Kathmandu, January 28, 2006 Many candidates today withdrew their nominations filed for various posts of the municipal elections due largely to pressure from family members, relatives and friends. Some independent candidates said they pulled out of the election process after some candidates backed up by the “government” asked them to withdraw their nominations. A few women candidates told reporters that they did not know which party they were representing while vying for the elections. Today was the day to withdraw nomination papers. Bishnu Gopal Shrestha, who had filed nomination for the post of chairman of Ward No-13 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, told reporters that he withdrew his candidacy as Home Minister Kamal Thapa-led Rastriya Prajatantra Party had his candidate filed against him. Another independent contestant for a member of ward number 13, Binod Bhatta, said he withdrew his nomination after the government-candidate “forced” him to do so. Durga Shrestha, who was elected unopposed for the post of member of Ward No-11 of the metropolis, said she decided to pull out of the polls as she did not know anything about politics. Outsourcing can boost Nepali IT sector Lalitpur, January 28, 2006 Despite a small Information Technology (IT) market in Nepal and rising competition in the international market, there is a large potential for Nepali IT industry to grow if it can take advantage of outsourcing, said Paul Tjia, founder of GPI Consultancy, the Netherlands. Tjia was presenting a working paper at a seminar ‘IT Outsourcing,’ organised by the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) in Lalitpur today. The seminar was organised with an objective to appraise Nepali businessmen and IT professionals of the underlying issues and concepts of IT outsourcing. “Offshoring brings opportunities to turn small and pilot projects into real and large projects,” he said. Tjia also said, “Bigger countries and investors in the areas of IT are interested in the working environment and professionalism rather than on political scenarios. Having been in Nepal for a week, I can say that there are lots of avenues to be worked at here.” Today the IT market in the United States is being dominated by Indian and Chinese professionals. “Nepal has some advantages over these titans, like better command in English than Chinese counterparts, which the country needs to tap if it is to make a place for itself in the global market,” he said. Tjia also said that core issues like generating IT services according to clients’ needs, knowing the outsourcing culture, finding out outsourcing capabilities and a strong marketing strategy are needed to succeed in the global market. “High quality service and competitive pricing are the other two important factors that can lead to success in IT outsourcing,” he added.