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Notice (8): Undefined variable: file [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2242', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'Choosing The Right College', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <strong>--By Upashana Neupane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Choosing ‘Where you study’ is as important as ‘What you study’. Selecting the right college is an important decision to make as it decides the rest of your personal and professional life. An individual has to make this decision here are some aspects to be consideredwhile selecting a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Firstly don’t rush to get admitted in a particular college. Inquire and research to know enough about the options available and try to acquire more information from them so that you have sufficient resources to analyse and reach a conclusive decision. </div> <div> </div> <div> If any of your prospective colleges don’t provide sufficient information, try to do online research by visiting their websites, asking about the college on social media channels and if possible try to enquire with students who are studying or have studied in that college. Gather required information through any means available. </div> <div> </div> <div> Once you have gathered information about prospective colleges and identified your educational needs, start the decision making process by eliminating college that do not meet your expectation. Eliminating such colleges, help focus on remaining colleges that mostly meet your needs and expectations. </div> <div> </div> <div> Your checklist, while digging out information for a prospective college, should consider factors likedegrees offered by the college, infrastructures and resources of the college (labs, libraries etc.), fee structure and costs, co-curricular activities, reputation and ranking of the college in the industry, associated faculty members, among others. </div> <div> </div> <div> Find out courses offered by a college along with the relevancy of those courses to your career plan. Colleges offer many courses, but knowing your requirements can easily help you in eliminating or selecting a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Infrastructure facilities like labs, classrooms, libraries, canteen and playgrounds are important factors that contribute in creating a conducive environment for academic studies. Thus, look out for infrastructural facilities that a college has and whether they cater to your personal needs.</div> <div> </div> <div> Check out fee structure and total costs of a course that you have selected to study and cross compare it with the fee structure of other colleges, who provide same course. </div> <div> </div> <div> Co-curricular activities play an important role in developing team spirit in individuals. Check out how and what type of co-curricular activities does a college conducts. Comparing these activities with other prospective colleges will provide another metric to select or deselect a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Reputation of a college in the industry is an important factor for professional career. Always try to be part of a renowned college that has earned reputation for grooming best industry professionals and a college that is managed by reputed academicians and professionals. </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, availability of faculty members, their qualification and reputation is another important factor that is directly related to the learning activity. In fact this is considered as one of the most important aspect while choosing acollege. Run a background check to verify that the faculty members listed on a college’s brochure do really teach there. Full time faculty provide attention to students need in comparison to part time faculties. </div> <div> </div> <div> Likewise, check availability of scholarships schemes and if you can qualify for any of them.</div> <div> </div> <div> Lastly, don’t get carried away with advertisements and hypes. Evaluate the college on the basis of the metrics listed above before buying the claims of any college’s advertisement and pinning down a college to pursue your higher studies.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Choosing ‘Where you study’ is as important as ‘What you study’. Selecting the right college is an important decision to make as it decides the rest of your personal and professional life. An individual has to make this decision here are some aspects to be consideredwhile selecting a college.', 'sortorder' => '2088', '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) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2245', 'article_category_id' => '109', 'title' => 'Fin Sector Reform Efforts Lauded', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> World Bank has lauded Nepal’s efforts towards budget implementation, financial sector reform and anti money laundering. A team of delegates led by Guillemette Jaffrin, Private Sector Development Expert at the World Bank, met Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi last Thursday and discussed Nepal’s overall economic development and financial sector reform. The meeting also focused on formulation of a financial sector development strategy, restructuring of Nepal Bank Ltd. (NBL) and Rastriya Banijya Bank and increasing the capital structure of Nepal Rastra Bank, according to a press release issued by the Finance Ministry.</div> <div> </div> <div> During the meeting, Finance Secretary Subedi told Jaffrin that Nepal has made a remarkable progress on the issue of anti money laundering at legal, policy and implementation level. Subedi further told Jaffrin that the ministry was working seriously towards increasing the capital spending. </div> <div> </div> <div> World Bank has been providing support to Nepal on banking and financial reform programmes. The World Bank has provided a US$ 30 million credit to help Nepal accelerate its financial sector reform program to reduce vulnerability of the banking sector and increase its transparency. </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'World Bank has lauded Nepal’s efforts towards budget implementation, financial sector reform and anti money laundering. A team of delegates led by Guillemette Jaffrin, Private Sector Development Expert at the World Bank, met Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi last Thursday and discussed Nepal’s overall economic development and financial sector reform.', 'sortorder' => '2087', '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' => '2244', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'Learning Curve News In Brief (9 - 15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Australian Scholarships to 39 Nepalis</strong></span></div> <div> Thirty-nine Nepali students havereceived Australia Awards Scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies in Australia in 2014. Education Secretary Narayan Gopal Malego and Australia’s Ambassador to Nepal, Glenn White, on 3rd December, presented the Awards to the students amid a function organised by the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu. Of those awarded, 16 are women and 19 are government employees. </div> <div> </div> <div> The students will be pursuing studies in areas of Australia’s priority sectors in Nepal, which include health, education, governance, livelihoods, water and sanitation and forestry. A press statement released by the Australian embassy stated that the Australian scholarships aim to contribute to the long-term objectives of developing countries to promote growth and stability. The scholarships equip recipients with the skills and knowledge to drive change and contribute to the economic and social development of their own countries, the statement further added. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Bharatpur Medical College Honoured</strong></span></div> <div> The College of Medical Sciences (Bharatpur Medical College) has received a SAARC level honour for outstanding surgical services. The college was felicitated amid a programme on Sunday, December 1st amid a programme held within the hospital premises. Hospital Director Natraj Prasad said that a group, including personnel from the SAARC Surgical Care Society,had inspected the hospital activities last year.Bharatpur Medical College is the first among 20 government hospitals in the country, to receive such a award.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>St Xavier’s College Celebrates 25th Anniversary</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="St Xavier’s College" src="/userfiles/images/sx.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; width: 100px; height: 119px;" />St Xavier’s College, Maitighar celebrated 25th anniversary on Tuesday, 3rd December. The college organised a special programme to mark the occasion and felicitated 18 teachers and staff membersfor their services. </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, it also felicitated students who have excelled in various faculties and contributed to the nation. Vice President Parmanand Jha lauded the college’s contribution to the nation and said, “The dedication of Fathers and teachers toward their job and the students’ hard work have ensured the college a good reputation at both national and international levels.”</div> <div> </div> <div> He opined that teachers at school and higher education level must be dedicated toward their job for Nepal’s progress in education sector.</div> <div> </div> <div> Father Augustine Thomas SJ, Principal of the college, informed that the college is working for upgrading as a university.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Tribhuvan University Published 1 Year B.Ed Results</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="Tribhuvan University" src="/userfiles/images/tu(1).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; width: 100px; height: 90px;" />Tribhuvan University Office of the Controller of Examination, Balkhu published the results of one year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) examination on Wednesday, 5th December. Total of 2,555 students passed the examination out of 8,087 (31.59%). The examination of one year B.Ed was held on Magha 2068.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Thirty-nine Nepali students havereceived Australia Awards Scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies in Australia in 2014.', 'sortorder' => '2086', '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) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2243', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'What Are Grants/Support/Scholarships Provided By University Grants Commission Nepal?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> If you want to know about what are the support, grants or scholarships University Grant Commission of Nepal, provides to colleges, universities or faculties (Professors/Lecturers) or even students. Here are the main highlights. </div> <div> </div> <div> Every year UGC announces application for the grants/supports and scholarships as listed below. For the academic year 2070, the commission has started collecting application/proposal and the deadline for some programmes ends on Poush 30.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Programs for which college/candidates has to apply within 2070 Poush 30</strong></span></div> <div> 1.Regular Grants</div> <div> 2.Physical Facility Development</div> <div> 3.Library Strengthening and Equipment Grants</div> <div> a.Grants for Purchasing Books</div> <div> b.Grants for Purchasing Furniture</div> <div> c.Grants for Purchasing Equipments</div> <div> 4.Ph.D. Fellowship</div> <div> 5.M.Phil. Fellowship</div> <div> 6.M. Phil. Thesis Preparation Support</div> <div> 7.Refresher Course/Capacity Development Program/ Research Methodology Training</div> <div> 8.Mini-Research</div> <div> 9.Visit by Professor in Higher Education Institutions</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Grants/Support for which candidates can apply anytime throughout the year</strong></span></div> <div> 1.Thesis Support for Persons with Disabilities</div> <div> 2.Partial Support for the PhD fellow</div> <div> 3.Visit to Institutions of SAARC Countries for Special Study/ Research</div> <div> 4.Travel Grants for Participation in Seminars/ Conferences</div> <div> 5.Seminar/ Workshop/ Conference</div> <div> </div> <div> <em>(www.edusanjal.com)</em></div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'If you want to know about what are the support, grants or scholarships University Grant Commission of Nepal, provides to colleges, universities or faculties (Professors/Lecturers) or even students. Here are the main highlights.', 'sortorder' => '2085', '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) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2240', 'article_category_id' => '86', 'title' => 'Growing Nepali Film Industry', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> A famous actor from abroad was requested to re-inaugurate a Nepali film. After the ribbon-cutting was over, he was asked to make a speech as the chief guest before screening of the movie started.</div> <div> </div> <div> Looking at the sparse audience at the cinema hall the guest said: ‘I see each of you must have bought two or three seats. This shows how the popularity of Nepali film industry is growing.’ -ML</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'A famous actor from abroad was requested to re-inaugurate a Nepali film. After the ribbon-cutting was over, he was asked to make a speech as the chief guest before screening of the movie started.', 'sortorder' => '2084', '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) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2241', 'article_category_id' => '146', 'title' => 'Visual Edit Vol3 Issue 41', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Visual Edit', 'sortorder' => '2083', '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' => '2239', 'article_category_id' => '145', 'title' => 'Market As An Institution For Inclusive Growth And Development', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Madhukar SJB Rana</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Creating a new mind set amidst citizens -- away from the feudalrisk-averting, rent-seeking behaviour towards competition, entrepreneurship and judicious risk taking is a challenge that needs to be faced by the victorious left of centre and centrist political parties that now dominate the Constituent Assembly. Being able to do so will deepen liberal democracy and heighten the chances for the long desired economic revolution.</div> <div> </div> <div> The market assures Good Governance through Transparency, Accountability and Competition with, hopefully, a lean and efficient State where Consumer Sovereignty Is deemed to be just as vital as People’s Sovereignty and Parliamentary Sovereignty for a dynamic liberal society.</div> <div> </div> <div> Strong and sound Regulation of Business by State guarantees moral and ethical Markets to safeguard the supremacy of Consumer Rights and Welfare, as well as Labour’s Rights and Welfare. Regulated Markets helps eradicate graft and corruption from the body politic by advancing the rule of law, order and justice including laying the ground work for a stronger criminal justice system. Absence of competitive Markets adversely affects all these vitals for a vibrant political democracy. Graft and corruption is endemic when the State enters the domain of business and when these enterprises are outside the purview of regulation by independent authorities providing for a level playing field for all enterprises.</div> <div> </div> <div> In short, the Market mechanism allows the fostering of a new Social Contract between the People and the State in the manner of 4 Ps -- people-private-public- partnerships if all decisions, henceforth, seek to maximise social profit and not simply private profit as happens now. Business enterprises will then begin to take their Corporate Social Responsibility statements more seriously and not use their CSR statements as new managerial fads for PR purposes.</div> <div> </div> <div> Indeed, a moral market calls for the enforcement of these statements as cases to be decided by Consumer and Labour courts on grounds of morality that may thus go far beyond the rule of law. This is the essence of moral Markets.</div> <div> </div> <div> Policy for marketisation: No licence be needed to enter any business. All citizens be able to a start business with due registration with Company Affairs Dept or CDO offices for proprietorships and partnerships as the case may be. All businesses must have PAN cards from Ministry of Finance or, where unable, from the Ward Office as a registered local business entity. Transaction cost for such business permits be at the minimum possible. And to convert informal businesses to formal ones, the State should encourage register at ease by providing subsidies to meet their registration costs.</div> <div> </div> <div> Markets create cities and an ever expanding middle class both of which are forces and factors for inclusive social development and modernization. No institutional innovation known to mankind can crate more wealth and prosperity than does the market mechanism. Liberal democracies are best served by an expanding middle class with maximum social mobility.</div> <div> </div> <div> Markets must be managed by managers whose social duty is to create a win-win situation by balancing the interests of all stakeholders -- owners, shareholders, employees, consumers, suppliers, community and ecology.</div> <div> </div> <div> Governments must regulate Markets to guarantee fair and free competition and to oversee that the larger public good, including those of the next generation and the additional need to conserve and protect the natural environment.</div> <div> </div> <div> Faith in the Market as an institution does not mean that it will guarantee economic or social justice. We must not subscribe to laissez faire where the property class is given free reign. Rather than seeking to curtail the excesses of wealth through all manner of wealth and estate taxes as well as capital gains taxes, the state must encourage Private Philanthropy and for this the new CA is alerted to the need to promulgate a Private Trust Act that is available for all sectors of the economy. It has been lying pending since 2005. The state must regulate the Market to ensure be actualised. For all this to be actualised, there is the supreme need for strong independent regulatory bodies to protect and promote the rule of law just as much as there is need for a strong Executive to be kept in check and balance with the final say left to an independent Supreme Court as the arbiter and dispense of justice and the Constitutional Court to decide on the powers and authority of the federal and local governments.</div> <div> </div> <div> It should be the Constitutional Court that has the final say on when People’s Sovereignty should hold sway over Parliamentary Sovereignty so that matters for local, federal and national referenda could be decided in an apolitical manner by an organ of State other than the Parliament.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Constitution must be one that enshrines liberal democracy where the State guarantees equal opportunity to all based on merit and grounded by a Social Contract where there is quality education and health services from the State for all: to ensure social meritocracy for all irrespective of race, religion, caste, class and region. All public institutions must be bound by minimum standards for infrastructure, health and hygiene, safety and security.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Constitution must also enshrine values of Transparency, Accountability and Competition as the troika of Liberal Multi Party Democracy. A strong State is needed that is fully alert to the probability of collusion by and between vested interest of Political Parties acting in tandem with the wealthy and rich classes to capture Political and Market power against the larger Public Good. Only politically neutral, strong, independent and autonomous Institutions can guarantee this. Public servants holding party membership must be summarily dismissed from service and asked to become politicians rather than be ones in disguise.</div> <div> </div> <div> It must punish patronage politics and political executive’s incursion into bureaucratic executive’s prerogative, which is to support the formulation of policies rationally and to execute policies efficiently and effectively. To assure this delicate balance of executive powers is in effect new forms of Accountability to Parliament must be innovated. One method is to have Ministers account for Policies and Bureaucrats account, to Parliamentary Select Committees for Policy Execution -- for its speed and also its propriety vis Acts, bye laws and regulations. Bureaucrats must be guaranteed a minimum tenure on posts they are assigned to; and for which they must be academically qualified as determined by the job specifications that befit job descriptions.</div> <div> </div> <div> Gurcharan Das says beautifully, in his “India Grows At Night” (2012), that the mantra of France is ‘equality’; that of U S A it is ‘liberty’ and that of India it is ‘dharma’. Let it be so in Nepal too where our National Dharma should be democracy, duty, discipline, determination, discrimination (between good and bad and right and wrong) and devotion to God and family.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Conclusion</strong></span></div> <div> We need to found, in the 21st century, a moral State with a moral society and moral markets. That subscribes to pluralism and pragmatism; that practices unity in diversity through its diverse communities while, at the same time, empowering each person to not only take pride in his or her individual identity but the modern State providing full societal scope for each individual to have and behold multiple identities, which should be the hallmark of the 21st century.</div> <div> </div> <div> <em>(Writer is Professor at South Asian Institute of Management and Former Finance Minister)</em></div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Creating a new mind set amidst citizens -- away from the feudalrisk-averting, rent-seeking behaviour towards competition, entrepreneurship and judicious risk taking is a challenge that needs to be faced by the victorious left of centre and centrist political parties that now dominate the Constituent Assembly.', 'sortorder' => '2082', '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' => '2238', 'article_category_id' => '144', 'title' => 'Improve Supply Side Constraints', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> World Trade Organization’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded on 7 December with the issuance of the Bali Package- an agreement on issues that are considered to be stepping stone for completing the goals of Doha Round. Issues addressed in the Bali Package have theoretically paved way to boost development goals and trading capacities of the Least Developed Countries. While the agreement is definitely promising for increasing Nepali products that reach international market, it alone is not sufficient to bridge the nation’s existing trade deficit. </div> <div> </div> <div> Presently Nepal has been receiving preferential market for 81 percent of its total exports under the Duty Free Quota Free (DFQF) system from various WTO member nations. Considering the existing trade deficit, it becomes evident that it has not been able to exploit facilities provided to it as a LCD member nation of the WTO. This fact is evident of the necessity for focusing on issues that are hindering its export capabilities rather than solely relying on receiving trade aid from the international community. Primary focus in this regard should be to find and resolve existing supply side constraints that could provide much needed boost to Nepal’s trading capacities. </div> <div> </div> <div> Supply side constraints start right from the production facility. Even though many Nepali products have good demands in the international market, political unrest, labour strikes, transport bottlenecks and unfriendly government policies have deterred production of these products and their delivery to the destination market. The Nepali State should focus on minimizing these deterrents to ensure smooth production and supply of goods. </div> <div> </div> <div> Nepal specializes in exporting agro products. Still it lacks a cold chain facility trading route. Even within the nation, it lacks a coordinated and interlinked cold chain that could facilitate agro trade. Facilitating the private sector for provision of such a chain, would provide boost to exports</div> <div> </div> <div> Another bottleneck in the export of agro-products is the lack of well equipped quarantine checkposts. Added to that is the lack of an agency that is competent and recognized internationally for quality certification. </div> <div> </div> <div> Quality is an essential factor in trading. Consumers always look for quality. Setting up an independent mechanism that could provide international quality certificate to products can ensure that exported products are not returned back citing quality reasons. Such certification system will increase brand image of Nepali products in international market and provide sustainable basis for steady trade growth. </div> <div> </div> <div> Identifying potential market and facilitating linkages between prospective producers and traders need to be ensured. Nepal has immense potentials for producing exportable agro and manufacturing products. People can meet the demands of the market, if there is market. The only prerequisite on the state’s side is to create conducive climate for these products and to identify market opportunities. </div> <div> </div> <div> Lengthy national and international customs regulations have been pointed out as great barriers for smooth trans-border trade. Bali Package pledges to address this issue but that will not sufficient. Nepal should on its own initiate talks for easing off custom regulations with nations that it does business with. It’s high time for Nepal to hold negotiations with its trading nations for streamlining custom regulations.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'World Trade Organization’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded on 7 December with the issuance of the Bali Package- an agreement on issues that are considered to be stepping stone for completing the goals of Doha Round.', 'sortorder' => '2081', '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) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2228', 'article_category_id' => '134', 'title' => '“Government Is Supressing Private Sector’s Growth”', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:15px;">Private sector is a crucial component and contributor to national development. However, sometimes it fails to play proper role. <strong>Dr. Kamal Raj Dhungel,</strong> Associate Professor of Central Department of Economics, Tribhuwan University, recently discussed existing relationship between private sector and government and investment climate in Nepal, with The Corporate’s <strong>Angila Sharma, Excerpts:</strong></span></div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>What can the Nepali economy expect from the success of the recent CA elections and the formation of a new government?</strong></span></div> <div> In this historical election, no party gained majority and so the government will be a coalition one. If the coalition government comprises of CPN-UML and Nepali Congress, it will be beneficial for the private sector. It was evident in the 90’s. During that time, this team had come up with liberalization policy and had made efforts to lead the economy towards prosperity. There were many bottlenecks and as such, this policy failed. So, if the parties in the higher position can now give continuity to the same policies and can implement them with effective monitoring, private sector will flourish leading to development of various parts of the economy.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, we can also expect good things from the upcoming government. But, for this, a single party or a combination of some parties cannot do anything. For the prosperity and economic growth of this nation, all political parties should work hand in hand.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Do you think our private sector is sincere enough in delivering services to the consumers? What are the reasons they are lacking behind in this?</strong></span></div> <div> State has to play leading role when it comes to the growth of the private sector. It is the state’s responsibility to provide the private sector with essential facilities while also monitoring their activities regarding implementation of the facilities provided by the state. Private sector is always profit-oriented. Its activities depend on the government’s attitude towards it. The government should ensure reasonable profit for the private sector while providing security for the investment made by the private sector and guaranteeing subsidies in delivery of necessary goods for the consumers. It should be able to create market for the private sector and should implement a clean and clear monitoring system. It is because of lack of such monitoring system that private sector has been lagging behind. Private sector can be effective if government provides enough security and an effective monitoring system.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>What is it that is lacking in our monitoring system?</strong></span></div> <div> For now, the government is weak. The government is vulnerable because of some reasons: Firstly, we do not have constitution and the Maoists who had originally demanded for CA elections are in third position while parties, who had never had this as their primary agenda, are now in leading position. In the past four years, nothing fruitful could be obtained. Rather, highlighting of issues surrounding federalism distributed solidarity among the people. Secondly, we do not have stability in our political and economic sphere. Presently these spheres are rigid and this has rendered our concerns and voices valueless. Economic activities are directly proportional to political stability and thus economic prosperity is possible via political stability. At this moment, the whole economic sector depends on the momentum of the political sector, which is presently in an unpredictable situation.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>There is a wide spread criticism regarding the insincerity of some private sector actors in providing facilities to consumers. What is your opinion on this?</strong></span></div> <div> Private sector is not trying to run away from its responsibility. I have listened to talk shows and programmes organized by FNCCI and CNI. They have often invited political leaders to their programmes and asked them to bring political consensus and consider economic growth as their main agenda. Private sector has substantial capital at its disposal and wants to utilize it in development activities. As such, they have highlighted five major areas that can speed up national development: agriculture, hydropower, tourism, education and infrastructure. They have identified these sectors as potential sources for national prosperity and development. People have begun investing internationally because there is no scope for investment here. This situation has been created here due to lack of security, market, and subsidies among others. Private sector is not trying to escape; rather, the government is suppressing it as it is failing to create a suitable environment for the private sector to flourish. Basically, private sector is in shadow because of government’s failure to create a conducive environment for its growth.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Even though our economy is relatively smaller it has always faced the problem of capital shortage. But, we are always able to invest in sophisticated products. Why is the economy failing to invest in more essential sector?</strong></span></div> <div> This is a very good question. A big portion of imports in Nepal constitutes of goods that cannot be substituted. Thus, a big amount of capital is being invested in the import of such goods. Import of goods like vehicles, gold and oil cannot be substituted by domestic production. We spend billions of rupees in importing these goods because these goods are important but cannot be produced in our country.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nonetheless, our economy has the potential to substitute import of certain goods like gas. Gas is one of the goods that have always led to conflict in the country, sometimes even leading to change of government. Nepal Oil Corporation is not always able to meet our needs and is also always on loss. We could substitute this, to some extent, through electricity. If we can produce sufficient electricity and provide it in convenient price, it will automatically solve the gas import problem. We could opt for electric bike, electric cars and electric trains if hydropower is properly utilized. So, it is necessary that we exploit hydropower to its fullest capacity</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>It is quite essential to have effective regulatory mechanisms to ensure smooth functioning of an economy. What improvements would you suggest in our economy’s regulatory mechanisms?</strong></span></div> <div> Monitoring system is a regulatory body. Our nation must not only have controlling mechanisms but should also include facilitating mechanism as its regulatory system. It means that private sector should be provided with subsidies, enough infrastructure, facility of tax exemption etc. Along with that, there should also be a separate regulatory mechanism that monitors the private sector’s activities.</div> <div> </div> <div> If one private sector actor does not work properly, the government should be able to dismantle it immediately and it should also provide space for the entry of new ones. However, existing lack of co-ordination within government agencies is making it difficult for the private sector to grow.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>In this changed scenario, as an economist, what would you suggest to the private sector, government and the consumers?</strong></span></div> <div> We are experiencing a major change and the future of our nation is unpredictable at this juncture. However, I am still optimistic. Regarding the CA elections’ results, I would sincerely like to thank the people of Terai for bringing a change in their voting pattern. I am glad that they did not stick to the earlier voting trend.</div> <div> </div> <div> Regarding the private sector, I would like to say that the private sector alone cannot grow unless it is supported and facilitated by the government. Both of them should make efforts for a better environment for mutual growth.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-17', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Private sector is a crucial component and contributor to national development. However, sometimes it fails to play proper role. Dr. Kamal Raj Dhungel, Associate Professor of Central Department of Economics, Tribhuwan University, recently discussed existing relationship between private sector and government and investment climate in Nepal, with The Corporate’s Angila Sharma, Excerpts:', 'sortorder' => '2080', '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) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2237', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Nepal Political News In Brief (9 - 15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Singh Sings Consensus Tune</strong></span></div> <div> Nepali Congress general secretary Prakashman Singh said drafting a new constitution on the basis of consensus was the need of the hour. Speaking at a programme in capital last Saturday, newly-elected Constituent Assembly (CA) member Singh said his party would take initiative for drafting a new constitution by taking all the political parties represented there into confidence. The matters of government formation and about the President cropped up in the present should be seriously dealt with as they could fuel people’s frustrations, he said. Underlining the need of ending long-standing political transition as soon as possible, leader Singh assured of understanding between the Congress and CPN (UML) to settle the contentious issues.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Secy Baskota Monitors Road Expansion Works</strong></span></div> <div> Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Krishna Hari Baskota, has directed the concerned sectors to expedite the works under the road expansion campaign in the Kathmandu Valley. Secretary Baskota, who is also the coordinator of road expansion high level monitoring committee, monitored the expansion works and directed the concerned sectors to complete the road expansion very quickly.”If the contractors are lackadaisical, they must be made aware of it, and if it does not work, the contract can be scrapped,” he warned the contractors. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Gajurel’s Nay to Unity with UCPN (Maoist)</strong></span></div> <div> CPN-Maoist vice-chairman CP Gajurel has said there was no possibility of party’s unification with the UCPN-Maoist. “There was no meaning in forging alliance with the UCPN-Maoist, from which we walked away last year,” he said, adding that the UCPN-Maoist was an opportunist party. Speaking at an interaction programme organised in capital last Saturday, Vice-Chairman Gajurel accused the leaders of the UCPN (Maoist) of harbouring opportunistic character. However, he said if it agreed in roundtable conference, the CPN-Maoist would talk of unity with this party.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Gachhadar Bats for Congress-led Govt</strong></span></div> <div> Madhesi Janadhikar Forum- Democratic chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar has said that his party would support the government under the leadership of Nepali Congress (NC). During the meeting with NC president Sushil Koirala held at his residence in Maharajgunj last Friday, Gachchhadar said that his party was committed to democracy and would support the government under the NC-led government. During the meeting the two leaders discussed about forging political consensus to form the government, to call the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) and Legislature-Parliament, and constitution writing among other contemporary issues. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>CA Court Summons Dahal</strong></span></div> <div> Constituent Assembly court issued an order last Friday summoning UCPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, winner from Siraha constituency no. 5, to appear in the court within 10 days. A divisional bench of CA Court Chairperson Kalyan Shrestha and member duo, Girish Chandra Lal and Sushila Karki issued the directive to UCPN (Maoist) Chairperson Dahal and election officer of Siraha constituency no. 5 Uddhav Bhattarai, among others. CPN-UML candidate from the constituency Leelanath Shrestha had demanded re-polling alleging election rigging by the cadres of Chairperson Dahal.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nepali Congress general secretary Prakashman Singh said drafting a new constitution on the basis of consensus was the need of the hour.', 'sortorder' => '2079', '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) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2236', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Weekly Round Up (2 - 8 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> •The European Union (EU) imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Nepal last Thursday from flying into the 28-nation bloc under the latest changes to its list of unsafe carriers. The European Commission updated for the 22nd time the European list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU, better known as “the EU air safety list.” “On the basis of safety information from various sources and a hearing both with Nepalis aviation authorities as well as with a number of Nepalese carriers, the Commission decided to put all airlines from Nepal on the EU air safety list,” the EU said. As a consequence of the ban on Nepalis carriers, they are prevented from flying into or within the Union. This ban is not only a major setback to Nepal’s tourism industry, but to the country as a whole. Although none of the Nepali carriers make flight to the 28-nation bloc, the consequences could be seen in the tourism and economy from the travel alert on European travellers to not use Nepali carriers. </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> •Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference has concluded at Bali adopting a five-draft decision declaration and the 10-document full Bali Package that addresses the Doha Development Agenda. The last-minute deal would lower trade barriers and speed up the passage of goods through customs. Analysts estimate that over time it could boost the world economy by hundreds of billions of dollars and create more than 20 million jobs, mostly in developing countries. As a coordinator of the Consultative Group of the LDCs at the ongoing WTO conference in Bali, Indonesia, Nepal has raised its voice to demand a larger space in international trade for LDCs. Also, with the country itself facing barriers aplenty in international trade and a skyrocketing trade deficit, Nepal tried voice its concerns on existing multi-lateral and bilateral trade issues. Though developed countries have pledged Duty-Free-Quota-Free (DFQF) market access to 97 percent of the goods originating from LDCs as per Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005, only around 80- 91 percent of the goods are enjoying such facility. Nepal has been getting this facility for 81 percent of its exports to developed countires while some other African LDCs have been enjoying this for 91 percent of their total exports to developed countries under the DFQF. </div> <div> </div> <div> •The government has collected Rs 94.32 billion revenue in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The amount is Rs 140 million higher than the target. The government had collected Rs 78.3 billion revenue in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The collected revenue is 20.87 per cent higher compared to the amount of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. </div> <div> </div> <div> •Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has begun buying an additional 30 MW of power from India in a bid to ease the chronic power shortage in the country during winter. The Power Trading Corporation of India has sold the power to Nepal at a rate of Rs.3.75 (NRs.6) per unit. The additional power import takes Nepal’s total import from India to 165 MW. Nepal has been requesting India to provide at least 250 MW to meet its increasing power deficit. The NEA is aiming to bring down load-shedding to 12 hours this winter by getting more power from India. Currently, there is a shortfall of 350 MW to meet the requirements as existing capacity is just around 700 MW.Measures are being taken to reduce power demand, including operating some multi-fuel plants and revamping existing power plants. Officials say Nepal pays around Rs.22 billion every year for procuring power from India, which includes importing inverters and diesel generators.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The European Union (EU) imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Nepal last Thursday from flying into the 28-nation bloc under the latest changes to its list of unsafe carriers. The European Commission updated for the 22nd time the European list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU, better known as “the EU air safety list.”', 'sortorder' => '2078', '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) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2235', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'NC, UML Sign Three-point Deal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have signed a three-point pact last Saturday. The two parties have agreed to move ahead together with mutual understanding and collaboration to complete the political responsibility. </div> <div> </div> <div> They have also reached an understanding to immediately hold dialogue with UCPN (Maoist) as well as its breakaway faction of the CPN-Maoist. </div> <div> </div> <div> NC President Sushil Koirala and UML Chairperson Jhalanath Khanal signed the three-point deal that includes a commitment to move ahead together on mutual understanding. The leaders of the two parties have agreed on an agreement following a hectic dialogue at Peace Fund Secretariat in Babarmahal, Kathmandu.</div> <div> </div> <div> The two parties also expressed thanks to all sides concerned for the successful holding of free, fair and impartial CA election on November 19.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have signed a three-point pact last Saturday. The two parties have agreed to move ahead together with mutual understanding and collaboration to complete the political responsibility.', 'sortorder' => '2077', '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) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2234', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Three-day National Mourning On Mandela’s Demise', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> The government has decided to hold a three-day national mourning on the demise of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid leader. The cabinet meeting held last Saturday decided to fly the national flag at half-mast at government and diplomatic missions abroad and not to hold any official ceremonies for three days starting from Sunday. The government has also expressed condolence to the family of Mandela and to the people of South Africa.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, the cabinet meeting has also decided to send a delegation led by Foreign Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire to attend Mandela’s condolence assembly to be held in South Africa on December 10.</div> <div> </div> <div> Mandela, who led South Africa’s transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s, died last Thursday at the age of 95. He was receiving intensive medical care at home for a lung infection after spending three months in hospital.</div> <div> </div> <div> President Dr Ram Baran Yadav has also expressed profound sadness over the demise of the father of South Africa. Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala has said that he was stunned by the news of the demise of Mandela. He also wished for eternal peace to the departed soul while expressing condolences to the bereaved family and people and government of South Africa at this hour of grief in the demise of Mandela.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The government has decided to hold a three-day national mourning on the demise of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid leader.', 'sortorder' => '2076', '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) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2233', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Parties Mull Selection Of PR Candidates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Sagar Ghimire</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Following the Election Commission’s deadline of December 10 for the parties to submit their nominees for the CA under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, political parties have begun intra party process to pick the names.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nepali Congress (NC), which has grabbed the highest number of seats under the PR system, held the meeting of its Parliamentary Board last Friday to select the names. NC, which has bagged 105 seats under direct system, secured 91 seats under the PR system. The 15-member board is still to pick the names of candidates following the selection criteria, a member of the Board </div> <div> told TC. </div> <div> </div> <div> Likewise, CPN (UML), which won 91 seats under direct system, is also holding its central committee meeting on December 9 to select 84 candidates that is entitled for the CA members under the PR system. Earlier, on last Friday, Standing Committee meeting of the CPN (UML) proposed to nominate half of the total candidates from the central committee and central departments and local committees, weighing their contribution to the party.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP Nepal) has also said that it is preparing to submit the names of the PR candidates to the EC within a week. RPP-Nepal, which failed to win a single seat under direct electoral system, however, emerged as fourth largest party managing to secure 24 seats under PR system.</div> <div> </div> <div> However, UCPN (Maoist), the third largest party, has said that it would not nominate its representatives unless its demand of forming a probe commission to investigate into the alleged vote rigging is not met. UCPN (Maoist) has won 26 seats under direct system, while it bagged 54 seats under PR system. The winners of the UCPN (Maoist) under the direct system have not accepted the certificate from the EC yet. Nine other fringe parties that have won few seats, are also joining the UCPN (Maoist) in the chorus of vote rigging. They also have said that they would not recommend the names until probe commission is formed.</div> <div> </div> <div> Earlier last week, the EC had made public the total number of the seats secured by the 30 political parties under the PR system. It has asked 30 parties to recommend the names of the PR candidates to join the CA by December 10. Political parties have to pick the names from the PR list that they have submitted to the EC before the CA polls as per the electoral laws. The laws required the parties to maintain certain per cent of the proportional representation from women, Janajatis, Dalits, Madhesis, people representing the backward communities and Khas Aarya group.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Following the Election Commission’s deadline of December 10 for the parties to submit their nominees for the CA under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, political parties have begun intra party process to pick the names.', 'sortorder' => '2075', '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) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2232', 'article_category_id' => '138', 'title' => 'Nepal And The World News In Brief (9 -15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Japan Approves $182 bn Economic Package </strong></span></div> <div> Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved a $182 billion package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the impact. The package has a headline value of 18.6 trillion yen ($182 billion), which is an exaggerated figure as the bulk of the package includes loans from government-backed lenders and spending by local governments that was already scheduled.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Australia and South Korea Agree FTA</strong></span></div> <div> Australia and South Korea have agreed on a free trade deal in an attempt to boost trade between the two countries. As part of the deal, tariffs on key Australian exports to South Korea such as agricultural products, energy and resources will be eliminated. It is also likely to help South Korean firms in sectors such as steel, textile and car manufacturing to boost their presence in Australia. Trade between the two nations was worth $29bn in 2012.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Newsweek to Revive Print Edition </strong></span></div> <div> US current affairs magazine Newsweek, which had ceased publication last year to focus on its Web site, plans to bring back the print edition early next year. The magazine expects to begin a 64-page weekly edition in January or February, Newsweek’s editor-in-chief Jim Impoco said in an interview to the New York Times.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>EU Fines Banks Record €1.71 bn over Libor</strong></span></div> <div> The European Union has levied a record antitrust fine of €1.71 billion ($2.3 billion) on six European and U.S. banks and brokers for rigging benchmark interest rates. Deutsche Bank was hit with the single biggest penalty of €725.4 million for participating in illegal cartels to manipulate the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor, and London interbank offered rate, or Libor. Other firms fined were Societe Generale, Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan and Citigroup , and U.K.-based broker RP Martin.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved a $182 billion package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the impact.', 'sortorder' => '2074', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/indexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2242', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'Choosing The Right College', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <strong>--By Upashana Neupane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Choosing ‘Where you study’ is as important as ‘What you study’. Selecting the right college is an important decision to make as it decides the rest of your personal and professional life. An individual has to make this decision here are some aspects to be consideredwhile selecting a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Firstly don’t rush to get admitted in a particular college. Inquire and research to know enough about the options available and try to acquire more information from them so that you have sufficient resources to analyse and reach a conclusive decision. </div> <div> </div> <div> If any of your prospective colleges don’t provide sufficient information, try to do online research by visiting their websites, asking about the college on social media channels and if possible try to enquire with students who are studying or have studied in that college. Gather required information through any means available. </div> <div> </div> <div> Once you have gathered information about prospective colleges and identified your educational needs, start the decision making process by eliminating college that do not meet your expectation. Eliminating such colleges, help focus on remaining colleges that mostly meet your needs and expectations. </div> <div> </div> <div> Your checklist, while digging out information for a prospective college, should consider factors likedegrees offered by the college, infrastructures and resources of the college (labs, libraries etc.), fee structure and costs, co-curricular activities, reputation and ranking of the college in the industry, associated faculty members, among others. </div> <div> </div> <div> Find out courses offered by a college along with the relevancy of those courses to your career plan. Colleges offer many courses, but knowing your requirements can easily help you in eliminating or selecting a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Infrastructure facilities like labs, classrooms, libraries, canteen and playgrounds are important factors that contribute in creating a conducive environment for academic studies. Thus, look out for infrastructural facilities that a college has and whether they cater to your personal needs.</div> <div> </div> <div> Check out fee structure and total costs of a course that you have selected to study and cross compare it with the fee structure of other colleges, who provide same course. </div> <div> </div> <div> Co-curricular activities play an important role in developing team spirit in individuals. Check out how and what type of co-curricular activities does a college conducts. Comparing these activities with other prospective colleges will provide another metric to select or deselect a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Reputation of a college in the industry is an important factor for professional career. Always try to be part of a renowned college that has earned reputation for grooming best industry professionals and a college that is managed by reputed academicians and professionals. </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, availability of faculty members, their qualification and reputation is another important factor that is directly related to the learning activity. In fact this is considered as one of the most important aspect while choosing acollege. Run a background check to verify that the faculty members listed on a college’s brochure do really teach there. Full time faculty provide attention to students need in comparison to part time faculties. </div> <div> </div> <div> Likewise, check availability of scholarships schemes and if you can qualify for any of them.</div> <div> </div> <div> Lastly, don’t get carried away with advertisements and hypes. Evaluate the college on the basis of the metrics listed above before buying the claims of any college’s advertisement and pinning down a college to pursue your higher studies.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Choosing ‘Where you study’ is as important as ‘What you study’. Selecting the right college is an important decision to make as it decides the rest of your personal and professional life. An individual has to make this decision here are some aspects to be consideredwhile selecting a college.', 'sortorder' => '2088', '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) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2245', 'article_category_id' => '109', 'title' => 'Fin Sector Reform Efforts Lauded', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> World Bank has lauded Nepal’s efforts towards budget implementation, financial sector reform and anti money laundering. A team of delegates led by Guillemette Jaffrin, Private Sector Development Expert at the World Bank, met Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi last Thursday and discussed Nepal’s overall economic development and financial sector reform. The meeting also focused on formulation of a financial sector development strategy, restructuring of Nepal Bank Ltd. (NBL) and Rastriya Banijya Bank and increasing the capital structure of Nepal Rastra Bank, according to a press release issued by the Finance Ministry.</div> <div> </div> <div> During the meeting, Finance Secretary Subedi told Jaffrin that Nepal has made a remarkable progress on the issue of anti money laundering at legal, policy and implementation level. Subedi further told Jaffrin that the ministry was working seriously towards increasing the capital spending. </div> <div> </div> <div> World Bank has been providing support to Nepal on banking and financial reform programmes. The World Bank has provided a US$ 30 million credit to help Nepal accelerate its financial sector reform program to reduce vulnerability of the banking sector and increase its transparency. </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'World Bank has lauded Nepal’s efforts towards budget implementation, financial sector reform and anti money laundering. A team of delegates led by Guillemette Jaffrin, Private Sector Development Expert at the World Bank, met Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi last Thursday and discussed Nepal’s overall economic development and financial sector reform.', 'sortorder' => '2087', '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' => '2244', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'Learning Curve News In Brief (9 - 15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Australian Scholarships to 39 Nepalis</strong></span></div> <div> Thirty-nine Nepali students havereceived Australia Awards Scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies in Australia in 2014. Education Secretary Narayan Gopal Malego and Australia’s Ambassador to Nepal, Glenn White, on 3rd December, presented the Awards to the students amid a function organised by the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu. Of those awarded, 16 are women and 19 are government employees. </div> <div> </div> <div> The students will be pursuing studies in areas of Australia’s priority sectors in Nepal, which include health, education, governance, livelihoods, water and sanitation and forestry. A press statement released by the Australian embassy stated that the Australian scholarships aim to contribute to the long-term objectives of developing countries to promote growth and stability. The scholarships equip recipients with the skills and knowledge to drive change and contribute to the economic and social development of their own countries, the statement further added. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Bharatpur Medical College Honoured</strong></span></div> <div> The College of Medical Sciences (Bharatpur Medical College) has received a SAARC level honour for outstanding surgical services. The college was felicitated amid a programme on Sunday, December 1st amid a programme held within the hospital premises. Hospital Director Natraj Prasad said that a group, including personnel from the SAARC Surgical Care Society,had inspected the hospital activities last year.Bharatpur Medical College is the first among 20 government hospitals in the country, to receive such a award.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>St Xavier’s College Celebrates 25th Anniversary</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="St Xavier’s College" src="/userfiles/images/sx.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; width: 100px; height: 119px;" />St Xavier’s College, Maitighar celebrated 25th anniversary on Tuesday, 3rd December. The college organised a special programme to mark the occasion and felicitated 18 teachers and staff membersfor their services. </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, it also felicitated students who have excelled in various faculties and contributed to the nation. Vice President Parmanand Jha lauded the college’s contribution to the nation and said, “The dedication of Fathers and teachers toward their job and the students’ hard work have ensured the college a good reputation at both national and international levels.”</div> <div> </div> <div> He opined that teachers at school and higher education level must be dedicated toward their job for Nepal’s progress in education sector.</div> <div> </div> <div> Father Augustine Thomas SJ, Principal of the college, informed that the college is working for upgrading as a university.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Tribhuvan University Published 1 Year B.Ed Results</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="Tribhuvan University" src="/userfiles/images/tu(1).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; width: 100px; height: 90px;" />Tribhuvan University Office of the Controller of Examination, Balkhu published the results of one year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) examination on Wednesday, 5th December. Total of 2,555 students passed the examination out of 8,087 (31.59%). The examination of one year B.Ed was held on Magha 2068.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Thirty-nine Nepali students havereceived Australia Awards Scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies in Australia in 2014.', 'sortorder' => '2086', '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) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2243', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'What Are Grants/Support/Scholarships Provided By University Grants Commission Nepal?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> If you want to know about what are the support, grants or scholarships University Grant Commission of Nepal, provides to colleges, universities or faculties (Professors/Lecturers) or even students. Here are the main highlights. </div> <div> </div> <div> Every year UGC announces application for the grants/supports and scholarships as listed below. For the academic year 2070, the commission has started collecting application/proposal and the deadline for some programmes ends on Poush 30.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Programs for which college/candidates has to apply within 2070 Poush 30</strong></span></div> <div> 1.Regular Grants</div> <div> 2.Physical Facility Development</div> <div> 3.Library Strengthening and Equipment Grants</div> <div> a.Grants for Purchasing Books</div> <div> b.Grants for Purchasing Furniture</div> <div> c.Grants for Purchasing Equipments</div> <div> 4.Ph.D. Fellowship</div> <div> 5.M.Phil. Fellowship</div> <div> 6.M. Phil. Thesis Preparation Support</div> <div> 7.Refresher Course/Capacity Development Program/ Research Methodology Training</div> <div> 8.Mini-Research</div> <div> 9.Visit by Professor in Higher Education Institutions</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Grants/Support for which candidates can apply anytime throughout the year</strong></span></div> <div> 1.Thesis Support for Persons with Disabilities</div> <div> 2.Partial Support for the PhD fellow</div> <div> 3.Visit to Institutions of SAARC Countries for Special Study/ Research</div> <div> 4.Travel Grants for Participation in Seminars/ Conferences</div> <div> 5.Seminar/ Workshop/ Conference</div> <div> </div> <div> <em>(www.edusanjal.com)</em></div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'If you want to know about what are the support, grants or scholarships University Grant Commission of Nepal, provides to colleges, universities or faculties (Professors/Lecturers) or even students. Here are the main highlights.', 'sortorder' => '2085', '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) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2240', 'article_category_id' => '86', 'title' => 'Growing Nepali Film Industry', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> A famous actor from abroad was requested to re-inaugurate a Nepali film. After the ribbon-cutting was over, he was asked to make a speech as the chief guest before screening of the movie started.</div> <div> </div> <div> Looking at the sparse audience at the cinema hall the guest said: ‘I see each of you must have bought two or three seats. This shows how the popularity of Nepali film industry is growing.’ -ML</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'A famous actor from abroad was requested to re-inaugurate a Nepali film. After the ribbon-cutting was over, he was asked to make a speech as the chief guest before screening of the movie started.', 'sortorder' => '2084', '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) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2241', 'article_category_id' => '146', 'title' => 'Visual Edit Vol3 Issue 41', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Visual Edit', 'sortorder' => '2083', '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' => '2239', 'article_category_id' => '145', 'title' => 'Market As An Institution For Inclusive Growth And Development', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Madhukar SJB Rana</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Creating a new mind set amidst citizens -- away from the feudalrisk-averting, rent-seeking behaviour towards competition, entrepreneurship and judicious risk taking is a challenge that needs to be faced by the victorious left of centre and centrist political parties that now dominate the Constituent Assembly. Being able to do so will deepen liberal democracy and heighten the chances for the long desired economic revolution.</div> <div> </div> <div> The market assures Good Governance through Transparency, Accountability and Competition with, hopefully, a lean and efficient State where Consumer Sovereignty Is deemed to be just as vital as People’s Sovereignty and Parliamentary Sovereignty for a dynamic liberal society.</div> <div> </div> <div> Strong and sound Regulation of Business by State guarantees moral and ethical Markets to safeguard the supremacy of Consumer Rights and Welfare, as well as Labour’s Rights and Welfare. Regulated Markets helps eradicate graft and corruption from the body politic by advancing the rule of law, order and justice including laying the ground work for a stronger criminal justice system. Absence of competitive Markets adversely affects all these vitals for a vibrant political democracy. Graft and corruption is endemic when the State enters the domain of business and when these enterprises are outside the purview of regulation by independent authorities providing for a level playing field for all enterprises.</div> <div> </div> <div> In short, the Market mechanism allows the fostering of a new Social Contract between the People and the State in the manner of 4 Ps -- people-private-public- partnerships if all decisions, henceforth, seek to maximise social profit and not simply private profit as happens now. Business enterprises will then begin to take their Corporate Social Responsibility statements more seriously and not use their CSR statements as new managerial fads for PR purposes.</div> <div> </div> <div> Indeed, a moral market calls for the enforcement of these statements as cases to be decided by Consumer and Labour courts on grounds of morality that may thus go far beyond the rule of law. This is the essence of moral Markets.</div> <div> </div> <div> Policy for marketisation: No licence be needed to enter any business. All citizens be able to a start business with due registration with Company Affairs Dept or CDO offices for proprietorships and partnerships as the case may be. All businesses must have PAN cards from Ministry of Finance or, where unable, from the Ward Office as a registered local business entity. Transaction cost for such business permits be at the minimum possible. And to convert informal businesses to formal ones, the State should encourage register at ease by providing subsidies to meet their registration costs.</div> <div> </div> <div> Markets create cities and an ever expanding middle class both of which are forces and factors for inclusive social development and modernization. No institutional innovation known to mankind can crate more wealth and prosperity than does the market mechanism. Liberal democracies are best served by an expanding middle class with maximum social mobility.</div> <div> </div> <div> Markets must be managed by managers whose social duty is to create a win-win situation by balancing the interests of all stakeholders -- owners, shareholders, employees, consumers, suppliers, community and ecology.</div> <div> </div> <div> Governments must regulate Markets to guarantee fair and free competition and to oversee that the larger public good, including those of the next generation and the additional need to conserve and protect the natural environment.</div> <div> </div> <div> Faith in the Market as an institution does not mean that it will guarantee economic or social justice. We must not subscribe to laissez faire where the property class is given free reign. Rather than seeking to curtail the excesses of wealth through all manner of wealth and estate taxes as well as capital gains taxes, the state must encourage Private Philanthropy and for this the new CA is alerted to the need to promulgate a Private Trust Act that is available for all sectors of the economy. It has been lying pending since 2005. The state must regulate the Market to ensure be actualised. For all this to be actualised, there is the supreme need for strong independent regulatory bodies to protect and promote the rule of law just as much as there is need for a strong Executive to be kept in check and balance with the final say left to an independent Supreme Court as the arbiter and dispense of justice and the Constitutional Court to decide on the powers and authority of the federal and local governments.</div> <div> </div> <div> It should be the Constitutional Court that has the final say on when People’s Sovereignty should hold sway over Parliamentary Sovereignty so that matters for local, federal and national referenda could be decided in an apolitical manner by an organ of State other than the Parliament.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Constitution must be one that enshrines liberal democracy where the State guarantees equal opportunity to all based on merit and grounded by a Social Contract where there is quality education and health services from the State for all: to ensure social meritocracy for all irrespective of race, religion, caste, class and region. All public institutions must be bound by minimum standards for infrastructure, health and hygiene, safety and security.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Constitution must also enshrine values of Transparency, Accountability and Competition as the troika of Liberal Multi Party Democracy. A strong State is needed that is fully alert to the probability of collusion by and between vested interest of Political Parties acting in tandem with the wealthy and rich classes to capture Political and Market power against the larger Public Good. Only politically neutral, strong, independent and autonomous Institutions can guarantee this. Public servants holding party membership must be summarily dismissed from service and asked to become politicians rather than be ones in disguise.</div> <div> </div> <div> It must punish patronage politics and political executive’s incursion into bureaucratic executive’s prerogative, which is to support the formulation of policies rationally and to execute policies efficiently and effectively. To assure this delicate balance of executive powers is in effect new forms of Accountability to Parliament must be innovated. One method is to have Ministers account for Policies and Bureaucrats account, to Parliamentary Select Committees for Policy Execution -- for its speed and also its propriety vis Acts, bye laws and regulations. Bureaucrats must be guaranteed a minimum tenure on posts they are assigned to; and for which they must be academically qualified as determined by the job specifications that befit job descriptions.</div> <div> </div> <div> Gurcharan Das says beautifully, in his “India Grows At Night” (2012), that the mantra of France is ‘equality’; that of U S A it is ‘liberty’ and that of India it is ‘dharma’. Let it be so in Nepal too where our National Dharma should be democracy, duty, discipline, determination, discrimination (between good and bad and right and wrong) and devotion to God and family.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Conclusion</strong></span></div> <div> We need to found, in the 21st century, a moral State with a moral society and moral markets. That subscribes to pluralism and pragmatism; that practices unity in diversity through its diverse communities while, at the same time, empowering each person to not only take pride in his or her individual identity but the modern State providing full societal scope for each individual to have and behold multiple identities, which should be the hallmark of the 21st century.</div> <div> </div> <div> <em>(Writer is Professor at South Asian Institute of Management and Former Finance Minister)</em></div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Creating a new mind set amidst citizens -- away from the feudalrisk-averting, rent-seeking behaviour towards competition, entrepreneurship and judicious risk taking is a challenge that needs to be faced by the victorious left of centre and centrist political parties that now dominate the Constituent Assembly.', 'sortorder' => '2082', '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' => '2238', 'article_category_id' => '144', 'title' => 'Improve Supply Side Constraints', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> World Trade Organization’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded on 7 December with the issuance of the Bali Package- an agreement on issues that are considered to be stepping stone for completing the goals of Doha Round. Issues addressed in the Bali Package have theoretically paved way to boost development goals and trading capacities of the Least Developed Countries. While the agreement is definitely promising for increasing Nepali products that reach international market, it alone is not sufficient to bridge the nation’s existing trade deficit. </div> <div> </div> <div> Presently Nepal has been receiving preferential market for 81 percent of its total exports under the Duty Free Quota Free (DFQF) system from various WTO member nations. Considering the existing trade deficit, it becomes evident that it has not been able to exploit facilities provided to it as a LCD member nation of the WTO. This fact is evident of the necessity for focusing on issues that are hindering its export capabilities rather than solely relying on receiving trade aid from the international community. Primary focus in this regard should be to find and resolve existing supply side constraints that could provide much needed boost to Nepal’s trading capacities. </div> <div> </div> <div> Supply side constraints start right from the production facility. Even though many Nepali products have good demands in the international market, political unrest, labour strikes, transport bottlenecks and unfriendly government policies have deterred production of these products and their delivery to the destination market. The Nepali State should focus on minimizing these deterrents to ensure smooth production and supply of goods. </div> <div> </div> <div> Nepal specializes in exporting agro products. Still it lacks a cold chain facility trading route. Even within the nation, it lacks a coordinated and interlinked cold chain that could facilitate agro trade. Facilitating the private sector for provision of such a chain, would provide boost to exports</div> <div> </div> <div> Another bottleneck in the export of agro-products is the lack of well equipped quarantine checkposts. Added to that is the lack of an agency that is competent and recognized internationally for quality certification. </div> <div> </div> <div> Quality is an essential factor in trading. Consumers always look for quality. Setting up an independent mechanism that could provide international quality certificate to products can ensure that exported products are not returned back citing quality reasons. Such certification system will increase brand image of Nepali products in international market and provide sustainable basis for steady trade growth. </div> <div> </div> <div> Identifying potential market and facilitating linkages between prospective producers and traders need to be ensured. Nepal has immense potentials for producing exportable agro and manufacturing products. People can meet the demands of the market, if there is market. The only prerequisite on the state’s side is to create conducive climate for these products and to identify market opportunities. </div> <div> </div> <div> Lengthy national and international customs regulations have been pointed out as great barriers for smooth trans-border trade. Bali Package pledges to address this issue but that will not sufficient. Nepal should on its own initiate talks for easing off custom regulations with nations that it does business with. It’s high time for Nepal to hold negotiations with its trading nations for streamlining custom regulations.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'World Trade Organization’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded on 7 December with the issuance of the Bali Package- an agreement on issues that are considered to be stepping stone for completing the goals of Doha Round.', 'sortorder' => '2081', '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) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2228', 'article_category_id' => '134', 'title' => '“Government Is Supressing Private Sector’s Growth”', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:15px;">Private sector is a crucial component and contributor to national development. However, sometimes it fails to play proper role. <strong>Dr. Kamal Raj Dhungel,</strong> Associate Professor of Central Department of Economics, Tribhuwan University, recently discussed existing relationship between private sector and government and investment climate in Nepal, with The Corporate’s <strong>Angila Sharma, Excerpts:</strong></span></div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>What can the Nepali economy expect from the success of the recent CA elections and the formation of a new government?</strong></span></div> <div> In this historical election, no party gained majority and so the government will be a coalition one. If the coalition government comprises of CPN-UML and Nepali Congress, it will be beneficial for the private sector. It was evident in the 90’s. During that time, this team had come up with liberalization policy and had made efforts to lead the economy towards prosperity. There were many bottlenecks and as such, this policy failed. So, if the parties in the higher position can now give continuity to the same policies and can implement them with effective monitoring, private sector will flourish leading to development of various parts of the economy.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, we can also expect good things from the upcoming government. But, for this, a single party or a combination of some parties cannot do anything. For the prosperity and economic growth of this nation, all political parties should work hand in hand.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Do you think our private sector is sincere enough in delivering services to the consumers? What are the reasons they are lacking behind in this?</strong></span></div> <div> State has to play leading role when it comes to the growth of the private sector. It is the state’s responsibility to provide the private sector with essential facilities while also monitoring their activities regarding implementation of the facilities provided by the state. Private sector is always profit-oriented. Its activities depend on the government’s attitude towards it. The government should ensure reasonable profit for the private sector while providing security for the investment made by the private sector and guaranteeing subsidies in delivery of necessary goods for the consumers. It should be able to create market for the private sector and should implement a clean and clear monitoring system. It is because of lack of such monitoring system that private sector has been lagging behind. Private sector can be effective if government provides enough security and an effective monitoring system.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>What is it that is lacking in our monitoring system?</strong></span></div> <div> For now, the government is weak. The government is vulnerable because of some reasons: Firstly, we do not have constitution and the Maoists who had originally demanded for CA elections are in third position while parties, who had never had this as their primary agenda, are now in leading position. In the past four years, nothing fruitful could be obtained. Rather, highlighting of issues surrounding federalism distributed solidarity among the people. Secondly, we do not have stability in our political and economic sphere. Presently these spheres are rigid and this has rendered our concerns and voices valueless. Economic activities are directly proportional to political stability and thus economic prosperity is possible via political stability. At this moment, the whole economic sector depends on the momentum of the political sector, which is presently in an unpredictable situation.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>There is a wide spread criticism regarding the insincerity of some private sector actors in providing facilities to consumers. What is your opinion on this?</strong></span></div> <div> Private sector is not trying to run away from its responsibility. I have listened to talk shows and programmes organized by FNCCI and CNI. They have often invited political leaders to their programmes and asked them to bring political consensus and consider economic growth as their main agenda. Private sector has substantial capital at its disposal and wants to utilize it in development activities. As such, they have highlighted five major areas that can speed up national development: agriculture, hydropower, tourism, education and infrastructure. They have identified these sectors as potential sources for national prosperity and development. People have begun investing internationally because there is no scope for investment here. This situation has been created here due to lack of security, market, and subsidies among others. Private sector is not trying to escape; rather, the government is suppressing it as it is failing to create a suitable environment for the private sector to flourish. Basically, private sector is in shadow because of government’s failure to create a conducive environment for its growth.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Even though our economy is relatively smaller it has always faced the problem of capital shortage. But, we are always able to invest in sophisticated products. Why is the economy failing to invest in more essential sector?</strong></span></div> <div> This is a very good question. A big portion of imports in Nepal constitutes of goods that cannot be substituted. Thus, a big amount of capital is being invested in the import of such goods. Import of goods like vehicles, gold and oil cannot be substituted by domestic production. We spend billions of rupees in importing these goods because these goods are important but cannot be produced in our country.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nonetheless, our economy has the potential to substitute import of certain goods like gas. Gas is one of the goods that have always led to conflict in the country, sometimes even leading to change of government. Nepal Oil Corporation is not always able to meet our needs and is also always on loss. We could substitute this, to some extent, through electricity. If we can produce sufficient electricity and provide it in convenient price, it will automatically solve the gas import problem. We could opt for electric bike, electric cars and electric trains if hydropower is properly utilized. So, it is necessary that we exploit hydropower to its fullest capacity</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>It is quite essential to have effective regulatory mechanisms to ensure smooth functioning of an economy. What improvements would you suggest in our economy’s regulatory mechanisms?</strong></span></div> <div> Monitoring system is a regulatory body. Our nation must not only have controlling mechanisms but should also include facilitating mechanism as its regulatory system. It means that private sector should be provided with subsidies, enough infrastructure, facility of tax exemption etc. Along with that, there should also be a separate regulatory mechanism that monitors the private sector’s activities.</div> <div> </div> <div> If one private sector actor does not work properly, the government should be able to dismantle it immediately and it should also provide space for the entry of new ones. However, existing lack of co-ordination within government agencies is making it difficult for the private sector to grow.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>In this changed scenario, as an economist, what would you suggest to the private sector, government and the consumers?</strong></span></div> <div> We are experiencing a major change and the future of our nation is unpredictable at this juncture. However, I am still optimistic. Regarding the CA elections’ results, I would sincerely like to thank the people of Terai for bringing a change in their voting pattern. I am glad that they did not stick to the earlier voting trend.</div> <div> </div> <div> Regarding the private sector, I would like to say that the private sector alone cannot grow unless it is supported and facilitated by the government. Both of them should make efforts for a better environment for mutual growth.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-17', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Private sector is a crucial component and contributor to national development. However, sometimes it fails to play proper role. Dr. Kamal Raj Dhungel, Associate Professor of Central Department of Economics, Tribhuwan University, recently discussed existing relationship between private sector and government and investment climate in Nepal, with The Corporate’s Angila Sharma, Excerpts:', 'sortorder' => '2080', '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) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2237', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Nepal Political News In Brief (9 - 15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Singh Sings Consensus Tune</strong></span></div> <div> Nepali Congress general secretary Prakashman Singh said drafting a new constitution on the basis of consensus was the need of the hour. Speaking at a programme in capital last Saturday, newly-elected Constituent Assembly (CA) member Singh said his party would take initiative for drafting a new constitution by taking all the political parties represented there into confidence. The matters of government formation and about the President cropped up in the present should be seriously dealt with as they could fuel people’s frustrations, he said. Underlining the need of ending long-standing political transition as soon as possible, leader Singh assured of understanding between the Congress and CPN (UML) to settle the contentious issues.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Secy Baskota Monitors Road Expansion Works</strong></span></div> <div> Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Krishna Hari Baskota, has directed the concerned sectors to expedite the works under the road expansion campaign in the Kathmandu Valley. Secretary Baskota, who is also the coordinator of road expansion high level monitoring committee, monitored the expansion works and directed the concerned sectors to complete the road expansion very quickly.”If the contractors are lackadaisical, they must be made aware of it, and if it does not work, the contract can be scrapped,” he warned the contractors. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Gajurel’s Nay to Unity with UCPN (Maoist)</strong></span></div> <div> CPN-Maoist vice-chairman CP Gajurel has said there was no possibility of party’s unification with the UCPN-Maoist. “There was no meaning in forging alliance with the UCPN-Maoist, from which we walked away last year,” he said, adding that the UCPN-Maoist was an opportunist party. Speaking at an interaction programme organised in capital last Saturday, Vice-Chairman Gajurel accused the leaders of the UCPN (Maoist) of harbouring opportunistic character. However, he said if it agreed in roundtable conference, the CPN-Maoist would talk of unity with this party.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Gachhadar Bats for Congress-led Govt</strong></span></div> <div> Madhesi Janadhikar Forum- Democratic chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar has said that his party would support the government under the leadership of Nepali Congress (NC). During the meeting with NC president Sushil Koirala held at his residence in Maharajgunj last Friday, Gachchhadar said that his party was committed to democracy and would support the government under the NC-led government. During the meeting the two leaders discussed about forging political consensus to form the government, to call the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) and Legislature-Parliament, and constitution writing among other contemporary issues. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>CA Court Summons Dahal</strong></span></div> <div> Constituent Assembly court issued an order last Friday summoning UCPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, winner from Siraha constituency no. 5, to appear in the court within 10 days. A divisional bench of CA Court Chairperson Kalyan Shrestha and member duo, Girish Chandra Lal and Sushila Karki issued the directive to UCPN (Maoist) Chairperson Dahal and election officer of Siraha constituency no. 5 Uddhav Bhattarai, among others. CPN-UML candidate from the constituency Leelanath Shrestha had demanded re-polling alleging election rigging by the cadres of Chairperson Dahal.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nepali Congress general secretary Prakashman Singh said drafting a new constitution on the basis of consensus was the need of the hour.', 'sortorder' => '2079', '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) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2236', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Weekly Round Up (2 - 8 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> •The European Union (EU) imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Nepal last Thursday from flying into the 28-nation bloc under the latest changes to its list of unsafe carriers. The European Commission updated for the 22nd time the European list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU, better known as “the EU air safety list.” “On the basis of safety information from various sources and a hearing both with Nepalis aviation authorities as well as with a number of Nepalese carriers, the Commission decided to put all airlines from Nepal on the EU air safety list,” the EU said. As a consequence of the ban on Nepalis carriers, they are prevented from flying into or within the Union. This ban is not only a major setback to Nepal’s tourism industry, but to the country as a whole. Although none of the Nepali carriers make flight to the 28-nation bloc, the consequences could be seen in the tourism and economy from the travel alert on European travellers to not use Nepali carriers. </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> •Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference has concluded at Bali adopting a five-draft decision declaration and the 10-document full Bali Package that addresses the Doha Development Agenda. The last-minute deal would lower trade barriers and speed up the passage of goods through customs. Analysts estimate that over time it could boost the world economy by hundreds of billions of dollars and create more than 20 million jobs, mostly in developing countries. As a coordinator of the Consultative Group of the LDCs at the ongoing WTO conference in Bali, Indonesia, Nepal has raised its voice to demand a larger space in international trade for LDCs. Also, with the country itself facing barriers aplenty in international trade and a skyrocketing trade deficit, Nepal tried voice its concerns on existing multi-lateral and bilateral trade issues. Though developed countries have pledged Duty-Free-Quota-Free (DFQF) market access to 97 percent of the goods originating from LDCs as per Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005, only around 80- 91 percent of the goods are enjoying such facility. Nepal has been getting this facility for 81 percent of its exports to developed countires while some other African LDCs have been enjoying this for 91 percent of their total exports to developed countries under the DFQF. </div> <div> </div> <div> •The government has collected Rs 94.32 billion revenue in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The amount is Rs 140 million higher than the target. The government had collected Rs 78.3 billion revenue in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The collected revenue is 20.87 per cent higher compared to the amount of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. </div> <div> </div> <div> •Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has begun buying an additional 30 MW of power from India in a bid to ease the chronic power shortage in the country during winter. The Power Trading Corporation of India has sold the power to Nepal at a rate of Rs.3.75 (NRs.6) per unit. The additional power import takes Nepal’s total import from India to 165 MW. Nepal has been requesting India to provide at least 250 MW to meet its increasing power deficit. The NEA is aiming to bring down load-shedding to 12 hours this winter by getting more power from India. Currently, there is a shortfall of 350 MW to meet the requirements as existing capacity is just around 700 MW.Measures are being taken to reduce power demand, including operating some multi-fuel plants and revamping existing power plants. Officials say Nepal pays around Rs.22 billion every year for procuring power from India, which includes importing inverters and diesel generators.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The European Union (EU) imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Nepal last Thursday from flying into the 28-nation bloc under the latest changes to its list of unsafe carriers. The European Commission updated for the 22nd time the European list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU, better known as “the EU air safety list.”', 'sortorder' => '2078', '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) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2235', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'NC, UML Sign Three-point Deal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have signed a three-point pact last Saturday. The two parties have agreed to move ahead together with mutual understanding and collaboration to complete the political responsibility. </div> <div> </div> <div> They have also reached an understanding to immediately hold dialogue with UCPN (Maoist) as well as its breakaway faction of the CPN-Maoist. </div> <div> </div> <div> NC President Sushil Koirala and UML Chairperson Jhalanath Khanal signed the three-point deal that includes a commitment to move ahead together on mutual understanding. The leaders of the two parties have agreed on an agreement following a hectic dialogue at Peace Fund Secretariat in Babarmahal, Kathmandu.</div> <div> </div> <div> The two parties also expressed thanks to all sides concerned for the successful holding of free, fair and impartial CA election on November 19.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have signed a three-point pact last Saturday. The two parties have agreed to move ahead together with mutual understanding and collaboration to complete the political responsibility.', 'sortorder' => '2077', '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) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2234', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Three-day National Mourning On Mandela’s Demise', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> The government has decided to hold a three-day national mourning on the demise of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid leader. The cabinet meeting held last Saturday decided to fly the national flag at half-mast at government and diplomatic missions abroad and not to hold any official ceremonies for three days starting from Sunday. The government has also expressed condolence to the family of Mandela and to the people of South Africa.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, the cabinet meeting has also decided to send a delegation led by Foreign Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire to attend Mandela’s condolence assembly to be held in South Africa on December 10.</div> <div> </div> <div> Mandela, who led South Africa’s transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s, died last Thursday at the age of 95. He was receiving intensive medical care at home for a lung infection after spending three months in hospital.</div> <div> </div> <div> President Dr Ram Baran Yadav has also expressed profound sadness over the demise of the father of South Africa. Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala has said that he was stunned by the news of the demise of Mandela. He also wished for eternal peace to the departed soul while expressing condolences to the bereaved family and people and government of South Africa at this hour of grief in the demise of Mandela.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The government has decided to hold a three-day national mourning on the demise of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid leader.', 'sortorder' => '2076', '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) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2233', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Parties Mull Selection Of PR Candidates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Sagar Ghimire</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Following the Election Commission’s deadline of December 10 for the parties to submit their nominees for the CA under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, political parties have begun intra party process to pick the names.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nepali Congress (NC), which has grabbed the highest number of seats under the PR system, held the meeting of its Parliamentary Board last Friday to select the names. NC, which has bagged 105 seats under direct system, secured 91 seats under the PR system. The 15-member board is still to pick the names of candidates following the selection criteria, a member of the Board </div> <div> told TC. </div> <div> </div> <div> Likewise, CPN (UML), which won 91 seats under direct system, is also holding its central committee meeting on December 9 to select 84 candidates that is entitled for the CA members under the PR system. Earlier, on last Friday, Standing Committee meeting of the CPN (UML) proposed to nominate half of the total candidates from the central committee and central departments and local committees, weighing their contribution to the party.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP Nepal) has also said that it is preparing to submit the names of the PR candidates to the EC within a week. RPP-Nepal, which failed to win a single seat under direct electoral system, however, emerged as fourth largest party managing to secure 24 seats under PR system.</div> <div> </div> <div> However, UCPN (Maoist), the third largest party, has said that it would not nominate its representatives unless its demand of forming a probe commission to investigate into the alleged vote rigging is not met. UCPN (Maoist) has won 26 seats under direct system, while it bagged 54 seats under PR system. The winners of the UCPN (Maoist) under the direct system have not accepted the certificate from the EC yet. Nine other fringe parties that have won few seats, are also joining the UCPN (Maoist) in the chorus of vote rigging. They also have said that they would not recommend the names until probe commission is formed.</div> <div> </div> <div> Earlier last week, the EC had made public the total number of the seats secured by the 30 political parties under the PR system. It has asked 30 parties to recommend the names of the PR candidates to join the CA by December 10. Political parties have to pick the names from the PR list that they have submitted to the EC before the CA polls as per the electoral laws. The laws required the parties to maintain certain per cent of the proportional representation from women, Janajatis, Dalits, Madhesis, people representing the backward communities and Khas Aarya group.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Following the Election Commission’s deadline of December 10 for the parties to submit their nominees for the CA under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, political parties have begun intra party process to pick the names.', 'sortorder' => '2075', '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) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2232', 'article_category_id' => '138', 'title' => 'Nepal And The World News In Brief (9 -15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Japan Approves $182 bn Economic Package </strong></span></div> <div> Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved a $182 billion package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the impact. The package has a headline value of 18.6 trillion yen ($182 billion), which is an exaggerated figure as the bulk of the package includes loans from government-backed lenders and spending by local governments that was already scheduled.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Australia and South Korea Agree FTA</strong></span></div> <div> Australia and South Korea have agreed on a free trade deal in an attempt to boost trade between the two countries. As part of the deal, tariffs on key Australian exports to South Korea such as agricultural products, energy and resources will be eliminated. It is also likely to help South Korean firms in sectors such as steel, textile and car manufacturing to boost their presence in Australia. Trade between the two nations was worth $29bn in 2012.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Newsweek to Revive Print Edition </strong></span></div> <div> US current affairs magazine Newsweek, which had ceased publication last year to focus on its Web site, plans to bring back the print edition early next year. The magazine expects to begin a 64-page weekly edition in January or February, Newsweek’s editor-in-chief Jim Impoco said in an interview to the New York Times.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>EU Fines Banks Record €1.71 bn over Libor</strong></span></div> <div> The European Union has levied a record antitrust fine of €1.71 billion ($2.3 billion) on six European and U.S. banks and brokers for rigging benchmark interest rates. Deutsche Bank was hit with the single biggest penalty of €725.4 million for participating in illegal cartels to manipulate the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor, and London interbank offered rate, or Libor. Other firms fined were Societe Generale, Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan and Citigroup , and U.K.-based broker RP Martin.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved a $182 billion package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the impact.', 'sortorder' => '2074', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 60 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
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Selecting the right college is an important decision to make as it decides the rest of your personal and professional life. An individual has to make this decision here are some aspects to be consideredwhile selecting a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Firstly don’t rush to get admitted in a particular college. Inquire and research to know enough about the options available and try to acquire more information from them so that you have sufficient resources to analyse and reach a conclusive decision. </div> <div> </div> <div> If any of your prospective colleges don’t provide sufficient information, try to do online research by visiting their websites, asking about the college on social media channels and if possible try to enquire with students who are studying or have studied in that college. Gather required information through any means available. </div> <div> </div> <div> Once you have gathered information about prospective colleges and identified your educational needs, start the decision making process by eliminating college that do not meet your expectation. Eliminating such colleges, help focus on remaining colleges that mostly meet your needs and expectations. </div> <div> </div> <div> Your checklist, while digging out information for a prospective college, should consider factors likedegrees offered by the college, infrastructures and resources of the college (labs, libraries etc.), fee structure and costs, co-curricular activities, reputation and ranking of the college in the industry, associated faculty members, among others. </div> <div> </div> <div> Find out courses offered by a college along with the relevancy of those courses to your career plan. Colleges offer many courses, but knowing your requirements can easily help you in eliminating or selecting a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Infrastructure facilities like labs, classrooms, libraries, canteen and playgrounds are important factors that contribute in creating a conducive environment for academic studies. Thus, look out for infrastructural facilities that a college has and whether they cater to your personal needs.</div> <div> </div> <div> Check out fee structure and total costs of a course that you have selected to study and cross compare it with the fee structure of other colleges, who provide same course. </div> <div> </div> <div> Co-curricular activities play an important role in developing team spirit in individuals. Check out how and what type of co-curricular activities does a college conducts. Comparing these activities with other prospective colleges will provide another metric to select or deselect a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Reputation of a college in the industry is an important factor for professional career. Always try to be part of a renowned college that has earned reputation for grooming best industry professionals and a college that is managed by reputed academicians and professionals. </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, availability of faculty members, their qualification and reputation is another important factor that is directly related to the learning activity. In fact this is considered as one of the most important aspect while choosing acollege. Run a background check to verify that the faculty members listed on a college’s brochure do really teach there. Full time faculty provide attention to students need in comparison to part time faculties. </div> <div> </div> <div> Likewise, check availability of scholarships schemes and if you can qualify for any of them.</div> <div> </div> <div> Lastly, don’t get carried away with advertisements and hypes. Evaluate the college on the basis of the metrics listed above before buying the claims of any college’s advertisement and pinning down a college to pursue your higher studies.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Choosing ‘Where you study’ is as important as ‘What you study’. Selecting the right college is an important decision to make as it decides the rest of your personal and professional life. An individual has to make this decision here are some aspects to be consideredwhile selecting a college.', 'sortorder' => '2088', '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) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2245', 'article_category_id' => '109', 'title' => 'Fin Sector Reform Efforts Lauded', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> World Bank has lauded Nepal’s efforts towards budget implementation, financial sector reform and anti money laundering. A team of delegates led by Guillemette Jaffrin, Private Sector Development Expert at the World Bank, met Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi last Thursday and discussed Nepal’s overall economic development and financial sector reform. The meeting also focused on formulation of a financial sector development strategy, restructuring of Nepal Bank Ltd. (NBL) and Rastriya Banijya Bank and increasing the capital structure of Nepal Rastra Bank, according to a press release issued by the Finance Ministry.</div> <div> </div> <div> During the meeting, Finance Secretary Subedi told Jaffrin that Nepal has made a remarkable progress on the issue of anti money laundering at legal, policy and implementation level. Subedi further told Jaffrin that the ministry was working seriously towards increasing the capital spending. </div> <div> </div> <div> World Bank has been providing support to Nepal on banking and financial reform programmes. The World Bank has provided a US$ 30 million credit to help Nepal accelerate its financial sector reform program to reduce vulnerability of the banking sector and increase its transparency. </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'World Bank has lauded Nepal’s efforts towards budget implementation, financial sector reform and anti money laundering. A team of delegates led by Guillemette Jaffrin, Private Sector Development Expert at the World Bank, met Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi last Thursday and discussed Nepal’s overall economic development and financial sector reform.', 'sortorder' => '2087', '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' => '2244', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'Learning Curve News In Brief (9 - 15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Australian Scholarships to 39 Nepalis</strong></span></div> <div> Thirty-nine Nepali students havereceived Australia Awards Scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies in Australia in 2014. Education Secretary Narayan Gopal Malego and Australia’s Ambassador to Nepal, Glenn White, on 3rd December, presented the Awards to the students amid a function organised by the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu. Of those awarded, 16 are women and 19 are government employees. </div> <div> </div> <div> The students will be pursuing studies in areas of Australia’s priority sectors in Nepal, which include health, education, governance, livelihoods, water and sanitation and forestry. A press statement released by the Australian embassy stated that the Australian scholarships aim to contribute to the long-term objectives of developing countries to promote growth and stability. The scholarships equip recipients with the skills and knowledge to drive change and contribute to the economic and social development of their own countries, the statement further added. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Bharatpur Medical College Honoured</strong></span></div> <div> The College of Medical Sciences (Bharatpur Medical College) has received a SAARC level honour for outstanding surgical services. The college was felicitated amid a programme on Sunday, December 1st amid a programme held within the hospital premises. Hospital Director Natraj Prasad said that a group, including personnel from the SAARC Surgical Care Society,had inspected the hospital activities last year.Bharatpur Medical College is the first among 20 government hospitals in the country, to receive such a award.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>St Xavier’s College Celebrates 25th Anniversary</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="St Xavier’s College" src="/userfiles/images/sx.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; width: 100px; height: 119px;" />St Xavier’s College, Maitighar celebrated 25th anniversary on Tuesday, 3rd December. The college organised a special programme to mark the occasion and felicitated 18 teachers and staff membersfor their services. </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, it also felicitated students who have excelled in various faculties and contributed to the nation. Vice President Parmanand Jha lauded the college’s contribution to the nation and said, “The dedication of Fathers and teachers toward their job and the students’ hard work have ensured the college a good reputation at both national and international levels.”</div> <div> </div> <div> He opined that teachers at school and higher education level must be dedicated toward their job for Nepal’s progress in education sector.</div> <div> </div> <div> Father Augustine Thomas SJ, Principal of the college, informed that the college is working for upgrading as a university.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Tribhuvan University Published 1 Year B.Ed Results</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="Tribhuvan University" src="/userfiles/images/tu(1).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; width: 100px; height: 90px;" />Tribhuvan University Office of the Controller of Examination, Balkhu published the results of one year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) examination on Wednesday, 5th December. Total of 2,555 students passed the examination out of 8,087 (31.59%). The examination of one year B.Ed was held on Magha 2068.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Thirty-nine Nepali students havereceived Australia Awards Scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies in Australia in 2014.', 'sortorder' => '2086', '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) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2243', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'What Are Grants/Support/Scholarships Provided By University Grants Commission Nepal?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> If you want to know about what are the support, grants or scholarships University Grant Commission of Nepal, provides to colleges, universities or faculties (Professors/Lecturers) or even students. Here are the main highlights. </div> <div> </div> <div> Every year UGC announces application for the grants/supports and scholarships as listed below. For the academic year 2070, the commission has started collecting application/proposal and the deadline for some programmes ends on Poush 30.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Programs for which college/candidates has to apply within 2070 Poush 30</strong></span></div> <div> 1.Regular Grants</div> <div> 2.Physical Facility Development</div> <div> 3.Library Strengthening and Equipment Grants</div> <div> a.Grants for Purchasing Books</div> <div> b.Grants for Purchasing Furniture</div> <div> c.Grants for Purchasing Equipments</div> <div> 4.Ph.D. Fellowship</div> <div> 5.M.Phil. Fellowship</div> <div> 6.M. Phil. Thesis Preparation Support</div> <div> 7.Refresher Course/Capacity Development Program/ Research Methodology Training</div> <div> 8.Mini-Research</div> <div> 9.Visit by Professor in Higher Education Institutions</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Grants/Support for which candidates can apply anytime throughout the year</strong></span></div> <div> 1.Thesis Support for Persons with Disabilities</div> <div> 2.Partial Support for the PhD fellow</div> <div> 3.Visit to Institutions of SAARC Countries for Special Study/ Research</div> <div> 4.Travel Grants for Participation in Seminars/ Conferences</div> <div> 5.Seminar/ Workshop/ Conference</div> <div> </div> <div> <em>(www.edusanjal.com)</em></div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'If you want to know about what are the support, grants or scholarships University Grant Commission of Nepal, provides to colleges, universities or faculties (Professors/Lecturers) or even students. Here are the main highlights.', 'sortorder' => '2085', '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) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2240', 'article_category_id' => '86', 'title' => 'Growing Nepali Film Industry', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> A famous actor from abroad was requested to re-inaugurate a Nepali film. After the ribbon-cutting was over, he was asked to make a speech as the chief guest before screening of the movie started.</div> <div> </div> <div> Looking at the sparse audience at the cinema hall the guest said: ‘I see each of you must have bought two or three seats. This shows how the popularity of Nepali film industry is growing.’ -ML</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'A famous actor from abroad was requested to re-inaugurate a Nepali film. After the ribbon-cutting was over, he was asked to make a speech as the chief guest before screening of the movie started.', 'sortorder' => '2084', '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) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2241', 'article_category_id' => '146', 'title' => 'Visual Edit Vol3 Issue 41', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Visual Edit', 'sortorder' => '2083', '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' => '2239', 'article_category_id' => '145', 'title' => 'Market As An Institution For Inclusive Growth And Development', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Madhukar SJB Rana</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Creating a new mind set amidst citizens -- away from the feudalrisk-averting, rent-seeking behaviour towards competition, entrepreneurship and judicious risk taking is a challenge that needs to be faced by the victorious left of centre and centrist political parties that now dominate the Constituent Assembly. Being able to do so will deepen liberal democracy and heighten the chances for the long desired economic revolution.</div> <div> </div> <div> The market assures Good Governance through Transparency, Accountability and Competition with, hopefully, a lean and efficient State where Consumer Sovereignty Is deemed to be just as vital as People’s Sovereignty and Parliamentary Sovereignty for a dynamic liberal society.</div> <div> </div> <div> Strong and sound Regulation of Business by State guarantees moral and ethical Markets to safeguard the supremacy of Consumer Rights and Welfare, as well as Labour’s Rights and Welfare. Regulated Markets helps eradicate graft and corruption from the body politic by advancing the rule of law, order and justice including laying the ground work for a stronger criminal justice system. Absence of competitive Markets adversely affects all these vitals for a vibrant political democracy. Graft and corruption is endemic when the State enters the domain of business and when these enterprises are outside the purview of regulation by independent authorities providing for a level playing field for all enterprises.</div> <div> </div> <div> In short, the Market mechanism allows the fostering of a new Social Contract between the People and the State in the manner of 4 Ps -- people-private-public- partnerships if all decisions, henceforth, seek to maximise social profit and not simply private profit as happens now. Business enterprises will then begin to take their Corporate Social Responsibility statements more seriously and not use their CSR statements as new managerial fads for PR purposes.</div> <div> </div> <div> Indeed, a moral market calls for the enforcement of these statements as cases to be decided by Consumer and Labour courts on grounds of morality that may thus go far beyond the rule of law. This is the essence of moral Markets.</div> <div> </div> <div> Policy for marketisation: No licence be needed to enter any business. All citizens be able to a start business with due registration with Company Affairs Dept or CDO offices for proprietorships and partnerships as the case may be. All businesses must have PAN cards from Ministry of Finance or, where unable, from the Ward Office as a registered local business entity. Transaction cost for such business permits be at the minimum possible. And to convert informal businesses to formal ones, the State should encourage register at ease by providing subsidies to meet their registration costs.</div> <div> </div> <div> Markets create cities and an ever expanding middle class both of which are forces and factors for inclusive social development and modernization. No institutional innovation known to mankind can crate more wealth and prosperity than does the market mechanism. Liberal democracies are best served by an expanding middle class with maximum social mobility.</div> <div> </div> <div> Markets must be managed by managers whose social duty is to create a win-win situation by balancing the interests of all stakeholders -- owners, shareholders, employees, consumers, suppliers, community and ecology.</div> <div> </div> <div> Governments must regulate Markets to guarantee fair and free competition and to oversee that the larger public good, including those of the next generation and the additional need to conserve and protect the natural environment.</div> <div> </div> <div> Faith in the Market as an institution does not mean that it will guarantee economic or social justice. We must not subscribe to laissez faire where the property class is given free reign. Rather than seeking to curtail the excesses of wealth through all manner of wealth and estate taxes as well as capital gains taxes, the state must encourage Private Philanthropy and for this the new CA is alerted to the need to promulgate a Private Trust Act that is available for all sectors of the economy. It has been lying pending since 2005. The state must regulate the Market to ensure be actualised. For all this to be actualised, there is the supreme need for strong independent regulatory bodies to protect and promote the rule of law just as much as there is need for a strong Executive to be kept in check and balance with the final say left to an independent Supreme Court as the arbiter and dispense of justice and the Constitutional Court to decide on the powers and authority of the federal and local governments.</div> <div> </div> <div> It should be the Constitutional Court that has the final say on when People’s Sovereignty should hold sway over Parliamentary Sovereignty so that matters for local, federal and national referenda could be decided in an apolitical manner by an organ of State other than the Parliament.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Constitution must be one that enshrines liberal democracy where the State guarantees equal opportunity to all based on merit and grounded by a Social Contract where there is quality education and health services from the State for all: to ensure social meritocracy for all irrespective of race, religion, caste, class and region. All public institutions must be bound by minimum standards for infrastructure, health and hygiene, safety and security.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Constitution must also enshrine values of Transparency, Accountability and Competition as the troika of Liberal Multi Party Democracy. A strong State is needed that is fully alert to the probability of collusion by and between vested interest of Political Parties acting in tandem with the wealthy and rich classes to capture Political and Market power against the larger Public Good. Only politically neutral, strong, independent and autonomous Institutions can guarantee this. Public servants holding party membership must be summarily dismissed from service and asked to become politicians rather than be ones in disguise.</div> <div> </div> <div> It must punish patronage politics and political executive’s incursion into bureaucratic executive’s prerogative, which is to support the formulation of policies rationally and to execute policies efficiently and effectively. To assure this delicate balance of executive powers is in effect new forms of Accountability to Parliament must be innovated. One method is to have Ministers account for Policies and Bureaucrats account, to Parliamentary Select Committees for Policy Execution -- for its speed and also its propriety vis Acts, bye laws and regulations. Bureaucrats must be guaranteed a minimum tenure on posts they are assigned to; and for which they must be academically qualified as determined by the job specifications that befit job descriptions.</div> <div> </div> <div> Gurcharan Das says beautifully, in his “India Grows At Night” (2012), that the mantra of France is ‘equality’; that of U S A it is ‘liberty’ and that of India it is ‘dharma’. Let it be so in Nepal too where our National Dharma should be democracy, duty, discipline, determination, discrimination (between good and bad and right and wrong) and devotion to God and family.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Conclusion</strong></span></div> <div> We need to found, in the 21st century, a moral State with a moral society and moral markets. That subscribes to pluralism and pragmatism; that practices unity in diversity through its diverse communities while, at the same time, empowering each person to not only take pride in his or her individual identity but the modern State providing full societal scope for each individual to have and behold multiple identities, which should be the hallmark of the 21st century.</div> <div> </div> <div> <em>(Writer is Professor at South Asian Institute of Management and Former Finance Minister)</em></div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Creating a new mind set amidst citizens -- away from the feudalrisk-averting, rent-seeking behaviour towards competition, entrepreneurship and judicious risk taking is a challenge that needs to be faced by the victorious left of centre and centrist political parties that now dominate the Constituent Assembly.', 'sortorder' => '2082', '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' => '2238', 'article_category_id' => '144', 'title' => 'Improve Supply Side Constraints', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> World Trade Organization’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded on 7 December with the issuance of the Bali Package- an agreement on issues that are considered to be stepping stone for completing the goals of Doha Round. Issues addressed in the Bali Package have theoretically paved way to boost development goals and trading capacities of the Least Developed Countries. While the agreement is definitely promising for increasing Nepali products that reach international market, it alone is not sufficient to bridge the nation’s existing trade deficit. </div> <div> </div> <div> Presently Nepal has been receiving preferential market for 81 percent of its total exports under the Duty Free Quota Free (DFQF) system from various WTO member nations. Considering the existing trade deficit, it becomes evident that it has not been able to exploit facilities provided to it as a LCD member nation of the WTO. This fact is evident of the necessity for focusing on issues that are hindering its export capabilities rather than solely relying on receiving trade aid from the international community. Primary focus in this regard should be to find and resolve existing supply side constraints that could provide much needed boost to Nepal’s trading capacities. </div> <div> </div> <div> Supply side constraints start right from the production facility. Even though many Nepali products have good demands in the international market, political unrest, labour strikes, transport bottlenecks and unfriendly government policies have deterred production of these products and their delivery to the destination market. The Nepali State should focus on minimizing these deterrents to ensure smooth production and supply of goods. </div> <div> </div> <div> Nepal specializes in exporting agro products. Still it lacks a cold chain facility trading route. Even within the nation, it lacks a coordinated and interlinked cold chain that could facilitate agro trade. Facilitating the private sector for provision of such a chain, would provide boost to exports</div> <div> </div> <div> Another bottleneck in the export of agro-products is the lack of well equipped quarantine checkposts. Added to that is the lack of an agency that is competent and recognized internationally for quality certification. </div> <div> </div> <div> Quality is an essential factor in trading. Consumers always look for quality. Setting up an independent mechanism that could provide international quality certificate to products can ensure that exported products are not returned back citing quality reasons. Such certification system will increase brand image of Nepali products in international market and provide sustainable basis for steady trade growth. </div> <div> </div> <div> Identifying potential market and facilitating linkages between prospective producers and traders need to be ensured. Nepal has immense potentials for producing exportable agro and manufacturing products. People can meet the demands of the market, if there is market. The only prerequisite on the state’s side is to create conducive climate for these products and to identify market opportunities. </div> <div> </div> <div> Lengthy national and international customs regulations have been pointed out as great barriers for smooth trans-border trade. Bali Package pledges to address this issue but that will not sufficient. Nepal should on its own initiate talks for easing off custom regulations with nations that it does business with. It’s high time for Nepal to hold negotiations with its trading nations for streamlining custom regulations.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'World Trade Organization’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded on 7 December with the issuance of the Bali Package- an agreement on issues that are considered to be stepping stone for completing the goals of Doha Round.', 'sortorder' => '2081', '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) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2228', 'article_category_id' => '134', 'title' => '“Government Is Supressing Private Sector’s Growth”', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:15px;">Private sector is a crucial component and contributor to national development. However, sometimes it fails to play proper role. <strong>Dr. Kamal Raj Dhungel,</strong> Associate Professor of Central Department of Economics, Tribhuwan University, recently discussed existing relationship between private sector and government and investment climate in Nepal, with The Corporate’s <strong>Angila Sharma, Excerpts:</strong></span></div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>What can the Nepali economy expect from the success of the recent CA elections and the formation of a new government?</strong></span></div> <div> In this historical election, no party gained majority and so the government will be a coalition one. If the coalition government comprises of CPN-UML and Nepali Congress, it will be beneficial for the private sector. It was evident in the 90’s. During that time, this team had come up with liberalization policy and had made efforts to lead the economy towards prosperity. There were many bottlenecks and as such, this policy failed. So, if the parties in the higher position can now give continuity to the same policies and can implement them with effective monitoring, private sector will flourish leading to development of various parts of the economy.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, we can also expect good things from the upcoming government. But, for this, a single party or a combination of some parties cannot do anything. For the prosperity and economic growth of this nation, all political parties should work hand in hand.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Do you think our private sector is sincere enough in delivering services to the consumers? What are the reasons they are lacking behind in this?</strong></span></div> <div> State has to play leading role when it comes to the growth of the private sector. It is the state’s responsibility to provide the private sector with essential facilities while also monitoring their activities regarding implementation of the facilities provided by the state. Private sector is always profit-oriented. Its activities depend on the government’s attitude towards it. The government should ensure reasonable profit for the private sector while providing security for the investment made by the private sector and guaranteeing subsidies in delivery of necessary goods for the consumers. It should be able to create market for the private sector and should implement a clean and clear monitoring system. It is because of lack of such monitoring system that private sector has been lagging behind. Private sector can be effective if government provides enough security and an effective monitoring system.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>What is it that is lacking in our monitoring system?</strong></span></div> <div> For now, the government is weak. The government is vulnerable because of some reasons: Firstly, we do not have constitution and the Maoists who had originally demanded for CA elections are in third position while parties, who had never had this as their primary agenda, are now in leading position. In the past four years, nothing fruitful could be obtained. Rather, highlighting of issues surrounding federalism distributed solidarity among the people. Secondly, we do not have stability in our political and economic sphere. Presently these spheres are rigid and this has rendered our concerns and voices valueless. Economic activities are directly proportional to political stability and thus economic prosperity is possible via political stability. At this moment, the whole economic sector depends on the momentum of the political sector, which is presently in an unpredictable situation.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>There is a wide spread criticism regarding the insincerity of some private sector actors in providing facilities to consumers. What is your opinion on this?</strong></span></div> <div> Private sector is not trying to run away from its responsibility. I have listened to talk shows and programmes organized by FNCCI and CNI. They have often invited political leaders to their programmes and asked them to bring political consensus and consider economic growth as their main agenda. Private sector has substantial capital at its disposal and wants to utilize it in development activities. As such, they have highlighted five major areas that can speed up national development: agriculture, hydropower, tourism, education and infrastructure. They have identified these sectors as potential sources for national prosperity and development. People have begun investing internationally because there is no scope for investment here. This situation has been created here due to lack of security, market, and subsidies among others. Private sector is not trying to escape; rather, the government is suppressing it as it is failing to create a suitable environment for the private sector to flourish. Basically, private sector is in shadow because of government’s failure to create a conducive environment for its growth.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Even though our economy is relatively smaller it has always faced the problem of capital shortage. But, we are always able to invest in sophisticated products. Why is the economy failing to invest in more essential sector?</strong></span></div> <div> This is a very good question. A big portion of imports in Nepal constitutes of goods that cannot be substituted. Thus, a big amount of capital is being invested in the import of such goods. Import of goods like vehicles, gold and oil cannot be substituted by domestic production. We spend billions of rupees in importing these goods because these goods are important but cannot be produced in our country.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nonetheless, our economy has the potential to substitute import of certain goods like gas. Gas is one of the goods that have always led to conflict in the country, sometimes even leading to change of government. Nepal Oil Corporation is not always able to meet our needs and is also always on loss. We could substitute this, to some extent, through electricity. If we can produce sufficient electricity and provide it in convenient price, it will automatically solve the gas import problem. We could opt for electric bike, electric cars and electric trains if hydropower is properly utilized. So, it is necessary that we exploit hydropower to its fullest capacity</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>It is quite essential to have effective regulatory mechanisms to ensure smooth functioning of an economy. What improvements would you suggest in our economy’s regulatory mechanisms?</strong></span></div> <div> Monitoring system is a regulatory body. Our nation must not only have controlling mechanisms but should also include facilitating mechanism as its regulatory system. It means that private sector should be provided with subsidies, enough infrastructure, facility of tax exemption etc. Along with that, there should also be a separate regulatory mechanism that monitors the private sector’s activities.</div> <div> </div> <div> If one private sector actor does not work properly, the government should be able to dismantle it immediately and it should also provide space for the entry of new ones. However, existing lack of co-ordination within government agencies is making it difficult for the private sector to grow.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>In this changed scenario, as an economist, what would you suggest to the private sector, government and the consumers?</strong></span></div> <div> We are experiencing a major change and the future of our nation is unpredictable at this juncture. However, I am still optimistic. Regarding the CA elections’ results, I would sincerely like to thank the people of Terai for bringing a change in their voting pattern. I am glad that they did not stick to the earlier voting trend.</div> <div> </div> <div> Regarding the private sector, I would like to say that the private sector alone cannot grow unless it is supported and facilitated by the government. Both of them should make efforts for a better environment for mutual growth.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-17', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Private sector is a crucial component and contributor to national development. However, sometimes it fails to play proper role. Dr. Kamal Raj Dhungel, Associate Professor of Central Department of Economics, Tribhuwan University, recently discussed existing relationship between private sector and government and investment climate in Nepal, with The Corporate’s Angila Sharma, Excerpts:', 'sortorder' => '2080', '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) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2237', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Nepal Political News In Brief (9 - 15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Singh Sings Consensus Tune</strong></span></div> <div> Nepali Congress general secretary Prakashman Singh said drafting a new constitution on the basis of consensus was the need of the hour. Speaking at a programme in capital last Saturday, newly-elected Constituent Assembly (CA) member Singh said his party would take initiative for drafting a new constitution by taking all the political parties represented there into confidence. The matters of government formation and about the President cropped up in the present should be seriously dealt with as they could fuel people’s frustrations, he said. Underlining the need of ending long-standing political transition as soon as possible, leader Singh assured of understanding between the Congress and CPN (UML) to settle the contentious issues.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Secy Baskota Monitors Road Expansion Works</strong></span></div> <div> Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Krishna Hari Baskota, has directed the concerned sectors to expedite the works under the road expansion campaign in the Kathmandu Valley. Secretary Baskota, who is also the coordinator of road expansion high level monitoring committee, monitored the expansion works and directed the concerned sectors to complete the road expansion very quickly.”If the contractors are lackadaisical, they must be made aware of it, and if it does not work, the contract can be scrapped,” he warned the contractors. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Gajurel’s Nay to Unity with UCPN (Maoist)</strong></span></div> <div> CPN-Maoist vice-chairman CP Gajurel has said there was no possibility of party’s unification with the UCPN-Maoist. “There was no meaning in forging alliance with the UCPN-Maoist, from which we walked away last year,” he said, adding that the UCPN-Maoist was an opportunist party. Speaking at an interaction programme organised in capital last Saturday, Vice-Chairman Gajurel accused the leaders of the UCPN (Maoist) of harbouring opportunistic character. However, he said if it agreed in roundtable conference, the CPN-Maoist would talk of unity with this party.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Gachhadar Bats for Congress-led Govt</strong></span></div> <div> Madhesi Janadhikar Forum- Democratic chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar has said that his party would support the government under the leadership of Nepali Congress (NC). During the meeting with NC president Sushil Koirala held at his residence in Maharajgunj last Friday, Gachchhadar said that his party was committed to democracy and would support the government under the NC-led government. During the meeting the two leaders discussed about forging political consensus to form the government, to call the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) and Legislature-Parliament, and constitution writing among other contemporary issues. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>CA Court Summons Dahal</strong></span></div> <div> Constituent Assembly court issued an order last Friday summoning UCPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, winner from Siraha constituency no. 5, to appear in the court within 10 days. A divisional bench of CA Court Chairperson Kalyan Shrestha and member duo, Girish Chandra Lal and Sushila Karki issued the directive to UCPN (Maoist) Chairperson Dahal and election officer of Siraha constituency no. 5 Uddhav Bhattarai, among others. CPN-UML candidate from the constituency Leelanath Shrestha had demanded re-polling alleging election rigging by the cadres of Chairperson Dahal.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nepali Congress general secretary Prakashman Singh said drafting a new constitution on the basis of consensus was the need of the hour.', 'sortorder' => '2079', '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) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2236', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Weekly Round Up (2 - 8 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> •The European Union (EU) imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Nepal last Thursday from flying into the 28-nation bloc under the latest changes to its list of unsafe carriers. The European Commission updated for the 22nd time the European list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU, better known as “the EU air safety list.” “On the basis of safety information from various sources and a hearing both with Nepalis aviation authorities as well as with a number of Nepalese carriers, the Commission decided to put all airlines from Nepal on the EU air safety list,” the EU said. As a consequence of the ban on Nepalis carriers, they are prevented from flying into or within the Union. This ban is not only a major setback to Nepal’s tourism industry, but to the country as a whole. Although none of the Nepali carriers make flight to the 28-nation bloc, the consequences could be seen in the tourism and economy from the travel alert on European travellers to not use Nepali carriers. </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> •Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference has concluded at Bali adopting a five-draft decision declaration and the 10-document full Bali Package that addresses the Doha Development Agenda. The last-minute deal would lower trade barriers and speed up the passage of goods through customs. Analysts estimate that over time it could boost the world economy by hundreds of billions of dollars and create more than 20 million jobs, mostly in developing countries. As a coordinator of the Consultative Group of the LDCs at the ongoing WTO conference in Bali, Indonesia, Nepal has raised its voice to demand a larger space in international trade for LDCs. Also, with the country itself facing barriers aplenty in international trade and a skyrocketing trade deficit, Nepal tried voice its concerns on existing multi-lateral and bilateral trade issues. Though developed countries have pledged Duty-Free-Quota-Free (DFQF) market access to 97 percent of the goods originating from LDCs as per Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005, only around 80- 91 percent of the goods are enjoying such facility. Nepal has been getting this facility for 81 percent of its exports to developed countires while some other African LDCs have been enjoying this for 91 percent of their total exports to developed countries under the DFQF. </div> <div> </div> <div> •The government has collected Rs 94.32 billion revenue in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The amount is Rs 140 million higher than the target. The government had collected Rs 78.3 billion revenue in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The collected revenue is 20.87 per cent higher compared to the amount of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. </div> <div> </div> <div> •Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has begun buying an additional 30 MW of power from India in a bid to ease the chronic power shortage in the country during winter. The Power Trading Corporation of India has sold the power to Nepal at a rate of Rs.3.75 (NRs.6) per unit. The additional power import takes Nepal’s total import from India to 165 MW. Nepal has been requesting India to provide at least 250 MW to meet its increasing power deficit. The NEA is aiming to bring down load-shedding to 12 hours this winter by getting more power from India. Currently, there is a shortfall of 350 MW to meet the requirements as existing capacity is just around 700 MW.Measures are being taken to reduce power demand, including operating some multi-fuel plants and revamping existing power plants. Officials say Nepal pays around Rs.22 billion every year for procuring power from India, which includes importing inverters and diesel generators.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The European Union (EU) imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Nepal last Thursday from flying into the 28-nation bloc under the latest changes to its list of unsafe carriers. The European Commission updated for the 22nd time the European list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU, better known as “the EU air safety list.”', 'sortorder' => '2078', '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) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2235', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'NC, UML Sign Three-point Deal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have signed a three-point pact last Saturday. The two parties have agreed to move ahead together with mutual understanding and collaboration to complete the political responsibility. </div> <div> </div> <div> They have also reached an understanding to immediately hold dialogue with UCPN (Maoist) as well as its breakaway faction of the CPN-Maoist. </div> <div> </div> <div> NC President Sushil Koirala and UML Chairperson Jhalanath Khanal signed the three-point deal that includes a commitment to move ahead together on mutual understanding. The leaders of the two parties have agreed on an agreement following a hectic dialogue at Peace Fund Secretariat in Babarmahal, Kathmandu.</div> <div> </div> <div> The two parties also expressed thanks to all sides concerned for the successful holding of free, fair and impartial CA election on November 19.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have signed a three-point pact last Saturday. The two parties have agreed to move ahead together with mutual understanding and collaboration to complete the political responsibility.', 'sortorder' => '2077', '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) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2234', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Three-day National Mourning On Mandela’s Demise', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> The government has decided to hold a three-day national mourning on the demise of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid leader. The cabinet meeting held last Saturday decided to fly the national flag at half-mast at government and diplomatic missions abroad and not to hold any official ceremonies for three days starting from Sunday. The government has also expressed condolence to the family of Mandela and to the people of South Africa.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, the cabinet meeting has also decided to send a delegation led by Foreign Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire to attend Mandela’s condolence assembly to be held in South Africa on December 10.</div> <div> </div> <div> Mandela, who led South Africa’s transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s, died last Thursday at the age of 95. He was receiving intensive medical care at home for a lung infection after spending three months in hospital.</div> <div> </div> <div> President Dr Ram Baran Yadav has also expressed profound sadness over the demise of the father of South Africa. Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala has said that he was stunned by the news of the demise of Mandela. He also wished for eternal peace to the departed soul while expressing condolences to the bereaved family and people and government of South Africa at this hour of grief in the demise of Mandela.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The government has decided to hold a three-day national mourning on the demise of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid leader.', 'sortorder' => '2076', '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) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2233', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Parties Mull Selection Of PR Candidates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Sagar Ghimire</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Following the Election Commission’s deadline of December 10 for the parties to submit their nominees for the CA under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, political parties have begun intra party process to pick the names.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nepali Congress (NC), which has grabbed the highest number of seats under the PR system, held the meeting of its Parliamentary Board last Friday to select the names. NC, which has bagged 105 seats under direct system, secured 91 seats under the PR system. The 15-member board is still to pick the names of candidates following the selection criteria, a member of the Board </div> <div> told TC. </div> <div> </div> <div> Likewise, CPN (UML), which won 91 seats under direct system, is also holding its central committee meeting on December 9 to select 84 candidates that is entitled for the CA members under the PR system. Earlier, on last Friday, Standing Committee meeting of the CPN (UML) proposed to nominate half of the total candidates from the central committee and central departments and local committees, weighing their contribution to the party.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP Nepal) has also said that it is preparing to submit the names of the PR candidates to the EC within a week. RPP-Nepal, which failed to win a single seat under direct electoral system, however, emerged as fourth largest party managing to secure 24 seats under PR system.</div> <div> </div> <div> However, UCPN (Maoist), the third largest party, has said that it would not nominate its representatives unless its demand of forming a probe commission to investigate into the alleged vote rigging is not met. UCPN (Maoist) has won 26 seats under direct system, while it bagged 54 seats under PR system. The winners of the UCPN (Maoist) under the direct system have not accepted the certificate from the EC yet. Nine other fringe parties that have won few seats, are also joining the UCPN (Maoist) in the chorus of vote rigging. They also have said that they would not recommend the names until probe commission is formed.</div> <div> </div> <div> Earlier last week, the EC had made public the total number of the seats secured by the 30 political parties under the PR system. It has asked 30 parties to recommend the names of the PR candidates to join the CA by December 10. Political parties have to pick the names from the PR list that they have submitted to the EC before the CA polls as per the electoral laws. The laws required the parties to maintain certain per cent of the proportional representation from women, Janajatis, Dalits, Madhesis, people representing the backward communities and Khas Aarya group.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Following the Election Commission’s deadline of December 10 for the parties to submit their nominees for the CA under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, political parties have begun intra party process to pick the names.', 'sortorder' => '2075', '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) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2232', 'article_category_id' => '138', 'title' => 'Nepal And The World News In Brief (9 -15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Japan Approves $182 bn Economic Package </strong></span></div> <div> Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved a $182 billion package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the impact. The package has a headline value of 18.6 trillion yen ($182 billion), which is an exaggerated figure as the bulk of the package includes loans from government-backed lenders and spending by local governments that was already scheduled.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Australia and South Korea Agree FTA</strong></span></div> <div> Australia and South Korea have agreed on a free trade deal in an attempt to boost trade between the two countries. As part of the deal, tariffs on key Australian exports to South Korea such as agricultural products, energy and resources will be eliminated. It is also likely to help South Korean firms in sectors such as steel, textile and car manufacturing to boost their presence in Australia. Trade between the two nations was worth $29bn in 2012.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Newsweek to Revive Print Edition </strong></span></div> <div> US current affairs magazine Newsweek, which had ceased publication last year to focus on its Web site, plans to bring back the print edition early next year. The magazine expects to begin a 64-page weekly edition in January or February, Newsweek’s editor-in-chief Jim Impoco said in an interview to the New York Times.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>EU Fines Banks Record €1.71 bn over Libor</strong></span></div> <div> The European Union has levied a record antitrust fine of €1.71 billion ($2.3 billion) on six European and U.S. banks and brokers for rigging benchmark interest rates. Deutsche Bank was hit with the single biggest penalty of €725.4 million for participating in illegal cartels to manipulate the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor, and London interbank offered rate, or Libor. Other firms fined were Societe Generale, Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan and Citigroup , and U.K.-based broker RP Martin.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved a $182 billion package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the impact.', 'sortorder' => '2074', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falseinclude - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
Warning (2): simplexml_load_file() [<a href='http://php.net/function.simplexml-load-file'>function.simplexml-load-file</a>]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "" [APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133]file not found!Code Context// $file = 'http://aabhiyan:QUVLg8Wzs2F7G9N7@nepalstock.com.np/api/subindexdata.xml';if(!$xml = simplexml_load_file($file)){$viewFile = '/var/www/html/newbusinessage.com/app/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp' $dataForView = array( 'articles' => array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 2 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 6 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 7 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ), (int) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( [maximum depth reached] ) ) ), 'current_user' => null, 'logged_in' => false ) $articles = array( (int) 0 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2242', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'Choosing The Right College', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <strong>--By Upashana Neupane</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Choosing ‘Where you study’ is as important as ‘What you study’. Selecting the right college is an important decision to make as it decides the rest of your personal and professional life. An individual has to make this decision here are some aspects to be consideredwhile selecting a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Firstly don’t rush to get admitted in a particular college. Inquire and research to know enough about the options available and try to acquire more information from them so that you have sufficient resources to analyse and reach a conclusive decision. </div> <div> </div> <div> If any of your prospective colleges don’t provide sufficient information, try to do online research by visiting their websites, asking about the college on social media channels and if possible try to enquire with students who are studying or have studied in that college. Gather required information through any means available. </div> <div> </div> <div> Once you have gathered information about prospective colleges and identified your educational needs, start the decision making process by eliminating college that do not meet your expectation. Eliminating such colleges, help focus on remaining colleges that mostly meet your needs and expectations. </div> <div> </div> <div> Your checklist, while digging out information for a prospective college, should consider factors likedegrees offered by the college, infrastructures and resources of the college (labs, libraries etc.), fee structure and costs, co-curricular activities, reputation and ranking of the college in the industry, associated faculty members, among others. </div> <div> </div> <div> Find out courses offered by a college along with the relevancy of those courses to your career plan. Colleges offer many courses, but knowing your requirements can easily help you in eliminating or selecting a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Infrastructure facilities like labs, classrooms, libraries, canteen and playgrounds are important factors that contribute in creating a conducive environment for academic studies. Thus, look out for infrastructural facilities that a college has and whether they cater to your personal needs.</div> <div> </div> <div> Check out fee structure and total costs of a course that you have selected to study and cross compare it with the fee structure of other colleges, who provide same course. </div> <div> </div> <div> Co-curricular activities play an important role in developing team spirit in individuals. Check out how and what type of co-curricular activities does a college conducts. Comparing these activities with other prospective colleges will provide another metric to select or deselect a college. </div> <div> </div> <div> Reputation of a college in the industry is an important factor for professional career. Always try to be part of a renowned college that has earned reputation for grooming best industry professionals and a college that is managed by reputed academicians and professionals. </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, availability of faculty members, their qualification and reputation is another important factor that is directly related to the learning activity. In fact this is considered as one of the most important aspect while choosing acollege. Run a background check to verify that the faculty members listed on a college’s brochure do really teach there. Full time faculty provide attention to students need in comparison to part time faculties. </div> <div> </div> <div> Likewise, check availability of scholarships schemes and if you can qualify for any of them.</div> <div> </div> <div> Lastly, don’t get carried away with advertisements and hypes. Evaluate the college on the basis of the metrics listed above before buying the claims of any college’s advertisement and pinning down a college to pursue your higher studies.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-23', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Choosing ‘Where you study’ is as important as ‘What you study’. Selecting the right college is an important decision to make as it decides the rest of your personal and professional life. An individual has to make this decision here are some aspects to be consideredwhile selecting a college.', 'sortorder' => '2088', '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) 1 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2245', 'article_category_id' => '109', 'title' => 'Fin Sector Reform Efforts Lauded', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> World Bank has lauded Nepal’s efforts towards budget implementation, financial sector reform and anti money laundering. A team of delegates led by Guillemette Jaffrin, Private Sector Development Expert at the World Bank, met Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi last Thursday and discussed Nepal’s overall economic development and financial sector reform. The meeting also focused on formulation of a financial sector development strategy, restructuring of Nepal Bank Ltd. (NBL) and Rastriya Banijya Bank and increasing the capital structure of Nepal Rastra Bank, according to a press release issued by the Finance Ministry.</div> <div> </div> <div> During the meeting, Finance Secretary Subedi told Jaffrin that Nepal has made a remarkable progress on the issue of anti money laundering at legal, policy and implementation level. Subedi further told Jaffrin that the ministry was working seriously towards increasing the capital spending. </div> <div> </div> <div> World Bank has been providing support to Nepal on banking and financial reform programmes. The World Bank has provided a US$ 30 million credit to help Nepal accelerate its financial sector reform program to reduce vulnerability of the banking sector and increase its transparency. </div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'World Bank has lauded Nepal’s efforts towards budget implementation, financial sector reform and anti money laundering. A team of delegates led by Guillemette Jaffrin, Private Sector Development Expert at the World Bank, met Finance Secretary Shanta Raj Subedi last Thursday and discussed Nepal’s overall economic development and financial sector reform.', 'sortorder' => '2087', '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' => '2244', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'Learning Curve News In Brief (9 - 15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Australian Scholarships to 39 Nepalis</strong></span></div> <div> Thirty-nine Nepali students havereceived Australia Awards Scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies in Australia in 2014. Education Secretary Narayan Gopal Malego and Australia’s Ambassador to Nepal, Glenn White, on 3rd December, presented the Awards to the students amid a function organised by the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu. Of those awarded, 16 are women and 19 are government employees. </div> <div> </div> <div> The students will be pursuing studies in areas of Australia’s priority sectors in Nepal, which include health, education, governance, livelihoods, water and sanitation and forestry. A press statement released by the Australian embassy stated that the Australian scholarships aim to contribute to the long-term objectives of developing countries to promote growth and stability. The scholarships equip recipients with the skills and knowledge to drive change and contribute to the economic and social development of their own countries, the statement further added. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Bharatpur Medical College Honoured</strong></span></div> <div> The College of Medical Sciences (Bharatpur Medical College) has received a SAARC level honour for outstanding surgical services. The college was felicitated amid a programme on Sunday, December 1st amid a programme held within the hospital premises. Hospital Director Natraj Prasad said that a group, including personnel from the SAARC Surgical Care Society,had inspected the hospital activities last year.Bharatpur Medical College is the first among 20 government hospitals in the country, to receive such a award.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>St Xavier’s College Celebrates 25th Anniversary</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="St Xavier’s College" src="/userfiles/images/sx.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; width: 100px; height: 119px;" />St Xavier’s College, Maitighar celebrated 25th anniversary on Tuesday, 3rd December. The college organised a special programme to mark the occasion and felicitated 18 teachers and staff membersfor their services. </div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, it also felicitated students who have excelled in various faculties and contributed to the nation. Vice President Parmanand Jha lauded the college’s contribution to the nation and said, “The dedication of Fathers and teachers toward their job and the students’ hard work have ensured the college a good reputation at both national and international levels.”</div> <div> </div> <div> He opined that teachers at school and higher education level must be dedicated toward their job for Nepal’s progress in education sector.</div> <div> </div> <div> Father Augustine Thomas SJ, Principal of the college, informed that the college is working for upgrading as a university.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Tribhuvan University Published 1 Year B.Ed Results</strong></span></div> <div> <img alt="Tribhuvan University" src="/userfiles/images/tu(1).jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; width: 100px; height: 90px;" />Tribhuvan University Office of the Controller of Examination, Balkhu published the results of one year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) examination on Wednesday, 5th December. Total of 2,555 students passed the examination out of 8,087 (31.59%). The examination of one year B.Ed was held on Magha 2068.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Thirty-nine Nepali students havereceived Australia Awards Scholarships to pursue postgraduate studies in Australia in 2014.', 'sortorder' => '2086', '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) 3 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2243', 'article_category_id' => '151', 'title' => 'What Are Grants/Support/Scholarships Provided By University Grants Commission Nepal?', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> If you want to know about what are the support, grants or scholarships University Grant Commission of Nepal, provides to colleges, universities or faculties (Professors/Lecturers) or even students. Here are the main highlights. </div> <div> </div> <div> Every year UGC announces application for the grants/supports and scholarships as listed below. For the academic year 2070, the commission has started collecting application/proposal and the deadline for some programmes ends on Poush 30.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Programs for which college/candidates has to apply within 2070 Poush 30</strong></span></div> <div> 1.Regular Grants</div> <div> 2.Physical Facility Development</div> <div> 3.Library Strengthening and Equipment Grants</div> <div> a.Grants for Purchasing Books</div> <div> b.Grants for Purchasing Furniture</div> <div> c.Grants for Purchasing Equipments</div> <div> 4.Ph.D. Fellowship</div> <div> 5.M.Phil. Fellowship</div> <div> 6.M. Phil. Thesis Preparation Support</div> <div> 7.Refresher Course/Capacity Development Program/ Research Methodology Training</div> <div> 8.Mini-Research</div> <div> 9.Visit by Professor in Higher Education Institutions</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Grants/Support for which candidates can apply anytime throughout the year</strong></span></div> <div> 1.Thesis Support for Persons with Disabilities</div> <div> 2.Partial Support for the PhD fellow</div> <div> 3.Visit to Institutions of SAARC Countries for Special Study/ Research</div> <div> 4.Travel Grants for Participation in Seminars/ Conferences</div> <div> 5.Seminar/ Workshop/ Conference</div> <div> </div> <div> <em>(www.edusanjal.com)</em></div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'If you want to know about what are the support, grants or scholarships University Grant Commission of Nepal, provides to colleges, universities or faculties (Professors/Lecturers) or even students. Here are the main highlights.', 'sortorder' => '2085', '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) 4 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2240', 'article_category_id' => '86', 'title' => 'Growing Nepali Film Industry', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> A famous actor from abroad was requested to re-inaugurate a Nepali film. After the ribbon-cutting was over, he was asked to make a speech as the chief guest before screening of the movie started.</div> <div> </div> <div> Looking at the sparse audience at the cinema hall the guest said: ‘I see each of you must have bought two or three seats. This shows how the popularity of Nepali film industry is growing.’ -ML</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'A famous actor from abroad was requested to re-inaugurate a Nepali film. After the ribbon-cutting was over, he was asked to make a speech as the chief guest before screening of the movie started.', 'sortorder' => '2084', '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) 5 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2241', 'article_category_id' => '146', 'title' => 'Visual Edit Vol3 Issue 41', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Visual Edit', 'sortorder' => '2083', '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' => '2239', 'article_category_id' => '145', 'title' => 'Market As An Institution For Inclusive Growth And Development', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Madhukar SJB Rana</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Creating a new mind set amidst citizens -- away from the feudalrisk-averting, rent-seeking behaviour towards competition, entrepreneurship and judicious risk taking is a challenge that needs to be faced by the victorious left of centre and centrist political parties that now dominate the Constituent Assembly. Being able to do so will deepen liberal democracy and heighten the chances for the long desired economic revolution.</div> <div> </div> <div> The market assures Good Governance through Transparency, Accountability and Competition with, hopefully, a lean and efficient State where Consumer Sovereignty Is deemed to be just as vital as People’s Sovereignty and Parliamentary Sovereignty for a dynamic liberal society.</div> <div> </div> <div> Strong and sound Regulation of Business by State guarantees moral and ethical Markets to safeguard the supremacy of Consumer Rights and Welfare, as well as Labour’s Rights and Welfare. Regulated Markets helps eradicate graft and corruption from the body politic by advancing the rule of law, order and justice including laying the ground work for a stronger criminal justice system. Absence of competitive Markets adversely affects all these vitals for a vibrant political democracy. Graft and corruption is endemic when the State enters the domain of business and when these enterprises are outside the purview of regulation by independent authorities providing for a level playing field for all enterprises.</div> <div> </div> <div> In short, the Market mechanism allows the fostering of a new Social Contract between the People and the State in the manner of 4 Ps -- people-private-public- partnerships if all decisions, henceforth, seek to maximise social profit and not simply private profit as happens now. Business enterprises will then begin to take their Corporate Social Responsibility statements more seriously and not use their CSR statements as new managerial fads for PR purposes.</div> <div> </div> <div> Indeed, a moral market calls for the enforcement of these statements as cases to be decided by Consumer and Labour courts on grounds of morality that may thus go far beyond the rule of law. This is the essence of moral Markets.</div> <div> </div> <div> Policy for marketisation: No licence be needed to enter any business. All citizens be able to a start business with due registration with Company Affairs Dept or CDO offices for proprietorships and partnerships as the case may be. All businesses must have PAN cards from Ministry of Finance or, where unable, from the Ward Office as a registered local business entity. Transaction cost for such business permits be at the minimum possible. And to convert informal businesses to formal ones, the State should encourage register at ease by providing subsidies to meet their registration costs.</div> <div> </div> <div> Markets create cities and an ever expanding middle class both of which are forces and factors for inclusive social development and modernization. No institutional innovation known to mankind can crate more wealth and prosperity than does the market mechanism. Liberal democracies are best served by an expanding middle class with maximum social mobility.</div> <div> </div> <div> Markets must be managed by managers whose social duty is to create a win-win situation by balancing the interests of all stakeholders -- owners, shareholders, employees, consumers, suppliers, community and ecology.</div> <div> </div> <div> Governments must regulate Markets to guarantee fair and free competition and to oversee that the larger public good, including those of the next generation and the additional need to conserve and protect the natural environment.</div> <div> </div> <div> Faith in the Market as an institution does not mean that it will guarantee economic or social justice. We must not subscribe to laissez faire where the property class is given free reign. Rather than seeking to curtail the excesses of wealth through all manner of wealth and estate taxes as well as capital gains taxes, the state must encourage Private Philanthropy and for this the new CA is alerted to the need to promulgate a Private Trust Act that is available for all sectors of the economy. It has been lying pending since 2005. The state must regulate the Market to ensure be actualised. For all this to be actualised, there is the supreme need for strong independent regulatory bodies to protect and promote the rule of law just as much as there is need for a strong Executive to be kept in check and balance with the final say left to an independent Supreme Court as the arbiter and dispense of justice and the Constitutional Court to decide on the powers and authority of the federal and local governments.</div> <div> </div> <div> It should be the Constitutional Court that has the final say on when People’s Sovereignty should hold sway over Parliamentary Sovereignty so that matters for local, federal and national referenda could be decided in an apolitical manner by an organ of State other than the Parliament.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Constitution must be one that enshrines liberal democracy where the State guarantees equal opportunity to all based on merit and grounded by a Social Contract where there is quality education and health services from the State for all: to ensure social meritocracy for all irrespective of race, religion, caste, class and region. All public institutions must be bound by minimum standards for infrastructure, health and hygiene, safety and security.</div> <div> </div> <div> The Constitution must also enshrine values of Transparency, Accountability and Competition as the troika of Liberal Multi Party Democracy. A strong State is needed that is fully alert to the probability of collusion by and between vested interest of Political Parties acting in tandem with the wealthy and rich classes to capture Political and Market power against the larger Public Good. Only politically neutral, strong, independent and autonomous Institutions can guarantee this. Public servants holding party membership must be summarily dismissed from service and asked to become politicians rather than be ones in disguise.</div> <div> </div> <div> It must punish patronage politics and political executive’s incursion into bureaucratic executive’s prerogative, which is to support the formulation of policies rationally and to execute policies efficiently and effectively. To assure this delicate balance of executive powers is in effect new forms of Accountability to Parliament must be innovated. One method is to have Ministers account for Policies and Bureaucrats account, to Parliamentary Select Committees for Policy Execution -- for its speed and also its propriety vis Acts, bye laws and regulations. Bureaucrats must be guaranteed a minimum tenure on posts they are assigned to; and for which they must be academically qualified as determined by the job specifications that befit job descriptions.</div> <div> </div> <div> Gurcharan Das says beautifully, in his “India Grows At Night” (2012), that the mantra of France is ‘equality’; that of U S A it is ‘liberty’ and that of India it is ‘dharma’. Let it be so in Nepal too where our National Dharma should be democracy, duty, discipline, determination, discrimination (between good and bad and right and wrong) and devotion to God and family.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Conclusion</strong></span></div> <div> We need to found, in the 21st century, a moral State with a moral society and moral markets. That subscribes to pluralism and pragmatism; that practices unity in diversity through its diverse communities while, at the same time, empowering each person to not only take pride in his or her individual identity but the modern State providing full societal scope for each individual to have and behold multiple identities, which should be the hallmark of the 21st century.</div> <div> </div> <div> <em>(Writer is Professor at South Asian Institute of Management and Former Finance Minister)</em></div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Creating a new mind set amidst citizens -- away from the feudalrisk-averting, rent-seeking behaviour towards competition, entrepreneurship and judicious risk taking is a challenge that needs to be faced by the victorious left of centre and centrist political parties that now dominate the Constituent Assembly.', 'sortorder' => '2082', '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' => '2238', 'article_category_id' => '144', 'title' => 'Improve Supply Side Constraints', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> World Trade Organization’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded on 7 December with the issuance of the Bali Package- an agreement on issues that are considered to be stepping stone for completing the goals of Doha Round. Issues addressed in the Bali Package have theoretically paved way to boost development goals and trading capacities of the Least Developed Countries. While the agreement is definitely promising for increasing Nepali products that reach international market, it alone is not sufficient to bridge the nation’s existing trade deficit. </div> <div> </div> <div> Presently Nepal has been receiving preferential market for 81 percent of its total exports under the Duty Free Quota Free (DFQF) system from various WTO member nations. Considering the existing trade deficit, it becomes evident that it has not been able to exploit facilities provided to it as a LCD member nation of the WTO. This fact is evident of the necessity for focusing on issues that are hindering its export capabilities rather than solely relying on receiving trade aid from the international community. Primary focus in this regard should be to find and resolve existing supply side constraints that could provide much needed boost to Nepal’s trading capacities. </div> <div> </div> <div> Supply side constraints start right from the production facility. Even though many Nepali products have good demands in the international market, political unrest, labour strikes, transport bottlenecks and unfriendly government policies have deterred production of these products and their delivery to the destination market. The Nepali State should focus on minimizing these deterrents to ensure smooth production and supply of goods. </div> <div> </div> <div> Nepal specializes in exporting agro products. Still it lacks a cold chain facility trading route. Even within the nation, it lacks a coordinated and interlinked cold chain that could facilitate agro trade. Facilitating the private sector for provision of such a chain, would provide boost to exports</div> <div> </div> <div> Another bottleneck in the export of agro-products is the lack of well equipped quarantine checkposts. Added to that is the lack of an agency that is competent and recognized internationally for quality certification. </div> <div> </div> <div> Quality is an essential factor in trading. Consumers always look for quality. Setting up an independent mechanism that could provide international quality certificate to products can ensure that exported products are not returned back citing quality reasons. Such certification system will increase brand image of Nepali products in international market and provide sustainable basis for steady trade growth. </div> <div> </div> <div> Identifying potential market and facilitating linkages between prospective producers and traders need to be ensured. Nepal has immense potentials for producing exportable agro and manufacturing products. People can meet the demands of the market, if there is market. The only prerequisite on the state’s side is to create conducive climate for these products and to identify market opportunities. </div> <div> </div> <div> Lengthy national and international customs regulations have been pointed out as great barriers for smooth trans-border trade. Bali Package pledges to address this issue but that will not sufficient. Nepal should on its own initiate talks for easing off custom regulations with nations that it does business with. It’s high time for Nepal to hold negotiations with its trading nations for streamlining custom regulations.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'World Trade Organization’s Bali Ministerial Conference concluded on 7 December with the issuance of the Bali Package- an agreement on issues that are considered to be stepping stone for completing the goals of Doha Round.', 'sortorder' => '2081', '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) 8 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2228', 'article_category_id' => '134', 'title' => '“Government Is Supressing Private Sector’s Growth”', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:15px;">Private sector is a crucial component and contributor to national development. However, sometimes it fails to play proper role. <strong>Dr. Kamal Raj Dhungel,</strong> Associate Professor of Central Department of Economics, Tribhuwan University, recently discussed existing relationship between private sector and government and investment climate in Nepal, with The Corporate’s <strong>Angila Sharma, Excerpts:</strong></span></div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>What can the Nepali economy expect from the success of the recent CA elections and the formation of a new government?</strong></span></div> <div> In this historical election, no party gained majority and so the government will be a coalition one. If the coalition government comprises of CPN-UML and Nepali Congress, it will be beneficial for the private sector. It was evident in the 90’s. During that time, this team had come up with liberalization policy and had made efforts to lead the economy towards prosperity. There were many bottlenecks and as such, this policy failed. So, if the parties in the higher position can now give continuity to the same policies and can implement them with effective monitoring, private sector will flourish leading to development of various parts of the economy.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, we can also expect good things from the upcoming government. But, for this, a single party or a combination of some parties cannot do anything. For the prosperity and economic growth of this nation, all political parties should work hand in hand.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Do you think our private sector is sincere enough in delivering services to the consumers? What are the reasons they are lacking behind in this?</strong></span></div> <div> State has to play leading role when it comes to the growth of the private sector. It is the state’s responsibility to provide the private sector with essential facilities while also monitoring their activities regarding implementation of the facilities provided by the state. Private sector is always profit-oriented. Its activities depend on the government’s attitude towards it. The government should ensure reasonable profit for the private sector while providing security for the investment made by the private sector and guaranteeing subsidies in delivery of necessary goods for the consumers. It should be able to create market for the private sector and should implement a clean and clear monitoring system. It is because of lack of such monitoring system that private sector has been lagging behind. Private sector can be effective if government provides enough security and an effective monitoring system.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>What is it that is lacking in our monitoring system?</strong></span></div> <div> For now, the government is weak. The government is vulnerable because of some reasons: Firstly, we do not have constitution and the Maoists who had originally demanded for CA elections are in third position while parties, who had never had this as their primary agenda, are now in leading position. In the past four years, nothing fruitful could be obtained. Rather, highlighting of issues surrounding federalism distributed solidarity among the people. Secondly, we do not have stability in our political and economic sphere. Presently these spheres are rigid and this has rendered our concerns and voices valueless. Economic activities are directly proportional to political stability and thus economic prosperity is possible via political stability. At this moment, the whole economic sector depends on the momentum of the political sector, which is presently in an unpredictable situation.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>There is a wide spread criticism regarding the insincerity of some private sector actors in providing facilities to consumers. What is your opinion on this?</strong></span></div> <div> Private sector is not trying to run away from its responsibility. I have listened to talk shows and programmes organized by FNCCI and CNI. They have often invited political leaders to their programmes and asked them to bring political consensus and consider economic growth as their main agenda. Private sector has substantial capital at its disposal and wants to utilize it in development activities. As such, they have highlighted five major areas that can speed up national development: agriculture, hydropower, tourism, education and infrastructure. They have identified these sectors as potential sources for national prosperity and development. People have begun investing internationally because there is no scope for investment here. This situation has been created here due to lack of security, market, and subsidies among others. Private sector is not trying to escape; rather, the government is suppressing it as it is failing to create a suitable environment for the private sector to flourish. Basically, private sector is in shadow because of government’s failure to create a conducive environment for its growth.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Even though our economy is relatively smaller it has always faced the problem of capital shortage. But, we are always able to invest in sophisticated products. Why is the economy failing to invest in more essential sector?</strong></span></div> <div> This is a very good question. A big portion of imports in Nepal constitutes of goods that cannot be substituted. Thus, a big amount of capital is being invested in the import of such goods. Import of goods like vehicles, gold and oil cannot be substituted by domestic production. We spend billions of rupees in importing these goods because these goods are important but cannot be produced in our country.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nonetheless, our economy has the potential to substitute import of certain goods like gas. Gas is one of the goods that have always led to conflict in the country, sometimes even leading to change of government. Nepal Oil Corporation is not always able to meet our needs and is also always on loss. We could substitute this, to some extent, through electricity. If we can produce sufficient electricity and provide it in convenient price, it will automatically solve the gas import problem. We could opt for electric bike, electric cars and electric trains if hydropower is properly utilized. So, it is necessary that we exploit hydropower to its fullest capacity</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>It is quite essential to have effective regulatory mechanisms to ensure smooth functioning of an economy. What improvements would you suggest in our economy’s regulatory mechanisms?</strong></span></div> <div> Monitoring system is a regulatory body. Our nation must not only have controlling mechanisms but should also include facilitating mechanism as its regulatory system. It means that private sector should be provided with subsidies, enough infrastructure, facility of tax exemption etc. Along with that, there should also be a separate regulatory mechanism that monitors the private sector’s activities.</div> <div> </div> <div> If one private sector actor does not work properly, the government should be able to dismantle it immediately and it should also provide space for the entry of new ones. However, existing lack of co-ordination within government agencies is making it difficult for the private sector to grow.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>In this changed scenario, as an economist, what would you suggest to the private sector, government and the consumers?</strong></span></div> <div> We are experiencing a major change and the future of our nation is unpredictable at this juncture. However, I am still optimistic. Regarding the CA elections’ results, I would sincerely like to thank the people of Terai for bringing a change in their voting pattern. I am glad that they did not stick to the earlier voting trend.</div> <div> </div> <div> Regarding the private sector, I would like to say that the private sector alone cannot grow unless it is supported and facilitated by the government. Both of them should make efforts for a better environment for mutual growth.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-17', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Private sector is a crucial component and contributor to national development. However, sometimes it fails to play proper role. Dr. Kamal Raj Dhungel, Associate Professor of Central Department of Economics, Tribhuwan University, recently discussed existing relationship between private sector and government and investment climate in Nepal, with The Corporate’s Angila Sharma, Excerpts:', 'sortorder' => '2080', '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) 9 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2237', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Nepal Political News In Brief (9 - 15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Singh Sings Consensus Tune</strong></span></div> <div> Nepali Congress general secretary Prakashman Singh said drafting a new constitution on the basis of consensus was the need of the hour. Speaking at a programme in capital last Saturday, newly-elected Constituent Assembly (CA) member Singh said his party would take initiative for drafting a new constitution by taking all the political parties represented there into confidence. The matters of government formation and about the President cropped up in the present should be seriously dealt with as they could fuel people’s frustrations, he said. Underlining the need of ending long-standing political transition as soon as possible, leader Singh assured of understanding between the Congress and CPN (UML) to settle the contentious issues.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Secy Baskota Monitors Road Expansion Works</strong></span></div> <div> Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Krishna Hari Baskota, has directed the concerned sectors to expedite the works under the road expansion campaign in the Kathmandu Valley. Secretary Baskota, who is also the coordinator of road expansion high level monitoring committee, monitored the expansion works and directed the concerned sectors to complete the road expansion very quickly.”If the contractors are lackadaisical, they must be made aware of it, and if it does not work, the contract can be scrapped,” he warned the contractors. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Gajurel’s Nay to Unity with UCPN (Maoist)</strong></span></div> <div> CPN-Maoist vice-chairman CP Gajurel has said there was no possibility of party’s unification with the UCPN-Maoist. “There was no meaning in forging alliance with the UCPN-Maoist, from which we walked away last year,” he said, adding that the UCPN-Maoist was an opportunist party. Speaking at an interaction programme organised in capital last Saturday, Vice-Chairman Gajurel accused the leaders of the UCPN (Maoist) of harbouring opportunistic character. However, he said if it agreed in roundtable conference, the CPN-Maoist would talk of unity with this party.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Gachhadar Bats for Congress-led Govt</strong></span></div> <div> Madhesi Janadhikar Forum- Democratic chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar has said that his party would support the government under the leadership of Nepali Congress (NC). During the meeting with NC president Sushil Koirala held at his residence in Maharajgunj last Friday, Gachchhadar said that his party was committed to democracy and would support the government under the NC-led government. During the meeting the two leaders discussed about forging political consensus to form the government, to call the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) and Legislature-Parliament, and constitution writing among other contemporary issues. </div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>CA Court Summons Dahal</strong></span></div> <div> Constituent Assembly court issued an order last Friday summoning UCPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, winner from Siraha constituency no. 5, to appear in the court within 10 days. A divisional bench of CA Court Chairperson Kalyan Shrestha and member duo, Girish Chandra Lal and Sushila Karki issued the directive to UCPN (Maoist) Chairperson Dahal and election officer of Siraha constituency no. 5 Uddhav Bhattarai, among others. CPN-UML candidate from the constituency Leelanath Shrestha had demanded re-polling alleging election rigging by the cadres of Chairperson Dahal.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nepali Congress general secretary Prakashman Singh said drafting a new constitution on the basis of consensus was the need of the hour.', 'sortorder' => '2079', '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) 10 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2236', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Weekly Round Up (2 - 8 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> •The European Union (EU) imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Nepal last Thursday from flying into the 28-nation bloc under the latest changes to its list of unsafe carriers. The European Commission updated for the 22nd time the European list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU, better known as “the EU air safety list.” “On the basis of safety information from various sources and a hearing both with Nepalis aviation authorities as well as with a number of Nepalese carriers, the Commission decided to put all airlines from Nepal on the EU air safety list,” the EU said. As a consequence of the ban on Nepalis carriers, they are prevented from flying into or within the Union. This ban is not only a major setback to Nepal’s tourism industry, but to the country as a whole. Although none of the Nepali carriers make flight to the 28-nation bloc, the consequences could be seen in the tourism and economy from the travel alert on European travellers to not use Nepali carriers. </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div> •Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference has concluded at Bali adopting a five-draft decision declaration and the 10-document full Bali Package that addresses the Doha Development Agenda. The last-minute deal would lower trade barriers and speed up the passage of goods through customs. Analysts estimate that over time it could boost the world economy by hundreds of billions of dollars and create more than 20 million jobs, mostly in developing countries. As a coordinator of the Consultative Group of the LDCs at the ongoing WTO conference in Bali, Indonesia, Nepal has raised its voice to demand a larger space in international trade for LDCs. Also, with the country itself facing barriers aplenty in international trade and a skyrocketing trade deficit, Nepal tried voice its concerns on existing multi-lateral and bilateral trade issues. Though developed countries have pledged Duty-Free-Quota-Free (DFQF) market access to 97 percent of the goods originating from LDCs as per Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005, only around 80- 91 percent of the goods are enjoying such facility. Nepal has been getting this facility for 81 percent of its exports to developed countires while some other African LDCs have been enjoying this for 91 percent of their total exports to developed countries under the DFQF. </div> <div> </div> <div> •The government has collected Rs 94.32 billion revenue in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The amount is Rs 140 million higher than the target. The government had collected Rs 78.3 billion revenue in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. The collected revenue is 20.87 per cent higher compared to the amount of the corresponding period of the last fiscal year. </div> <div> </div> <div> •Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has begun buying an additional 30 MW of power from India in a bid to ease the chronic power shortage in the country during winter. The Power Trading Corporation of India has sold the power to Nepal at a rate of Rs.3.75 (NRs.6) per unit. The additional power import takes Nepal’s total import from India to 165 MW. Nepal has been requesting India to provide at least 250 MW to meet its increasing power deficit. The NEA is aiming to bring down load-shedding to 12 hours this winter by getting more power from India. Currently, there is a shortfall of 350 MW to meet the requirements as existing capacity is just around 700 MW.Measures are being taken to reduce power demand, including operating some multi-fuel plants and revamping existing power plants. Officials say Nepal pays around Rs.22 billion every year for procuring power from India, which includes importing inverters and diesel generators.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The European Union (EU) imposed a blanket ban on all airlines from Nepal last Thursday from flying into the 28-nation bloc under the latest changes to its list of unsafe carriers. The European Commission updated for the 22nd time the European list of airlines subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the EU, better known as “the EU air safety list.”', 'sortorder' => '2078', '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) 11 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2235', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'NC, UML Sign Three-point Deal', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have signed a three-point pact last Saturday. The two parties have agreed to move ahead together with mutual understanding and collaboration to complete the political responsibility. </div> <div> </div> <div> They have also reached an understanding to immediately hold dialogue with UCPN (Maoist) as well as its breakaway faction of the CPN-Maoist. </div> <div> </div> <div> NC President Sushil Koirala and UML Chairperson Jhalanath Khanal signed the three-point deal that includes a commitment to move ahead together on mutual understanding. The leaders of the two parties have agreed on an agreement following a hectic dialogue at Peace Fund Secretariat in Babarmahal, Kathmandu.</div> <div> </div> <div> The two parties also expressed thanks to all sides concerned for the successful holding of free, fair and impartial CA election on November 19.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (UML) have signed a three-point pact last Saturday. The two parties have agreed to move ahead together with mutual understanding and collaboration to complete the political responsibility.', 'sortorder' => '2077', '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) 12 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2234', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Three-day National Mourning On Mandela’s Demise', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> </div> <div> The government has decided to hold a three-day national mourning on the demise of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid leader. The cabinet meeting held last Saturday decided to fly the national flag at half-mast at government and diplomatic missions abroad and not to hold any official ceremonies for three days starting from Sunday. The government has also expressed condolence to the family of Mandela and to the people of South Africa.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, the cabinet meeting has also decided to send a delegation led by Foreign Minister Madhav Prasad Ghimire to attend Mandela’s condolence assembly to be held in South Africa on December 10.</div> <div> </div> <div> Mandela, who led South Africa’s transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s, died last Thursday at the age of 95. He was receiving intensive medical care at home for a lung infection after spending three months in hospital.</div> <div> </div> <div> President Dr Ram Baran Yadav has also expressed profound sadness over the demise of the father of South Africa. Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala has said that he was stunned by the news of the demise of Mandela. He also wished for eternal peace to the departed soul while expressing condolences to the bereaved family and people and government of South Africa at this hour of grief in the demise of Mandela.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'The government has decided to hold a three-day national mourning on the demise of Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid leader.', 'sortorder' => '2076', '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) 13 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2233', 'article_category_id' => '140', 'title' => 'Parties Mull Selection Of PR Candidates', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <strong>--By Sagar Ghimire</strong></div> <div> </div> <div> Following the Election Commission’s deadline of December 10 for the parties to submit their nominees for the CA under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, political parties have begun intra party process to pick the names.</div> <div> </div> <div> Nepali Congress (NC), which has grabbed the highest number of seats under the PR system, held the meeting of its Parliamentary Board last Friday to select the names. NC, which has bagged 105 seats under direct system, secured 91 seats under the PR system. The 15-member board is still to pick the names of candidates following the selection criteria, a member of the Board </div> <div> told TC. </div> <div> </div> <div> Likewise, CPN (UML), which won 91 seats under direct system, is also holding its central committee meeting on December 9 to select 84 candidates that is entitled for the CA members under the PR system. Earlier, on last Friday, Standing Committee meeting of the CPN (UML) proposed to nominate half of the total candidates from the central committee and central departments and local committees, weighing their contribution to the party.</div> <div> </div> <div> Similarly, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP Nepal) has also said that it is preparing to submit the names of the PR candidates to the EC within a week. RPP-Nepal, which failed to win a single seat under direct electoral system, however, emerged as fourth largest party managing to secure 24 seats under PR system.</div> <div> </div> <div> However, UCPN (Maoist), the third largest party, has said that it would not nominate its representatives unless its demand of forming a probe commission to investigate into the alleged vote rigging is not met. UCPN (Maoist) has won 26 seats under direct system, while it bagged 54 seats under PR system. The winners of the UCPN (Maoist) under the direct system have not accepted the certificate from the EC yet. Nine other fringe parties that have won few seats, are also joining the UCPN (Maoist) in the chorus of vote rigging. They also have said that they would not recommend the names until probe commission is formed.</div> <div> </div> <div> Earlier last week, the EC had made public the total number of the seats secured by the 30 political parties under the PR system. It has asked 30 parties to recommend the names of the PR candidates to join the CA by December 10. Political parties have to pick the names from the PR list that they have submitted to the EC before the CA polls as per the electoral laws. The laws required the parties to maintain certain per cent of the proportional representation from women, Janajatis, Dalits, Madhesis, people representing the backward communities and Khas Aarya group.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Following the Election Commission’s deadline of December 10 for the parties to submit their nominees for the CA under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system, political parties have begun intra party process to pick the names.', 'sortorder' => '2075', '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) 14 => array( 'Article' => array( 'id' => '2232', 'article_category_id' => '138', 'title' => 'Nepal And The World News In Brief (9 -15 December 2013)', 'sub_title' => '', 'summary' => null, 'content' => '<div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Japan Approves $182 bn Economic Package </strong></span></div> <div> Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved a $182 billion package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the impact. The package has a headline value of 18.6 trillion yen ($182 billion), which is an exaggerated figure as the bulk of the package includes loans from government-backed lenders and spending by local governments that was already scheduled.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Australia and South Korea Agree FTA</strong></span></div> <div> Australia and South Korea have agreed on a free trade deal in an attempt to boost trade between the two countries. As part of the deal, tariffs on key Australian exports to South Korea such as agricultural products, energy and resources will be eliminated. It is also likely to help South Korean firms in sectors such as steel, textile and car manufacturing to boost their presence in Australia. Trade between the two nations was worth $29bn in 2012.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>Newsweek to Revive Print Edition </strong></span></div> <div> US current affairs magazine Newsweek, which had ceased publication last year to focus on its Web site, plans to bring back the print edition early next year. The magazine expects to begin a 64-page weekly edition in January or February, Newsweek’s editor-in-chief Jim Impoco said in an interview to the New York Times.</div> <div> </div> <div> <span style="font-size:14px;"><strong>EU Fines Banks Record €1.71 bn over Libor</strong></span></div> <div> The European Union has levied a record antitrust fine of €1.71 billion ($2.3 billion) on six European and U.S. banks and brokers for rigging benchmark interest rates. Deutsche Bank was hit with the single biggest penalty of €725.4 million for participating in illegal cartels to manipulate the Euro Interbank Offered Rate, or Euribor, and London interbank offered rate, or Libor. Other firms fined were Societe Generale, Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan and Citigroup , and U.K.-based broker RP Martin.</div>', 'published' => true, 'created' => '2013-12-09', 'modified' => '2013-12-09', 'keywords' => 'the corporate weekly from Nepal, nepali corporate events – news – interviews – reviews, nepali corporate focus, nepali corporate status and news, news from nepali corporate industry, corporate happenings – events – news from nepal', 'description' => 'Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet approved a $182 billion package on Thursday to pull the economy out of deflation, but doubts remain about the impact.', 'sortorder' => '2074', 'image' => null, 'article_date' => '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'homepage' => false, 'breaking_news' => false, 'main_news' => false, 'in_scroller' => false, 'user_id' => '0' ) ) ) $current_user = null $logged_in = false $xml = falsesimplexml_load_file - [internal], line ?? include - APP/View/Elements/side_bar.ctp, line 133 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::_renderElement() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 1224 View::element() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 418 include - APP/View/Articles/index.ctp, line 157 View::_evaluate() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 971 View::_render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 933 View::render() - CORE/Cake/View/View.php, line 473 Controller::render() - CORE/Cake/Controller/Controller.php, line 968 Dispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 200 Dispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/Cake/Routing/Dispatcher.php, line 167 [main] - APP/webroot/index.php, line 117
| Currency | Unit |
Buy | Sell |
| U.S. Dollar | 1 | 121.23 | 121.83 |
| European Euro | 1 | 131.65 | 132.31 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 1 | 142.47 | 143.18 |
| Swiss Franc | 1 | 124.29 | 124.90 |
| Australian Dollar | 1 | 71.69 | 72.05 |
| Canadian Dollar | 1 | 83.90 | 84.32 |
| Japanese Yen | 10 | 10.94 | 11.00 |
| Chinese Yuan | 1 | 17.17 | 17.26 |
| Saudi Arabian Riyal | 1 | 32.27 | 32.43 |
| UAE Dirham | 1 | 33.01 | 33.17 |
| Malaysian Ringgit | 1 | 27.36 | 27.50 |
| South Korean Won | 100 | 9.77 | 9.82 |
Update: 2020-03-25 | Source: Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB)
| Fine Gold | 1 tola | 77000.00 |
| Tejabi Gold | 1 tola | 76700.00 |
| Silver | 1 tola | 720.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
Source: Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association
| Petrol | 1 Liter | 106.00 |
| Diesel | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| Kerosene | 1 Liter | 95.00 |
| LP Gas | 1 Cylinder | 1375.00 |
Update : 2020-03-25
