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Nepal is the biggest market for India in South Asia

Posted on by SAT News Desk

India’s border trade with its six neighbouring countries — China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar — accounts for a little over $12 billion, which is just 1.56% of India’s total global trade of $769 billion in FY2017-18. India carries out its border trade with the farther neighbour Afghanistan via Pakistan, financial express mentioned.

Among other south Asian nations Nepal is regarded as one of the biggest market of India.  Nepal hast toppled the list of countries in terms of India’s border trade despite the other populous countries Pakistan and Bangladesh than Nepal.

The data suggests that India is better off exporting goods to the neighbours rafter than importing from them.

As per the latest official data given in Parliament, India’s total bilateral trade with Nepal in FY 2017-18 stands $6.82 billion.  It exports  $6.38 billion and imports goods worth only $437 million. Similarly Bangladesh has 10 times bigger population than Nepal but it imports $3.61 billion and exports 514 million. India’s trade relation with Pakistan seems balanced with $ 263 m export and $235 m import to India.

Go Jek to raise $2 billion for expansion in Asia

Posted on by SAT News Desk

SINGAPORE/JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek is seeking to raise about $2 billion from existing investors, including Tencent Holdings Ltd and JD.com, to fund its expansion plans in Southeast Asia, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Go-Jek’s fundraising comes as its main rival Singapore-based Grab is also building a war chest to transform itself into a consumer technology group and aggressively grow in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

Both Go-Jek and Grab are raising billions of dollars and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the race to gain dominance in Southeast Asia. More and more of the region’s 640 million consumers are going online, and starting to make use of smartphones to shop, commute and make payments.

“Chinese investors have very, very deep pockets but the total amount depends on how demand shapes up,” said one source who was not authorized to speak to the media. Go-Jek’s other existing investors include private equity firms Warburg Pincus and KKR.

Indonesia – home to 250 million-plus people – is shaping up as a battleground for global tech giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com, Google and Softbank Group in the fight for market share in ride-hailing, online payments and e-commerce.

Launched in 2011 in Jakarta, Go-Jek – a play on the local word for motorbike taxis – has evolved from a ride-hailing service to a one-stop app through which its customers can make online payments and order everything from food, groceries to massages.

“Japan has not started taking Nepali labour do not trust fake news and fake advert of manpower companies” : Nepal Government

Posted on by SAT News Desk

 

Kathmandu : Last week few of Japanese media published a news about a language flexibility and facilitating program of government of Japan in near future to avoid language barrier on the labour market.

“The news form Japanes source stated ten languages Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, Portuguese, Indonesian, Nepalese and Tagalog. Some of the pro government Nepalese media wrote the news as a huge success of the government but the news looks like coming from the aim to miss lead the people and benefit their manpower business by some of the manpower brokers” says Balaram Mainali, a media person from UK.

Many western media followed and expressed the news as the move from Japanese government was just as a language facilitating in recruitment process.    “A trusted news source by Rastriya Samachar Samiti itself was ambiguous and misleading” Mainali added.

Similarly on the other hand  few of the Nepalese government official working in labour department  leaked raw and baseless information to Nepali media  earlier than the week stating the Ministry of Labour is drafting the MoU to send labout in Japan. See in link 

Today, government of Nepal,  labour department itself has published a statement stating that manpower are not allowed to take money and start advertisement to send people to Japan as there has been not been any agreement between government of Japan and Nepal to send Nepalese labour in Japanese market. The public note  says that there has not been any contract between government of Japan and Nepal yet and if there is any news about it the government will publish transparently. The department has also alert public no to give any money and trust such marketing and news.

Charity dinner organised in Reading to support Nepal

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Reading : Penny 4 Nepal, a British registered charity organisation based in Reading, is to organise a charity dinner to support schools in Nepal. The charity has provided over £ 20,000 to various schools in Nepal, according to Trustee of the Penny 4 Nepal, Bal Krishna Dahal.

The charity dinner will be held in Spice Oven Restaurant in Caversham Reading on 19th January next month. The price of the charity dinner is said to be £20 for adults and £ 10 for under 10. Two round trip tickets to Nepal raffle draw will also be held on the occasion, according to the organiser. The charity also raised funds during the earthquakes in Nepal.

The charity has been able to help various schools in Nepal raising a penny from different households in the UK. The charity has requested all to help raise funds for the good cause. The charity, which was set up in July 2009 by a Group of Nepali youth in the UK, supports in the education and health sector for needy children of Nepal. The charity is ‘a child-focussed development organisation with no religious, political or governmental affiliations.’

2018 was challenging for Nepali press : FNJ

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Kathmandu-The Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has evaluated the year 2018 as a challenging period for the Nepali press.

According to the FNJ media monitoring unit, a total of 58 cases of violation of press freedom were reported in 2018 in the country and this number was 73 in the previous year.

Though the number was relatively low than of the year 2017, the year (2018) remained as the challenging one legally, the umbrella organisation of journalists concluded.
Some provisions incorporated in the Criminal Code and the Civil Code that have been in force since last August 17, which the FNJ described as anti-press provisions, appeared as the challenge for the entire Nepali press.

The FNJ said that it had launched a campaign to create pressure for the authorities concerned to make corrections in the anti-press provisions in such codes.

Similarly, 15 journalists were physically assaulted in the year 2018 and 13 received threats. As per the records in the FNJ monitoring unit, journalists were attacked and threatened on the basis of news contents. Moreover, 12 journalists were abused in course of news collection and for the news coverage and six cases are about obstructions that journalists faced in course of reporting.

Four cases archived by the unit are related to the captures of media houses and newspapers and one case is related to policy-level ban.
One incident is about the missing of a journalist. Tej Bahadur Khadka, FNJ Doti chapter member and associated with the Bajura-based Radio Budhinanda has been reported missing since August 27, 2018 while returning from the Budhinanda pilgrimage site locating at an altitude of around 14,000 feet.

In the period, six journalists were arrested. Raju Basnet, Angila Sapkota and Gopal Chandra among others were arrested by the police merely for writing news and they faced cases under the Electronic Transactions Act-2063 BS (2008), which, according to the FNJ, was the violation of jurisdictions by the police.

Press Council Nepal is there where any complaint or concern and dissatisfaction over any published or disseminated news can be filed. The FNJ, strongly condemning all sorts of incidents against free press, demands the government to ensure that full press freedom exists in the country. RSS

Nepal to launch its own satellite by May 2019

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Godawari-: Nepal is launchings its own satellites by coming mid-May.
It is all set to put its own satellites in orbit with the help of two Nepalis completing Master’s Degree in Engineering from a Japan-based University and pursuing post-doctorate degree.

According to Rabindra Prasad Dhakal, chief of Technical Department, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), the pair has been provided Rs 20 million to launch the satellites named ‘Birds 3’.

The amount was released to develop three satellites simultaneously at subsidized value and preparations are underway for the launch by coming mid-May.
The equipments will take photos of various parts of the country on a daily basis and disseminate information about its mountains, hills, Terai, forests, glaciers, roads as well as floods.
NAST scientists and the Minister for Science and Technology are scheduled to set for Japan in the beginning of the Nepali New Year 2076 Bs in connection to the satellite launch.
Once the country completes its project, the compulsion of gathering information with the help of other countries for which it pays a hefty amount will come to an end and the project is expected to prove that Nepal’s engineers are no less than competitive than thgose of developed countries.
NAST will store photos and information to be transmitted through the satellites in its ‘ground station’ based in its office.

Qatar airways invests five percent on China Southern Airlines

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Doha : Qatar Airways Group has completed the acquisition of a five per cent stake in China Southern Airlines.

The on-market purchase includes certain A shares and H shares in the company.

Qatar Airways chairman, Ali Shareef Al Emadi, said: “Qatar Airways regards our shareholding in China Southern Airlines as an important part of our strategic investment in the largest airline in one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets.”

This investment further supports Qatar Airways’ investment strategy which already includes its 20 per cent investment in International Airlines Group, its ten per cent investment in LATAM Airlines Group, its 49 per cent investment in Air Italy and its 9.99 per cent investment in Cathay Pacific.

Qatar Airways group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker added: “China Southern Airlines is one of the most prestigious airlines in the Chinese domestic market and an important market player in the world, with massive potential for cooperation in the future.

Given the complementary strengths and resources of each of China Southern Airlines and Qatar Airways, there are opportunities for us to work together and build a long-term relationship in ways that would bring benefits to customers of both airlines.

“The investment is a clear demonstration of Qatar Airways’ continued commitment to connecting travellers across all corners of the world in a way that is meaningful and convenient.

“Qatar Airways very much looks forward to the opportunity to deepen our working relationship with this great airline and further enhance the travel opportunities across the globe.”

Nepal and Sri Lanka to emphasize on trade and economic tie

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Kathmandu : The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Nepal, together with the Nepal- Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized a programme on “Promotion of Economic relations between Sri Lanka and Nepal” at Hotel Radission in Kathmandu, recently.

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Nepal Swarna Perera and President of the Nepal- Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce and  Industry Ramesh Maharjan graced the occasion.

The President of the Nepal Association of Tour Operators (NATO), President of the Nepal Association of Tour & Travel Agents (NATTA) Marketing Director of Ncell and Marketing Director of Hotel Hyatt in Kathmandu were among the speakers of the programme.

Over 120 guests, including tour operators, travel journalists and members of the Chambers in Nepal were present at the programme.

The event commenced with introductory remarks by Ambassador Swarna Perera, emphasizing the importance of strengthening economic relations between the two countries.

Her speech was followed by a Power Point presentation focusing on trade, tourism and investment opportunities in Sri Lanka. The Ambassador highlighted tourist attractions in Sri Lanka during her presentation.

While speaking on behalf of the Nepal – Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Marketing Director of Ncell said that regular interactions including bilateral consultations and visits of dignitaries would be helpful for building strong and long-standing trade and economic relations between Sri Lanka and Nepal.

The Presidents of NATTA and NATO emphasized the importance of air connectivity between the main commercial cities of the two countries in order to promote tourism.

India to send three-member crew on space mission in 2022

Posted on by SAT News Desk

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India will send a three-member team into space for up to a week when it launches its first manned mission expected in 2022, the government announced on Friday (Dec 28).

Indian ministers approved a budget of US$1.4 billion (S$1.92 billion) to provide technology and infrastructure for the programme, according to a government statement.

It said the Cabinet had approved financing to launch an Indian-developed craft in a “low earth orbit for a mission duration ranging from one orbital period to a maximum of seven days”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in August that India will launch a manned space flight by 2022 with at least one astronaut.

India plans to undertake two unmanned and one manned flights as part of its Gaganyaan (Sky-Vehicle) Programme, the statement said.

The country has invested heavily in its space programme in the past decade, stepping up its rivalry with China.

The Indian Space Research Organisation also announced in July that it planned to send an unmanned mission to the moon in 2019.

One million newborn die before they reach a month in South Asia

Posted on by SAT News Desk
Jean Gough 
In 2018, one million newborn babies died before they reached one month of age. My wish for 2019 is that we will see many more South Asia babies getting the urgent attention and quality care that they need and deserve.

Right now, as you read this, babies that have just been born here in South Asia are battling for their lives. The lucky ones are in a special newborn care unit with doctors and nurses working hard to keep them alive – keeping them warm; giving them oxygen and antibiotics if they need them. For too many, the battle will be lost before their lives even properly begin.

South Asia is a dangerous place to be born. In 2018, one million newborn babies died before they reached one month of age. Every one of these deaths is a tragedy for the family. And the sheer number of deaths is an outrage. This number – one million newborn baby deaths – is 40% of all newborn deaths if we look around the globe. The risk of dying is the same for a South Asian newborn as it is for a baby in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The availability of clinics and hospitals is still an issue in some places, as is transport to get to them on time. But this is no longer the main problem. The key issue is how good, or how bad, the care for pregnant mothers and newborns is. When we know that every year, one million babies here in our region will be dead within the first month of being born, we have a strong indication that the quality of care is simply not good enough.

The good news that I can share is that mothers and families actually can do a lot themselves to counter the threat of poor care. They are far from powerless and they are crucial to improving this situation. They can start by looking critically at the care they get when a new baby is on its way. There are very visible signs of quality care to look for at their clinic or hospital. It starts with the fundamentals: Is the place clean? Look at the health care workers: are they able and willing to answer your questions? Are they washing their hands before they touch you and the baby? You don’t need a medical degree to look for these signs and they will be a good indicator of how well the mother, the birth and child will be handled.

At home, mothers and families can also help ensure that a baby has the best chances of survival. Making sure that no girl becomes pregnant before she is 20 years old and her body can sustain a healthy pregnancy and is fully developed to give birth will help improve South Asia’s grave newborn death statistics. Families can help make sure that an expecting mother gets her first medical check within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. That way, she can be given advice and problems can be detected before too long has passed. And, by choosing to breastfeed and to start breastfeeding right after the baby is born, the mother is giving her newborn the best chances to survive that first month when the new baby girl or boy is extremely vulnerable.

So, there is plenty that mothers and families can do to help protect their newborns. It is not all in the hands of doctors, nurses and birth attendants.

My wish for 2019 is that we will see many more South Asia babies getting the urgent attention and quality care that they need and deserve. Every child has the right to survive – and I wish for joy and happiness in every new family with a healthy and thriving newborn.

Jean Gough is regional director, Unicef for South Asia

The views expressed are personal

The original version of this article has been published in Hindustan times.

Story of the doctors who drove across the world to help Nepal

Posted on by SAT News Desk

BBC has featured a story of a group of British doctors who visited world to support Nepal fifty years ago.  A  group of young doctors and nurses drove from the UK to Nepal, a country desperately short of medics. The health services they helped set up have saved millions of lives since, reports the BBC’s Bhagirath Yogi.

In three donated Land Rovers laden with equipment, the 11-strong team left in early April 1968.

Through Europe they drove to Istanbul and then crossed Iran and Afghanistan, reaching Pakistan via the Khyber Pass, before continuing to Delhi. Such a journey would be unthinkable these days for security reasons.

But they did it in about seven weeks and by the end of May they had reached Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.

The overland route the group chose was cheaper than going by sea and road, which would have been no quicker.

In Nepal, they set up an anti-tuberculosis programme, trained health workers and immunised children. It wasn’t just local lives that were changed – several of the group ended up marrying each other in the then Himalayan kingdom.

The young British doctors and nurses were among just a handful of foreign medics assisting Nepal when they arrived in 1968.

The country is still very poor but these days it has more than 21,000 doctors for a population which has grown to 29 million. And TB is still a major health problem but treatment coverage is now 70%, according to the World Health Organization.

Full story by BBC can be found in this link (  Click here  )

Tourism minister Rabindra Adhikari and 3 former ministers are charged for corruption in aircraft purchase.

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Kathmandu : The sub-panel of the parliament of Nepal has identified a corruption of Rs 4.34 billion in the deal to purchase wide body aircraft. It has sought the suspension of 38 government officials including acting tourism and aviation minister Rabindra Adhikari who were found to be involved in the anomalies.

Likewise, the committee has also recommended action against Tourism Secretary Krishna Prasad Devkota and former tourism ministers Jeevan Bahadur Shahi and Jitendra Narayan Yadav. The sub-panel has sought action against the chief of the civil aviation regulatory body Sanjeev Gautam too.

Similarly, former secretaries of the tourism ministry, Prem Rai and Shankar Prasad Adhikari, who has already retired are also are in the list of charge.

Other officials who have been named of being involved in financial irregularities in the aircraft purchase deal are Joint Secretary of Tourism Ministry Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank Chiranjibi Nepal, and then heads of Citizen Investment Trust and Employees Provident Fund. The sub-committee has also recommended action against then NAC management and members of the committee formed to purchase the planes.

The sub-committee formed to probe the issue has also recommended the immediate suspension of NAC General Manager Sugat Ratna Kansakar for further investigation

On Monday, the sub-committee had drafted a 35-page report, which concluded that there had been irregularities worth Rs 4.34 billion in the procurement of the Airbus A330-200 aircraft. But today before finalising the report lawmakers were divided on whether to make the initial report public or to amend the report prior to it being made public.

The PAC had formed a seven-member panel on December 13 with lawmaker Rajendra Kumar  KC as its coordinator to probe possible anomalies in the wide-body aircraft procurement process. Other members of the committee : Krishna Lal Maharjan, Chanda Chaudhari, Dharma Shila Chapagain, Pradeep Yadav , Prem Bahadur Ale & Min Subba are included.

Earlier, the Public Procurement Monitoring Office and the Office of the Auditor General’s 55th report had mentioned that NAC exploited loopholes in the Public Procurement Act and the corporation’s bylaws while acquiring the wide-body aircraft. PAC had mandated the sub-committee to investigate the issue and prepare the report on the basis of the findings of PPMO and OAG.

The report submitted by PPMO to the Public Accounts Committee had pointed out 15 mistakes committed by NAC during the procurement process. PPMO had mentioned that the request for proposal had been issued specifying Airbus planes with Rolls Royce Trent 772B engines against the Public Procurement Act that prohibits mentioning a particular brand, trademark, patent, design or manufacturer while preparing specifications except when there is no other option.

The Office of the Auditor General in its 55th report had pointed at irregularities in the procurement process after the NAC initiated process for procuring old airplanes despite inviting bids for procuring new ones.

The NAC had formed a sub-committee under Kansakar on January 18, 2016 for procurement of new planes. The government on September 14, 2016 had written to the NAC stating it will provide guarantee for procurement of airplanes. The NAC on September 26 in the same year published a 45-day notice for procurement of two Airbus planes.

The notice had invited bids for Airbus A 330-200 planes with Rolls-Royce Trent 772B engines that have clocked 1,000 flights hours. The sub-committee has concluded that inviting bids for old planes and specifying the kind of engines have violated the Public Procurement Act that prohibits mention of a particular brand, trademark, patent, design or manufacturer while preparing specifications except when there is no other option. It has also taken exception to procurement of the planes from an agent instead of procuring it directly from the manufacturer.

The NAC had acquired the first wide-body plane on June 28 and the second on July 26.

The procurement process had come under scanner after it was revealed that the NAC procured planes with maximum takeoff weight of 230 tons after formulating a business plan to procure those with 242 tons.

A copy of the PPMO sub committee report can be found in this link : 

 

The diary industry of Nepal covers 9 percent of GDP

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Surkhet, RSS : The dairy business has nine per cent contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Statistics supporting this fact were unveiled at the 20th National General Assembly of the Nepal Dairy Association (NDA), which concluded in Birendranagar. Dairy companies in the country annually pay revenue of Rs one billion to the government. As per the association, rural areas supply milk worth Rs 30 million on a daily basis to urban centres.

At present, five million litres of milk is produced every day in the country and farmers themselves consume around 50 per cent of the production. Most of the people associated with the dairy business lamented that despite the valuable contribution to the GDP, the dairy business is yet to get due recognition from the state.

General Secretary of NDA Prahlad Dahal, said 500,000 families of farmers are associated with the dairy industry and over 30,000 are directly employed in it. He expressed his concerns over the government’s decision to withdraw the 50 per cent value added tax exemption facility given to dairies, thus making it difficult for them to compete with imported products.

Meanwhile, situation of dairy business in Karnali Province is not encouraging. As per NDA, in Karnali Province the production can meet only 50 per cent of the market demand.

A foreigner and his Nepali wife arrested for cheating online in Nepal

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Kathmandu, Jan 1 A foreign national and his Nepalese wife have been arrested here for allegedly duping people online on the pretext of delivering parcels.

A special team deployed by Kathmandu’s Metropolitan Police Circle on Monday arrested Ivory Coast’s Obotar Alkagni and his wife Kusum Kayastha, both 32 years old, from their rented apartment in Pepsicola area on the outskirt of Kathmandu.

The couple was found possessing an Indian mobile number used to con people in the name of parcel-delivery and lottery, police said.

It is believed that they had duped eight people and amassed more than Rs 1.4 million through online cheating which involved using fake IDs on Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber among other social networking sites, police said.

Chinese online giant Futu Holdings to go public In USA next year

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Hong Kong  : A Hong Kong-based online brokerage Futu Holdings plans to debut in the U.S. public markets next year, as it filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol FHL and aims to raise up to 300 million U.S. dollars in the IPO. Founded in 2011, the company posted a revenue of 92 million U.S. dollars for the 12 months ended Sept. 30.

The stock investing service has been backed by corporate shareholders with 215.5 million U.S. dollars, including China’s internet giant Tencent, U.S. private equity investment firm Matrix Partners and U.S. venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, Futu disclosed on its official website.

Registered by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission in 2014, it mainly provides trading services in both Chinese and U.S. stock markets. The fintech also provides market data and news feed of Hong Kong, China’s mainland and U.S. stock markets on its investing platform Futu Niuniu with more than 5 million users.

Bookrunners of the deal include Goldman Sachs (Asia), UBS Investment Bank and Credit Suisse. No information on pricing terms has been released so far.

Sri Lanka to be the first country to operate 5G mobile in South Asia

Posted on by SAT News Desk

According to Daily FT  the Dialog Axiata yesterday announced a major step forward in Sri Lanka’s 5G journey with the commissioning of South Asia’s first fully-functional and standards-compliant 5G transmission using commercial grade base stations and end user devices.

Dialog’s pre-commercial 5G transmission was enabled in collaboration with the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) which has led the region in making available spectrum in the 3.5GHz band for the piloting of pre-commercial 5G services.

Dialog’s pilot 5G transmission delivers speeds in excess of 2 GBps in a real-world setting including base stations installed and commercial grade 5G Home Gateway Routers, which can deliver 5G throughput to a host of wireless devices and applications across the spheres of video, gaming and automation.

5G technology is designed to deliver an era of ‘intelligent connectivity’, bringing together the power of 2GBps + transmission speeds alongside cutting-edge technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, robotics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence and machine learning-based applications and cloud based Enterprise Networks.

5G networks will augment 4G services with fundamental advancements with respect to network speeds, throughput, traffic capacity and ultra-low latency.