&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	These different &lsquo;J&rsquo;s are very happy as they have now at least a hope that one fine day all of a sudden they might be requested to lead the government after CJ steps aside. Therefore, many of the DJs, RJs, and VJs had even thrown parties after the CJ was made the Chairman of the election government.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Chairman is a very prestigious position anyway. In every company and even in the private sector associations businessmen and traders fight for chairmanship. &nbsp;The chairmanship is popular also in the Panchayati era of the past. For example, former kings, Mahendra, Birendra and even Gyanendra were chairmen of the government during their rule &ndash; though sometimes they were only de jure chairmen. They all were very popular in the beginning of their respective rules. It is a different fact that soon they became unpopular. &nbsp;However, this popularity and unpopularity are subjective and relative terms. Now Gyanendra is becoming more popular day by day. Birendra too was popular towards the end of his reign as a constitutional monarch.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Anyway the most important thing is that from DJ to YJ, everyone is happy as CJ is made the Chairman. The &lsquo;J&rsquo;s are so happy that now they have started to change the designation of all the employees in their companies creating synergy with CJ or YJ. For example, many bar and discotheques have now new positions like CJ (Chief Joker), DJ (Dangerous Joe or Don Jockey), VJ (Vigilante Jockey), RJ (Runche or Runcie Joker), MJ (Maharaj Ji), NJ (Natwarlal Ji), etc.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Now the Nepali political parties should also learn to create new positions for their leaders and cadres. Otherwise they will be more unpopular in the days to come and they will have to abandon their power and remain as the spectators they have become these days. Here you can recall how the four party leaders who even in meetings always sat facing six different directions and spoke in 180 degree opposite terms of one other unanimously handed over the power to the CJ. It seems that the position called CJ is attractive not only for the general people and leaders of Nepal but also among the Europeans, American as well as the edgy neighbours.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Therefore, the political parties are suggested to give new names to the present positions of the leaders. For example, party chairman, general secretary and spokesperson should now have designations changed to something that rhymes with CJ, DJ, RJ, VJ, YJ etc. Otherwise the real DJ, RJ or VJ will start ruling the roost.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Name change in the political party leadership positions is now urgent also because the efforts of the political leaders in the past to attract people and foreign countries to them were all in vain. For example, they acted long like clowns by staging such farce and skits as meetings for political consensus, election for Prime Minister&rsquo;s post for some eighteen times etc. Perhaps the reason for the failure of those efforts was that they all played the role of clowns and there was no single hero.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Anyway, the CJ is now the CEO of the country and his stated objective is to hold elections. But some people also say that his actual job is to fold the democratic process. Many existing democracies that want to fold such system up have already started efforts to emulate the Nepali way of selecting the CEO. After all, why waste so much money in holding elections. Why not have a system in which the CEO position automatically goes to one who is the CJ for some months. Let the would-be CEOs struggle it out through the judicial system hierarchy starting from the district court!&nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
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			'description' => 'Nepal has entered in the new era after CJ (Chief Justice) is made the head of government. Some people may not be very happy with this. However, many especially DJ (Disc Jockeys), RJ (Radio Jockeys), VJ (Video Jockeys) are very happy as they think that after CJ the role to head of the government may fall on the shoulders of DJ, RJ or VJs.',
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2811',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Zoo Model Of Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Despite the efforts of seven decades to catch the bus of development, Nepal has not been able to do so. What may be the reasons? Before 1951, Nepal&rsquo;s economy stood on a single leg only. As a result, the country&rsquo;s development would limp on the Chandra Shumsher-path or Tribhuvan-path as and when the Palace so wished. Otherwise, it would stand still. A decade later, the economy acquired another leg to become two-legged and development started treading the Mahendra-path. The two-legged economy was named mixed economy wherein the public and private sectors were supposed to work as partners of development.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It was the time when a number of European, Russian, American, Chinese and Indian bipeds were brought in for the sake of Nepal&rsquo;s development. However, the country&rsquo;s development wagon could not gather the desired pace. Rather, Nepali revolutionaries got a chance to learn and copy the Russian and Chinese ways of doing things. The effects of this learning are evident even today.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	After the political change of 1990, attempts were made to amputate the older leg of the two-legged economy arguing that the private sector would lead the economy from now onwards. The economy got another name &ndash; free market economy. But in essence, the economy started following the path shown by a handful of people from the private sector. The economy was free to few privileged people only.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, another revolution took place in 2006 and the resultant government vowed to make the economy three-legged - the third leg being the cooperatives. The performance of this three-legged economic model, too, hasn&rsquo;t been satisfactory. But the new third leg or cooperatives has proved very beneficial for one of the political parties and is working as one of its own legs. However the economy is still limping. These experiments with one-legged, two-legged and three-legged economy have convinced this scribe that the country needs a four-legged economy for the development process to gallop. The simple reason is a four-legged thing is always stronger than one-, two- or three-legged ones. Examples abound &ndash; tables, chairs or quadrupeds like oxen, tigers or elephants.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	In fact, it is evident everywhere that quadrupeds standing on their two legs are running this country. In doing so they burn taxies and motorbikes, demolish houses and buildings and take the entire country a hostage whenever they like to do so. They seem to be hell-bent on torching petrol and diesel vehicles in order to reduce noise pollution in the cities! Going for a four-legged economy is vital also for clearing the confusion created by the mixture of these two- and four-legged creatures. In the past, there were three organs of the state &ndash; executive, legislative and judiciary. Later, somebody suggested adding a fourth organ &ndash; the media. And all the media industry became so happy. But what would be the fourth leg of the economy? The question is natural as well as tricky. You may argue that a four-legged economy sounds too animal-like, not human. However, I don&rsquo;t think we should worry about that. In fact, I say we should have the economy like that &ndash; animal like.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	To prove my point let me draw your attention to &lsquo;the animal spirit&rsquo; that renowned British economist John Maynard Keynes had mentioned way back in the 1930s as the major motivator to the entrepreneurs to work with enthusiasm. By extrapolation, this means we need the economy to be as agile and strong as animals. All of us have seen how the western countries have developed after Keynes made that remark.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, it is very much necessary to have an animal spirit in the economy and that naturally demands the economy to be a four-legged one. And it is a humble proposal of this scribe that the NGOs and INGOs that claim to be dedicated for the country&rsquo;s development should be made the fourth leg of the economy! Afterall the INGOs are already running the show in Nepal. It is said that they have also already drafted the new constitution that now needs just endorsement of the Constituent Assembly.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Or, alternatively, shall the remittance sector be made the fourth leg of the economy? But does remittance really stand a chance in front of the mighty INGOs?</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Whatever! The main thing is we should give the country a four-legged economy and push the development process forward on Prachanda-path, Baidya-path or other similar paths. After all, the way of thinking and activities of many Nepali citizens, businessmen, and especially politicians, resemble those of the quadrupeds! &nbsp; Moreover, the economy is in danger of turning into a zoo. If it happens and when one visits the monkey section of the economic zoo she/he may start laughing at seeing their behaviours. Therefore, we should adopt the four legged economic policy or you may call it a &#39;zoo model of economy&#39; before it&rsquo;s too late.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2015-06-01',
			'modified' => '2015-07-31',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Despite the efforts of seven decades to catch the bus of development, Nepal has not been able to do so. What may be the reasons? Before 1951, Nepal’s economy stood on a single leg only. As a result, the country’s development would limp on the Chandra Shumsher-path or Tribhuvan-path as and when the Palace so wished. Otherwise, it would stand still.',
			'sortorder' => '2662',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
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			'user_id' => '0'
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	(int) 1 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2802',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Fundamental Right To Corruption',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<div>
		It is a common understanding in Nepal that everyone in the country is corrupt. Be that bureaucrat or businessman, politician or physician, lawyer or lawmaker, academician or architect, judge or journalist, or any profession or person you name it, is corrupt on prima-facie. The onus of proving otherwise entirely lies on you, should you choose to do so. If you point to someone claiming that he may not be a corrupt, every eyebrow is raised and instant conclusion would be: that could not have happened by integrity but due to sheer lack of opportunity. In every sense, corruption is our national character, thus a national identity.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Nepal has made several efforts to curb corruption and bribery. It has enacted several laws, instituted constitutional bodies like CIAA and invited international NGOs like Transparency International. But the corrupt practices could hardly be reduced. Instead, the investors and businessmen complain that measures like anti-money laundering has caused massive capital flight and investment is shying away due to provisions like declaration of source of income. Therefore, these hurdles have become serious bottlenecks on economic growth and prosperity of the country.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Human civilization has taken many bold decisions to streamline very difficult trades and behaviour. Everybody would agree that prostitution is not a good thing. But secretly everybody would like to extract the pleasure bestowed by this profession. Nobody feels same sex marriages are natural. But many countries have legalized both the sex trade and same sex marriages. There is no reason why corruption should be treated in a different way than the prostitution. Besides, it has many similar characteristics. You are honest until you are caught in the act and everybody enjoys the more of it, clandestinely.&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		For Nepal, it is an opportune moment to do this bold thing as we are writing a new constitution. We have the opportunity not only to legalize but also to constitutionalize both corruption and bribery. My recommendation is that let&rsquo;s make the right to corruption as part of the fundamental rights in the new constitution.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The benefits would be immense. Nepal truly will be as Switzerland as it used to be some decades ago: a true haven for all ill-gotten money of the world. All the money that is now concealed under pillows of the corrupts will be taken out. Money sent abroad will be brought back and there will be open rates of commission in government offices for providing services or approving tenders for public procurement. Just to repeat, since everybody is already charged of this lucre, what&#39;s the harm on just lifting the curtain from it?</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The FDI would flood in and Nepal will enter into an unprecedented phase of growth and development. Country&#39;s administrative cost will drastically reduce, as we no longer need the institutions like CIAA, Vigilance Centre, Anti-Money Laundering Department and Special Court. The load of cases in the courts of law will be far less and policemen can directly ask money from the public for nothing without going through the trouble of creating one or another pretext. So much so, constitutionalizing corruption would also help make entire Nepal instantly educated since if corruption and bribery are legalized even an illiterate can buy a BA or an MA passed certificates at one&#39;s will.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		This will make our bureaucracy more contended and happy. Government official will not scramble to get their posting to customs points and tax offices when every office will have freedom to collect as much bribe as possible. Politicians in the district who are swallowing entire development budget in collusion with different experts will be relieved of responsibility of creating stacks of fake papers.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		As the country now reels under uncertainty in absence of a powerful binding agenda for consensus, the proposal to insert the corruption and bribery as the fundamental right in the constitution could be one such issue that can bring all politicians together. We know everybody loves money and whenever there is question of monetary benefit, there were seldom any discord among them.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Our lawmakers should seriously consider incorporating this provision in the new constitution. I am sure, all six hundred and one members of the Constituent Assembly will vote for it. This will be the dawn of new era on absolute national consensus.</div>
</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-11-21',
			'modified' => '2015-06-01',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'It is a common understanding in Nepal that everyone in the country is corrupt. Be that bureaucrat or businessman, politician or physician, lawyer or lawmaker, academician or architect, judge or journalist, or any profession or person you name it, is corrupt on prima-facie. The onus of proving otherwise entirely lies on you, should you choose to do so. If you point to someone claiming that he may not be a corrupt, every eyebrow is raised and instant conclusion would be: that could not have happened by integrity but due to sheer lack of opportunity. In every sense, corruption is our national character, thus a national identity.',
			'sortorder' => '2658',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 2 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2808',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Rule Of Dogs',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	I &nbsp;have no intention of passing any derogatory remark on this faithful, trustworthy, friendly and beautiful animal called dog. With due apology to it, allow me to uncover some of present day Nepal&#39;s great eco-political mysteries with the help of this metaphor. You may have noticed, one of the greatest secrets of Nepal&#39;s perennial perils has just been revealed: it was because this country for so long was ruled by dogs. Watchdogs, barking dogs, biting dogs, wagging dogs, walking dogs, stray dogs, guarding dogs and running dogs. (Readers are welcome to add some or many more to this list depending on their own observations). How can you expect our human development indices to go up where everything is &#39;of the dogs, by the dogs and for the dogs?&#39;&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Our parliament has a big bunch of vigilante dogs who keep good watch on some of hydropower projects of their interest. Many members of parliament are the &#39;jhola ma khola&#39; agents. Therefore, if anybody sniffs in their project they bark back loudly as a dutiful guarding dog. These honourable members of this genre of canine community were quick to warn the CIAA chief Lokman Karki just not to cross the limits of a watchdog. &nbsp;Karki, who is the size of a Tibetan Mastiff declared himself just as a &lsquo;barking dog&rsquo;, thus would not accept the label of a &lsquo;biting dog&rsquo;.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Questions have been raised about the hunting abilities and choice of prey by this barking dog. People outside the political circle allege that he is running behind the small fries leaving big sharks unscathed. &nbsp;The wagging dogs who are often seen at the gates of big political leaders, heave a sigh of relief that Karki&#39;s canine teeth were blunted at the very moment of appointment, rendering him truly a mere barking dog, only capable to chase away the stray dogs in the bureaucracy, leaving alone big hounds. Karki can bark really very loudly as seen recently during the acrimonious dogfight between several parliamentary committees and the CIAA. Parliamentarians like Gagan Thapa who considers himself as a very skilled barker, anywhere everywhere, has been silenced by the just snarls of Karki.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But, crucial question here is, why these wagging dogs are having problem with this barking dog? They should instead bark at their bosses who appointed him with an unprecedented consensus in the history of Nepal. Karki&#39;s appointment as the CIAA chief had taken onboard every possible power centre that is otherwise guarded by Polar Alsatians, German Mastiffs, Chinese Chow Chow and Indian Rajapalayams, among others. So, Karki&#39;s metamorphosis was obvious from a mere barking to a biting dog, given he finds some feebler flocks.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	And Karki has every reason to bark on these new bunch of stray dogs who dared to protest against the erection of his father&#39;s statue at Duhabi thoroughfare, which ultimately had to be demolished and a part of the ruin still pierces his heart. He knows this new barking license for him has come at a very dear financial cost and a very high degree of coalesces between red communists and pink ex-Panchas. For all these reasons, he is not deterred by any amount of barking by these new breed of dogs. Moreover, these naive and novas do not recognize the supernatural sniffing ability of Karki. That is exactly the reason he chose to avoid the successive summons by the parliamentary committees. He has the ability to tame these raucous packs by using supersensitive remote controls.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It is also not surprising that Karki has chosen to scare some of the hydropower promoting jackals. He knows they are fleshy and if caught, the feast would be more than plentiful. This is what the bone of contention is. The stray dogs sense that this flesh may be taken away from them by this gradually becoming English Hunter from a Tibetan barking dog.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-12-23',
			'modified' => '2015-06-01',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'I  have no intention of passing any derogatory remark on this faithful, trustworthy, friendly and beautiful animal called dog. With due apology to it, allow me to uncover some of present day Nepal's great eco-political mysteries with the help of this metaphor. You may have noticed, one of the greatest secrets of Nepal's perennial perils has just been revealed: it was because this country for so long was ruled by dogs. Watchdogs, barking dogs, biting dogs, wagging dogs, walking dogs, stray dogs, guarding dogs and running dogs. (Readers are welcome to add some or many more to this list depending on their own observations). How can you expect our human development indices to go up where everything is 'of the dogs, by the dogs and for the dogs?'',
			'sortorder' => '2653',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 3 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2797',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Sexy Settings',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	What is most popular these days in Nepal? You may say, it is betting or netting and dating. You may be right to some extent, but I say the most practiced thing is the setting. Let&rsquo;s look it into more details.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Yes, betting is quite popular in Nepal&rsquo;s share market. Till recent past, the Nepali casinos were ahead in betting than the share market. But as the setting in the casinos became a bit weak, share market was ahead in the betting game. The retail investors in Nepal&rsquo;s share market buy or sell the stocks going by the grapevine than reading the balance sheets of the companies. This can be called betting. Therefore, when Dr Baburam Bhattarai became the Finance Minister, he had termed Nepal&rsquo;s share market as a casino where betting is the mainstay. And he was not wrong. However, even the betting in share market will not yield returns if the setting is not right.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Again, it is true that dating after netting, such as checking facebook, is quite popular and it is personal and a most favoured pastime of most Nepalis - be a youth or a senior citizen. They seem to spend most of their productive three to four hours of their day or night in netting and dating. If they don&rsquo;t spend few hours in netting, they feel they have missed a lot in their lives. Therefore, their eyes may be in one of the social sites. But again setting plays more dominant role also here. Netting and dating are not successful if the setting of the dating is not right. &nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	To be successful in Nepal in any field, especially in business and politics, you must know the art of setting. Otherwise you will fail. There is a special class in Nepali society which has become super rich just by the art of setting rather than by making a huge investment or knowledge of business. Therefore, setting is a new management mantra in Nepal. In fact, the management colleges should start teaching the art of setting to their students so that they are successful in their future profession as well as everyday life.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nowadays, there are many news reports in the Nepali media that people, especially government officers, are caught or interrogated by the anti-corruption body, the CIAA. But the fact is that they were caught or interrogated just because they did not know the art of setting. Many who commit bigger wrongs are never caught because they know the art of setting.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you look at it minutely, it is an open secret that nothing moves in Nepal if one doesn&rsquo;t have proper setting in government offices or in the court, or in the company registrar&rsquo;s office or the customs offices. Be it for receiving a license or getting a job transfer or promotion in the bureaucracy, the role of setting is paramount. So, more than the educational certificates or anything else, setting is the most important factor. If you don&rsquo;t know this art, you may have to lose your job or your business also.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nobody seems to have peeped deep to see why the constitution could not be made in the first Constituent Assembly. It was just because the setting among the top gang-of-four leaders of three parties could not happen. Even now, however hard the people or CA members harp on the new constitution string, if the setting among this gang-of-four is not proper, it will not happen again. This gang calls it &lsquo;consensus&rsquo;, but it is nothing but another word for setting.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, this &lsquo;setting&rsquo; is not only omnipresent and omnipotent, but also cool and sexy. Don&rsquo;t you agree?</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-10-10',
			'modified' => '2014-12-23',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'What is most popular these days in Nepal? You may say, it is betting or netting and dating. You may be right to some extent, but I say the most practiced thing is the setting. Let’s look it into more details.',
			'sortorder' => '2647',
			'image' => null,
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		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2782',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'The Frog Country',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If I propose to make frog the national animal of new Nepal, I am sure, you will happily agree and also congratulate me for this brilliant idea. Nepal&rsquo;s every bit of life has been touched by the benevolent frog and its various qualities. One of our revolutionary finance minister a few year ago declared that Nepal&rsquo;s economy should now grow not in a reptiles&rsquo; dragging but in leap-frogging pace. Leap-frogging indeed is a right simile for Nepal. No Nepali believes in being rich taking a long route walk. Inspired by the frog, everybody wants to leap- frog from penury to instant prosperity. We never get tired of emphasizing that Nepal is an agrarian economy. The plantation season begins with the beacons of twaar-twaar-twaar of the frogs in the banks of the river and main fields. For many, frogs provide for a barbequed lunch or snack at the middle of the hard day&rsquo;s work in the field.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you think of less relevance of iconic frog in the civilized life, you are wrong. The fortunate ones who have got employment must have fine qualities of a frog -- to jump a queue, to jump enter into influential leader&rsquo;s living rooms jumping off the high fences and learn to find some excuses to jump across the process of meritocracy.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you happen to meet a frog-mouthed personality in the busy city, you can be sure that he must be a high-ranking official in bureaucracy, bank or NGO. If not, he must be a seasoned politician whose skin is gradually transforming into that of rhino from that of a frog. These are the key people for the very existence and functionality of the country.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	You might ask, how would you recognize these frog-mouthed ones in crowded cities? It is pretty simple. Bring along a dead frog with you and begin to compare the looks of people with it. Protruding eyes, lumped eyelids as the result of over drinking, large potbellies, twisted legs and habit of jumping the queues anywhere possible, be that temple or service station. The growth rate of the country may be low, but these frog-mouthed talents can make it sound great with their hoarse voice. The bank CEOs can ensure great profits regardless of the fact that only twenty percent people have access to the banking services. (How much profit will they earn if every citizen has a bank account in the country?)</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you meet a proper frog-mouthed politician, he must be a youth leader of the party as he is aged just 65 years or so. &nbsp;You can argue that frog mouthed ones are spared by nature from entering into the old age.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are other great qualities of the frog we have emulated. The best among them is to live life free of all worries in any degree of precariousness. You must have seen a frog that is being swallowed by a snake that still wants to catch a spider, not being concerned that it will die in next few seconds. The country has long hours of load-shedding, we Nepalis don&rsquo;t worry. There is no sign of new constitution being written, we rather worry about American visa. We don&rsquo;t have enough supply of petrol, but it doesn&rsquo;t stop us from buying a car. We prefer big LED to mount on our living room wall, without counting hours we actually have power supply.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Also, you have heard the fable of Nepali frogs exported to the USA in an open basket and all of them reached intact, not even a single one jumping out from the basket as each of them had learnt the leg-pulling skills from our politicians. It is no wonder, our politicians and decision makers also have learnt many skills from the frogs, as mentioned above. Since, Nepalis and frogs have developed such a cordial bond, only suitable thing is to call Nepal a frog country and declare frog as the national animal.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-06-08',
			'modified' => '2014-09-08',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'If I propose to make frog the national animal of new Nepal, I am sure, you will happily agree and also congratulate me for this brilliant idea. Nepal’s every bit of life has been touched by the benevolent frog and its various qualities. One of our revolutionary finance minister a few year ago declared that Nepal’s economy should now grow not in a reptiles’ dragging but in leap-frogging pace.',
			'sortorder' => '2633',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 5 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2777',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Lords Of Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are bunch of worried people who constantly think that Nepali economy is sinking, rather sooner. This indeed is absolutely unnecessary concern. Because, first, Nepali economy is not a ship as we happen to be a land-locked country. Second, even if it were a ship we have had not a herd but a fleet of captains to save or rescue it from capsizing; present in every bit of history in different guise, which I shall elaborate further. And, if none of them happened to be at the deck, there will be our own ever-present Pashupatinath to steer clear the whole Nepal out of the danger zone, let alone economy. At least, that is what we Nepalis have believed for generations and still have the largest faith on the Lord at the banks of Bagmati than the banks owned by the lords &ndash; feudal-lords, warlords or landlords.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Our business community understands at which point of time, who can save the Nepali economy best from absolute melt down. In other countries, the business leaders and related organizations first take responsibility of captaining the ship of economy and look for support on whatever is not adequate in them. Our case is just opposite. Nepali brand of business leaders keep on changing the captain, express confidence on a particular one and shift to new one according to changing tide of time.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	When democracy was reinstated in 1990 and the Nepali Congress government adopted the &#39;free market&#39; economic policy, everybody thought that free market means freedom to do anything one can imagine&ndash; hoarding, black marketing, tax evasion, carteling and forged invoicing. Even in the political circles, impact of free market was so huge that the system produced billionaire overnight. Not only likes of Khum Bahadur and Chiranjivi Wagle who turned out to be the most unfortunate among the lot, so to be behind the bars, others who are moving freely are no different in amassing assets as the gift of free market, read freedom to corruption. Look at bulging bank accounts of incumbent ministers under a beggar prime minister. So, in all those years, GP Koirala was assigned captaincy to save economic ship, which he did. You can test its calibre by looking the total amount saved by his daughter Sujata during these two decades.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Then came the Sher Bahadur, Madhav Nepal and so on as new captains and our business community unfailingly expressed confidence in their captaincy. They did save the economy. Whether the economy of their own or that of the nation is irrelevant here. The point here is: there should be an economy and it had to be saved. That was done, without fail.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	That followed the direct rule of King Gyanendra. The queue of business people to bow to him, as the newfound captain was always longer than any wide-angle zoom of television/movie camera could capture in a single shot. He did save our economy. He is still the one single person in Nepal who has got the largest amount of saved assets in the country, or, may be outside too. He indeed made our business people most jubilant when he picked-up a former FNCCI president to help him in this &#39;save economy&#39; mission. &nbsp;One of the techniques in saving is not to let it decay or decompose by letting it remain cool. So this entrepreneur was asked by the King to launch an ice-cream factory. A brilliant idea of saving the economy.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The ability of the Maoist brigade of captains can make an epic. They in fact manned the economic ship in multiple ways. They had multiple captains who wanted to steer the economy in different directions. So it was first saved from moving into any direction. When the ship was not at all leaving the dock, it automatically got saved from sinking. Secondly, they had all fist-raising comrades with red band on their heads. Whoever else thought of moving this ship called economy, they used all tactics possible -thrashing, chasing, extorting and even killing if required. They were practically the real saviours.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	At present, all these forces are together, represented in the Constituent Assembly. Some great captains are with their entire family &ndash; spouse, son, cousin or in-laws. So, there is no question Nepali economy will ever sink. That is the reason even our newly elected FNCCI executives have more faith in political lords than on those who elected them.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-05-07',
			'modified' => '2014-07-30',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'There are bunch of worried people who constantly think that Nepali economy is sinking, rather sooner. This indeed is absolutely unnecessary concern. Because, first, Nepali economy is not a ship as we happen to be a land-locked country.',
			'sortorder' => '2628',
			'image' => null,
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	),
	(int) 6 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2636',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Electric Thoughts',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<div>
		<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		<img alt="No Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy)(1).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 369px;" />Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		There is no reason that lack of electricity supply should stop you to feel proud and productive if you can think in the speed of electric current itself; like the bosses in NEA do. The other week they organized a press meet to make their scoop achievement public: &lsquo;there will be no more than eighty hours of load-shedding per week. We are working all day to make sure that it doesn&rsquo;t increase even during the on-setting dry season.&rsquo;</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		In fact, there was no need of organizing such a press meet as every Nepali by now has accepted the fact that we cannot live without load-shedding. It has become such an undeniable part of our lives that we are now all prepared to make it our heritage. One more along the line of Mt Everest, Lumbini or Durbar Square. The biggest advantage of this is: whole country can become a world heritage site, as load-shedding is not limited to a small area, like cities of archaeological or natural significance.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The load-shedding can contribute in a great way to the economic prosperity of the nation. The recent growth stories of our neighbours India and China has been attributed to the outcome of demographic dividend, meaning that since they have more people the growth is faster. Our load-shedding can contribute greatly to baby-boom. As there is no light for long hours right since the evening, couples can be more productive.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Recently, there were news reports that some energy-intensive factories like sugar mills got closed due to load-shedding. That is in fact very good news. Low production of sugar will reduce the chances of diabetes in the populace and they don&rsquo;t have to worry about the doctors who prefer to go for strikes than to serve the patients.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		You must have heard about electric shocks, electric jolts or electric drinks, meaning our famed bijulipaani. But I have introduced here a very new concept of electric thought. It flows like the electricity itself and once guided to certain direction, it hardly changes the direction or comes back. New NEA executive director recently enlightened us by revealing that load-shedding is caused not only because less amount of electricity was produced but also due to lack of transmission lines to transport the produce. There are not enough transmission lines even to bring in the electricity India is prepared to give. When private producers start production, this bottleneck is sure to remain there. It is apparent that the electric thought of NEA so far was directed only to the production of electricity. Yet, NEA&rsquo;s electric thought has not been redirected to other than production aspect, to ensure longer years of power outages even when there is production aplenty.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Some thoughts were non-electric so they did never reach the other end of the objectives. We heard the plans of setting up diesel plants of some 120 MW, heard about bio fuel-fed generators and augmenting the supply by solar panels or air turbines. But these were the plans never implemented, duly understanding the importance of the load-shedding for the country.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		By all standards, the very concept of load-shedding is the true personification of the electric thought. Everybody knows, darkness can travel faster than the electricity itself. Therefore NEA needed to call a press conference to explain there is ensured darkness for any foreseeable years. It was a great idea propelled by none other than the electric thought to make presence of NEA felt to the public.</div>
</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-02-20',
			'modified' => '2014-02-20',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.',
			'sortorder' => '2479',
			'image' => null,
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	),
	(int) 7 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2442',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Corruption Proofness',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nepal is no doubt the land of uncountable miracles. The recently added one is that Nepal has substantially fallen down in corruption index. It is confirmed by none other than global corruption watch-dog, Transparency International (TI). It must be credible as we are constantly taught that whatever these global institutions influenced by the West say must be blindly trusted and followed.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are few occasions when falling is not only beautiful but desirable too, like falling in love and falling in corruption index. Therefore, Nepal is now enjoying the honeymoon of this miraculous fall from 139th position of the last year to 116th this year, out of 177 countries. The fall is miraculous for more than one reason. Nepal has constantly been branded as the country with a crisis in governance. For last couple of decades, our main industry has been to produce at least one prime minister each year. Sometimes, that too was very difficult like at present, and our last House was unable to produce even one prime minister in seventeen attempts. What it effectively says is: corruption can be reduced without governance. This is new theory, innovated in Nepal by TI.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But there must be some reason for this impressive improvement in Nepal&#39;s corruption ranking. Facts in hand are -- we had the Maoist government on the year the index data was collected and non-political government of bureaucrats is in Singhadurbar forts when it is made public. A former bureaucrat with the most corrupt reputation was appointed as the chief of constitutional commission CIAA. Unquestionably, all these factors must have singly or jointly contributed to this fall.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If so, there are one or two lessons for the most corrupt countries to take home from Nepal. First, political instability and Maoist government are the best panacea for controlling corruption. To begin, let Maoists of any country run a decade-long armed rebellion when the term bribery and grease-money dealing in petty sum disappears and every clandestine large endowment becomes &#39;voluntary donation to the revolution&#39;, even if the amount surrendered is at gun point. As the corruption index researchers pasturing on the surface hardly smell about these deals, consequently the index drops. The instability has direct anti-corruption effect. It is so simple. The instability helps to root-out all major business, production and service industries. Who pays the bribe? The private sector, i.e. the business people or industrialists. When they are gone, corruption is bound to reduce, substantially. So, if any country is committed to reduce corruption, make sure you have prolonged political instability.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Second, political parties must stop forming the government of their own and they should install a fully bureaucratic government, hopefully headed by the incumbent chief justice of the supreme court of the country. This latter arrangement is crucial. When the government apparatus indulges in corruption, the road to judiciary to seek redressal is practically blocked, as the head of the government is also the head of the judiciary, simultaneously.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Third, if the anti-corruption institutions like CIAA are filled by the most corrupt bureaucrats in history, they are sure to make history either way. They know how not to make it more felt even if there were rampant corrupt practices. Or, it might also be the case that they are done with money, with their infamous fathers&rsquo; statues erected at the middle of busy highways, offsprings off to foreign countries and a couple of bank accounts in safe havens. So, the amount of money to be bribed in a poor country suddenly starts to look too small relative to their pride. Then they might rather pose as ascetics than avarices. The situation really contributes to reduce the corruption and helps country to ride on the freedom-from-corruption ladder, very soon.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Finally, with this astounding success, Nepal can think of setting up a training institute for those countries to run course on &#39;how to make a country corruption-proof and improve in the (anti?) corruption index!&#39; This has business rationale too!</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-01-10',
			'modified' => '2014-01-27',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Nepal is no doubt the land of uncountable miracles. The recently added one is that Nepal has substantially fallen down in corruption index. It is confirmed by none other than global corruption watch-dog, Transparency International (TI). It must be credible as we are constantly taught that whatever these global institutions influenced by the West say must be blindly trusted and followed.',
			'sortorder' => '2363',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 8 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2265',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Sea Of Conspiracy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The revolutionary vision of Puspa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda suddenly encountered a deep sea of conspiracy surrounding the landlocked Nepal. As the results of CA elections-II 2013, were pouring in last month and he lost the Kathmnadu-10 constituency, he could see a devilish sea fast inundating his philosophized Prachanda Path, dampening his as well as his party&#39;s election prospects and perishing the party&#39;s Perish Danda headquarters in rapid pace.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	How could this happen to the &#39;sole hero of the revolution&#39; ? (&#39;Revolutionary Hero&#39; that was how he was nicknamed during the campaign.) His dreams of becoming all-powerful president suddenly got evaporated. And, the cum-red was naturally perplexed, outraged and restless. He cried &#39;FOUL!&#39; &nbsp;But there was nobody to listen. But as a devout communist, he was creative enough to take hold of theory - &#39;the conspiracy theory&#39; - to attribute as the cause of his and his party&#39;s apparently humiliating defeat.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It is the outcome of &#39;national and international conspiracy&#39; he declared, hastily calling a press meet. But he would not point out which particular national or international agency was at play. That was natural for a former prime minister, who has personally experienced the extent and strength of the functions of these conspirators, particularly international ones, to guess who could be the spoilsport. Nepali people would certainly appreciate if he identifies them in public.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	When the water level receded from his hypothetical sea, he could see some ground. At least there were still some hopes which had not drowned. At least one such hope survived when he got elected from another constituency in Terai. His worries were confounded not because the party suffered a big set-back, but his all other family members --daughter, daughter-in-no-law and a brother got defeated in the polls.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Traumatized, Prachanda turned to his brainy comrade Baburam for solace. Baburam quickly came up with highly consoling prognosis that &#39;though we may have lost election, our agenda is not defeated.&#39; It was equivalent to saying that the &nbsp;people &nbsp;who represented the Maoist agenda were bad and got defeated, not the agenda itself. &nbsp;It was easy for Baburam to reach to this beautiful conclusion looking at the face of his only wife Hisila Yami and her defeat from one of the Kathmandu constituencies.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;Can&#39;t you see comrades, the sea of conspiracy in drowning us soon? It must be internationally imported political waters that is causing this&#39;, Prachanda concluded and his top-ranked comrades nodded in consent akin to true communist party discipline. &nbsp;&#39;But chairman comrade&#39; Baburam volunteered, &#39;we must point at the international force&#39; to make this allegation convincing.&#39;&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;As you know, all the sea water is in the south and entire north is Himalayas,&#39; said Prachanda</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;Then I am not in your boat,&#39; Baburam begged to differ. The southern sea waters cannot rise so high at this time. Even if they do, I am not to see it,&#39; Baburam deviated. Then, the duo concluded to accept the election outcome.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The fables have it even a sinking lion wouldn&#39;t spare to pounce on simultaneously sinking goat, regardless that both would be dead in the next minute. Then no wonder, Prachanda came up with a new proposal: &#39;majority provision of the constitution to form the government should be removed, retaining only the provision of consensus.&#39; &nbsp;Again he is not likely to be heard. He is asking for a too long a rope which had to be unleashed much before the election. But he is doing it after his party got defeated. Anyway, clever people never lack creativity even during the ordeal.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	As the political climate is changing fast, the effects of warming again and often may cause the rise of water levels in the sea of conspiracy. &nbsp;When a man is survived by a whisker from drowning, he soon becomes hydrophobic and begins to be terrified even by a village pond, considering it a Black Sea. &nbsp;Prachanda too from now on might seek &#39;Sea of Conspiracy&#39; whenever there is a storm in a tea cup.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-12-13',
			'modified' => '2013-12-16',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'The revolutionary vision of Puspa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda suddenly encountered a deep sea of conspiracy surrounding the landlocked Nepal. As the results of CA elections-II 2013, were pouring in last month and he lost the Kathmnadu-10 constituency, he could see a devilish sea fast inundating his philosophized Prachanda Path, dampening his as well as his party's election prospects and perishing the party's Perish Danda headquarters in rapid pace.',
			'sortorder' => '2110',
			'image' => null,
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	(int) 9 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2141',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Manifestation Of Everything',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<img alt="NO Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 409px;" />Manifestation is the crux of all civilizations. There is unfailing debate throughout the human civilization about the beauty and duty about manifestations. Great wars have been fought on the mere issue of manifestation, be that Mahabharat or Anglo-Saxon. In ancient times, men and women manifested their parts of attractive bodies to entice the opposite sex. In modern cinema civilization, you know better how the issue of manifestations has been debated as part aesthetics or sex. If you watch a well-manifested cinema, you talk more about it than the storyline it carried.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	On duty-side as well, the principle of enticement has not changed much. For instance take Nepal&rsquo;s political parties&rsquo;, that are contesting the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, hope to hold CA elections in the month of November. They have made their supposedly election manifestoes public and all of them seem to be greatly influenced by the tinsel town concept of selling the cinema inserting some more manifestations in the story. Political heroes also probably forgot the storyline that they are going to write the constitution through the new CA. Their indulgence in the act of enticement by overt manifestation of the to-do-list in CA elections manifestoes establishes nothing else.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	No credible commitment is found expressed in manifestoes to write a constitution that guarantees the rights of the people. But, regardless of whether constitution would be actually written or not, these manifestoes instead surely promise you everything possible from prostitute to prosperity. If you are on the plank of arguing that, prosperity cannot be promised without writing a new democratic constitution, then you don&rsquo;t understand the culture of political prostitution that is in vogue in Nepal. You never know which leader will partner with which party during the day and the same leader will lean to other party during the night.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But, without worrying much about the constitution, if you look at the list of promises made by these manifestoes, you are sure to relish. Everything to everyone, that&rsquo;s how you can sum-up these manifestoes. Home to homeless, power to politicos, tax rebate to tax evading community, partners to young, food to humans, feed to animals, cloths to kids, cure to olds, power connection to houses, empowerment to housewives, love to poor and luxury to riches. The list is so long that, you will be bored if all of them are copied here. You can actually call it your own wish-list.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	No doubt, the political parties and political leaders are doing the right thing. The private sector of Nepal had long complained that the political leadership has ignored the economic and developmental concerns of Nepal. But these manifestoes have compensated all past lacunae of these sorts. In fact, this time around, all they have done is, shown utmost concern only to the economy and prosperity of the country, nothing else.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	This is very right strategy to adopt. Because, by this, both the new constitution and the prosperity can be ensured simultaneously. It is natural for them not to worry about constitution and mention its whats and hows in their manifestoes. Every Nepali is well aware that our sovereign constitution is being written with great care, by great experts, somewhere in the world. Could be, it is done in more than one place and we lucky Nepali will have chance to chose the best instant constitution from a fairly long menu. We will get to see it when it is brought here, ready to be implemented.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Similarly, it is pointless to ask how our leaders are going to fulfill such an extraordinarily long list of promises without arranging resources and plans. Their duty is just to make the list, not to consider about the feasibility and finance of the related projects. For that, we again know, money will come from the same window where the constitution would be coming.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	My only last confusion is: whom to vote whereas all manifestoes look the same? Oh yeh! I can console saying that every party in Nepal is not different in vital issues. That is manifested!</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-11-24',
			'modified' => '2013-11-24',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Manifestation is the crux of all civilizations. There is unfailing debate throughout the human civilization about the beauty and duty about manifestations. Great wars have been fought on the mere issue of manifestation, be that Mahabharat or Anglo-Saxon.',
			'sortorder' => '1989',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 10 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2016',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'In Love  With The Peg',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<img alt="No Laughin Matter" src="/userfiles/images/NLM.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 451px;" />The &lsquo;peg&rsquo; must have been the second most loved word for Englishmen after &lsquo;sex&rsquo;, but for Nepalis, it (its meaning to be precise) is unquestionably the first. Whether it is expressed or muted, the presence of the peg is ubiquitous in our daily national or economic life. The moment you touch the Nepali Currency (NC), you are bound to remember that it is strictly pegged to the Indian Currency (IC). You may or may not always believe in the value of the NC, but it is this peg that gives you the confidence you need.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The recent devaluation of the Nepali currency was not an outcome of a downturn in our economy, but was the effect of the NC-IC peg that has a history of more than six decades. If your business has suffered from this devaluation, you are free to shift the peg to console yourself -- a shift from the currency peg to a whisky peg. Do not complain if more than ninety five percent of Nepali bar-tenders cannot say &lsquo;peg&rsquo; and often make do with &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. When asked, &lsquo;Sir would you like a pack?&rsquo; you must have the intelligence to understand that he is actually asking if you would like a peg of some alcohol. If you are a novice drinker, just graduated to whisky to drink in a bar from a &lsquo;pouch&rsquo; in a tavern, you may be familiar with the &lsquo;pack&rsquo; than the &lsquo;peg.&rsquo; It is just a question of civilization, not economics.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But in our economic system, unlike you, there are big bosses who are more familiar with the &lsquo;peg&rsquo; than the &lsquo;pack&rsquo;, so that they don&rsquo;t want to pack the peg at any cost. When it comes to packing-up, or stopping the NC-IC peg, they don&rsquo;t even want to hear it out. They have good reasons for maintaining this status quo until our currency faces the fate of the Zimbabwean dollar when it was in its last days of existence. In other words, the love for this peg is the simplest strategy to make the Nepali richer in no time. If the present rate of devaluation continues, we Nepalis will soon be so rich that we will be paying ten thousand rupees for a cup of tea, one hundred thousand rupees for a kilogram of rice, a million rupees for a kilogram of mutton or cheese, and so on.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you are in the business of stock price analysis or actual stock trading and brokerage and haven&rsquo;t heard of the capital &lsquo;PEG&rsquo;, or price/earnings to growth ratio, you are sure to be doomed and forced to take refuge in the smaller &lsquo;peg&rsquo; that is re-christened by Nepali barmen as &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. There are people in the financial service industry in Nepal who argue that ninety-nine percent of our stock brokers, the licensed ones, never heard of the &lsquo;PEG&rsquo;, or the &lsquo;peg&rsquo;, and is managing everything with the replacement of the &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. The result: many of them are, therefore, helping the trading of many scribs to pack-up within a few days of listing instead of using the PEG tool to analyze.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you ask our policy makers -- the finance minister, the central bank governor, or the prime minister as soon as we get one -- &lsquo;How long will the NC-IC peg continue?&rsquo; they all will have very intelligent answers for it: &lsquo;Oh! Peg. Yes, we have. Good question, I mean, not bad at all. It is important. How about having a peg together tonight? Thanks!!&rsquo;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	You may ask me how I know that their answer would be exactly like that. It is simple: every generation of our authorities for the last half century have said nothing different than this. Feel like listening to the popular number the &lsquo;Peg&rsquo; by Steely Dan? Do it in the bar, that&rsquo;s the place to admire the real beauty of the &lsquo;peg&rsquo;!&nbsp;</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-10-23',
			'modified' => '2013-10-24',
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			'description' => 'The ‘peg’ must have been the second most loved word for Englishmen after ‘sex’, but for Nepalis, it (its meaning to be precise) is unquestionably the first. Whether it is expressed or muted, the presence of the peg is ubiquitous in our daily national or economic life. The moment you touch the Nepali Currency (NC), you are bound to remember that it is strictly pegged to the Indian Currency (IC).',
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	(int) 11 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '1632',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'New Budget's Growth Tricks',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	Growth is what Nepal needs today. The recent budget for this fiscal year has aptly embodied this national aspiration. The very size of the budget has ballooned-up by almost forty percent compared to last year. Accordingly, the deficit gap, revenue targets, inflation estimates, government employees&#39; pay and many more have grown substantially. if you point to a few aspects like GDP growth projections and proposed capital expenditure, you must be an anti-democrat for sure. When majority of things are so rapidly growing, one should not bother about a few things that are in such declining trend.<br />
	<br />
	Besides, this budget has all ingredients to fuel growth. No sooner the budget declared that the government employees&#39; pay would be hiked by 18 percent plus straight one thousand bucks, the market has reenergized instantly.From vegetable venders to taxi drivers, grocers to airline operators, everybody has concrete plans to increase the prices, even before the salary-earners pocket their first added pay. The magic of this budget is: twenty percent increase in pay has the power to increase the price by at least forty percent.</p>
<p>
	As an axiom, the rise in prices is indeed the sign of growth and development. Look at the most expensive cities in the world, Tokyo, London, Moscow, Shanghai or Mumbai. They are developed because they are most expensive. Now Kathmandu can be a new candidate in that category, thus a developed city.<br />
	<br />
	We have some extra qualities to ensure growth and development, by using unique model of &#39;growth by price rise&#39;. No mechanism exists to control price and goods and service providers of all kinds have a free hand to fix their price and enforce cartels. Taxi drivers often bring the city to stand-still within hours if any regulators questions about their tampered fare meter and private water suppliers can stop the supply if authorities try to question about the potability of it. The only party that has to backdown invariably is the government. There are thousands of such examples which ensure prices in our country would only rise, and rise regardless of anything. This means, in other words, our growth and development is guaranteed.<br />
	<br />
	Just the talk of elections would provide an additional impetus to growth. Political parties will actively engage themselves in &#39;donation&#39; collection, while the businessmen and industrialists &#39;voluntarily&#39; set aside a big sum for the cause. That means they need to earn more by every possible means of black-marketing to hoarding. This the time the country sees a true business-friendly climate, when no business person is penalized or admonished for making arrangements of extra earnings.<br />
	<br />
	Elections have all other economic advantages. Donors come with offers of assistance in many forms -- cash, kinds, experts, observers, clergies and copies of bibles. Business activities in all sectors multiply, transports,hotels, goons, contract killers and armed robbers -- virtually everybody and everything will be hired by politicians and political parties to win the elections. Unemployment problem will be solved at once. That is the reason Nepal has taken up the technique of very often announcing the dates for elections but never actually holding them. From this experience, we can foretell that the proposed November elections will also be postponed for next April, so that Nepali economy can get double boost from the same elections fever.<br />
	<br />
	In any case, if we were to develop and grow, we must stop thinking about aspects of decrease, decline or fall..Those In any case, if we were to develop and grow, we must stop thinking about aspects of decrease, decline or fall. Those who don&#39;t believe in incremental thinking, they must be socially boycotted. Therefore, along with the salary of the government employees, the rate of grease money must be increased. Business people, transport operators and contractors must increase their costs. Government must increase the taxes; business community then increases the tax evasion. No matter whatever is increased, it is growth. That is the reason our finance minister is so sure, his budget will only develop the country. You just don&#39;t worry, which direction it grows, however.<br />
	&nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-08-18',
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			'description' => 'Growth is what Nepal needs today. The recent budget for this fiscal year has aptly embodied this national aspiration. The very size of the budget has ballooned-up by almost forty percent compared to last year. Accordingly, the deficit gap, revenue targets, inflation estimates, government employees' pay and many more have grown substantially. if you point to a few aspects like GDP growth projections and proposed capital expenditure, you must be an anti-democrat for sure.',
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	(int) 12 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '1057',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Development Riddle Solved',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p>
	<br />
	<img alt="development riddle" src="/userfiles/images/1371635301.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 378px;" /><br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Everyone in Nepal is equally concerned about and committed to the development of this &ldquo;rich-mines, poor-minds&rdquo; country. But, what puzzles everyone is the fact that Nepal has, so far, truly lagged far behind in development despite so much effort and foreign aid.</p>
<p>
	But not anymore will we have these qualms since the riddle of this big WHY has now been solved. Nepal can now embark on a development track with rocket speed, absolutely different from the frog jump pattern proposed by former PM Dr Baburam Yami Bhattarai.</p>
<p>
	We had had such difficulty in developing the country mainly because the lost key of development lied elsewhere - somewhere outside the country. Thank God! This mystery has been resolved now after the appointment of Lokman Karki as the CIAA chief. Every Nepali by now understands that the key to our development lies in the hands of foreign countries, maybe our neighbours or the superpowers. Or, possibly, there could be many keys with many &lsquo;partners&rsquo; that we got to find out and bring them back.</p>
<p>
	It is this realisation that is pushing every Nepali regardless of age, gender, origin, religion or profession to foreign lands. Recently, Nepal&rsquo;s quintessential leader Comrade Prachanda visited both our northern and southern neighbours in quick succession, last month. He not only talked about Nepal&rsquo;s development, but also proposed a new vision of &lsquo;triangular model&rsquo; involving China, India and Nepal. His wisdom did highly impress the leaders of both sides, akin to his claims. The likelihood is that he might be hired as a consultant by the planners of these countries to generate such great angular visions which they could never think of so far. In the power corridors of New Delhi, he was even asked if his triangle could be made a quadrangle by adding a &lsquo;people&rsquo;s war dimension to it&rsquo; so that it could be copyrighted as the new Prachandapath model of development!</p>
<p>
	Not only Prachanda, but also his party rank and file believes that the key to Nepal&rsquo;s development is indeed in the hands of foreigners. His deputy, Dr Bhattarai, in a recent trip to Australia made it clear that the people who live in Nepal are unable to develop it, so those who have left Nepal and become foreigners should develop it.</p>
<p>
	See the impact of foreign trips! These leaders who believed in putting schools on fire, bombing suspension bridges in remote hinterland, felling telephone and electricity polls and destroying public property have suddenly started talking about development. If you still don&rsquo;t believe that the key to Nepal&rsquo;s development lies in foreign hands, consider the following examples as well.</p>
<p>
	Not only politicians, but also most civil servants are dying to grab any possible opportunity for a foreign trip. Because they realize that their years of experience in service has failed to teach them how to develop the country and, therefore, seek the compensation for it a foreign trip. &nbsp;Therefore, senior officers prefer to participate in foreign trainings, workshops or seminars where nominations are actually sought from junior positions. Simply, the more senior people who participate, the more cakes of development they would bring back.</p>
<p>
	Such love for Nepal&rsquo;s development is not limited to politicians and civil servants. You can simply say that anyone very keen to go abroad is a true lover of Nepal&rsquo;s development. Every Nepali student believes that s/he cannot develop this nation by studying here. That&rsquo;s why visa applications are filed as soon as the completion &nbsp;of +2 education. Those who fail to leave the country are even more patriotic. They do not miss even a single opportunity to protest against any anti-development move of the government. And they make sure that they destroy some amount of existing public property so that it could be replaced by a new one.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	The members of the general public who are smart enough want to leave the country at any cost. They too realize the fact that no development is possible within the country. Manpower agencies, planners and development experts, all by now agree that the country will not develop from within, so we must bring everything from other countries. Everything means everything- a constitution, directives for the government dictating who should be appointed where and what model of development should be followed. With this, one can be pretty sure of the faster development we have missed thus far.</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-06-06',
			'modified' => '2013-10-21',
			'keywords' => 'No laughing matter, new business age, Madan Lamsal, Development Riddle Solved',
			'description' => 'Everyone in Nepal is equally concerned about and committed to the development of this “rich-mines, poor-minds” country. But, what puzzles everyone is the fact that Nepal has, so far, truly lagged far behind in development despite so much effort and foreign aid.',
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	(int) 13 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '977',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Size Zero Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p>
	Size zero is the contemporary fad. Your potbelly wife, struggling models, overage heroines, all want to be zero-sized. Because you crave for that and with your wish granted the Nepali economy has now come to a real good shape of zero, and anyone surviving in it can only be skinny. You know the reason.</p>
<p>
	The economic meaning of zero could be something different than the blissful imaginative hollow universe of a meditating sage. It is either recession or depression. Nepal has simplified the definition of these terms too: recession is when the builder of a housing company shifts to an apartment in his own project site and, it is depression when he is shifted to a free-to-live public apartment called jail.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	The definition could be as many as the number of economists. That means you are free to have your own tailor-made definition of it. Many have it already. Our central bank governor says, an economy with zero growth rate &nbsp;and 10 percent inflation is still not in recession, and the finance minister doesn&rsquo;t have a say since he already has zero economic sense -- recession, depression, possession, obsession but commission are all the same for him. So why can&rsquo;t you have your own take on recession or depression and its shape and size.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	You may take some variables into account: once regarded successful business heroes have turned zeros, call it their size of the firm now. It is old news that CEOs of many banks are looking for alternative professions. Some have refused to take a paid forced leave fearing that someone might just play a prank with some zeros in their absence. This is the confidence indicator of our banking industry. Since, this leave is a compulsory one and he had but no alternative to take, some dedicated CEOs are seen loitering around bank&rsquo;s headquarters premises despite officially being &nbsp;on leave, enjoying their favorite chocolate bar called &nbsp;&lsquo;credit crunchy&rsquo;. What would you say to the new trend that CEOs of banks themselves are working as chief of the marketing department? It is a trend reversal and also a cost-saving measure.</p>
<p>
	Not only banks, academic institutions that promised jobs to their MBAs, in the once lucrative but now leery sector called banking now taste a pinch of salt. Some new MBAs are asking their school to return their money as they are ultimately landing on a zero chance job zone. Many other ambitious MBAs are trying for jobs in the sectors they had never imagined &nbsp;working &nbsp;in.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;Good old days have returned. Dishonored cheques have become a normal phenomenon and nobody bothers why it got returned. The recipient never asks the bank whether the fund was insufficient in the account of the person who issued the cheque or in the coffers of the bank itself. The account holders don&rsquo;t have enough guts to send an enquiry note to the bank about the issue. These are good signs. &nbsp;No one is hostile to anyone else. Everyone knows we are revolving around a big zero and will continue to do so until this zero of &nbsp;an economy &nbsp;actually becomes a black hole or the Bermuda Triangle.</p>
<p>
	The signals in television channels are less wired and more weird. Don&rsquo;t blame it &nbsp;on load shedding. We will not have electricity pretty soon, when we are about to reach to a point of zero supply, thus no need of it. Call it a zero-gain bid that channels are showing the same program at least four times a week if not a day. They are selling &nbsp;commercial packages with schemes like buy one and get five free.</p>
<p>
	As the economy slims down to play &nbsp;the heroine of a big movie called &lsquo;New Nepal&rsquo;, many heroes are trending-up themselves. You must have seen the newspapers pictures of Min B Gurung rehearsing the act of shopping at his own Bhatbhateni stores, carrying a jute bag. Business tycoons like Golchhas and Jyotis are pictured practicing racing bikes, leaving luxury cars. Television clips show that leaders of proletarian parties are often in the public wearing Harrods suits and designed dresses. Looks like though finally we all are ready for &nbsp;a movie with Shakespearian tragedy, &nbsp;when this has a box-office success, Nepal will surely prosper.</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-05-18',
			'modified' => '2013-10-21',
			'keywords' => 'No Laughing Matter, Size Zero Economy',
			'description' => 'Size zero is the contemporary fad. Your potbelly wife, struggling models, overage heroines, all want to be zero-sized. Because you crave for that and with your wish granted the Nepali economy has now come to a real good shape of zero, and anyone surviving in it can only be skinny. You know the reason.',
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	(int) 14 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '935',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Rise Of Generation-J Who After CJ? DJ, RJ Or VJ?',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Nepal has entered in the new era after CJ (Chief Justice) is made the head of government. Some people may not be very happy with this. However, many especially DJ (Disc Jockeys), RJ (Radio Jockeys), VJ (Video Jockeys) are very happy as they think that after CJ the role to head of the government may fall on the shoulders of DJ, RJ or VJs. &nbsp;Even the BJ (Bureau of Justices) and YJ (Young Justices) are happy besides MJ (The fans of Michael Jackson and MJ Akbar), OJs (Orange Juice Lovers) etc. So much so that even the Court Jesters who earned their living by entertaining the king during the period monarchy are happy that even the shortened version of their profession is CJ!&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	These different &lsquo;J&rsquo;s are very happy as they have now at least a hope that one fine day all of a sudden they might be requested to lead the government after CJ steps aside. Therefore, many of the DJs, RJs, and VJs had even thrown parties after the CJ was made the Chairman of the election government.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Chairman is a very prestigious position anyway. In every company and even in the private sector associations businessmen and traders fight for chairmanship. &nbsp;The chairmanship is popular also in the Panchayati era of the past. For example, former kings, Mahendra, Birendra and even Gyanendra were chairmen of the government during their rule &ndash; though sometimes they were only de jure chairmen. They all were very popular in the beginning of their respective rules. It is a different fact that soon they became unpopular. &nbsp;However, this popularity and unpopularity are subjective and relative terms. Now Gyanendra is becoming more popular day by day. Birendra too was popular towards the end of his reign as a constitutional monarch.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Anyway the most important thing is that from DJ to YJ, everyone is happy as CJ is made the Chairman. The &lsquo;J&rsquo;s are so happy that now they have started to change the designation of all the employees in their companies creating synergy with CJ or YJ. For example, many bar and discotheques have now new positions like CJ (Chief Joker), DJ (Dangerous Joe or Don Jockey), VJ (Vigilante Jockey), RJ (Runche or Runcie Joker), MJ (Maharaj Ji), NJ (Natwarlal Ji), etc.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Now the Nepali political parties should also learn to create new positions for their leaders and cadres. Otherwise they will be more unpopular in the days to come and they will have to abandon their power and remain as the spectators they have become these days. Here you can recall how the four party leaders who even in meetings always sat facing six different directions and spoke in 180 degree opposite terms of one other unanimously handed over the power to the CJ. It seems that the position called CJ is attractive not only for the general people and leaders of Nepal but also among the Europeans, American as well as the edgy neighbours.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Therefore, the political parties are suggested to give new names to the present positions of the leaders. For example, party chairman, general secretary and spokesperson should now have designations changed to something that rhymes with CJ, DJ, RJ, VJ, YJ etc. Otherwise the real DJ, RJ or VJ will start ruling the roost.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Name change in the political party leadership positions is now urgent also because the efforts of the political leaders in the past to attract people and foreign countries to them were all in vain. For example, they acted long like clowns by staging such farce and skits as meetings for political consensus, election for Prime Minister&rsquo;s post for some eighteen times etc. Perhaps the reason for the failure of those efforts was that they all played the role of clowns and there was no single hero.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Anyway, the CJ is now the CEO of the country and his stated objective is to hold elections. But some people also say that his actual job is to fold the democratic process. Many existing democracies that want to fold such system up have already started efforts to emulate the Nepali way of selecting the CEO. After all, why waste so much money in holding elections. Why not have a system in which the CEO position automatically goes to one who is the CJ for some months. Let the would-be CEOs struggle it out through the judicial system hierarchy starting from the district court!&nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
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			'description' => 'Nepal has entered in the new era after CJ (Chief Justice) is made the head of government. Some people may not be very happy with this. However, many especially DJ (Disc Jockeys), RJ (Radio Jockeys), VJ (Video Jockeys) are very happy as they think that after CJ the role to head of the government may fall on the shoulders of DJ, RJ or VJs.',
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		'Article' => array(
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			'title' => 'Zoo Model Of Economy',
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			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Despite the efforts of seven decades to catch the bus of development, Nepal has not been able to do so. What may be the reasons? Before 1951, Nepal&rsquo;s economy stood on a single leg only. As a result, the country&rsquo;s development would limp on the Chandra Shumsher-path or Tribhuvan-path as and when the Palace so wished. Otherwise, it would stand still. A decade later, the economy acquired another leg to become two-legged and development started treading the Mahendra-path. The two-legged economy was named mixed economy wherein the public and private sectors were supposed to work as partners of development.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It was the time when a number of European, Russian, American, Chinese and Indian bipeds were brought in for the sake of Nepal&rsquo;s development. However, the country&rsquo;s development wagon could not gather the desired pace. Rather, Nepali revolutionaries got a chance to learn and copy the Russian and Chinese ways of doing things. The effects of this learning are evident even today.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	After the political change of 1990, attempts were made to amputate the older leg of the two-legged economy arguing that the private sector would lead the economy from now onwards. The economy got another name &ndash; free market economy. But in essence, the economy started following the path shown by a handful of people from the private sector. The economy was free to few privileged people only.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, another revolution took place in 2006 and the resultant government vowed to make the economy three-legged - the third leg being the cooperatives. The performance of this three-legged economic model, too, hasn&rsquo;t been satisfactory. But the new third leg or cooperatives has proved very beneficial for one of the political parties and is working as one of its own legs. However the economy is still limping. These experiments with one-legged, two-legged and three-legged economy have convinced this scribe that the country needs a four-legged economy for the development process to gallop. The simple reason is a four-legged thing is always stronger than one-, two- or three-legged ones. Examples abound &ndash; tables, chairs or quadrupeds like oxen, tigers or elephants.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	In fact, it is evident everywhere that quadrupeds standing on their two legs are running this country. In doing so they burn taxies and motorbikes, demolish houses and buildings and take the entire country a hostage whenever they like to do so. They seem to be hell-bent on torching petrol and diesel vehicles in order to reduce noise pollution in the cities! Going for a four-legged economy is vital also for clearing the confusion created by the mixture of these two- and four-legged creatures. In the past, there were three organs of the state &ndash; executive, legislative and judiciary. Later, somebody suggested adding a fourth organ &ndash; the media. And all the media industry became so happy. But what would be the fourth leg of the economy? The question is natural as well as tricky. You may argue that a four-legged economy sounds too animal-like, not human. However, I don&rsquo;t think we should worry about that. In fact, I say we should have the economy like that &ndash; animal like.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	To prove my point let me draw your attention to &lsquo;the animal spirit&rsquo; that renowned British economist John Maynard Keynes had mentioned way back in the 1930s as the major motivator to the entrepreneurs to work with enthusiasm. By extrapolation, this means we need the economy to be as agile and strong as animals. All of us have seen how the western countries have developed after Keynes made that remark.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, it is very much necessary to have an animal spirit in the economy and that naturally demands the economy to be a four-legged one. And it is a humble proposal of this scribe that the NGOs and INGOs that claim to be dedicated for the country&rsquo;s development should be made the fourth leg of the economy! Afterall the INGOs are already running the show in Nepal. It is said that they have also already drafted the new constitution that now needs just endorsement of the Constituent Assembly.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Or, alternatively, shall the remittance sector be made the fourth leg of the economy? But does remittance really stand a chance in front of the mighty INGOs?</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Whatever! The main thing is we should give the country a four-legged economy and push the development process forward on Prachanda-path, Baidya-path or other similar paths. After all, the way of thinking and activities of many Nepali citizens, businessmen, and especially politicians, resemble those of the quadrupeds! &nbsp; Moreover, the economy is in danger of turning into a zoo. If it happens and when one visits the monkey section of the economic zoo she/he may start laughing at seeing their behaviours. Therefore, we should adopt the four legged economic policy or you may call it a &#39;zoo model of economy&#39; before it&rsquo;s too late.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2015-06-01',
			'modified' => '2015-07-31',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Despite the efforts of seven decades to catch the bus of development, Nepal has not been able to do so. What may be the reasons? Before 1951, Nepal’s economy stood on a single leg only. As a result, the country’s development would limp on the Chandra Shumsher-path or Tribhuvan-path as and when the Palace so wished. Otherwise, it would stand still.',
			'sortorder' => '2662',
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	),
	(int) 1 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2802',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Fundamental Right To Corruption',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<div>
		It is a common understanding in Nepal that everyone in the country is corrupt. Be that bureaucrat or businessman, politician or physician, lawyer or lawmaker, academician or architect, judge or journalist, or any profession or person you name it, is corrupt on prima-facie. The onus of proving otherwise entirely lies on you, should you choose to do so. If you point to someone claiming that he may not be a corrupt, every eyebrow is raised and instant conclusion would be: that could not have happened by integrity but due to sheer lack of opportunity. In every sense, corruption is our national character, thus a national identity.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Nepal has made several efforts to curb corruption and bribery. It has enacted several laws, instituted constitutional bodies like CIAA and invited international NGOs like Transparency International. But the corrupt practices could hardly be reduced. Instead, the investors and businessmen complain that measures like anti-money laundering has caused massive capital flight and investment is shying away due to provisions like declaration of source of income. Therefore, these hurdles have become serious bottlenecks on economic growth and prosperity of the country.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Human civilization has taken many bold decisions to streamline very difficult trades and behaviour. Everybody would agree that prostitution is not a good thing. But secretly everybody would like to extract the pleasure bestowed by this profession. Nobody feels same sex marriages are natural. But many countries have legalized both the sex trade and same sex marriages. There is no reason why corruption should be treated in a different way than the prostitution. Besides, it has many similar characteristics. You are honest until you are caught in the act and everybody enjoys the more of it, clandestinely.&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		For Nepal, it is an opportune moment to do this bold thing as we are writing a new constitution. We have the opportunity not only to legalize but also to constitutionalize both corruption and bribery. My recommendation is that let&rsquo;s make the right to corruption as part of the fundamental rights in the new constitution.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The benefits would be immense. Nepal truly will be as Switzerland as it used to be some decades ago: a true haven for all ill-gotten money of the world. All the money that is now concealed under pillows of the corrupts will be taken out. Money sent abroad will be brought back and there will be open rates of commission in government offices for providing services or approving tenders for public procurement. Just to repeat, since everybody is already charged of this lucre, what&#39;s the harm on just lifting the curtain from it?</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The FDI would flood in and Nepal will enter into an unprecedented phase of growth and development. Country&#39;s administrative cost will drastically reduce, as we no longer need the institutions like CIAA, Vigilance Centre, Anti-Money Laundering Department and Special Court. The load of cases in the courts of law will be far less and policemen can directly ask money from the public for nothing without going through the trouble of creating one or another pretext. So much so, constitutionalizing corruption would also help make entire Nepal instantly educated since if corruption and bribery are legalized even an illiterate can buy a BA or an MA passed certificates at one&#39;s will.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		This will make our bureaucracy more contended and happy. Government official will not scramble to get their posting to customs points and tax offices when every office will have freedom to collect as much bribe as possible. Politicians in the district who are swallowing entire development budget in collusion with different experts will be relieved of responsibility of creating stacks of fake papers.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		As the country now reels under uncertainty in absence of a powerful binding agenda for consensus, the proposal to insert the corruption and bribery as the fundamental right in the constitution could be one such issue that can bring all politicians together. We know everybody loves money and whenever there is question of monetary benefit, there were seldom any discord among them.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Our lawmakers should seriously consider incorporating this provision in the new constitution. I am sure, all six hundred and one members of the Constituent Assembly will vote for it. This will be the dawn of new era on absolute national consensus.</div>
</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-11-21',
			'modified' => '2015-06-01',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'It is a common understanding in Nepal that everyone in the country is corrupt. Be that bureaucrat or businessman, politician or physician, lawyer or lawmaker, academician or architect, judge or journalist, or any profession or person you name it, is corrupt on prima-facie. The onus of proving otherwise entirely lies on you, should you choose to do so. If you point to someone claiming that he may not be a corrupt, every eyebrow is raised and instant conclusion would be: that could not have happened by integrity but due to sheer lack of opportunity. In every sense, corruption is our national character, thus a national identity.',
			'sortorder' => '2658',
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			'user_id' => '0'
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	),
	(int) 2 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2808',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Rule Of Dogs',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	I &nbsp;have no intention of passing any derogatory remark on this faithful, trustworthy, friendly and beautiful animal called dog. With due apology to it, allow me to uncover some of present day Nepal&#39;s great eco-political mysteries with the help of this metaphor. You may have noticed, one of the greatest secrets of Nepal&#39;s perennial perils has just been revealed: it was because this country for so long was ruled by dogs. Watchdogs, barking dogs, biting dogs, wagging dogs, walking dogs, stray dogs, guarding dogs and running dogs. (Readers are welcome to add some or many more to this list depending on their own observations). How can you expect our human development indices to go up where everything is &#39;of the dogs, by the dogs and for the dogs?&#39;&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Our parliament has a big bunch of vigilante dogs who keep good watch on some of hydropower projects of their interest. Many members of parliament are the &#39;jhola ma khola&#39; agents. Therefore, if anybody sniffs in their project they bark back loudly as a dutiful guarding dog. These honourable members of this genre of canine community were quick to warn the CIAA chief Lokman Karki just not to cross the limits of a watchdog. &nbsp;Karki, who is the size of a Tibetan Mastiff declared himself just as a &lsquo;barking dog&rsquo;, thus would not accept the label of a &lsquo;biting dog&rsquo;.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Questions have been raised about the hunting abilities and choice of prey by this barking dog. People outside the political circle allege that he is running behind the small fries leaving big sharks unscathed. &nbsp;The wagging dogs who are often seen at the gates of big political leaders, heave a sigh of relief that Karki&#39;s canine teeth were blunted at the very moment of appointment, rendering him truly a mere barking dog, only capable to chase away the stray dogs in the bureaucracy, leaving alone big hounds. Karki can bark really very loudly as seen recently during the acrimonious dogfight between several parliamentary committees and the CIAA. Parliamentarians like Gagan Thapa who considers himself as a very skilled barker, anywhere everywhere, has been silenced by the just snarls of Karki.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But, crucial question here is, why these wagging dogs are having problem with this barking dog? They should instead bark at their bosses who appointed him with an unprecedented consensus in the history of Nepal. Karki&#39;s appointment as the CIAA chief had taken onboard every possible power centre that is otherwise guarded by Polar Alsatians, German Mastiffs, Chinese Chow Chow and Indian Rajapalayams, among others. So, Karki&#39;s metamorphosis was obvious from a mere barking to a biting dog, given he finds some feebler flocks.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	And Karki has every reason to bark on these new bunch of stray dogs who dared to protest against the erection of his father&#39;s statue at Duhabi thoroughfare, which ultimately had to be demolished and a part of the ruin still pierces his heart. He knows this new barking license for him has come at a very dear financial cost and a very high degree of coalesces between red communists and pink ex-Panchas. For all these reasons, he is not deterred by any amount of barking by these new breed of dogs. Moreover, these naive and novas do not recognize the supernatural sniffing ability of Karki. That is exactly the reason he chose to avoid the successive summons by the parliamentary committees. He has the ability to tame these raucous packs by using supersensitive remote controls.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It is also not surprising that Karki has chosen to scare some of the hydropower promoting jackals. He knows they are fleshy and if caught, the feast would be more than plentiful. This is what the bone of contention is. The stray dogs sense that this flesh may be taken away from them by this gradually becoming English Hunter from a Tibetan barking dog.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-12-23',
			'modified' => '2015-06-01',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'I  have no intention of passing any derogatory remark on this faithful, trustworthy, friendly and beautiful animal called dog. With due apology to it, allow me to uncover some of present day Nepal's great eco-political mysteries with the help of this metaphor. You may have noticed, one of the greatest secrets of Nepal's perennial perils has just been revealed: it was because this country for so long was ruled by dogs. Watchdogs, barking dogs, biting dogs, wagging dogs, walking dogs, stray dogs, guarding dogs and running dogs. (Readers are welcome to add some or many more to this list depending on their own observations). How can you expect our human development indices to go up where everything is 'of the dogs, by the dogs and for the dogs?'',
			'sortorder' => '2653',
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	),
	(int) 3 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2797',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Sexy Settings',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	What is most popular these days in Nepal? You may say, it is betting or netting and dating. You may be right to some extent, but I say the most practiced thing is the setting. Let&rsquo;s look it into more details.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Yes, betting is quite popular in Nepal&rsquo;s share market. Till recent past, the Nepali casinos were ahead in betting than the share market. But as the setting in the casinos became a bit weak, share market was ahead in the betting game. The retail investors in Nepal&rsquo;s share market buy or sell the stocks going by the grapevine than reading the balance sheets of the companies. This can be called betting. Therefore, when Dr Baburam Bhattarai became the Finance Minister, he had termed Nepal&rsquo;s share market as a casino where betting is the mainstay. And he was not wrong. However, even the betting in share market will not yield returns if the setting is not right.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Again, it is true that dating after netting, such as checking facebook, is quite popular and it is personal and a most favoured pastime of most Nepalis - be a youth or a senior citizen. They seem to spend most of their productive three to four hours of their day or night in netting and dating. If they don&rsquo;t spend few hours in netting, they feel they have missed a lot in their lives. Therefore, their eyes may be in one of the social sites. But again setting plays more dominant role also here. Netting and dating are not successful if the setting of the dating is not right. &nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	To be successful in Nepal in any field, especially in business and politics, you must know the art of setting. Otherwise you will fail. There is a special class in Nepali society which has become super rich just by the art of setting rather than by making a huge investment or knowledge of business. Therefore, setting is a new management mantra in Nepal. In fact, the management colleges should start teaching the art of setting to their students so that they are successful in their future profession as well as everyday life.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nowadays, there are many news reports in the Nepali media that people, especially government officers, are caught or interrogated by the anti-corruption body, the CIAA. But the fact is that they were caught or interrogated just because they did not know the art of setting. Many who commit bigger wrongs are never caught because they know the art of setting.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you look at it minutely, it is an open secret that nothing moves in Nepal if one doesn&rsquo;t have proper setting in government offices or in the court, or in the company registrar&rsquo;s office or the customs offices. Be it for receiving a license or getting a job transfer or promotion in the bureaucracy, the role of setting is paramount. So, more than the educational certificates or anything else, setting is the most important factor. If you don&rsquo;t know this art, you may have to lose your job or your business also.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nobody seems to have peeped deep to see why the constitution could not be made in the first Constituent Assembly. It was just because the setting among the top gang-of-four leaders of three parties could not happen. Even now, however hard the people or CA members harp on the new constitution string, if the setting among this gang-of-four is not proper, it will not happen again. This gang calls it &lsquo;consensus&rsquo;, but it is nothing but another word for setting.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, this &lsquo;setting&rsquo; is not only omnipresent and omnipotent, but also cool and sexy. Don&rsquo;t you agree?</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-10-10',
			'modified' => '2014-12-23',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'What is most popular these days in Nepal? You may say, it is betting or netting and dating. You may be right to some extent, but I say the most practiced thing is the setting. Let’s look it into more details.',
			'sortorder' => '2647',
			'image' => null,
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	(int) 4 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2782',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'The Frog Country',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If I propose to make frog the national animal of new Nepal, I am sure, you will happily agree and also congratulate me for this brilliant idea. Nepal&rsquo;s every bit of life has been touched by the benevolent frog and its various qualities. One of our revolutionary finance minister a few year ago declared that Nepal&rsquo;s economy should now grow not in a reptiles&rsquo; dragging but in leap-frogging pace. Leap-frogging indeed is a right simile for Nepal. No Nepali believes in being rich taking a long route walk. Inspired by the frog, everybody wants to leap- frog from penury to instant prosperity. We never get tired of emphasizing that Nepal is an agrarian economy. The plantation season begins with the beacons of twaar-twaar-twaar of the frogs in the banks of the river and main fields. For many, frogs provide for a barbequed lunch or snack at the middle of the hard day&rsquo;s work in the field.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you think of less relevance of iconic frog in the civilized life, you are wrong. The fortunate ones who have got employment must have fine qualities of a frog -- to jump a queue, to jump enter into influential leader&rsquo;s living rooms jumping off the high fences and learn to find some excuses to jump across the process of meritocracy.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you happen to meet a frog-mouthed personality in the busy city, you can be sure that he must be a high-ranking official in bureaucracy, bank or NGO. If not, he must be a seasoned politician whose skin is gradually transforming into that of rhino from that of a frog. These are the key people for the very existence and functionality of the country.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	You might ask, how would you recognize these frog-mouthed ones in crowded cities? It is pretty simple. Bring along a dead frog with you and begin to compare the looks of people with it. Protruding eyes, lumped eyelids as the result of over drinking, large potbellies, twisted legs and habit of jumping the queues anywhere possible, be that temple or service station. The growth rate of the country may be low, but these frog-mouthed talents can make it sound great with their hoarse voice. The bank CEOs can ensure great profits regardless of the fact that only twenty percent people have access to the banking services. (How much profit will they earn if every citizen has a bank account in the country?)</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you meet a proper frog-mouthed politician, he must be a youth leader of the party as he is aged just 65 years or so. &nbsp;You can argue that frog mouthed ones are spared by nature from entering into the old age.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are other great qualities of the frog we have emulated. The best among them is to live life free of all worries in any degree of precariousness. You must have seen a frog that is being swallowed by a snake that still wants to catch a spider, not being concerned that it will die in next few seconds. The country has long hours of load-shedding, we Nepalis don&rsquo;t worry. There is no sign of new constitution being written, we rather worry about American visa. We don&rsquo;t have enough supply of petrol, but it doesn&rsquo;t stop us from buying a car. We prefer big LED to mount on our living room wall, without counting hours we actually have power supply.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Also, you have heard the fable of Nepali frogs exported to the USA in an open basket and all of them reached intact, not even a single one jumping out from the basket as each of them had learnt the leg-pulling skills from our politicians. It is no wonder, our politicians and decision makers also have learnt many skills from the frogs, as mentioned above. Since, Nepalis and frogs have developed such a cordial bond, only suitable thing is to call Nepal a frog country and declare frog as the national animal.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-06-08',
			'modified' => '2014-09-08',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'If I propose to make frog the national animal of new Nepal, I am sure, you will happily agree and also congratulate me for this brilliant idea. Nepal’s every bit of life has been touched by the benevolent frog and its various qualities. One of our revolutionary finance minister a few year ago declared that Nepal’s economy should now grow not in a reptiles’ dragging but in leap-frogging pace.',
			'sortorder' => '2633',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 5 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2777',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Lords Of Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are bunch of worried people who constantly think that Nepali economy is sinking, rather sooner. This indeed is absolutely unnecessary concern. Because, first, Nepali economy is not a ship as we happen to be a land-locked country. Second, even if it were a ship we have had not a herd but a fleet of captains to save or rescue it from capsizing; present in every bit of history in different guise, which I shall elaborate further. And, if none of them happened to be at the deck, there will be our own ever-present Pashupatinath to steer clear the whole Nepal out of the danger zone, let alone economy. At least, that is what we Nepalis have believed for generations and still have the largest faith on the Lord at the banks of Bagmati than the banks owned by the lords &ndash; feudal-lords, warlords or landlords.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Our business community understands at which point of time, who can save the Nepali economy best from absolute melt down. In other countries, the business leaders and related organizations first take responsibility of captaining the ship of economy and look for support on whatever is not adequate in them. Our case is just opposite. Nepali brand of business leaders keep on changing the captain, express confidence on a particular one and shift to new one according to changing tide of time.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	When democracy was reinstated in 1990 and the Nepali Congress government adopted the &#39;free market&#39; economic policy, everybody thought that free market means freedom to do anything one can imagine&ndash; hoarding, black marketing, tax evasion, carteling and forged invoicing. Even in the political circles, impact of free market was so huge that the system produced billionaire overnight. Not only likes of Khum Bahadur and Chiranjivi Wagle who turned out to be the most unfortunate among the lot, so to be behind the bars, others who are moving freely are no different in amassing assets as the gift of free market, read freedom to corruption. Look at bulging bank accounts of incumbent ministers under a beggar prime minister. So, in all those years, GP Koirala was assigned captaincy to save economic ship, which he did. You can test its calibre by looking the total amount saved by his daughter Sujata during these two decades.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Then came the Sher Bahadur, Madhav Nepal and so on as new captains and our business community unfailingly expressed confidence in their captaincy. They did save the economy. Whether the economy of their own or that of the nation is irrelevant here. The point here is: there should be an economy and it had to be saved. That was done, without fail.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	That followed the direct rule of King Gyanendra. The queue of business people to bow to him, as the newfound captain was always longer than any wide-angle zoom of television/movie camera could capture in a single shot. He did save our economy. He is still the one single person in Nepal who has got the largest amount of saved assets in the country, or, may be outside too. He indeed made our business people most jubilant when he picked-up a former FNCCI president to help him in this &#39;save economy&#39; mission. &nbsp;One of the techniques in saving is not to let it decay or decompose by letting it remain cool. So this entrepreneur was asked by the King to launch an ice-cream factory. A brilliant idea of saving the economy.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The ability of the Maoist brigade of captains can make an epic. They in fact manned the economic ship in multiple ways. They had multiple captains who wanted to steer the economy in different directions. So it was first saved from moving into any direction. When the ship was not at all leaving the dock, it automatically got saved from sinking. Secondly, they had all fist-raising comrades with red band on their heads. Whoever else thought of moving this ship called economy, they used all tactics possible -thrashing, chasing, extorting and even killing if required. They were practically the real saviours.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	At present, all these forces are together, represented in the Constituent Assembly. Some great captains are with their entire family &ndash; spouse, son, cousin or in-laws. So, there is no question Nepali economy will ever sink. That is the reason even our newly elected FNCCI executives have more faith in political lords than on those who elected them.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-05-07',
			'modified' => '2014-07-30',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'There are bunch of worried people who constantly think that Nepali economy is sinking, rather sooner. This indeed is absolutely unnecessary concern. Because, first, Nepali economy is not a ship as we happen to be a land-locked country.',
			'sortorder' => '2628',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
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		)
	),
	(int) 6 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2636',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Electric Thoughts',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<div>
		<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		<img alt="No Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy)(1).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 369px;" />Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		There is no reason that lack of electricity supply should stop you to feel proud and productive if you can think in the speed of electric current itself; like the bosses in NEA do. The other week they organized a press meet to make their scoop achievement public: &lsquo;there will be no more than eighty hours of load-shedding per week. We are working all day to make sure that it doesn&rsquo;t increase even during the on-setting dry season.&rsquo;</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		In fact, there was no need of organizing such a press meet as every Nepali by now has accepted the fact that we cannot live without load-shedding. It has become such an undeniable part of our lives that we are now all prepared to make it our heritage. One more along the line of Mt Everest, Lumbini or Durbar Square. The biggest advantage of this is: whole country can become a world heritage site, as load-shedding is not limited to a small area, like cities of archaeological or natural significance.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The load-shedding can contribute in a great way to the economic prosperity of the nation. The recent growth stories of our neighbours India and China has been attributed to the outcome of demographic dividend, meaning that since they have more people the growth is faster. Our load-shedding can contribute greatly to baby-boom. As there is no light for long hours right since the evening, couples can be more productive.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Recently, there were news reports that some energy-intensive factories like sugar mills got closed due to load-shedding. That is in fact very good news. Low production of sugar will reduce the chances of diabetes in the populace and they don&rsquo;t have to worry about the doctors who prefer to go for strikes than to serve the patients.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		You must have heard about electric shocks, electric jolts or electric drinks, meaning our famed bijulipaani. But I have introduced here a very new concept of electric thought. It flows like the electricity itself and once guided to certain direction, it hardly changes the direction or comes back. New NEA executive director recently enlightened us by revealing that load-shedding is caused not only because less amount of electricity was produced but also due to lack of transmission lines to transport the produce. There are not enough transmission lines even to bring in the electricity India is prepared to give. When private producers start production, this bottleneck is sure to remain there. It is apparent that the electric thought of NEA so far was directed only to the production of electricity. Yet, NEA&rsquo;s electric thought has not been redirected to other than production aspect, to ensure longer years of power outages even when there is production aplenty.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Some thoughts were non-electric so they did never reach the other end of the objectives. We heard the plans of setting up diesel plants of some 120 MW, heard about bio fuel-fed generators and augmenting the supply by solar panels or air turbines. But these were the plans never implemented, duly understanding the importance of the load-shedding for the country.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		By all standards, the very concept of load-shedding is the true personification of the electric thought. Everybody knows, darkness can travel faster than the electricity itself. Therefore NEA needed to call a press conference to explain there is ensured darkness for any foreseeable years. It was a great idea propelled by none other than the electric thought to make presence of NEA felt to the public.</div>
</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-02-20',
			'modified' => '2014-02-20',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.',
			'sortorder' => '2479',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
			'in_scroller' => false,
			'user_id' => '0'
		)
	),
	(int) 7 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2442',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Corruption Proofness',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nepal is no doubt the land of uncountable miracles. The recently added one is that Nepal has substantially fallen down in corruption index. It is confirmed by none other than global corruption watch-dog, Transparency International (TI). It must be credible as we are constantly taught that whatever these global institutions influenced by the West say must be blindly trusted and followed.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are few occasions when falling is not only beautiful but desirable too, like falling in love and falling in corruption index. Therefore, Nepal is now enjoying the honeymoon of this miraculous fall from 139th position of the last year to 116th this year, out of 177 countries. The fall is miraculous for more than one reason. Nepal has constantly been branded as the country with a crisis in governance. For last couple of decades, our main industry has been to produce at least one prime minister each year. Sometimes, that too was very difficult like at present, and our last House was unable to produce even one prime minister in seventeen attempts. What it effectively says is: corruption can be reduced without governance. This is new theory, innovated in Nepal by TI.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But there must be some reason for this impressive improvement in Nepal&#39;s corruption ranking. Facts in hand are -- we had the Maoist government on the year the index data was collected and non-political government of bureaucrats is in Singhadurbar forts when it is made public. A former bureaucrat with the most corrupt reputation was appointed as the chief of constitutional commission CIAA. Unquestionably, all these factors must have singly or jointly contributed to this fall.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If so, there are one or two lessons for the most corrupt countries to take home from Nepal. First, political instability and Maoist government are the best panacea for controlling corruption. To begin, let Maoists of any country run a decade-long armed rebellion when the term bribery and grease-money dealing in petty sum disappears and every clandestine large endowment becomes &#39;voluntary donation to the revolution&#39;, even if the amount surrendered is at gun point. As the corruption index researchers pasturing on the surface hardly smell about these deals, consequently the index drops. The instability has direct anti-corruption effect. It is so simple. The instability helps to root-out all major business, production and service industries. Who pays the bribe? The private sector, i.e. the business people or industrialists. When they are gone, corruption is bound to reduce, substantially. So, if any country is committed to reduce corruption, make sure you have prolonged political instability.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Second, political parties must stop forming the government of their own and they should install a fully bureaucratic government, hopefully headed by the incumbent chief justice of the supreme court of the country. This latter arrangement is crucial. When the government apparatus indulges in corruption, the road to judiciary to seek redressal is practically blocked, as the head of the government is also the head of the judiciary, simultaneously.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Third, if the anti-corruption institutions like CIAA are filled by the most corrupt bureaucrats in history, they are sure to make history either way. They know how not to make it more felt even if there were rampant corrupt practices. Or, it might also be the case that they are done with money, with their infamous fathers&rsquo; statues erected at the middle of busy highways, offsprings off to foreign countries and a couple of bank accounts in safe havens. So, the amount of money to be bribed in a poor country suddenly starts to look too small relative to their pride. Then they might rather pose as ascetics than avarices. The situation really contributes to reduce the corruption and helps country to ride on the freedom-from-corruption ladder, very soon.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Finally, with this astounding success, Nepal can think of setting up a training institute for those countries to run course on &#39;how to make a country corruption-proof and improve in the (anti?) corruption index!&#39; This has business rationale too!</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-01-10',
			'modified' => '2014-01-27',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Nepal is no doubt the land of uncountable miracles. The recently added one is that Nepal has substantially fallen down in corruption index. It is confirmed by none other than global corruption watch-dog, Transparency International (TI). It must be credible as we are constantly taught that whatever these global institutions influenced by the West say must be blindly trusted and followed.',
			'sortorder' => '2363',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
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			'user_id' => '0'
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	),
	(int) 8 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2265',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Sea Of Conspiracy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The revolutionary vision of Puspa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda suddenly encountered a deep sea of conspiracy surrounding the landlocked Nepal. As the results of CA elections-II 2013, were pouring in last month and he lost the Kathmnadu-10 constituency, he could see a devilish sea fast inundating his philosophized Prachanda Path, dampening his as well as his party&#39;s election prospects and perishing the party&#39;s Perish Danda headquarters in rapid pace.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	How could this happen to the &#39;sole hero of the revolution&#39; ? (&#39;Revolutionary Hero&#39; that was how he was nicknamed during the campaign.) His dreams of becoming all-powerful president suddenly got evaporated. And, the cum-red was naturally perplexed, outraged and restless. He cried &#39;FOUL!&#39; &nbsp;But there was nobody to listen. But as a devout communist, he was creative enough to take hold of theory - &#39;the conspiracy theory&#39; - to attribute as the cause of his and his party&#39;s apparently humiliating defeat.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It is the outcome of &#39;national and international conspiracy&#39; he declared, hastily calling a press meet. But he would not point out which particular national or international agency was at play. That was natural for a former prime minister, who has personally experienced the extent and strength of the functions of these conspirators, particularly international ones, to guess who could be the spoilsport. Nepali people would certainly appreciate if he identifies them in public.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	When the water level receded from his hypothetical sea, he could see some ground. At least there were still some hopes which had not drowned. At least one such hope survived when he got elected from another constituency in Terai. His worries were confounded not because the party suffered a big set-back, but his all other family members --daughter, daughter-in-no-law and a brother got defeated in the polls.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Traumatized, Prachanda turned to his brainy comrade Baburam for solace. Baburam quickly came up with highly consoling prognosis that &#39;though we may have lost election, our agenda is not defeated.&#39; It was equivalent to saying that the &nbsp;people &nbsp;who represented the Maoist agenda were bad and got defeated, not the agenda itself. &nbsp;It was easy for Baburam to reach to this beautiful conclusion looking at the face of his only wife Hisila Yami and her defeat from one of the Kathmandu constituencies.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;Can&#39;t you see comrades, the sea of conspiracy in drowning us soon? It must be internationally imported political waters that is causing this&#39;, Prachanda concluded and his top-ranked comrades nodded in consent akin to true communist party discipline. &nbsp;&#39;But chairman comrade&#39; Baburam volunteered, &#39;we must point at the international force&#39; to make this allegation convincing.&#39;&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;As you know, all the sea water is in the south and entire north is Himalayas,&#39; said Prachanda</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;Then I am not in your boat,&#39; Baburam begged to differ. The southern sea waters cannot rise so high at this time. Even if they do, I am not to see it,&#39; Baburam deviated. Then, the duo concluded to accept the election outcome.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The fables have it even a sinking lion wouldn&#39;t spare to pounce on simultaneously sinking goat, regardless that both would be dead in the next minute. Then no wonder, Prachanda came up with a new proposal: &#39;majority provision of the constitution to form the government should be removed, retaining only the provision of consensus.&#39; &nbsp;Again he is not likely to be heard. He is asking for a too long a rope which had to be unleashed much before the election. But he is doing it after his party got defeated. Anyway, clever people never lack creativity even during the ordeal.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	As the political climate is changing fast, the effects of warming again and often may cause the rise of water levels in the sea of conspiracy. &nbsp;When a man is survived by a whisker from drowning, he soon becomes hydrophobic and begins to be terrified even by a village pond, considering it a Black Sea. &nbsp;Prachanda too from now on might seek &#39;Sea of Conspiracy&#39; whenever there is a storm in a tea cup.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-12-13',
			'modified' => '2013-12-16',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'The revolutionary vision of Puspa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda suddenly encountered a deep sea of conspiracy surrounding the landlocked Nepal. As the results of CA elections-II 2013, were pouring in last month and he lost the Kathmnadu-10 constituency, he could see a devilish sea fast inundating his philosophized Prachanda Path, dampening his as well as his party's election prospects and perishing the party's Perish Danda headquarters in rapid pace.',
			'sortorder' => '2110',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
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			'user_id' => '0'
		)
	),
	(int) 9 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2141',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Manifestation Of Everything',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<img alt="NO Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 409px;" />Manifestation is the crux of all civilizations. There is unfailing debate throughout the human civilization about the beauty and duty about manifestations. Great wars have been fought on the mere issue of manifestation, be that Mahabharat or Anglo-Saxon. In ancient times, men and women manifested their parts of attractive bodies to entice the opposite sex. In modern cinema civilization, you know better how the issue of manifestations has been debated as part aesthetics or sex. If you watch a well-manifested cinema, you talk more about it than the storyline it carried.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	On duty-side as well, the principle of enticement has not changed much. For instance take Nepal&rsquo;s political parties&rsquo;, that are contesting the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, hope to hold CA elections in the month of November. They have made their supposedly election manifestoes public and all of them seem to be greatly influenced by the tinsel town concept of selling the cinema inserting some more manifestations in the story. Political heroes also probably forgot the storyline that they are going to write the constitution through the new CA. Their indulgence in the act of enticement by overt manifestation of the to-do-list in CA elections manifestoes establishes nothing else.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	No credible commitment is found expressed in manifestoes to write a constitution that guarantees the rights of the people. But, regardless of whether constitution would be actually written or not, these manifestoes instead surely promise you everything possible from prostitute to prosperity. If you are on the plank of arguing that, prosperity cannot be promised without writing a new democratic constitution, then you don&rsquo;t understand the culture of political prostitution that is in vogue in Nepal. You never know which leader will partner with which party during the day and the same leader will lean to other party during the night.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But, without worrying much about the constitution, if you look at the list of promises made by these manifestoes, you are sure to relish. Everything to everyone, that&rsquo;s how you can sum-up these manifestoes. Home to homeless, power to politicos, tax rebate to tax evading community, partners to young, food to humans, feed to animals, cloths to kids, cure to olds, power connection to houses, empowerment to housewives, love to poor and luxury to riches. The list is so long that, you will be bored if all of them are copied here. You can actually call it your own wish-list.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	No doubt, the political parties and political leaders are doing the right thing. The private sector of Nepal had long complained that the political leadership has ignored the economic and developmental concerns of Nepal. But these manifestoes have compensated all past lacunae of these sorts. In fact, this time around, all they have done is, shown utmost concern only to the economy and prosperity of the country, nothing else.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	This is very right strategy to adopt. Because, by this, both the new constitution and the prosperity can be ensured simultaneously. It is natural for them not to worry about constitution and mention its whats and hows in their manifestoes. Every Nepali is well aware that our sovereign constitution is being written with great care, by great experts, somewhere in the world. Could be, it is done in more than one place and we lucky Nepali will have chance to chose the best instant constitution from a fairly long menu. We will get to see it when it is brought here, ready to be implemented.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Similarly, it is pointless to ask how our leaders are going to fulfill such an extraordinarily long list of promises without arranging resources and plans. Their duty is just to make the list, not to consider about the feasibility and finance of the related projects. For that, we again know, money will come from the same window where the constitution would be coming.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	My only last confusion is: whom to vote whereas all manifestoes look the same? Oh yeh! I can console saying that every party in Nepal is not different in vital issues. That is manifested!</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-11-24',
			'modified' => '2013-11-24',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Manifestation is the crux of all civilizations. There is unfailing debate throughout the human civilization about the beauty and duty about manifestations. Great wars have been fought on the mere issue of manifestation, be that Mahabharat or Anglo-Saxon.',
			'sortorder' => '1989',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
			'breaking_news' => false,
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	(int) 10 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2016',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'In Love  With The Peg',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<img alt="No Laughin Matter" src="/userfiles/images/NLM.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 451px;" />The &lsquo;peg&rsquo; must have been the second most loved word for Englishmen after &lsquo;sex&rsquo;, but for Nepalis, it (its meaning to be precise) is unquestionably the first. Whether it is expressed or muted, the presence of the peg is ubiquitous in our daily national or economic life. The moment you touch the Nepali Currency (NC), you are bound to remember that it is strictly pegged to the Indian Currency (IC). You may or may not always believe in the value of the NC, but it is this peg that gives you the confidence you need.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The recent devaluation of the Nepali currency was not an outcome of a downturn in our economy, but was the effect of the NC-IC peg that has a history of more than six decades. If your business has suffered from this devaluation, you are free to shift the peg to console yourself -- a shift from the currency peg to a whisky peg. Do not complain if more than ninety five percent of Nepali bar-tenders cannot say &lsquo;peg&rsquo; and often make do with &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. When asked, &lsquo;Sir would you like a pack?&rsquo; you must have the intelligence to understand that he is actually asking if you would like a peg of some alcohol. If you are a novice drinker, just graduated to whisky to drink in a bar from a &lsquo;pouch&rsquo; in a tavern, you may be familiar with the &lsquo;pack&rsquo; than the &lsquo;peg.&rsquo; It is just a question of civilization, not economics.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But in our economic system, unlike you, there are big bosses who are more familiar with the &lsquo;peg&rsquo; than the &lsquo;pack&rsquo;, so that they don&rsquo;t want to pack the peg at any cost. When it comes to packing-up, or stopping the NC-IC peg, they don&rsquo;t even want to hear it out. They have good reasons for maintaining this status quo until our currency faces the fate of the Zimbabwean dollar when it was in its last days of existence. In other words, the love for this peg is the simplest strategy to make the Nepali richer in no time. If the present rate of devaluation continues, we Nepalis will soon be so rich that we will be paying ten thousand rupees for a cup of tea, one hundred thousand rupees for a kilogram of rice, a million rupees for a kilogram of mutton or cheese, and so on.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you are in the business of stock price analysis or actual stock trading and brokerage and haven&rsquo;t heard of the capital &lsquo;PEG&rsquo;, or price/earnings to growth ratio, you are sure to be doomed and forced to take refuge in the smaller &lsquo;peg&rsquo; that is re-christened by Nepali barmen as &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. There are people in the financial service industry in Nepal who argue that ninety-nine percent of our stock brokers, the licensed ones, never heard of the &lsquo;PEG&rsquo;, or the &lsquo;peg&rsquo;, and is managing everything with the replacement of the &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. The result: many of them are, therefore, helping the trading of many scribs to pack-up within a few days of listing instead of using the PEG tool to analyze.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you ask our policy makers -- the finance minister, the central bank governor, or the prime minister as soon as we get one -- &lsquo;How long will the NC-IC peg continue?&rsquo; they all will have very intelligent answers for it: &lsquo;Oh! Peg. Yes, we have. Good question, I mean, not bad at all. It is important. How about having a peg together tonight? Thanks!!&rsquo;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	You may ask me how I know that their answer would be exactly like that. It is simple: every generation of our authorities for the last half century have said nothing different than this. Feel like listening to the popular number the &lsquo;Peg&rsquo; by Steely Dan? Do it in the bar, that&rsquo;s the place to admire the real beauty of the &lsquo;peg&rsquo;!&nbsp;</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-10-23',
			'modified' => '2013-10-24',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'The ‘peg’ must have been the second most loved word for Englishmen after ‘sex’, but for Nepalis, it (its meaning to be precise) is unquestionably the first. Whether it is expressed or muted, the presence of the peg is ubiquitous in our daily national or economic life. The moment you touch the Nepali Currency (NC), you are bound to remember that it is strictly pegged to the Indian Currency (IC).',
			'sortorder' => '1867',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
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			'user_id' => '0'
		)
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	(int) 11 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '1632',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'New Budget's Growth Tricks',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	Growth is what Nepal needs today. The recent budget for this fiscal year has aptly embodied this national aspiration. The very size of the budget has ballooned-up by almost forty percent compared to last year. Accordingly, the deficit gap, revenue targets, inflation estimates, government employees&#39; pay and many more have grown substantially. if you point to a few aspects like GDP growth projections and proposed capital expenditure, you must be an anti-democrat for sure. When majority of things are so rapidly growing, one should not bother about a few things that are in such declining trend.<br />
	<br />
	Besides, this budget has all ingredients to fuel growth. No sooner the budget declared that the government employees&#39; pay would be hiked by 18 percent plus straight one thousand bucks, the market has reenergized instantly.From vegetable venders to taxi drivers, grocers to airline operators, everybody has concrete plans to increase the prices, even before the salary-earners pocket their first added pay. The magic of this budget is: twenty percent increase in pay has the power to increase the price by at least forty percent.</p>
<p>
	As an axiom, the rise in prices is indeed the sign of growth and development. Look at the most expensive cities in the world, Tokyo, London, Moscow, Shanghai or Mumbai. They are developed because they are most expensive. Now Kathmandu can be a new candidate in that category, thus a developed city.<br />
	<br />
	We have some extra qualities to ensure growth and development, by using unique model of &#39;growth by price rise&#39;. No mechanism exists to control price and goods and service providers of all kinds have a free hand to fix their price and enforce cartels. Taxi drivers often bring the city to stand-still within hours if any regulators questions about their tampered fare meter and private water suppliers can stop the supply if authorities try to question about the potability of it. The only party that has to backdown invariably is the government. There are thousands of such examples which ensure prices in our country would only rise, and rise regardless of anything. This means, in other words, our growth and development is guaranteed.<br />
	<br />
	Just the talk of elections would provide an additional impetus to growth. Political parties will actively engage themselves in &#39;donation&#39; collection, while the businessmen and industrialists &#39;voluntarily&#39; set aside a big sum for the cause. That means they need to earn more by every possible means of black-marketing to hoarding. This the time the country sees a true business-friendly climate, when no business person is penalized or admonished for making arrangements of extra earnings.<br />
	<br />
	Elections have all other economic advantages. Donors come with offers of assistance in many forms -- cash, kinds, experts, observers, clergies and copies of bibles. Business activities in all sectors multiply, transports,hotels, goons, contract killers and armed robbers -- virtually everybody and everything will be hired by politicians and political parties to win the elections. Unemployment problem will be solved at once. That is the reason Nepal has taken up the technique of very often announcing the dates for elections but never actually holding them. From this experience, we can foretell that the proposed November elections will also be postponed for next April, so that Nepali economy can get double boost from the same elections fever.<br />
	<br />
	In any case, if we were to develop and grow, we must stop thinking about aspects of decrease, decline or fall..Those In any case, if we were to develop and grow, we must stop thinking about aspects of decrease, decline or fall. Those who don&#39;t believe in incremental thinking, they must be socially boycotted. Therefore, along with the salary of the government employees, the rate of grease money must be increased. Business people, transport operators and contractors must increase their costs. Government must increase the taxes; business community then increases the tax evasion. No matter whatever is increased, it is growth. That is the reason our finance minister is so sure, his budget will only develop the country. You just don&#39;t worry, which direction it grows, however.<br />
	&nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-08-18',
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			'description' => 'Growth is what Nepal needs today. The recent budget for this fiscal year has aptly embodied this national aspiration. The very size of the budget has ballooned-up by almost forty percent compared to last year. Accordingly, the deficit gap, revenue targets, inflation estimates, government employees' pay and many more have grown substantially. if you point to a few aspects like GDP growth projections and proposed capital expenditure, you must be an anti-democrat for sure.',
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	(int) 12 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '1057',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Development Riddle Solved',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p>
	<br />
	<img alt="development riddle" src="/userfiles/images/1371635301.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 378px;" /><br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Everyone in Nepal is equally concerned about and committed to the development of this &ldquo;rich-mines, poor-minds&rdquo; country. But, what puzzles everyone is the fact that Nepal has, so far, truly lagged far behind in development despite so much effort and foreign aid.</p>
<p>
	But not anymore will we have these qualms since the riddle of this big WHY has now been solved. Nepal can now embark on a development track with rocket speed, absolutely different from the frog jump pattern proposed by former PM Dr Baburam Yami Bhattarai.</p>
<p>
	We had had such difficulty in developing the country mainly because the lost key of development lied elsewhere - somewhere outside the country. Thank God! This mystery has been resolved now after the appointment of Lokman Karki as the CIAA chief. Every Nepali by now understands that the key to our development lies in the hands of foreign countries, maybe our neighbours or the superpowers. Or, possibly, there could be many keys with many &lsquo;partners&rsquo; that we got to find out and bring them back.</p>
<p>
	It is this realisation that is pushing every Nepali regardless of age, gender, origin, religion or profession to foreign lands. Recently, Nepal&rsquo;s quintessential leader Comrade Prachanda visited both our northern and southern neighbours in quick succession, last month. He not only talked about Nepal&rsquo;s development, but also proposed a new vision of &lsquo;triangular model&rsquo; involving China, India and Nepal. His wisdom did highly impress the leaders of both sides, akin to his claims. The likelihood is that he might be hired as a consultant by the planners of these countries to generate such great angular visions which they could never think of so far. In the power corridors of New Delhi, he was even asked if his triangle could be made a quadrangle by adding a &lsquo;people&rsquo;s war dimension to it&rsquo; so that it could be copyrighted as the new Prachandapath model of development!</p>
<p>
	Not only Prachanda, but also his party rank and file believes that the key to Nepal&rsquo;s development is indeed in the hands of foreigners. His deputy, Dr Bhattarai, in a recent trip to Australia made it clear that the people who live in Nepal are unable to develop it, so those who have left Nepal and become foreigners should develop it.</p>
<p>
	See the impact of foreign trips! These leaders who believed in putting schools on fire, bombing suspension bridges in remote hinterland, felling telephone and electricity polls and destroying public property have suddenly started talking about development. If you still don&rsquo;t believe that the key to Nepal&rsquo;s development lies in foreign hands, consider the following examples as well.</p>
<p>
	Not only politicians, but also most civil servants are dying to grab any possible opportunity for a foreign trip. Because they realize that their years of experience in service has failed to teach them how to develop the country and, therefore, seek the compensation for it a foreign trip. &nbsp;Therefore, senior officers prefer to participate in foreign trainings, workshops or seminars where nominations are actually sought from junior positions. Simply, the more senior people who participate, the more cakes of development they would bring back.</p>
<p>
	Such love for Nepal&rsquo;s development is not limited to politicians and civil servants. You can simply say that anyone very keen to go abroad is a true lover of Nepal&rsquo;s development. Every Nepali student believes that s/he cannot develop this nation by studying here. That&rsquo;s why visa applications are filed as soon as the completion &nbsp;of +2 education. Those who fail to leave the country are even more patriotic. They do not miss even a single opportunity to protest against any anti-development move of the government. And they make sure that they destroy some amount of existing public property so that it could be replaced by a new one.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	The members of the general public who are smart enough want to leave the country at any cost. They too realize the fact that no development is possible within the country. Manpower agencies, planners and development experts, all by now agree that the country will not develop from within, so we must bring everything from other countries. Everything means everything- a constitution, directives for the government dictating who should be appointed where and what model of development should be followed. With this, one can be pretty sure of the faster development we have missed thus far.</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-06-06',
			'modified' => '2013-10-21',
			'keywords' => 'No laughing matter, new business age, Madan Lamsal, Development Riddle Solved',
			'description' => 'Everyone in Nepal is equally concerned about and committed to the development of this “rich-mines, poor-minds” country. But, what puzzles everyone is the fact that Nepal has, so far, truly lagged far behind in development despite so much effort and foreign aid.',
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	(int) 13 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '977',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Size Zero Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p>
	Size zero is the contemporary fad. Your potbelly wife, struggling models, overage heroines, all want to be zero-sized. Because you crave for that and with your wish granted the Nepali economy has now come to a real good shape of zero, and anyone surviving in it can only be skinny. You know the reason.</p>
<p>
	The economic meaning of zero could be something different than the blissful imaginative hollow universe of a meditating sage. It is either recession or depression. Nepal has simplified the definition of these terms too: recession is when the builder of a housing company shifts to an apartment in his own project site and, it is depression when he is shifted to a free-to-live public apartment called jail.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	The definition could be as many as the number of economists. That means you are free to have your own tailor-made definition of it. Many have it already. Our central bank governor says, an economy with zero growth rate &nbsp;and 10 percent inflation is still not in recession, and the finance minister doesn&rsquo;t have a say since he already has zero economic sense -- recession, depression, possession, obsession but commission are all the same for him. So why can&rsquo;t you have your own take on recession or depression and its shape and size.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	You may take some variables into account: once regarded successful business heroes have turned zeros, call it their size of the firm now. It is old news that CEOs of many banks are looking for alternative professions. Some have refused to take a paid forced leave fearing that someone might just play a prank with some zeros in their absence. This is the confidence indicator of our banking industry. Since, this leave is a compulsory one and he had but no alternative to take, some dedicated CEOs are seen loitering around bank&rsquo;s headquarters premises despite officially being &nbsp;on leave, enjoying their favorite chocolate bar called &nbsp;&lsquo;credit crunchy&rsquo;. What would you say to the new trend that CEOs of banks themselves are working as chief of the marketing department? It is a trend reversal and also a cost-saving measure.</p>
<p>
	Not only banks, academic institutions that promised jobs to their MBAs, in the once lucrative but now leery sector called banking now taste a pinch of salt. Some new MBAs are asking their school to return their money as they are ultimately landing on a zero chance job zone. Many other ambitious MBAs are trying for jobs in the sectors they had never imagined &nbsp;working &nbsp;in.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;Good old days have returned. Dishonored cheques have become a normal phenomenon and nobody bothers why it got returned. The recipient never asks the bank whether the fund was insufficient in the account of the person who issued the cheque or in the coffers of the bank itself. The account holders don&rsquo;t have enough guts to send an enquiry note to the bank about the issue. These are good signs. &nbsp;No one is hostile to anyone else. Everyone knows we are revolving around a big zero and will continue to do so until this zero of &nbsp;an economy &nbsp;actually becomes a black hole or the Bermuda Triangle.</p>
<p>
	The signals in television channels are less wired and more weird. Don&rsquo;t blame it &nbsp;on load shedding. We will not have electricity pretty soon, when we are about to reach to a point of zero supply, thus no need of it. Call it a zero-gain bid that channels are showing the same program at least four times a week if not a day. They are selling &nbsp;commercial packages with schemes like buy one and get five free.</p>
<p>
	As the economy slims down to play &nbsp;the heroine of a big movie called &lsquo;New Nepal&rsquo;, many heroes are trending-up themselves. You must have seen the newspapers pictures of Min B Gurung rehearsing the act of shopping at his own Bhatbhateni stores, carrying a jute bag. Business tycoons like Golchhas and Jyotis are pictured practicing racing bikes, leaving luxury cars. Television clips show that leaders of proletarian parties are often in the public wearing Harrods suits and designed dresses. Looks like though finally we all are ready for &nbsp;a movie with Shakespearian tragedy, &nbsp;when this has a box-office success, Nepal will surely prosper.</p>',
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			'created' => '2013-05-18',
			'modified' => '2013-10-21',
			'keywords' => 'No Laughing Matter, Size Zero Economy',
			'description' => 'Size zero is the contemporary fad. Your potbelly wife, struggling models, overage heroines, all want to be zero-sized. Because you crave for that and with your wish granted the Nepali economy has now come to a real good shape of zero, and anyone surviving in it can only be skinny. You know the reason.',
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			'id' => '935',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Rise Of Generation-J Who After CJ? DJ, RJ Or VJ?',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Nepal has entered in the new era after CJ (Chief Justice) is made the head of government. Some people may not be very happy with this. However, many especially DJ (Disc Jockeys), RJ (Radio Jockeys), VJ (Video Jockeys) are very happy as they think that after CJ the role to head of the government may fall on the shoulders of DJ, RJ or VJs. &nbsp;Even the BJ (Bureau of Justices) and YJ (Young Justices) are happy besides MJ (The fans of Michael Jackson and MJ Akbar), OJs (Orange Juice Lovers) etc. So much so that even the Court Jesters who earned their living by entertaining the king during the period monarchy are happy that even the shortened version of their profession is CJ!&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	These different &lsquo;J&rsquo;s are very happy as they have now at least a hope that one fine day all of a sudden they might be requested to lead the government after CJ steps aside. Therefore, many of the DJs, RJs, and VJs had even thrown parties after the CJ was made the Chairman of the election government.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Chairman is a very prestigious position anyway. In every company and even in the private sector associations businessmen and traders fight for chairmanship. &nbsp;The chairmanship is popular also in the Panchayati era of the past. For example, former kings, Mahendra, Birendra and even Gyanendra were chairmen of the government during their rule &ndash; though sometimes they were only de jure chairmen. They all were very popular in the beginning of their respective rules. It is a different fact that soon they became unpopular. &nbsp;However, this popularity and unpopularity are subjective and relative terms. Now Gyanendra is becoming more popular day by day. Birendra too was popular towards the end of his reign as a constitutional monarch.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Anyway the most important thing is that from DJ to YJ, everyone is happy as CJ is made the Chairman. The &lsquo;J&rsquo;s are so happy that now they have started to change the designation of all the employees in their companies creating synergy with CJ or YJ. For example, many bar and discotheques have now new positions like CJ (Chief Joker), DJ (Dangerous Joe or Don Jockey), VJ (Vigilante Jockey), RJ (Runche or Runcie Joker), MJ (Maharaj Ji), NJ (Natwarlal Ji), etc.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Now the Nepali political parties should also learn to create new positions for their leaders and cadres. Otherwise they will be more unpopular in the days to come and they will have to abandon their power and remain as the spectators they have become these days. Here you can recall how the four party leaders who even in meetings always sat facing six different directions and spoke in 180 degree opposite terms of one other unanimously handed over the power to the CJ. It seems that the position called CJ is attractive not only for the general people and leaders of Nepal but also among the Europeans, American as well as the edgy neighbours.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Therefore, the political parties are suggested to give new names to the present positions of the leaders. For example, party chairman, general secretary and spokesperson should now have designations changed to something that rhymes with CJ, DJ, RJ, VJ, YJ etc. Otherwise the real DJ, RJ or VJ will start ruling the roost.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Name change in the political party leadership positions is now urgent also because the efforts of the political leaders in the past to attract people and foreign countries to them were all in vain. For example, they acted long like clowns by staging such farce and skits as meetings for political consensus, election for Prime Minister&rsquo;s post for some eighteen times etc. Perhaps the reason for the failure of those efforts was that they all played the role of clowns and there was no single hero.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Anyway, the CJ is now the CEO of the country and his stated objective is to hold elections. But some people also say that his actual job is to fold the democratic process. Many existing democracies that want to fold such system up have already started efforts to emulate the Nepali way of selecting the CEO. After all, why waste so much money in holding elections. Why not have a system in which the CEO position automatically goes to one who is the CJ for some months. Let the would-be CEOs struggle it out through the judicial system hierarchy starting from the district court!&nbsp;</p>',
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			'description' => 'Nepal has entered in the new era after CJ (Chief Justice) is made the head of government. Some people may not be very happy with this. However, many especially DJ (Disc Jockeys), RJ (Radio Jockeys), VJ (Video Jockeys) are very happy as they think that after CJ the role to head of the government may fall on the shoulders of DJ, RJ or VJs.',
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			'id' => '2811',
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			'title' => 'Zoo Model Of Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Despite the efforts of seven decades to catch the bus of development, Nepal has not been able to do so. What may be the reasons? Before 1951, Nepal&rsquo;s economy stood on a single leg only. As a result, the country&rsquo;s development would limp on the Chandra Shumsher-path or Tribhuvan-path as and when the Palace so wished. Otherwise, it would stand still. A decade later, the economy acquired another leg to become two-legged and development started treading the Mahendra-path. The two-legged economy was named mixed economy wherein the public and private sectors were supposed to work as partners of development.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It was the time when a number of European, Russian, American, Chinese and Indian bipeds were brought in for the sake of Nepal&rsquo;s development. However, the country&rsquo;s development wagon could not gather the desired pace. Rather, Nepali revolutionaries got a chance to learn and copy the Russian and Chinese ways of doing things. The effects of this learning are evident even today.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	After the political change of 1990, attempts were made to amputate the older leg of the two-legged economy arguing that the private sector would lead the economy from now onwards. The economy got another name &ndash; free market economy. But in essence, the economy started following the path shown by a handful of people from the private sector. The economy was free to few privileged people only.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, another revolution took place in 2006 and the resultant government vowed to make the economy three-legged - the third leg being the cooperatives. The performance of this three-legged economic model, too, hasn&rsquo;t been satisfactory. But the new third leg or cooperatives has proved very beneficial for one of the political parties and is working as one of its own legs. However the economy is still limping. These experiments with one-legged, two-legged and three-legged economy have convinced this scribe that the country needs a four-legged economy for the development process to gallop. The simple reason is a four-legged thing is always stronger than one-, two- or three-legged ones. Examples abound &ndash; tables, chairs or quadrupeds like oxen, tigers or elephants.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	In fact, it is evident everywhere that quadrupeds standing on their two legs are running this country. In doing so they burn taxies and motorbikes, demolish houses and buildings and take the entire country a hostage whenever they like to do so. They seem to be hell-bent on torching petrol and diesel vehicles in order to reduce noise pollution in the cities! Going for a four-legged economy is vital also for clearing the confusion created by the mixture of these two- and four-legged creatures. In the past, there were three organs of the state &ndash; executive, legislative and judiciary. Later, somebody suggested adding a fourth organ &ndash; the media. And all the media industry became so happy. But what would be the fourth leg of the economy? The question is natural as well as tricky. You may argue that a four-legged economy sounds too animal-like, not human. However, I don&rsquo;t think we should worry about that. In fact, I say we should have the economy like that &ndash; animal like.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	To prove my point let me draw your attention to &lsquo;the animal spirit&rsquo; that renowned British economist John Maynard Keynes had mentioned way back in the 1930s as the major motivator to the entrepreneurs to work with enthusiasm. By extrapolation, this means we need the economy to be as agile and strong as animals. All of us have seen how the western countries have developed after Keynes made that remark.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, it is very much necessary to have an animal spirit in the economy and that naturally demands the economy to be a four-legged one. And it is a humble proposal of this scribe that the NGOs and INGOs that claim to be dedicated for the country&rsquo;s development should be made the fourth leg of the economy! Afterall the INGOs are already running the show in Nepal. It is said that they have also already drafted the new constitution that now needs just endorsement of the Constituent Assembly.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Or, alternatively, shall the remittance sector be made the fourth leg of the economy? But does remittance really stand a chance in front of the mighty INGOs?</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Whatever! The main thing is we should give the country a four-legged economy and push the development process forward on Prachanda-path, Baidya-path or other similar paths. After all, the way of thinking and activities of many Nepali citizens, businessmen, and especially politicians, resemble those of the quadrupeds! &nbsp; Moreover, the economy is in danger of turning into a zoo. If it happens and when one visits the monkey section of the economic zoo she/he may start laughing at seeing their behaviours. Therefore, we should adopt the four legged economic policy or you may call it a &#39;zoo model of economy&#39; before it&rsquo;s too late.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2015-06-01',
			'modified' => '2015-07-31',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Despite the efforts of seven decades to catch the bus of development, Nepal has not been able to do so. What may be the reasons? Before 1951, Nepal’s economy stood on a single leg only. As a result, the country’s development would limp on the Chandra Shumsher-path or Tribhuvan-path as and when the Palace so wished. Otherwise, it would stand still.',
			'sortorder' => '2662',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 1 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2802',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Fundamental Right To Corruption',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<div>
		It is a common understanding in Nepal that everyone in the country is corrupt. Be that bureaucrat or businessman, politician or physician, lawyer or lawmaker, academician or architect, judge or journalist, or any profession or person you name it, is corrupt on prima-facie. The onus of proving otherwise entirely lies on you, should you choose to do so. If you point to someone claiming that he may not be a corrupt, every eyebrow is raised and instant conclusion would be: that could not have happened by integrity but due to sheer lack of opportunity. In every sense, corruption is our national character, thus a national identity.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Nepal has made several efforts to curb corruption and bribery. It has enacted several laws, instituted constitutional bodies like CIAA and invited international NGOs like Transparency International. But the corrupt practices could hardly be reduced. Instead, the investors and businessmen complain that measures like anti-money laundering has caused massive capital flight and investment is shying away due to provisions like declaration of source of income. Therefore, these hurdles have become serious bottlenecks on economic growth and prosperity of the country.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Human civilization has taken many bold decisions to streamline very difficult trades and behaviour. Everybody would agree that prostitution is not a good thing. But secretly everybody would like to extract the pleasure bestowed by this profession. Nobody feels same sex marriages are natural. But many countries have legalized both the sex trade and same sex marriages. There is no reason why corruption should be treated in a different way than the prostitution. Besides, it has many similar characteristics. You are honest until you are caught in the act and everybody enjoys the more of it, clandestinely.&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		For Nepal, it is an opportune moment to do this bold thing as we are writing a new constitution. We have the opportunity not only to legalize but also to constitutionalize both corruption and bribery. My recommendation is that let&rsquo;s make the right to corruption as part of the fundamental rights in the new constitution.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The benefits would be immense. Nepal truly will be as Switzerland as it used to be some decades ago: a true haven for all ill-gotten money of the world. All the money that is now concealed under pillows of the corrupts will be taken out. Money sent abroad will be brought back and there will be open rates of commission in government offices for providing services or approving tenders for public procurement. Just to repeat, since everybody is already charged of this lucre, what&#39;s the harm on just lifting the curtain from it?</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The FDI would flood in and Nepal will enter into an unprecedented phase of growth and development. Country&#39;s administrative cost will drastically reduce, as we no longer need the institutions like CIAA, Vigilance Centre, Anti-Money Laundering Department and Special Court. The load of cases in the courts of law will be far less and policemen can directly ask money from the public for nothing without going through the trouble of creating one or another pretext. So much so, constitutionalizing corruption would also help make entire Nepal instantly educated since if corruption and bribery are legalized even an illiterate can buy a BA or an MA passed certificates at one&#39;s will.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		This will make our bureaucracy more contended and happy. Government official will not scramble to get their posting to customs points and tax offices when every office will have freedom to collect as much bribe as possible. Politicians in the district who are swallowing entire development budget in collusion with different experts will be relieved of responsibility of creating stacks of fake papers.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		As the country now reels under uncertainty in absence of a powerful binding agenda for consensus, the proposal to insert the corruption and bribery as the fundamental right in the constitution could be one such issue that can bring all politicians together. We know everybody loves money and whenever there is question of monetary benefit, there were seldom any discord among them.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Our lawmakers should seriously consider incorporating this provision in the new constitution. I am sure, all six hundred and one members of the Constituent Assembly will vote for it. This will be the dawn of new era on absolute national consensus.</div>
</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-11-21',
			'modified' => '2015-06-01',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'It is a common understanding in Nepal that everyone in the country is corrupt. Be that bureaucrat or businessman, politician or physician, lawyer or lawmaker, academician or architect, judge or journalist, or any profession or person you name it, is corrupt on prima-facie. The onus of proving otherwise entirely lies on you, should you choose to do so. If you point to someone claiming that he may not be a corrupt, every eyebrow is raised and instant conclusion would be: that could not have happened by integrity but due to sheer lack of opportunity. In every sense, corruption is our national character, thus a national identity.',
			'sortorder' => '2658',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
			'in_scroller' => false,
			'user_id' => '0'
		)
	),
	(int) 2 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2808',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Rule Of Dogs',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	I &nbsp;have no intention of passing any derogatory remark on this faithful, trustworthy, friendly and beautiful animal called dog. With due apology to it, allow me to uncover some of present day Nepal&#39;s great eco-political mysteries with the help of this metaphor. You may have noticed, one of the greatest secrets of Nepal&#39;s perennial perils has just been revealed: it was because this country for so long was ruled by dogs. Watchdogs, barking dogs, biting dogs, wagging dogs, walking dogs, stray dogs, guarding dogs and running dogs. (Readers are welcome to add some or many more to this list depending on their own observations). How can you expect our human development indices to go up where everything is &#39;of the dogs, by the dogs and for the dogs?&#39;&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Our parliament has a big bunch of vigilante dogs who keep good watch on some of hydropower projects of their interest. Many members of parliament are the &#39;jhola ma khola&#39; agents. Therefore, if anybody sniffs in their project they bark back loudly as a dutiful guarding dog. These honourable members of this genre of canine community were quick to warn the CIAA chief Lokman Karki just not to cross the limits of a watchdog. &nbsp;Karki, who is the size of a Tibetan Mastiff declared himself just as a &lsquo;barking dog&rsquo;, thus would not accept the label of a &lsquo;biting dog&rsquo;.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Questions have been raised about the hunting abilities and choice of prey by this barking dog. People outside the political circle allege that he is running behind the small fries leaving big sharks unscathed. &nbsp;The wagging dogs who are often seen at the gates of big political leaders, heave a sigh of relief that Karki&#39;s canine teeth were blunted at the very moment of appointment, rendering him truly a mere barking dog, only capable to chase away the stray dogs in the bureaucracy, leaving alone big hounds. Karki can bark really very loudly as seen recently during the acrimonious dogfight between several parliamentary committees and the CIAA. Parliamentarians like Gagan Thapa who considers himself as a very skilled barker, anywhere everywhere, has been silenced by the just snarls of Karki.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But, crucial question here is, why these wagging dogs are having problem with this barking dog? They should instead bark at their bosses who appointed him with an unprecedented consensus in the history of Nepal. Karki&#39;s appointment as the CIAA chief had taken onboard every possible power centre that is otherwise guarded by Polar Alsatians, German Mastiffs, Chinese Chow Chow and Indian Rajapalayams, among others. So, Karki&#39;s metamorphosis was obvious from a mere barking to a biting dog, given he finds some feebler flocks.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	And Karki has every reason to bark on these new bunch of stray dogs who dared to protest against the erection of his father&#39;s statue at Duhabi thoroughfare, which ultimately had to be demolished and a part of the ruin still pierces his heart. He knows this new barking license for him has come at a very dear financial cost and a very high degree of coalesces between red communists and pink ex-Panchas. For all these reasons, he is not deterred by any amount of barking by these new breed of dogs. Moreover, these naive and novas do not recognize the supernatural sniffing ability of Karki. That is exactly the reason he chose to avoid the successive summons by the parliamentary committees. He has the ability to tame these raucous packs by using supersensitive remote controls.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It is also not surprising that Karki has chosen to scare some of the hydropower promoting jackals. He knows they are fleshy and if caught, the feast would be more than plentiful. This is what the bone of contention is. The stray dogs sense that this flesh may be taken away from them by this gradually becoming English Hunter from a Tibetan barking dog.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-12-23',
			'modified' => '2015-06-01',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'I  have no intention of passing any derogatory remark on this faithful, trustworthy, friendly and beautiful animal called dog. With due apology to it, allow me to uncover some of present day Nepal's great eco-political mysteries with the help of this metaphor. You may have noticed, one of the greatest secrets of Nepal's perennial perils has just been revealed: it was because this country for so long was ruled by dogs. Watchdogs, barking dogs, biting dogs, wagging dogs, walking dogs, stray dogs, guarding dogs and running dogs. (Readers are welcome to add some or many more to this list depending on their own observations). How can you expect our human development indices to go up where everything is 'of the dogs, by the dogs and for the dogs?'',
			'sortorder' => '2653',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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			'breaking_news' => false,
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			'user_id' => '0'
		)
	),
	(int) 3 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2797',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Sexy Settings',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	What is most popular these days in Nepal? You may say, it is betting or netting and dating. You may be right to some extent, but I say the most practiced thing is the setting. Let&rsquo;s look it into more details.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Yes, betting is quite popular in Nepal&rsquo;s share market. Till recent past, the Nepali casinos were ahead in betting than the share market. But as the setting in the casinos became a bit weak, share market was ahead in the betting game. The retail investors in Nepal&rsquo;s share market buy or sell the stocks going by the grapevine than reading the balance sheets of the companies. This can be called betting. Therefore, when Dr Baburam Bhattarai became the Finance Minister, he had termed Nepal&rsquo;s share market as a casino where betting is the mainstay. And he was not wrong. However, even the betting in share market will not yield returns if the setting is not right.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Again, it is true that dating after netting, such as checking facebook, is quite popular and it is personal and a most favoured pastime of most Nepalis - be a youth or a senior citizen. They seem to spend most of their productive three to four hours of their day or night in netting and dating. If they don&rsquo;t spend few hours in netting, they feel they have missed a lot in their lives. Therefore, their eyes may be in one of the social sites. But again setting plays more dominant role also here. Netting and dating are not successful if the setting of the dating is not right. &nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	To be successful in Nepal in any field, especially in business and politics, you must know the art of setting. Otherwise you will fail. There is a special class in Nepali society which has become super rich just by the art of setting rather than by making a huge investment or knowledge of business. Therefore, setting is a new management mantra in Nepal. In fact, the management colleges should start teaching the art of setting to their students so that they are successful in their future profession as well as everyday life.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nowadays, there are many news reports in the Nepali media that people, especially government officers, are caught or interrogated by the anti-corruption body, the CIAA. But the fact is that they were caught or interrogated just because they did not know the art of setting. Many who commit bigger wrongs are never caught because they know the art of setting.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you look at it minutely, it is an open secret that nothing moves in Nepal if one doesn&rsquo;t have proper setting in government offices or in the court, or in the company registrar&rsquo;s office or the customs offices. Be it for receiving a license or getting a job transfer or promotion in the bureaucracy, the role of setting is paramount. So, more than the educational certificates or anything else, setting is the most important factor. If you don&rsquo;t know this art, you may have to lose your job or your business also.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nobody seems to have peeped deep to see why the constitution could not be made in the first Constituent Assembly. It was just because the setting among the top gang-of-four leaders of three parties could not happen. Even now, however hard the people or CA members harp on the new constitution string, if the setting among this gang-of-four is not proper, it will not happen again. This gang calls it &lsquo;consensus&rsquo;, but it is nothing but another word for setting.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Therefore, this &lsquo;setting&rsquo; is not only omnipresent and omnipotent, but also cool and sexy. Don&rsquo;t you agree?</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-10-10',
			'modified' => '2014-12-23',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'What is most popular these days in Nepal? You may say, it is betting or netting and dating. You may be right to some extent, but I say the most practiced thing is the setting. Let’s look it into more details.',
			'sortorder' => '2647',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 4 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2782',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'The Frog Country',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If I propose to make frog the national animal of new Nepal, I am sure, you will happily agree and also congratulate me for this brilliant idea. Nepal&rsquo;s every bit of life has been touched by the benevolent frog and its various qualities. One of our revolutionary finance minister a few year ago declared that Nepal&rsquo;s economy should now grow not in a reptiles&rsquo; dragging but in leap-frogging pace. Leap-frogging indeed is a right simile for Nepal. No Nepali believes in being rich taking a long route walk. Inspired by the frog, everybody wants to leap- frog from penury to instant prosperity. We never get tired of emphasizing that Nepal is an agrarian economy. The plantation season begins with the beacons of twaar-twaar-twaar of the frogs in the banks of the river and main fields. For many, frogs provide for a barbequed lunch or snack at the middle of the hard day&rsquo;s work in the field.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you think of less relevance of iconic frog in the civilized life, you are wrong. The fortunate ones who have got employment must have fine qualities of a frog -- to jump a queue, to jump enter into influential leader&rsquo;s living rooms jumping off the high fences and learn to find some excuses to jump across the process of meritocracy.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you happen to meet a frog-mouthed personality in the busy city, you can be sure that he must be a high-ranking official in bureaucracy, bank or NGO. If not, he must be a seasoned politician whose skin is gradually transforming into that of rhino from that of a frog. These are the key people for the very existence and functionality of the country.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	You might ask, how would you recognize these frog-mouthed ones in crowded cities? It is pretty simple. Bring along a dead frog with you and begin to compare the looks of people with it. Protruding eyes, lumped eyelids as the result of over drinking, large potbellies, twisted legs and habit of jumping the queues anywhere possible, be that temple or service station. The growth rate of the country may be low, but these frog-mouthed talents can make it sound great with their hoarse voice. The bank CEOs can ensure great profits regardless of the fact that only twenty percent people have access to the banking services. (How much profit will they earn if every citizen has a bank account in the country?)</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you meet a proper frog-mouthed politician, he must be a youth leader of the party as he is aged just 65 years or so. &nbsp;You can argue that frog mouthed ones are spared by nature from entering into the old age.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are other great qualities of the frog we have emulated. The best among them is to live life free of all worries in any degree of precariousness. You must have seen a frog that is being swallowed by a snake that still wants to catch a spider, not being concerned that it will die in next few seconds. The country has long hours of load-shedding, we Nepalis don&rsquo;t worry. There is no sign of new constitution being written, we rather worry about American visa. We don&rsquo;t have enough supply of petrol, but it doesn&rsquo;t stop us from buying a car. We prefer big LED to mount on our living room wall, without counting hours we actually have power supply.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Also, you have heard the fable of Nepali frogs exported to the USA in an open basket and all of them reached intact, not even a single one jumping out from the basket as each of them had learnt the leg-pulling skills from our politicians. It is no wonder, our politicians and decision makers also have learnt many skills from the frogs, as mentioned above. Since, Nepalis and frogs have developed such a cordial bond, only suitable thing is to call Nepal a frog country and declare frog as the national animal.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-06-08',
			'modified' => '2014-09-08',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'If I propose to make frog the national animal of new Nepal, I am sure, you will happily agree and also congratulate me for this brilliant idea. Nepal’s every bit of life has been touched by the benevolent frog and its various qualities. One of our revolutionary finance minister a few year ago declared that Nepal’s economy should now grow not in a reptiles’ dragging but in leap-frogging pace.',
			'sortorder' => '2633',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
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	(int) 5 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2777',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Lords Of Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are bunch of worried people who constantly think that Nepali economy is sinking, rather sooner. This indeed is absolutely unnecessary concern. Because, first, Nepali economy is not a ship as we happen to be a land-locked country. Second, even if it were a ship we have had not a herd but a fleet of captains to save or rescue it from capsizing; present in every bit of history in different guise, which I shall elaborate further. And, if none of them happened to be at the deck, there will be our own ever-present Pashupatinath to steer clear the whole Nepal out of the danger zone, let alone economy. At least, that is what we Nepalis have believed for generations and still have the largest faith on the Lord at the banks of Bagmati than the banks owned by the lords &ndash; feudal-lords, warlords or landlords.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Our business community understands at which point of time, who can save the Nepali economy best from absolute melt down. In other countries, the business leaders and related organizations first take responsibility of captaining the ship of economy and look for support on whatever is not adequate in them. Our case is just opposite. Nepali brand of business leaders keep on changing the captain, express confidence on a particular one and shift to new one according to changing tide of time.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	When democracy was reinstated in 1990 and the Nepali Congress government adopted the &#39;free market&#39; economic policy, everybody thought that free market means freedom to do anything one can imagine&ndash; hoarding, black marketing, tax evasion, carteling and forged invoicing. Even in the political circles, impact of free market was so huge that the system produced billionaire overnight. Not only likes of Khum Bahadur and Chiranjivi Wagle who turned out to be the most unfortunate among the lot, so to be behind the bars, others who are moving freely are no different in amassing assets as the gift of free market, read freedom to corruption. Look at bulging bank accounts of incumbent ministers under a beggar prime minister. So, in all those years, GP Koirala was assigned captaincy to save economic ship, which he did. You can test its calibre by looking the total amount saved by his daughter Sujata during these two decades.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Then came the Sher Bahadur, Madhav Nepal and so on as new captains and our business community unfailingly expressed confidence in their captaincy. They did save the economy. Whether the economy of their own or that of the nation is irrelevant here. The point here is: there should be an economy and it had to be saved. That was done, without fail.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	That followed the direct rule of King Gyanendra. The queue of business people to bow to him, as the newfound captain was always longer than any wide-angle zoom of television/movie camera could capture in a single shot. He did save our economy. He is still the one single person in Nepal who has got the largest amount of saved assets in the country, or, may be outside too. He indeed made our business people most jubilant when he picked-up a former FNCCI president to help him in this &#39;save economy&#39; mission. &nbsp;One of the techniques in saving is not to let it decay or decompose by letting it remain cool. So this entrepreneur was asked by the King to launch an ice-cream factory. A brilliant idea of saving the economy.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The ability of the Maoist brigade of captains can make an epic. They in fact manned the economic ship in multiple ways. They had multiple captains who wanted to steer the economy in different directions. So it was first saved from moving into any direction. When the ship was not at all leaving the dock, it automatically got saved from sinking. Secondly, they had all fist-raising comrades with red band on their heads. Whoever else thought of moving this ship called economy, they used all tactics possible -thrashing, chasing, extorting and even killing if required. They were practically the real saviours.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	At present, all these forces are together, represented in the Constituent Assembly. Some great captains are with their entire family &ndash; spouse, son, cousin or in-laws. So, there is no question Nepali economy will ever sink. That is the reason even our newly elected FNCCI executives have more faith in political lords than on those who elected them.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-05-07',
			'modified' => '2014-07-30',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'There are bunch of worried people who constantly think that Nepali economy is sinking, rather sooner. This indeed is absolutely unnecessary concern. Because, first, Nepali economy is not a ship as we happen to be a land-locked country.',
			'sortorder' => '2628',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
			'homepage' => false,
			'breaking_news' => false,
			'main_news' => false,
			'in_scroller' => false,
			'user_id' => '0'
		)
	),
	(int) 6 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2636',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Electric Thoughts',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<div>
		<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		<img alt="No Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy)(1).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 369px;" />Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		There is no reason that lack of electricity supply should stop you to feel proud and productive if you can think in the speed of electric current itself; like the bosses in NEA do. The other week they organized a press meet to make their scoop achievement public: &lsquo;there will be no more than eighty hours of load-shedding per week. We are working all day to make sure that it doesn&rsquo;t increase even during the on-setting dry season.&rsquo;</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		In fact, there was no need of organizing such a press meet as every Nepali by now has accepted the fact that we cannot live without load-shedding. It has become such an undeniable part of our lives that we are now all prepared to make it our heritage. One more along the line of Mt Everest, Lumbini or Durbar Square. The biggest advantage of this is: whole country can become a world heritage site, as load-shedding is not limited to a small area, like cities of archaeological or natural significance.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		The load-shedding can contribute in a great way to the economic prosperity of the nation. The recent growth stories of our neighbours India and China has been attributed to the outcome of demographic dividend, meaning that since they have more people the growth is faster. Our load-shedding can contribute greatly to baby-boom. As there is no light for long hours right since the evening, couples can be more productive.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Recently, there were news reports that some energy-intensive factories like sugar mills got closed due to load-shedding. That is in fact very good news. Low production of sugar will reduce the chances of diabetes in the populace and they don&rsquo;t have to worry about the doctors who prefer to go for strikes than to serve the patients.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		You must have heard about electric shocks, electric jolts or electric drinks, meaning our famed bijulipaani. But I have introduced here a very new concept of electric thought. It flows like the electricity itself and once guided to certain direction, it hardly changes the direction or comes back. New NEA executive director recently enlightened us by revealing that load-shedding is caused not only because less amount of electricity was produced but also due to lack of transmission lines to transport the produce. There are not enough transmission lines even to bring in the electricity India is prepared to give. When private producers start production, this bottleneck is sure to remain there. It is apparent that the electric thought of NEA so far was directed only to the production of electricity. Yet, NEA&rsquo;s electric thought has not been redirected to other than production aspect, to ensure longer years of power outages even when there is production aplenty.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		Some thoughts were non-electric so they did never reach the other end of the objectives. We heard the plans of setting up diesel plants of some 120 MW, heard about bio fuel-fed generators and augmenting the supply by solar panels or air turbines. But these were the plans never implemented, duly understanding the importance of the load-shedding for the country.</div>
	<div>
		&nbsp;</div>
	<div>
		By all standards, the very concept of load-shedding is the true personification of the electric thought. Everybody knows, darkness can travel faster than the electricity itself. Therefore NEA needed to call a press conference to explain there is ensured darkness for any foreseeable years. It was a great idea propelled by none other than the electric thought to make presence of NEA felt to the public.</div>
</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-02-20',
			'modified' => '2014-02-20',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Twelve hours of power-cut, popularly known as load-shedding is a matter of pride for Nepal. It is undoubtedly so for state power monopoly, Nepal Electricity Authority, NEA. The act of shedding a load in its literal meaning too is a good thing. After such shedding one is bound to feel light like a feather, who immediately takes on to dancing with flying finesse.',
			'sortorder' => '2479',
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	(int) 7 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2442',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Corruption Proofness',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Nepal is no doubt the land of uncountable miracles. The recently added one is that Nepal has substantially fallen down in corruption index. It is confirmed by none other than global corruption watch-dog, Transparency International (TI). It must be credible as we are constantly taught that whatever these global institutions influenced by the West say must be blindly trusted and followed.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	There are few occasions when falling is not only beautiful but desirable too, like falling in love and falling in corruption index. Therefore, Nepal is now enjoying the honeymoon of this miraculous fall from 139th position of the last year to 116th this year, out of 177 countries. The fall is miraculous for more than one reason. Nepal has constantly been branded as the country with a crisis in governance. For last couple of decades, our main industry has been to produce at least one prime minister each year. Sometimes, that too was very difficult like at present, and our last House was unable to produce even one prime minister in seventeen attempts. What it effectively says is: corruption can be reduced without governance. This is new theory, innovated in Nepal by TI.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But there must be some reason for this impressive improvement in Nepal&#39;s corruption ranking. Facts in hand are -- we had the Maoist government on the year the index data was collected and non-political government of bureaucrats is in Singhadurbar forts when it is made public. A former bureaucrat with the most corrupt reputation was appointed as the chief of constitutional commission CIAA. Unquestionably, all these factors must have singly or jointly contributed to this fall.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If so, there are one or two lessons for the most corrupt countries to take home from Nepal. First, political instability and Maoist government are the best panacea for controlling corruption. To begin, let Maoists of any country run a decade-long armed rebellion when the term bribery and grease-money dealing in petty sum disappears and every clandestine large endowment becomes &#39;voluntary donation to the revolution&#39;, even if the amount surrendered is at gun point. As the corruption index researchers pasturing on the surface hardly smell about these deals, consequently the index drops. The instability has direct anti-corruption effect. It is so simple. The instability helps to root-out all major business, production and service industries. Who pays the bribe? The private sector, i.e. the business people or industrialists. When they are gone, corruption is bound to reduce, substantially. So, if any country is committed to reduce corruption, make sure you have prolonged political instability.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Second, political parties must stop forming the government of their own and they should install a fully bureaucratic government, hopefully headed by the incumbent chief justice of the supreme court of the country. This latter arrangement is crucial. When the government apparatus indulges in corruption, the road to judiciary to seek redressal is practically blocked, as the head of the government is also the head of the judiciary, simultaneously.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Third, if the anti-corruption institutions like CIAA are filled by the most corrupt bureaucrats in history, they are sure to make history either way. They know how not to make it more felt even if there were rampant corrupt practices. Or, it might also be the case that they are done with money, with their infamous fathers&rsquo; statues erected at the middle of busy highways, offsprings off to foreign countries and a couple of bank accounts in safe havens. So, the amount of money to be bribed in a poor country suddenly starts to look too small relative to their pride. Then they might rather pose as ascetics than avarices. The situation really contributes to reduce the corruption and helps country to ride on the freedom-from-corruption ladder, very soon.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Finally, with this astounding success, Nepal can think of setting up a training institute for those countries to run course on &#39;how to make a country corruption-proof and improve in the (anti?) corruption index!&#39; This has business rationale too!</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2014-01-10',
			'modified' => '2014-01-27',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Nepal is no doubt the land of uncountable miracles. The recently added one is that Nepal has substantially fallen down in corruption index. It is confirmed by none other than global corruption watch-dog, Transparency International (TI). It must be credible as we are constantly taught that whatever these global institutions influenced by the West say must be blindly trusted and followed.',
			'sortorder' => '2363',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 8 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2265',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Sea Of Conspiracy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The revolutionary vision of Puspa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda suddenly encountered a deep sea of conspiracy surrounding the landlocked Nepal. As the results of CA elections-II 2013, were pouring in last month and he lost the Kathmnadu-10 constituency, he could see a devilish sea fast inundating his philosophized Prachanda Path, dampening his as well as his party&#39;s election prospects and perishing the party&#39;s Perish Danda headquarters in rapid pace.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	How could this happen to the &#39;sole hero of the revolution&#39; ? (&#39;Revolutionary Hero&#39; that was how he was nicknamed during the campaign.) His dreams of becoming all-powerful president suddenly got evaporated. And, the cum-red was naturally perplexed, outraged and restless. He cried &#39;FOUL!&#39; &nbsp;But there was nobody to listen. But as a devout communist, he was creative enough to take hold of theory - &#39;the conspiracy theory&#39; - to attribute as the cause of his and his party&#39;s apparently humiliating defeat.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	It is the outcome of &#39;national and international conspiracy&#39; he declared, hastily calling a press meet. But he would not point out which particular national or international agency was at play. That was natural for a former prime minister, who has personally experienced the extent and strength of the functions of these conspirators, particularly international ones, to guess who could be the spoilsport. Nepali people would certainly appreciate if he identifies them in public.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	When the water level receded from his hypothetical sea, he could see some ground. At least there were still some hopes which had not drowned. At least one such hope survived when he got elected from another constituency in Terai. His worries were confounded not because the party suffered a big set-back, but his all other family members --daughter, daughter-in-no-law and a brother got defeated in the polls.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Traumatized, Prachanda turned to his brainy comrade Baburam for solace. Baburam quickly came up with highly consoling prognosis that &#39;though we may have lost election, our agenda is not defeated.&#39; It was equivalent to saying that the &nbsp;people &nbsp;who represented the Maoist agenda were bad and got defeated, not the agenda itself. &nbsp;It was easy for Baburam to reach to this beautiful conclusion looking at the face of his only wife Hisila Yami and her defeat from one of the Kathmandu constituencies.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;Can&#39;t you see comrades, the sea of conspiracy in drowning us soon? It must be internationally imported political waters that is causing this&#39;, Prachanda concluded and his top-ranked comrades nodded in consent akin to true communist party discipline. &nbsp;&#39;But chairman comrade&#39; Baburam volunteered, &#39;we must point at the international force&#39; to make this allegation convincing.&#39;&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;As you know, all the sea water is in the south and entire north is Himalayas,&#39; said Prachanda</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&#39;Then I am not in your boat,&#39; Baburam begged to differ. The southern sea waters cannot rise so high at this time. Even if they do, I am not to see it,&#39; Baburam deviated. Then, the duo concluded to accept the election outcome.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The fables have it even a sinking lion wouldn&#39;t spare to pounce on simultaneously sinking goat, regardless that both would be dead in the next minute. Then no wonder, Prachanda came up with a new proposal: &#39;majority provision of the constitution to form the government should be removed, retaining only the provision of consensus.&#39; &nbsp;Again he is not likely to be heard. He is asking for a too long a rope which had to be unleashed much before the election. But he is doing it after his party got defeated. Anyway, clever people never lack creativity even during the ordeal.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	As the political climate is changing fast, the effects of warming again and often may cause the rise of water levels in the sea of conspiracy. &nbsp;When a man is survived by a whisker from drowning, he soon becomes hydrophobic and begins to be terrified even by a village pond, considering it a Black Sea. &nbsp;Prachanda too from now on might seek &#39;Sea of Conspiracy&#39; whenever there is a storm in a tea cup.</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-12-13',
			'modified' => '2013-12-16',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'The revolutionary vision of Puspa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda suddenly encountered a deep sea of conspiracy surrounding the landlocked Nepal. As the results of CA elections-II 2013, were pouring in last month and he lost the Kathmnadu-10 constituency, he could see a devilish sea fast inundating his philosophized Prachanda Path, dampening his as well as his party's election prospects and perishing the party's Perish Danda headquarters in rapid pace.',
			'sortorder' => '2110',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	),
	(int) 9 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2141',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Manifestation Of Everything',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	<strong>--By Madan Lamsal</strong></div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<img alt="NO Laughing Matter" src="/userfiles/images/nlm%20(Copy).jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 409px;" />Manifestation is the crux of all civilizations. There is unfailing debate throughout the human civilization about the beauty and duty about manifestations. Great wars have been fought on the mere issue of manifestation, be that Mahabharat or Anglo-Saxon. In ancient times, men and women manifested their parts of attractive bodies to entice the opposite sex. In modern cinema civilization, you know better how the issue of manifestations has been debated as part aesthetics or sex. If you watch a well-manifested cinema, you talk more about it than the storyline it carried.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	On duty-side as well, the principle of enticement has not changed much. For instance take Nepal&rsquo;s political parties&rsquo;, that are contesting the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, hope to hold CA elections in the month of November. They have made their supposedly election manifestoes public and all of them seem to be greatly influenced by the tinsel town concept of selling the cinema inserting some more manifestations in the story. Political heroes also probably forgot the storyline that they are going to write the constitution through the new CA. Their indulgence in the act of enticement by overt manifestation of the to-do-list in CA elections manifestoes establishes nothing else.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	No credible commitment is found expressed in manifestoes to write a constitution that guarantees the rights of the people. But, regardless of whether constitution would be actually written or not, these manifestoes instead surely promise you everything possible from prostitute to prosperity. If you are on the plank of arguing that, prosperity cannot be promised without writing a new democratic constitution, then you don&rsquo;t understand the culture of political prostitution that is in vogue in Nepal. You never know which leader will partner with which party during the day and the same leader will lean to other party during the night.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But, without worrying much about the constitution, if you look at the list of promises made by these manifestoes, you are sure to relish. Everything to everyone, that&rsquo;s how you can sum-up these manifestoes. Home to homeless, power to politicos, tax rebate to tax evading community, partners to young, food to humans, feed to animals, cloths to kids, cure to olds, power connection to houses, empowerment to housewives, love to poor and luxury to riches. The list is so long that, you will be bored if all of them are copied here. You can actually call it your own wish-list.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	No doubt, the political parties and political leaders are doing the right thing. The private sector of Nepal had long complained that the political leadership has ignored the economic and developmental concerns of Nepal. But these manifestoes have compensated all past lacunae of these sorts. In fact, this time around, all they have done is, shown utmost concern only to the economy and prosperity of the country, nothing else.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	This is very right strategy to adopt. Because, by this, both the new constitution and the prosperity can be ensured simultaneously. It is natural for them not to worry about constitution and mention its whats and hows in their manifestoes. Every Nepali is well aware that our sovereign constitution is being written with great care, by great experts, somewhere in the world. Could be, it is done in more than one place and we lucky Nepali will have chance to chose the best instant constitution from a fairly long menu. We will get to see it when it is brought here, ready to be implemented.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	Similarly, it is pointless to ask how our leaders are going to fulfill such an extraordinarily long list of promises without arranging resources and plans. Their duty is just to make the list, not to consider about the feasibility and finance of the related projects. For that, we again know, money will come from the same window where the constitution would be coming.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	My only last confusion is: whom to vote whereas all manifestoes look the same? Oh yeh! I can console saying that every party in Nepal is not different in vital issues. That is manifested!</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-11-24',
			'modified' => '2013-11-24',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Manifestation is the crux of all civilizations. There is unfailing debate throughout the human civilization about the beauty and duty about manifestations. Great wars have been fought on the mere issue of manifestation, be that Mahabharat or Anglo-Saxon.',
			'sortorder' => '1989',
			'image' => null,
			'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
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	(int) 10 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '2016',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'In Love  With The Peg',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	<img alt="No Laughin Matter" src="/userfiles/images/NLM.jpg" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; width: 300px; height: 451px;" />The &lsquo;peg&rsquo; must have been the second most loved word for Englishmen after &lsquo;sex&rsquo;, but for Nepalis, it (its meaning to be precise) is unquestionably the first. Whether it is expressed or muted, the presence of the peg is ubiquitous in our daily national or economic life. The moment you touch the Nepali Currency (NC), you are bound to remember that it is strictly pegged to the Indian Currency (IC). You may or may not always believe in the value of the NC, but it is this peg that gives you the confidence you need.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	The recent devaluation of the Nepali currency was not an outcome of a downturn in our economy, but was the effect of the NC-IC peg that has a history of more than six decades. If your business has suffered from this devaluation, you are free to shift the peg to console yourself -- a shift from the currency peg to a whisky peg. Do not complain if more than ninety five percent of Nepali bar-tenders cannot say &lsquo;peg&rsquo; and often make do with &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. When asked, &lsquo;Sir would you like a pack?&rsquo; you must have the intelligence to understand that he is actually asking if you would like a peg of some alcohol. If you are a novice drinker, just graduated to whisky to drink in a bar from a &lsquo;pouch&rsquo; in a tavern, you may be familiar with the &lsquo;pack&rsquo; than the &lsquo;peg.&rsquo; It is just a question of civilization, not economics.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	But in our economic system, unlike you, there are big bosses who are more familiar with the &lsquo;peg&rsquo; than the &lsquo;pack&rsquo;, so that they don&rsquo;t want to pack the peg at any cost. When it comes to packing-up, or stopping the NC-IC peg, they don&rsquo;t even want to hear it out. They have good reasons for maintaining this status quo until our currency faces the fate of the Zimbabwean dollar when it was in its last days of existence. In other words, the love for this peg is the simplest strategy to make the Nepali richer in no time. If the present rate of devaluation continues, we Nepalis will soon be so rich that we will be paying ten thousand rupees for a cup of tea, one hundred thousand rupees for a kilogram of rice, a million rupees for a kilogram of mutton or cheese, and so on.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you are in the business of stock price analysis or actual stock trading and brokerage and haven&rsquo;t heard of the capital &lsquo;PEG&rsquo;, or price/earnings to growth ratio, you are sure to be doomed and forced to take refuge in the smaller &lsquo;peg&rsquo; that is re-christened by Nepali barmen as &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. There are people in the financial service industry in Nepal who argue that ninety-nine percent of our stock brokers, the licensed ones, never heard of the &lsquo;PEG&rsquo;, or the &lsquo;peg&rsquo;, and is managing everything with the replacement of the &lsquo;pack&rsquo;. The result: many of them are, therefore, helping the trading of many scribs to pack-up within a few days of listing instead of using the PEG tool to analyze.</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	If you ask our policy makers -- the finance minister, the central bank governor, or the prime minister as soon as we get one -- &lsquo;How long will the NC-IC peg continue?&rsquo; they all will have very intelligent answers for it: &lsquo;Oh! Peg. Yes, we have. Good question, I mean, not bad at all. It is important. How about having a peg together tonight? Thanks!!&rsquo;</div>
<div>
	&nbsp;</div>
<div>
	You may ask me how I know that their answer would be exactly like that. It is simple: every generation of our authorities for the last half century have said nothing different than this. Feel like listening to the popular number the &lsquo;Peg&rsquo; by Steely Dan? Do it in the bar, that&rsquo;s the place to admire the real beauty of the &lsquo;peg&rsquo;!&nbsp;</div>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-10-23',
			'modified' => '2013-10-24',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'The ‘peg’ must have been the second most loved word for Englishmen after ‘sex’, but for Nepalis, it (its meaning to be precise) is unquestionably the first. Whether it is expressed or muted, the presence of the peg is ubiquitous in our daily national or economic life. The moment you touch the Nepali Currency (NC), you are bound to remember that it is strictly pegged to the Indian Currency (IC).',
			'sortorder' => '1867',
			'image' => null,
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	(int) 11 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '1632',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'New Budget's Growth Tricks',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	Growth is what Nepal needs today. The recent budget for this fiscal year has aptly embodied this national aspiration. The very size of the budget has ballooned-up by almost forty percent compared to last year. Accordingly, the deficit gap, revenue targets, inflation estimates, government employees&#39; pay and many more have grown substantially. if you point to a few aspects like GDP growth projections and proposed capital expenditure, you must be an anti-democrat for sure. When majority of things are so rapidly growing, one should not bother about a few things that are in such declining trend.<br />
	<br />
	Besides, this budget has all ingredients to fuel growth. No sooner the budget declared that the government employees&#39; pay would be hiked by 18 percent plus straight one thousand bucks, the market has reenergized instantly.From vegetable venders to taxi drivers, grocers to airline operators, everybody has concrete plans to increase the prices, even before the salary-earners pocket their first added pay. The magic of this budget is: twenty percent increase in pay has the power to increase the price by at least forty percent.</p>
<p>
	As an axiom, the rise in prices is indeed the sign of growth and development. Look at the most expensive cities in the world, Tokyo, London, Moscow, Shanghai or Mumbai. They are developed because they are most expensive. Now Kathmandu can be a new candidate in that category, thus a developed city.<br />
	<br />
	We have some extra qualities to ensure growth and development, by using unique model of &#39;growth by price rise&#39;. No mechanism exists to control price and goods and service providers of all kinds have a free hand to fix their price and enforce cartels. Taxi drivers often bring the city to stand-still within hours if any regulators questions about their tampered fare meter and private water suppliers can stop the supply if authorities try to question about the potability of it. The only party that has to backdown invariably is the government. There are thousands of such examples which ensure prices in our country would only rise, and rise regardless of anything. This means, in other words, our growth and development is guaranteed.<br />
	<br />
	Just the talk of elections would provide an additional impetus to growth. Political parties will actively engage themselves in &#39;donation&#39; collection, while the businessmen and industrialists &#39;voluntarily&#39; set aside a big sum for the cause. That means they need to earn more by every possible means of black-marketing to hoarding. This the time the country sees a true business-friendly climate, when no business person is penalized or admonished for making arrangements of extra earnings.<br />
	<br />
	Elections have all other economic advantages. Donors come with offers of assistance in many forms -- cash, kinds, experts, observers, clergies and copies of bibles. Business activities in all sectors multiply, transports,hotels, goons, contract killers and armed robbers -- virtually everybody and everything will be hired by politicians and political parties to win the elections. Unemployment problem will be solved at once. That is the reason Nepal has taken up the technique of very often announcing the dates for elections but never actually holding them. From this experience, we can foretell that the proposed November elections will also be postponed for next April, so that Nepali economy can get double boost from the same elections fever.<br />
	<br />
	In any case, if we were to develop and grow, we must stop thinking about aspects of decrease, decline or fall..Those In any case, if we were to develop and grow, we must stop thinking about aspects of decrease, decline or fall. Those who don&#39;t believe in incremental thinking, they must be socially boycotted. Therefore, along with the salary of the government employees, the rate of grease money must be increased. Business people, transport operators and contractors must increase their costs. Government must increase the taxes; business community then increases the tax evasion. No matter whatever is increased, it is growth. That is the reason our finance minister is so sure, his budget will only develop the country. You just don&#39;t worry, which direction it grows, however.<br />
	&nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-08-18',
			'modified' => '0000-00-00',
			'keywords' => 'new business age no laughing matter news & articles, no laughing matter news & articles from new business age nepal, no laughing matter headlines from nepal,  current and latest no laughing matter news from nepal, economic news from nepal, nepali no laughing matter economic news and events,  ongoing',
			'description' => 'Growth is what Nepal needs today. The recent budget for this fiscal year has aptly embodied this national aspiration. The very size of the budget has ballooned-up by almost forty percent compared to last year. Accordingly, the deficit gap, revenue targets, inflation estimates, government employees' pay and many more have grown substantially. if you point to a few aspects like GDP growth projections and proposed capital expenditure, you must be an anti-democrat for sure.',
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	(int) 12 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '1057',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Development Riddle Solved',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p>
	<br />
	<img alt="development riddle" src="/userfiles/images/1371635301.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 378px;" /><br />
	<br />
	<br />
	Everyone in Nepal is equally concerned about and committed to the development of this &ldquo;rich-mines, poor-minds&rdquo; country. But, what puzzles everyone is the fact that Nepal has, so far, truly lagged far behind in development despite so much effort and foreign aid.</p>
<p>
	But not anymore will we have these qualms since the riddle of this big WHY has now been solved. Nepal can now embark on a development track with rocket speed, absolutely different from the frog jump pattern proposed by former PM Dr Baburam Yami Bhattarai.</p>
<p>
	We had had such difficulty in developing the country mainly because the lost key of development lied elsewhere - somewhere outside the country. Thank God! This mystery has been resolved now after the appointment of Lokman Karki as the CIAA chief. Every Nepali by now understands that the key to our development lies in the hands of foreign countries, maybe our neighbours or the superpowers. Or, possibly, there could be many keys with many &lsquo;partners&rsquo; that we got to find out and bring them back.</p>
<p>
	It is this realisation that is pushing every Nepali regardless of age, gender, origin, religion or profession to foreign lands. Recently, Nepal&rsquo;s quintessential leader Comrade Prachanda visited both our northern and southern neighbours in quick succession, last month. He not only talked about Nepal&rsquo;s development, but also proposed a new vision of &lsquo;triangular model&rsquo; involving China, India and Nepal. His wisdom did highly impress the leaders of both sides, akin to his claims. The likelihood is that he might be hired as a consultant by the planners of these countries to generate such great angular visions which they could never think of so far. In the power corridors of New Delhi, he was even asked if his triangle could be made a quadrangle by adding a &lsquo;people&rsquo;s war dimension to it&rsquo; so that it could be copyrighted as the new Prachandapath model of development!</p>
<p>
	Not only Prachanda, but also his party rank and file believes that the key to Nepal&rsquo;s development is indeed in the hands of foreigners. His deputy, Dr Bhattarai, in a recent trip to Australia made it clear that the people who live in Nepal are unable to develop it, so those who have left Nepal and become foreigners should develop it.</p>
<p>
	See the impact of foreign trips! These leaders who believed in putting schools on fire, bombing suspension bridges in remote hinterland, felling telephone and electricity polls and destroying public property have suddenly started talking about development. If you still don&rsquo;t believe that the key to Nepal&rsquo;s development lies in foreign hands, consider the following examples as well.</p>
<p>
	Not only politicians, but also most civil servants are dying to grab any possible opportunity for a foreign trip. Because they realize that their years of experience in service has failed to teach them how to develop the country and, therefore, seek the compensation for it a foreign trip. &nbsp;Therefore, senior officers prefer to participate in foreign trainings, workshops or seminars where nominations are actually sought from junior positions. Simply, the more senior people who participate, the more cakes of development they would bring back.</p>
<p>
	Such love for Nepal&rsquo;s development is not limited to politicians and civil servants. You can simply say that anyone very keen to go abroad is a true lover of Nepal&rsquo;s development. Every Nepali student believes that s/he cannot develop this nation by studying here. That&rsquo;s why visa applications are filed as soon as the completion &nbsp;of +2 education. Those who fail to leave the country are even more patriotic. They do not miss even a single opportunity to protest against any anti-development move of the government. And they make sure that they destroy some amount of existing public property so that it could be replaced by a new one.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	The members of the general public who are smart enough want to leave the country at any cost. They too realize the fact that no development is possible within the country. Manpower agencies, planners and development experts, all by now agree that the country will not develop from within, so we must bring everything from other countries. Everything means everything- a constitution, directives for the government dictating who should be appointed where and what model of development should be followed. With this, one can be pretty sure of the faster development we have missed thus far.</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-06-06',
			'modified' => '2013-10-21',
			'keywords' => 'No laughing matter, new business age, Madan Lamsal, Development Riddle Solved',
			'description' => 'Everyone in Nepal is equally concerned about and committed to the development of this “rich-mines, poor-minds” country. But, what puzzles everyone is the fact that Nepal has, so far, truly lagged far behind in development despite so much effort and foreign aid.',
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	(int) 13 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '977',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Size Zero Economy',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p>
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p>
	Size zero is the contemporary fad. Your potbelly wife, struggling models, overage heroines, all want to be zero-sized. Because you crave for that and with your wish granted the Nepali economy has now come to a real good shape of zero, and anyone surviving in it can only be skinny. You know the reason.</p>
<p>
	The economic meaning of zero could be something different than the blissful imaginative hollow universe of a meditating sage. It is either recession or depression. Nepal has simplified the definition of these terms too: recession is when the builder of a housing company shifts to an apartment in his own project site and, it is depression when he is shifted to a free-to-live public apartment called jail.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	The definition could be as many as the number of economists. That means you are free to have your own tailor-made definition of it. Many have it already. Our central bank governor says, an economy with zero growth rate &nbsp;and 10 percent inflation is still not in recession, and the finance minister doesn&rsquo;t have a say since he already has zero economic sense -- recession, depression, possession, obsession but commission are all the same for him. So why can&rsquo;t you have your own take on recession or depression and its shape and size.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	You may take some variables into account: once regarded successful business heroes have turned zeros, call it their size of the firm now. It is old news that CEOs of many banks are looking for alternative professions. Some have refused to take a paid forced leave fearing that someone might just play a prank with some zeros in their absence. This is the confidence indicator of our banking industry. Since, this leave is a compulsory one and he had but no alternative to take, some dedicated CEOs are seen loitering around bank&rsquo;s headquarters premises despite officially being &nbsp;on leave, enjoying their favorite chocolate bar called &nbsp;&lsquo;credit crunchy&rsquo;. What would you say to the new trend that CEOs of banks themselves are working as chief of the marketing department? It is a trend reversal and also a cost-saving measure.</p>
<p>
	Not only banks, academic institutions that promised jobs to their MBAs, in the once lucrative but now leery sector called banking now taste a pinch of salt. Some new MBAs are asking their school to return their money as they are ultimately landing on a zero chance job zone. Many other ambitious MBAs are trying for jobs in the sectors they had never imagined &nbsp;working &nbsp;in.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;Good old days have returned. Dishonored cheques have become a normal phenomenon and nobody bothers why it got returned. The recipient never asks the bank whether the fund was insufficient in the account of the person who issued the cheque or in the coffers of the bank itself. The account holders don&rsquo;t have enough guts to send an enquiry note to the bank about the issue. These are good signs. &nbsp;No one is hostile to anyone else. Everyone knows we are revolving around a big zero and will continue to do so until this zero of &nbsp;an economy &nbsp;actually becomes a black hole or the Bermuda Triangle.</p>
<p>
	The signals in television channels are less wired and more weird. Don&rsquo;t blame it &nbsp;on load shedding. We will not have electricity pretty soon, when we are about to reach to a point of zero supply, thus no need of it. Call it a zero-gain bid that channels are showing the same program at least four times a week if not a day. They are selling &nbsp;commercial packages with schemes like buy one and get five free.</p>
<p>
	As the economy slims down to play &nbsp;the heroine of a big movie called &lsquo;New Nepal&rsquo;, many heroes are trending-up themselves. You must have seen the newspapers pictures of Min B Gurung rehearsing the act of shopping at his own Bhatbhateni stores, carrying a jute bag. Business tycoons like Golchhas and Jyotis are pictured practicing racing bikes, leaving luxury cars. Television clips show that leaders of proletarian parties are often in the public wearing Harrods suits and designed dresses. Looks like though finally we all are ready for &nbsp;a movie with Shakespearian tragedy, &nbsp;when this has a box-office success, Nepal will surely prosper.</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-05-18',
			'modified' => '2013-10-21',
			'keywords' => 'No Laughing Matter, Size Zero Economy',
			'description' => 'Size zero is the contemporary fad. Your potbelly wife, struggling models, overage heroines, all want to be zero-sized. Because you crave for that and with your wish granted the Nepali economy has now come to a real good shape of zero, and anyone surviving in it can only be skinny. You know the reason.',
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	(int) 14 => array(
		'Article' => array(
			'id' => '935',
			'article_category_id' => '48',
			'title' => 'Rise Of Generation-J Who After CJ? DJ, RJ Or VJ?',
			'sub_title' => '',
			'summary' => null,
			'content' => '<p style="text-align: justify;">
	<strong>By Madan Lamsal</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Nepal has entered in the new era after CJ (Chief Justice) is made the head of government. Some people may not be very happy with this. However, many especially DJ (Disc Jockeys), RJ (Radio Jockeys), VJ (Video Jockeys) are very happy as they think that after CJ the role to head of the government may fall on the shoulders of DJ, RJ or VJs. &nbsp;Even the BJ (Bureau of Justices) and YJ (Young Justices) are happy besides MJ (The fans of Michael Jackson and MJ Akbar), OJs (Orange Juice Lovers) etc. So much so that even the Court Jesters who earned their living by entertaining the king during the period monarchy are happy that even the shortened version of their profession is CJ!&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	These different &lsquo;J&rsquo;s are very happy as they have now at least a hope that one fine day all of a sudden they might be requested to lead the government after CJ steps aside. Therefore, many of the DJs, RJs, and VJs had even thrown parties after the CJ was made the Chairman of the election government.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Chairman is a very prestigious position anyway. In every company and even in the private sector associations businessmen and traders fight for chairmanship. &nbsp;The chairmanship is popular also in the Panchayati era of the past. For example, former kings, Mahendra, Birendra and even Gyanendra were chairmen of the government during their rule &ndash; though sometimes they were only de jure chairmen. They all were very popular in the beginning of their respective rules. It is a different fact that soon they became unpopular. &nbsp;However, this popularity and unpopularity are subjective and relative terms. Now Gyanendra is becoming more popular day by day. Birendra too was popular towards the end of his reign as a constitutional monarch.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Anyway the most important thing is that from DJ to YJ, everyone is happy as CJ is made the Chairman. The &lsquo;J&rsquo;s are so happy that now they have started to change the designation of all the employees in their companies creating synergy with CJ or YJ. For example, many bar and discotheques have now new positions like CJ (Chief Joker), DJ (Dangerous Joe or Don Jockey), VJ (Vigilante Jockey), RJ (Runche or Runcie Joker), MJ (Maharaj Ji), NJ (Natwarlal Ji), etc.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Now the Nepali political parties should also learn to create new positions for their leaders and cadres. Otherwise they will be more unpopular in the days to come and they will have to abandon their power and remain as the spectators they have become these days. Here you can recall how the four party leaders who even in meetings always sat facing six different directions and spoke in 180 degree opposite terms of one other unanimously handed over the power to the CJ. It seems that the position called CJ is attractive not only for the general people and leaders of Nepal but also among the Europeans, American as well as the edgy neighbours.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Therefore, the political parties are suggested to give new names to the present positions of the leaders. For example, party chairman, general secretary and spokesperson should now have designations changed to something that rhymes with CJ, DJ, RJ, VJ, YJ etc. Otherwise the real DJ, RJ or VJ will start ruling the roost.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Name change in the political party leadership positions is now urgent also because the efforts of the political leaders in the past to attract people and foreign countries to them were all in vain. For example, they acted long like clowns by staging such farce and skits as meetings for political consensus, election for Prime Minister&rsquo;s post for some eighteen times etc. Perhaps the reason for the failure of those efforts was that they all played the role of clowns and there was no single hero.&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">
	Anyway, the CJ is now the CEO of the country and his stated objective is to hold elections. But some people also say that his actual job is to fold the democratic process. Many existing democracies that want to fold such system up have already started efforts to emulate the Nepali way of selecting the CEO. After all, why waste so much money in holding elections. Why not have a system in which the CEO position automatically goes to one who is the CJ for some months. Let the would-be CEOs struggle it out through the judicial system hierarchy starting from the district court!&nbsp;</p>',
			'published' => true,
			'created' => '2013-04-17',
			'modified' => '2013-10-21',
			'keywords' => '',
			'description' => 'Nepal has entered in the new era after CJ (Chief Justice) is made the head of government. Some people may not be very happy with this. However, many especially DJ (Disc Jockeys), RJ (Radio Jockeys), VJ (Video Jockeys) are very happy as they think that after CJ the role to head of the government may fall on the shoulders of DJ, RJ or VJs.',
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