What is your country’s name? It was the question I put before Radha Sunuwar, the 37-year old woman at Lele. Not carefully thought out in advance, it was avowedly not my deliberate attempt. I dared to pose the unusual question to confront my friend’s speculation that women here (40 km south of Kathmandu) fail to pronounce the name of their own country if inquired. We were four and Radha was preparing tea for us under the small thatched roof, which was the only big shop at the village we could see. Two of the friend took the speculation as a joke until Radha spoke out said: desh ko n...
Published On: 2011-11-24

KATHMANDU: The cabinet this evening discussed ways of putting down the Maoist insurgency but put off a decision until tomorrow. The meeting, which lasted four hours, is understood to have discussed, among other things, the pros and cons of declaring a state of emergency in west Nepal areas affected byMaoist violence. According to a highly placed source, the cabinet will meet tomorrow morning to resume the discussions before any decision on declaring the Maoists terrorists or requesting the King to declare a state of emergency. The cabinet met in the wake of a meeting earlier in the day of the ...
Published On: 2011-11-24

Promote tourism The target set to host a million visitors this Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) now appears to be out of reach with a little over a month left to achieve the target. The tourism sector seemed to have taken the back and the concerned were more occupied with politics. Taking into consideration that Nepal’s economy could be boosted from the earnings from tourism, it should be accorded due priority. Building the necessary tourism infrastructure would help develop the country. In the case of Nepal, despite it being an ideal destination for tourists, not much attention is being paid t...
Published On: 2011-11-24

After the extension of the Constituent Assembly (CA) by three more months ending November 30, pledges were made by the major political parties to bring the peace process right on track, and to move ahead in the writing of the new constitution. Now, over two and a half months in the latest CA term extension, the big parties are found squabbling amongst themselves making little headway towards the completion of the mandated tasks. However, there was some hope in that the major parties had reached a seven-point agreement for accomplishing the tasks assigned, which has got lost for the moment. Hen...
Published On: 2011-11-23

The Nepalese derivative market has been facing the allegation of operating only speculative trading. People have been claiming the derivative market of Nepal has not added up any mileage to the development of Nepalese economic environment. In fact, the activity being undertaken in its development is not quite visible. In this, the role of the regulators is lacking, and this absence makes it difficult to illuminate the need of derivative market in the country’s economy. It also means there is no one to suggest the way what the derivative market has to adopt for its development. The discus...
Published On: 2011-11-23

A man with a charitable disposition has a broad outlook on life, is a generous soul and is generally above petty things. This is to say he is least concerned about the ordinary and mundane, which are qualities that go well ahead of the ordinary. While at it, his or her lifestyle has much to do with endowments and giving it all away without being reduced to penury, which is something to be well aware of. Despite criticisms, he or she earmarks assets, wealth and hard-earned earnings to a trust to be used as per need for charitble purposes. This is done according to the circumstances which are ...
Published On: 2011-11-23

KATHMANDU: The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) may resort to nationwide load-shedding, with the rise in demand for power at this time of the year. The position has been aggravated by the fact that completion of its Kali Gandaki hydropowerproject has once again been delayed. The NEA-controlled national power distribution grid will be short of 50 to 60 MW this winter, according to Prachar Man Singh Pradhan, planning chief of the authority. “We are trying our best to avoid a power cut, but it looks like we will have to resort to it,” he said. NEA officials said the duration of thelo...
Published On: 2011-11-23

A few days ago I read Derek Siver’s simple yet remarkable story “232 Sand Dollars”. The story taught me how giving is more joyful than keeping. I used to have the habit of storing gifts I received even though I didn’t really use them. Eight years ago I received a wind chime as a gift from my aunt on my birthday. I hung it in a nail attached to one of the lights in my room and since that place received no wind‚ I never enjoyed the sound of the chime. Every once in a while I’d clean it as it got covered in dust and spider webs. But the one-year-old baby boy of...
Published On: 2011-11-23

Seized properties With the failure to return seized properties within November 23, the Seven-Point Agreement has completely failed to convince the people that the CA would give the desired constitution within the proposed six-month further extension of the CA or any time later. I would like to opine that all should put their efforts for a round-table conference aiming at the birth of a very vibrant republican constitution through a national referendum on an expert-drafted constitution that might be acceptable to the people of Nepal, as well as to the political parties, and in national inter...
Published On: 2011-11-23

When I joined The Himalayan Times (THT) back in 2003, I was not its loyal reader. Nine years have passed, but I hardly read the newspaper even now! Thanks to the internet and advancement in information technology (IT), I can access its online version and the developing stories on its website from anywhere, anytime. THT — that is how the newspaper is popular among its readers — has evolved with the revolution in IT, and spread its reach to the tech savvy readers as well as the ones living abroad in the recent years. I have witnessed the gradual changes on it — as an emp...
Published On: 2011-11-23