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STAND PRICE RS 5.00 NEPAL’S LARGEST SELLING ENGLISH DAILY kathmandupost.ekantipur.com Temperature: Max: 27.0°c Min: 14.2°c Coldest: Jumla: 4.5°c Hottest: Bhairahawa: 32.5°c kathmandu pos t the n People board the tops of buses on their long journeys home for Dashain, at Koteshwor in Kathmandu on Monday. Nearly a month of import disruption from India has created a state of acute fuel crisis in Nepal. As only a small number of vehicles are on the road, people are compelled to embark on precarious journeys during the country’s biggest festival. POST PHOTO: HEMANTA SHRESTHA C M Y K CAPITAL EDITION l PRINTED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN KATHMANDU, BIRATNAGAR, BHARATPUR AND NEPALGUNJ Vol XXIII No 244 | 12 Pages TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2015 (03-O7-2072) The Kathmandu Post wishes its readers a very happy DASHAIN As we go on annual Dashain break, the next edition of the Post will be available on October 25 (Sunday) Modi advises Thapa to address demands DEVENDRA BHATTARAI NEW DELHI, OCT 19 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has advised Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa to resolve Nepal’s internal matters by address- ing the grievances in the Tarai. In a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Thapa in New Delhi on Monday, PM Modi said he was aware of the difficulties Nepal has been facing in the supply of essen- tials from India due to the obstruction on the border. He urged the government of Nepal to ensure security in the border region for remov- ing the blockage. Minister Thapa, who arrived in New Delhi on Saturday on a three-day offi- cial visit to draw the attention of the Indian government to the crisis in Nepal following the unofficial blockade by India, claimed that he was able to present the ground reality to Indian officials. He said he was assured that the import and supply of essen- tials would become smooth gradually. Public life and movement in Nepal has been crippled due to the import disruption from India that has continued for about a month. “There is no obstruction in the supply and export of goods from India to Nepal,” Thapa quoted Modi as telling him during the meeting. “Nepal’s government should take initiatives to clear the entry points. Then measures will be taken on the Indian side to send the supplies from open passes.” During a bilateral meeting at the Indian PM’s official res- idence in 7 Race Course road, Nepali ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay and Indian ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae were also present. Talking to the Post after the meeting, Minister Thapa said his visit was successful in removing mutual misunder- standing between the two countries. He said he got hints that Delhi would take initia- tives immediately to ease the crisis caused by the obstruc- tion of essential supplies. “I believe my visit has put Nepal-India ties on the right track. I hope the situation will ease soon,” Thapa told the Post at Indira Gandhi Airport before returning to Kathmandu. “The crisis we are facing in Nepal is political. We assured India that we will move ahead to resolve our problem through talks and consensus. We have formed a high-level political committee to hold talks with the disgrun- tled groups and the dialogue process has begun,” DPM Thapa added. Thapa, who met India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and India’s national security adviser Ajit Doval on Sunday, had received clear indications that relations between the two countries would not improve without addressing the prob- lems in Madhes. In the high-level meetings, concerns were raised about the delay in constitution amendment to address the grievances of the Madhesi/ Tharu groups over the deline- ation of federal states. Even after the meeting with the Indian PM, Nepali offi- cials read indications that the “unofficial blockade” would linger. Indian officials assured of increased supplies from other entry points while expressing their reluctance to resume cargo movement via Raxaul- Birgunj. Nearly 70 percent of the fuel imported in Nepal comes via Raxaul. Nepalis brace for a difficult Dashain KATHMANDU: Diplomats and foreign policy experts have suggested that Saarc nations and the Saarc Secretariat in Kathmandu should speak up against India’s trade embargo in Nepal as the country reels under an acute fuel crisis. It is more relevant for Nepal, which chairs the regional grouping this term and hosts the Saarc Secretariat in Kathmandu, to raise the issue in international forums and tell the global community about the supply constraints, they said. (Details on Pg 3) Diplomats urge Saarc members to speak against India’s embargo n Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Indian Capital on Monday. Thapa returned home later in the day. PHOTO COURTESY: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY, INDIA Govt forms talks team KATHMANDU : The govern- ment has formed a talks team headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa to hold dialogue with the agi- tating Madhesi/Tharu groups and the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha. The team formed by a Cabinet meeting on Monday also includes Law Minister Agni Kharel from the CPN- UML, General Adminis- tration Minister Rekha Sharma from the UCPN (Maoist) and minister with- out portfolio Ram Janam Chaudhary from the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik. A member from the oppo- sition Nepali Congress would be included in the panel, Minister Chaudhary told the Post. “The meeting has authorised the prime minister to add a member [in the team] by holding talks with the Congress,” said Chaudhary. (PR)

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Stand Price rS 5.00

N E PA L’ S L A R G E S T S E L L I N G E N G L I S H D A I LY

kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

temperature: Max: 27.0°c Min: 14.2°c Coldest: Jumla: 4.5°c Hottest: Bhairahawa: 32.5°c

kathmandupostthe

n People board the tops of buses on their long journeys home for Dashain, at Koteshwor in Kathmandu on Monday. Nearly a month of import disruption from India has created a state of acute fuel crisis in Nepal. As only a small number of vehicles are on the road, people are compelled to embark on precarious journeys during the country’s biggest festival. Post PHoto: HeManta sHrestHa

C M Y K

caPital edition l Printed SimultaneouSly in kathmandu, Biratnagar, BharatPur and nePalgunJ

Vol XXIII No 244 | 12 Pages Tuesday, OcTOber 20, 2015 (03-O7-2072)

The Kathmandu Post wishes its readers

a very happy

DASHAINAs we go on annual Dashain break, the next edition of the Post will be available on October 25 (Sunday)

Modi advises Thapa to address demandsDevenDra BhattaraiNew Delhi, Oct 19

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has advised Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa to resolve Nepal’s internal matters by address-ing the grievances in the Tarai.

In a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Thapa in New Delhi on Monday, PM Modi said he was aware of the difficulties Nepal has been facing in the supply of essen-tials from India due to the obstruction on the border. He urged the government of Nepal to ensure security in the border region for remov-ing the blockage.

Minister Thapa, who arrived in New Delhi on Saturday on a three-day offi-cial visit to draw the attention of the Indian government to the crisis in Nepal following the unofficial blockade by India, claimed that he was able to present the ground reality to Indian officials. He said he was assured that the import and supply of essen-tials would become smooth gradually.

Public life and movement in Nepal has been crippled due to the import disruption from India that has continued for about a month.

“There is no obstruction in the supply and export of goods from India to Nepal,” Thapa quoted Modi as telling him during the meeting. “Nepal’s government should take initiatives to clear the entry points. Then measures will be taken on the Indian side to send the supplies from open passes.”

During a bilateral meeting at the Indian PM’s official res-idence in 7 Race Course road, Nepali ambassador to India Deep Kumar Upadhyay and Indian ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae were also present.

Talking to the Post after the meeting, Minister Thapa said

his visit was successful in removing mutual misunder-standing between the two countries. He said he got hints that Delhi would take initia-tives immediately to ease the crisis caused by the obstruc-tion of essential supplies.

“I believe my visit has put Nepal-India ties on the right track. I hope the situation will ease soon,” Thapa told the Post at Indira Gandhi

Airport before returning to Kathmandu.

“The crisis we are facing in Nepal is political. We assured India that we will move ahead to resolve our problem through talks and consensus. We have formed a high-level political committee to hold talks with the disgrun-tled groups and the dialogue process has begun,” DPM Thapa added.

Thapa, who met India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and India’s national security adviser Ajit Doval on Sunday, had received clear indications that relations between the two countries would not improve without addressing the prob-lems in Madhes.

In the high-level meetings, concerns were raised about the delay in constitution amendment to address the grievances of the Madhesi/Tharu groups over the deline-ation of federal states.

Even after the meeting with the Indian PM, Nepali offi-cials read indications that the “unofficial blockade” would linger. Indian officials assured of increased supplies from other entry points while expressing their reluctance to resume cargo movement via Raxaul-Birgunj. Nearly 70 percent of the fuel imported in Nepal comes via Raxaul.

Nepalis brace for a difficult Dashain

KATHMANDU: Diplomats and foreign policy experts have suggested that Saarc nations and the Saarc Secretariat in Kathmandu should speak up against India’s trade embargo in Nepal as the country reels under an acute fuel crisis. It is more relevant for Nepal, which chairs the regional grouping this term and hosts the Saarc Secretariat in Kathmandu, to raise the issue in international forums and tell the global community about the supply constraints, they said. (Details on Pg 3)

Diplomats urge Saarc members to speak against India’s embargo

n Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Indian Capital on Monday. Thapa returned home later in the day. PHoto Courtesy: external affairs Ministry, india

Govt forms talks teamKATHMANDU : The govern-ment has formed a talks team headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa to hold dialogue with the agi-tating Madhesi/Tharu groups and the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha.

The team formed by a Cabinet meeting on Monday also includes Law Minister Agni Kharel from the CPN-UML, General Adminis-tration Minister Rekha

Sharma from the UCPN (Maoist) and minister with-out portfolio Ram Janam Chaudhary from the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik.

A member from the oppo-sition Nepali Congress would be included in the panel, Minister Chaudhary told the Post. “The meeting has authorised the prime minister to add a member [in the team] by holding talks with the Congress,” said Chaudhary. (PR)

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thekathmandu postvariety 02Tuesday, October 20, 2015

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YesterdaY’s solution

riPleY’s BelieVe it or notdilBert

Pearls BeFore sWine

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An elementary school teacher decides to pole the class on the difficulty of last night’s homework assignment: How many people were able to complete the assignment without parents help? About 25 percent of the class raises their hands. How many people we able to complete the assignment with the help of a parent? About 70 percent of the class raises their hand. The teacher still notices about five percent of the class did not raise their hands. She then calls out, “How many people had to help a parent complete your assignment?

nnnWhen a plague of flying ants caused the performance at a variety theatre to end prematurely, the manager sent a message to his agent: “Show stopped by flying ants!” The agent replied “Book’em for another week.”

KANTIPURTV

LAUGH OUT LOUD

5:00 Shuvarambha/ Bhaktisur

5:30 Kundali/Aatma Gyan6:30 Joyotish Manthan6:40 Sky Shop7:00 Kantipur Samachar8:00 Kantipur News8:30 Rise n Shine9:00 Headline News9:05 Fireside10:00 Kantipur Samachar10:30 Kantipur Aaja11:00 Headline News11:05 What The Flop11:30 Samkon12:00 Kantipur Samachar12:30 Kantipur Tiffin Box

1:00 Headline News1:05 Harke Haldar1:30 What The Flop2:00 Kantipur Samachar2:30 Rise and Shine3:00 Headline News 3:05 Fireside 4:00 Kantipur Samachar4:30 New Entry5:00 Headline News 5:05 Call Kantipur

Reloaded6:00 Kantipur News6:30 Feature7:00 Kantipur Samachar7:30 Kilo Tango Mike 8:00 Kantipur Samachar

9:00 Sarokar10:00 Kantipur Aaja10:30 Kantipur News11:00 Kantipur Samachar11:30 Kilo Tango Mike 12:00 Call Kantipur

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Repeat 23:30 Sarokar4:30 Uddhyam

00:00 Non-stop Hindi songs

01:00 Non-stop Nepali Pop/Adhunik Songs

02:00 Non-stop Bhajan05:00 Bhakti Anusthan06:30 Kantipur Diary07:00 The Headliners07:30 Kanuni Bahas ra

Paramarsa08:00 Kantipur Diary08:05 Jump Start09:00 Kantipur Diary09:15 Traffic News09:20 Glamour N Guff

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Diary12:10 Jeevan Sathi13:00 Kantipur Diary13:05 Ke Chha Nepal14:00 Kantipur Diary14:05 Ke Chha Nepal15:00 Kantipur Diary15:15 Shrejana ka

Samjhana Haru16:00 Kantipur Diary

16:05 Alka All Cure

17:00 Kantipur Diary17:05 Sangalo18:00 Nepalaya18:30 Kantipur Diary18:55 Khoj 19:00 Loud (X-treme

Show)20:00 Kantipur Diary20:05 Show Time21:00 Kantipur Diary21:30 Kaljayi Geet

Sangeet23:00 Global Connection

KANTIPUR FM

ARIES (March 21-April 19)****Get ready for one of your biggest emotional walls to come down—or rather, be torn down by a very compassionate person who wants to get to know you a little bit better! However, they won’t accept shallow small talk from you this time.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)****Your latest business venture or job hunt represents a major opportunity to advance your financial status, and you should prepare yourself. If the best case scenario works out, you need to know how to handle this evolution in your socio-economic status.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21)***Collaboration and teamwork is the way to go, right now—the energy between you and several other people will be powerful to the point of near-revolutionary. So pitch in and volunteer your services. Join a co-worker’s team and add what you can.

CANCER (June 22-July 22)**Are you using up all of your energy trying to make other people happy? Not only is this a bad idea, it’s an attitude that will only leave you unhappy—which is unacceptable. Today, reserve your energy for your own issues.

LEO (July 23-August 22) ****You should follow the trail to frivolity today. Find an idea that is totally ‘out there’ and see where it leads you. There’s no need to stick to your normal routine right now—you can put things on auto-pilot, and they will go well.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22)***If you know that someone is talking trash today, call them on their bluff! You should be daring and more aggressive—the uni-verse favours bold behaviour more than it favours passivity, and will give you the confidence boost you might need.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22)****If you go out into the world today, put on your explorer’s hat. Try to see everything as if it were a mysterious land. There are places you pass by every day that you’ve never really taken a hard look at before, so keep an eye out.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21)***Today, like most days, following the herd will only lead you to the land of boredom. You need to take your own path in order to get any type of stimulation or excitement into your day. Today, you are hungry for some exploration.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21)***If a friend isn’t happy with the amount of time you’re giving them, they are going to let you know about it today—and don’t expect them to be tactful. But before you get all defensive and angry that they feel so possessive about you, stop.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19)****You are reaching one of those critical points in a work or school situation today when you need to stop selling your ideas and start delivering on them. Show the people around you who you really are and what you are capable of. You definitely can do it!

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18)*****Have you ever tried to herd cats? If you need to organise any groups today, you might get a sinking feeling that you’ve been given an impossible task. You’ve got to be ready to be the bad guy today—put your foot down when the time comes.

PISCES (February 19-March 20)*****All of your past choices have helped you become the magnificent person you are today—you should be very proud of all the lessons you’ve learned, and all the paths you have walked. People always rely on you to do the right thing, and today will be no different.

TODAY’SHOROSCOPE

Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2QFX Civil Mall: 3:30 PM/5:30 PM

The marTian 3DQFX Civil Mall: 11:45 AM/5:15 PM

SuShreeQFX Civil Mall: 11:30 AM

aDhiKaTTiQFX Civil Mall: 2:00 PM

evereST 3DQFX Civil Mall: 2:45 PM

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revolution cafe, AmritMarg, Thamel, away from busy crowed street, offers great music, fast wi-fi and wide menu with rea-sonable prices. Operation hours: 7 am to 10 pm, contact: 4433630

Artudio, chhauni Hospital road, swyambhu, organise Spring Art Camp for School Children for 10 days from April 7 - 16, 2015. Opening Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Contact : 9851180088.

Escape, relax and get in shape @ Hyatt regency. Embark on a personal well-being at Club Oasis. Remember us for Tennis, sauna, Jacuzzi, swimming, fitness centre and Beauty Salon. Contact: 4491234

Learn cardio, gym, aerobics, zumba, spa, boxing, kick-boxing, b-boying, bollywood dance at oyster spa and Fitness club, Sinamangal. Time: Sunday to Friday from 5 am to 8 pm. Contact: 4110554

Jasmine Fitness club and spa, Fully equipped gym and spa; Zumba, aerobics and cardio classes; therapeutic massage; beau-ty parlour and men’s salon. Tripureshwor; Contact: 4117120

women skill development resource centre: Join free training for Straw Art, Sewing and Skill Development (for 2 hours, 4 hours and 7days), Suryabinayak, contact 9849426628

Yoga detox and Ayurveda treatments and retreats every day at Himalayan Peace & Wellness Centre, Park Village Hotel. Get 10% discount on all Ayurvedic treatments. Contact: 980106661

Krishnarpan—a specialty Nepali Restaurant at dwarika’s, 6 courses to 22 courses Nepali meal served. Opening Time: 6 pm-11 pm. Prior reservations required, contact: 4479448

The Italian restaurant serves authentic Italian cuisines in an elegant ambi-ence for both lunch and dinner. Timings: Lunch: 1230-1445 hrs, dinner: 1900-2245 hrs, contact: 427399, at soaltee crowne Plaza

Savour the cardamom and saffron spice, slow-cooked kebabs and kormas at Indian restaurant serving Awadhi cuisine. contact: 427399, at Soaltee Crowne Plaza

china Garden offers delectable dishes from across Asia, including Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Chinese. Timings: Lunch: 1230-1445 hrs, dinner: 1900-2245 hrs, contact: 427399 at soaltee crowne Plaza

Garden Terrace offers an authentic world cuisine, providing diners with the unique experience of observing their selected dish-es being prepared by chefs. contact: 427399 at soaltee crowne Plaza

Kaiser cafe restaurant & Bar at The Garden of dreams, opening time: 9 am till 9 pm, offers an international cafe menu serv-ing breakfast, lunch, dinner, specialty tea’s, coffees and pastries, contact: 4425341

Embers Bar, Pulchowk, in all its sophistica-tion and glory is happy to announce Happy Hours every 6-7pm. It will be hosting a Barbeque night every Friday from 6:30-9:30pm

Mako’s offers traditional Japanese food served. Don’t miss out on Mako’s special Tempuras, and green tea ice cream, Time: 11: 30-14:30 & 19:00-22:00, contact: 4479448

Manny’s Eatery and bar introduces a spe-cial lunch package that is affordable, tasty, nutritious and quick enough to fit your lunch break, Jawalakhel, shaligram complex, 5536919

The Toran, an ideal location for all day lounging and informal dining offers mul-ti-cuisines. Contact: dwarika’s Hotel, 4479488

weekends brunch @ Hyatt regency—treat yourself with a lavish buffet lunch, splash by the swimming pool or laze around outdoor, Jacuzzi, all for just Rs 2300 plus taxes per person. Contact: 4491234

special saturday Brunch at The Café & Garden, The Everest Hotel 1200-1600 hrs; Ph 4780100

We serve nothing but the finest Arabica coffees at great value prices at Barista Lavazza coffee restaurant, Lazimpat, contact: 4005123/4005124

Bourbon room, Lal Durbar Marg is open for

lunch from 12 noon. Enjoy affordable and delicious meals starting from Rs 99! We are currently offering Indian & chinese combos along with momos. call: 4441703

Enjoy a Barbecue Buffet at the radisson Hotel, wide selection of mixed fresh grills and vegetables together with a choice of salads and a delicious dessert buffet at a rate of Rs. 1,350 plus taxes per person. Contact: 4411818

Latin—Gypsy Jazz at The corner Bar, Radisson Hotel, Kathmandu with Hari Maharjan feat Monsif Mzibiri, 7 pm onwards, Wednesdays & Fridays. contact: 4411818

sandwich and crepes: Taste the sandwich-es and crepes at The Lounge from 11 am to 6 pm everyday. For further details call Hyatt Regency at 4491234.

rosemary Kitchen and coffee shop, Thamel, opening hours: 7:00 am to 10:00 pm offers an International cuisine in reason-able prices. Contact 01-4267554

out-of-Africa Lunch amid rural splendor: Sat & Sun from 1130 to 1630 hours at The Watering Hole, Indrawati River Valley. For prior reservation contact: [email protected]

Tibetan Gyakok for Lunch & Dinner every day at The Mandarin, The Everest Hotel ph: 4780100 ext: 7811

Make your weekend more exciting with family and friends with sumptuous Satey, Dimsums, Mangolian Barbecue and Pasta at The Cafe from 12:30 noon to 4:00 pm. Call: Hyatt Regency, at 4491234

The most delightfully awesome chicken momos & yummy rich chocolate cake on this part of the planet @ Just Baked Bakery & cafe, Battisputali, offering much more spe-cialties at affordable price.

daily Buffet with a complimentary glass of house wine at The café, The Everest Hotel, Lunch: 12 to 3 pm and dinner: 6:30 to 10:30 pm. Ph: 4780100

Enjoy snacks and drinks from 4:00 pm to 11:00 pm every day and nightly live music from “The corner Band” except Tuesday and Saturday from 7 pm to 11:00 pm at corner Bar, radisson Hotel. contact: 4411818

Every Friday BBQ from 7:00 pm at Fusion Bar & Pool side at Dwarika’s Hotel with live band “Dinesh Rai and Sound of Mind”. Price Rs 1600/ includes BBQ dinner and a can of beer or a soft drink. Contact: 4479448

Hotel Narayani complex, Pulchowk, Lalitpur presents Shabnam & Cannabiz Band every Wednesday and Rashmi & Kitcha Band every Friday, 7:30 PM onwards @ Absolute bar P Ltd; contact: 5521408

starry Night BBQ—every Friday Evening from 7:00 pm at shambala Garden café, Hotel, shangri~La only @ rs 1799 net per person and live performance by ciney Gurung. contact: 4412999

Enjoy live dJ nights, on every Sunday chill out/ ambient, Wednesday tech/ funk house & Friday psy/ proggy/ full on from 6:00 pm to 10 pm at garden and 7:00 pm onwards at club at Funky Buddha resturant & Bar, contact: 4700091

Set within the historic Garden of Dreams, the Kaiser cafe restaurant and Bar, Thamel, offers a continental menu and serves as an atmospheric venue for anything from a quiet coffee or intimate meal. contact: 442534

Trisara offers food and drinks along with good music and great times. Sunday- Live Music by Barbeque Night, Monday, Wednesday-by Positive vibes, Tuesday, Saturday-By Jyovan Bhuju, Friday-Live Music by Dexterous

Experience The Last resort, the perfect place for family fun adventure and relaxation. Special packages for residents. contact: 4700525/ 4701247 or mail us at [email protected]

Asia world Travel Pvt Ltd presents fascinat-ing luxury escapades to amazing destinations: Prague, Ladakh, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Mount Kailash and Panchpokhari in North East Nepal. contact: 6222604

Much needed getaway—1 night/2 day package @ Hyatt Regency. Enjoy luxury stay of a five star hotel for a couple with breakfast and access to spa facilities for just Rs 9999 plus taxes per person only. Contact: 4491234

Jungle safari Lodge, sauraha chitwan offers 2 Nights 3 Days package only for Rs 6500 per person. Suman 9851008399

Monsoon Madness, 2 Nights/3 Days Package @ Shangri~La Village Resort, Pokhara, only @ Rs 5555 per person where you get back coupons worth Rs 2999. Tel: 4412999, 061-462222.

Page 3: l Printed SimultaneouSly in kathmandu, Biratnagar ...epaper-archive-01.ekantipur.com/epaper/the-kathmandu...Tharu groups over the deline-ation of federal states. Even after the meeting

thekathmandu post news03 Tuesday, October 20, 2015

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go with a swing

n A child enjoys a swing ride during the Dashain festival at Khokana in Lalitpur on Monday. Post PHoto: sANJoG MANANDHAR

NC to pick candidate after DashainPOST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 19

With many party leaders showing interest in contesting for the President, the main opposition Nepali Congress will decision on a candidate after Dashain following discussions with the ruling parties.

The party will file its own candidate for the President, said party spokesperson Dilendra Prasad Badu, but “the decision will be taken only after Dashain”.

Parliament is set to hold elections for new President

and Vice President soon after the Dashain. As per the pow-er-sharing deal between the ruling CPN-UML and UCPN(Maoist), the post of President has been allocated to the UML.

“As of now, the party will file its own candidate rather than supporting any other,” said Badu, adding that as the largest parliamentary party, NC will have the natural claim over the post.

Party leaders say that sev-eral faces have expressed desire to contest the elections. In a recent meeting with his loyalist, NC President and for-

mer prime minister Sushil Koirala has expressed his desire to become the President.

But Koirala’s rival camp in the party, Sher Bahadur Deuba has yet to decide on the Presidential election.

In a bid to ensure a victory for its own candidate in the first stage, the NC has already held some rounds of discus-sion with the UCPN (Maoist). The UML is pushing its candi-date for the post.

Koirala had lost to incum-bent Prime Minister KP Oli during the recent PM election. On the other hand, incumbent President Ram Baran Yadav is also said to have been lobby-ing inside the NC to extend

his tenure. But chances of his continuation as President is slim, say NC leaders.

Former Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat recently twitted that the NC will have its own candidate for the President. “Don’t believe on rumour, we will have our own candidate,” said Mahat.

Other NC leaders, includ-ing KB Gurung, Man Bahadur Bishwokarma and Padam Narayan Chaudhary, have also expressed their desire to contest the election. Gurung is a leading Janajati leader inside the party, while Bishowkarma champions the cause for Dalits in the party. Similarly, Chaudary belong to the Tarai-Madhes constituen-

cies and a leading figure in the party from Tharu community from eastern Nepal.

Some of our leaders are interested to lend support to a candidate from outside the party like Mahantha Thakur, said NC leader and Central Working Committee member Bal Krishna Khand.

Some leaders belonging to Tarai-Madhesh constituen-cies have openly supported Thakur to address the larger Madhesi constituencies and to end the current dispute.

According to Khand, this group is confident of securing votes from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, the UCPN (Maoist) and the Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantirk for Thakur.

presidential election

Morcha takes ‘wait and see’

approach to pollPOST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 19

Madhesi parties will wait till candidate selection to decide whether to take part in or boycott the presiden-tial election.

Leaders of the regional parties said their participa-tion in the election is likely if the Nepali Congress agrees to pick President and Vice President candi-dates agreeable to them.

The Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM), which participated in the prime minister election, has been in informal talks with lead-ers of the Nepali Congress to decide the names of can-didates. “We intend to vote only if the NC agrees to file a candidate acceptable to our constituency. Discussions are going on to decide the candidates,” said a leader of Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal.

SSFN Chairman Upendra Yadav and Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party Chair Mahantha Thakur had dis-cussed the possibility of fil-ing common candidates for the top two posts. There has been no agreement over the names so far. Leaders said they had mulled over the candidacy of incumbent President Ram Baran Yadav and Thakur as the head of state.

Morcha leaders said they will claim the Vice President’s post if an NC leader decides to run for presidency. It is likely that the Morcha will propose a mutual candidate for the post.

Sadbhawana Party

Co-chairman Laxman Lal Karna said they find it hard to decide their candidate due to the criticism on the ground of the protesting parties’ participation in the prime minister election last week.

“But the Morcha will do what is in the best interest of the Madhes and Madhesi people,” said Karna.

SSFN Chairman Yadav said they would take part in the election if the Morcha decides to but he dismissed rumours that the NC was unwilling to support Thakur as the new President.

“It’s a ploy to defame us and weaken our move-ment,” said Yadav. Several Madhesi fronts including those led separately by Jay Prakash Prasad Gupta and Matrika Yadav, which have no representation in Parliament but are actively engaged in protests--are campaigning against the SLMM leadership following its participation in the PM poll in Parliament.

The SLMM that consti-tutes four Madhes-based parties has been enforcing a general strike since July citing dissatisfaction over the delineation of federal boundaries and a breach of past accords signed with the Tarai groups.

Saarc members ‘should speak against blockade’POST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 19

Diplomats and foreign policy experts have suggested that Saarc nations and the Saarc Secretariat in Kathmandu should speak up against India’s trade embargo in Nepal as the country reels under an acute fuel crisis.

It is more relevant for Nepal, which chairs the regional grouping this term and hosts the Saarc Secretariat in Kathmandu, to raise the issue in internation-al forums and tell the interna-tional community about the supply constraints, they sug-gested.

Former ambassadors to India Bhekh Bahadur Thapa and Lokraj Baral are also for raising the issue in regional as well as international plat-forms. “The relevancy of Saarc has ended,” said Thapa. “As the Saarc chair, Nepal should call a meeting of mem-ber nations and apprise them on the matter.”

A diplomat to have served in the Saarc Secretariat said member nations should call an emergency meeting of their eight commerce and sup-plies ministers to discuss the blockade.

The embargo is also against the spirit of South Asian Free Trade Agreement, said the diplomat, adding that Safta does not imagine a situation in which a member country imposes an embargo against another member.

Warning that the fuel dearth would lead to a human-itarian crisis during the festi-vals, he wanted the Saarc nations to speak up against India’s behaviour. Former ambassador Baral said, not only Saarc nations, other dem-ocratic powers like the United States and the European Union should speak against the Indian embargo.

“I have lost my hope in Saarc but member nations should speak against India’s move. Some members may stand by Nepal in its crisis,” said Baral. The government has made no effort to inform the regional grouping about the crisis.

“If Nepal calls a regional meeting, member states will definitely speak in its favour,” said a diplomat, expressing his doubt whether Nepal would hold such meeting given its complex relations with India.

Bangladeshi Minister for Commerce Tofail Ahmed told an Indian daily, the Hindu, that the blockade, which has been hurting Nepal’s econo-my, should end at the earliest. Speaking from Bangladesh with the Hindu, Ahmed noted that his country had been fol-lowing the developments but had so far avoided comment-ing on it. But he said such blockades are not in the spirit of regional cooperation in South Asia.

“In June this year, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal agreed to create a framework for BBIN trans-port network,” he told the Indian newspaper.

“BBIN is an unprecedented step that we took aiming at shared prosperity in South Asia. BBIN was meant to facil-itate movement of commer-cial vehicles across the borders of Bhutan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Such blockades hit at agreements like the BBIN.”

Diplomats and foreign policy experts are in favour

of raising the issue in regional as well as inter-

national platforms

Leaders of the regional parties say their partici-pation in the election is likely if the NC agrees to

pick Prez and Veep candi-dates agreeable to them

unofficial indian embargo on nepal

Decks cleared for SSRPPOST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 19

Six years after adoption of the School Sector Reform Programme (SSRP), the gov-ernment has finally approved the bill for amend-ment in the Education Act, clearing the legal hurdles for the programme’s imple-mentation.

The plan to restructure school level education, pro-vide compulsory education, form Central Examination Board after dissolving the Higher Secondary Education Board has not been implemented due to the

legal hurdle. The SSRP envisions

restructuring the school level education at basic (grade one to eight) and sec-ondary levels (grade nine to 12) from the existing prima-ry (grade one to five), low-er-secondary (six to eight), secondary (nine to 10) and higher secondary (grade 11 to 12) levels. The donor-fund-ed programme was launched in 2009 aimed at completing it by 2015. But the pro-gramme was extended by two years after it did not pan out as expected.

Asian Development Bank, European Union, Finland,

Australia, World Bank, Unicef, JICA and Norway have agreed to extend their support for the SSRP. According to te Ministry of Education, the donors would contribute around $170 mil-lion (around Rs 14.45 billion) to the programme for the extended period. The gov-ernment had sought around Rs25 billion for the pro-gramme.

Dr Hari Lamsal, spokes-person for the Ministry of Education, said the aid vol-ume may increase after the support from Global Partnership for Education and other INGOs.

amendment to education act

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CHETAN ADHIKARIDAMAK (JHAPA), OCT 19

Bhutanese refugee Padmalal Pokhrel has stayed at Beldangi camp in Jhapa for the past 25 years. Every year when Dashain arrives, he said the entire camp is pervaded by a sense of gloom. “It may very well be the greatest Hindu fes-tival, but not for us refugees,” said Pokharel. “How could we be merry when we are away from our country?”

There are several other ref-ugee families in the camp who share a similar view on Dashain, or any other festi-vals for that matter. Festivals are not quite like it when one is not in their homeland.

“We get lonely here, don’t quite feel like celebrating,” said Dail Mahat. “This place is not our home. And whenev-er the festival season arrives that feeling hits us more than ever.”

The reason for many refu-gee families to become sad during festivals has got stronger as many of their friends and relatives are no longer with them in the camp. Many refugees have left for other countries as part of the third country resettlement

programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

“The UNHCR has separated our family. We cannot celebrate the festivals even if we wanted to,” said

Abhinarayan Dhakal. According to him, most

members of his family have left Nepal under the third country resettlement pro-gramme.

S i x t y - t h r e e - y e a r - o l d

Dhanman Khadka said he gets sad whenever he hears Dashain music playing on radios and TV stations.

“It is depressing because most of my close relatives and friends are no longer here.”

thekathmandu postnews 04Tuesday, October 20, 2015

C M Y K

little joy

shikali festival

n A boy flies a kite at the campsite of the April 25 earthquake victims in Bouddha, Kathmandu, on Sunday. POST PHOTO: NIMESH JANG RAI

n A man wearing a mask of a Hindu deity is being paraded as part of Shikali Festival in Khokana, Lalitpur, on Monday. In this festival dating around 300 years back, the Newar communty of Khokana worships 14 Hindu gods and goddesses. The festival is held by many as an alter-native to Dashain which is celebrated by Nepali Hindus across the country. POST PHOTO: SANJOG MANANDHAR

Fuel crisis hits livelihood of LGP delivery boyPRATICHYA DULALKATHMANDU, OCT 19

For Sujan KC, fuel shortage is more than what has been the worries of every household in the Capital. Short supply of LPG has cut his only source of income.

KC makes his living deliver-ing LPG cylinders to from door to door from a local dealer.

“I don’t know how I’ll man-age, I have a family of five to look after,” said KC.

The fuel crisis in the coun-try for the last three weeks has come at a time when KC and his family had just started to come to terms with life after the dev-

astating earthquake of April 25 that flattened his house in Sindhupalchok.

According to Niraj Khadka, owner of a shop where KC works, he used to deal around 300 LPG cylinders a month. For the last 20 days, his shop has remained closed.

The government data shows that Nepal requires 22,000 metric tonne LPG per

month; only around 1,000 metric tonne LPG has entered the country after India imposed an undeclared economic blockade at border points.

KC roughly earned around Rs 15,000 a month by deliver-ing LPG cylinders. With that money he manages his lodg-ing and food in the Capital and sends the savings to his family.

Winter is the season where KC earns the

money as he has to make more deliveries as the LPG demand sores up since its consump-tion goes up as many families in Kathmandu rely on LPG-enabled water heaters and room heaters.

The political deadlock has worried KC. He does not know how he is going to manage if the situation does not get bet-ter soon.

“This has been the worst year in my life. My house toppled in the earthquake and now my source of earning is headed to another disaster. If the situation does not get better by winter, I am afraid I will have no option but to go to Gulf and work as a labour,” said KC.

Three dead, 20 hurt in separate road accidentsPOST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 19

At least three persons died and 20 others were injured, four critically, in separate road accidents in the past 24 hours.

One Laxman Ghimire of Morang district died while eight others sustained inju-ries when a speeding Kathmandu-bound bus hit a stationary bus at Sarlahi stretch on the East-West Highway on Monday morn-ing. Ghimire was the passen-ger on the bus heading to Kakadvitta. The vehicle was parked on the roadside after running out of fuel.

Eight other persons, includ-ing the drivers of both the buses, were injured in the incident, said police.

Two among the injured are reportedly in critical condition.

In Syangja, a passenger fell off of the roof of a moving jeep and died at Swarek-1 on Sunday night. Police identi-fied the deceased as Elina Saru, 18, of Kalikakot-4. Saru, who was critically injured, died while being rushed to hospital.

The incident took place as overcrowded vehicle tilted at a bent. Two other seriously injured passengers are receiv-ing treatment at a local health facility.

In Rautahat said Umeshwor Yadav, 37, died after being hit by a jeep with an Indian regis-tration number at Gaur-13 on Monday. The victim, a teacher at Laukaha-based school, died on the spot, said police. The

driver absconded after the incident.

In Palpa, 10 people were injured when a truck and a jeep collided head-on at Jarepipal along the Bartung-Butwal section on the Siddhartha Highway on Monday. The accident occurred when a Butwal-bound truck (Lu 1 Ka 950) col-lided with a jeep (Lu 1 Ja 1585) heading towards Burtuwang, Baglung from Butwal. The injured are the passengers of the jeep.

District Traffic Police Chief Pravin Acharya said that two injured passengers are in serious condition. The injured are receiving treat-ment at Prabas-based Lumbini Medical College.

(With inputs from local correspondents)

Dashain: A sad affair for Bhutanese refugees

CNP rhino mauls mum, daughterMAHOTTARI: Nirmala Devi, 35, and her daughter Ramtola, 10, were injured in a rhino attack Sonama VDC-1 in Mahottari district on Monday. According to Police Inspector Makshindra KC, the rhino had entered the human settle-ment from a nearby forest belonging to Chitwan National Park. The injured are receiving treatment at a local health institution. (PR)

Kathmandu to become elderly-friendly cityPOST REPORT KATHMANDU, OCT 19

Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is planning to set up elderly citizen clubs and help desks around the city to help its senior citizens get access to their rights and facilities smoothly.

The KMC officials said they

were coming up with a programme to assist the elder-ly population who are often neglected when it comes to health care, allowances and other facilities provided by the state.

“We are aiming to make Kathmandu an elderly-friend-ly metropolitan city”, said Yagya Badal, senior social

welfare officer at KMC, at a function that was organised by KMC in collaboration with Guthi and supported by Freshwater Action Network South Asia (Fansa) in the Capital.

The elderly citizens who participated in the event recommended the concerned authorities to consider their

physical challenges when it comes to accessing the facili-ties offered by the state.

“The KMC can play signifi-cant role in improving sanitation services to elderly citizen and keep community clean,” suggested Dina Nath Poudel, one of the partici-pants.

Sharing the challenges

faced by the elders, Nita Dhungel said, “The existing infrastructure in Kathmandu Valley are not elderly friend-ly.”

The South Asian Conference on Sanitation held in Kathmandu in 2013 had highlighted the need to provide sanitation services to the geographically, economi-

cally and socially marginal-ised communities. “While the South Asian nations aim to be open defecation free region by 2023, governments’ concern on providing sanitation to elderly population is still one of the biggest challenges,” shared Prakash Amatya, regional communication officer of Fansa.

AFC bANS NEPAlI

FOOTbAllERS POST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 19

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has provisionally suspended five Nepalis linked to match fixing.

Four Nepali football-ers—national team captain Sagar Thapa, Bikash Singh Chhetri, Sandip Rai and Ritesh Thapa and official Anjan KC were arrested last week on match fixing charges.

“The arrests show that the AFC’s action against match fixing is bringing results,” AFC Acting General Secretary Dato’ Windsor John said in a statement posted on the confedera-tion’s official website on Monday.

“Match-manipulation is a serious threat to the development of the game in Asia and the AFC has a zero tolerance policy towards match-fix-ing and anyone involved in it.”

The intelligence gath-ered is based on a year-long investigation, work-ing jointly with Sportradar and the Nepal Police, the statement reads.

“The current investi-gation is still ongoing and the AFC may extend the suspensions for a further 20 days. The AFC has today [Monday] written to Fifa asking for the bans to be imposed world-wide.”

Nepal requires 22,000 metric tonnes LPG per month, but since the blockade imposed by India, only around 1,000

metric tonnes LPG has entered the country

Senior citizens deprived of allowance AAGANDHAR TIWARIPARBAT, OCT 19

S eve n t y - e i g h t - ye a r- o l d Bhagirathi BK of Bachha VDC-7 in Parbat district will not be receiving her social security allowance which she hoped to spend for cele-brating this year’s Dashain.

“Me and my husband would combinedly have Rs 8,000, which would have been more than enough for us to get through the festi-val,” she said.

With BK’s husband bed-ridden for the past sev-eral months, it is up to her to take care of her ailing part-ner and put food on the table. “I cannot believe they stopped our allowance dur-ing Dashain,” she said.

BK tried borrowing

money from her neighbours and relatives, but she said it was difficult to get loan dur-ing the festival season.

Gopal Pathak of Pangrang shared a similar plight. “This year’s Dashain will be a sad affair. Without the allowance our plan to cele-brate has been affected,” he said. Elderly citizens have claimed they could not get their allowance because of the negligence of District Development Committee (DDC). The DDC delayed in releasing the fund to the concerned authorities, they said.

The DDC officials said they could not release the fund in time because of problems in banking sys-tem. “We have learnt that the banks that were sup-

posed to distribute the allow-ance are having problems with their system,” said DDC officer Liladhar Subedi.

Meanwhile, the banks responsible for social securi-ty allowance distribution in the district claimed that the problem was with the DDC.

Sundar Singh Bhandari, manager of Garima Development Bank at Kushma, said they could not distribute the allowance because of the problem in cheque exchange. “We could not cash the cheques issued by the DDC on time,” Bhandari said.

The DDC has allocated Rs 35 million as a social securi-ty allowance to for elderly persons in 47 VDCs and one municipality in the district.

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worldkathmandu postthe

PG 05 | Tuesday, OcTOber 20, 2015 kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

Canada to vote in tight electionTornoto: Canadians are due to go to the polls in fiercely-contested parliamentary elections.

Incumbent Conservative PM Stephen Harper is fighting for a rare fourth

term but the frontrunner is Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, son of late prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

Maldives annuls death by stoningThe Maldives’ top court has overturned a sentence of death by stoning issued to a woman found guilty of adultery, local media report. The woman, who reportedly gave birth out of wedlock, was convicted by a magistrate’s court on Sunday. However, the Supreme Court quashed the sentence late on Sunday.

‘Drian must resign if elected’Jean-Yves Le Drian will have to resign as French defence minister if he wins the presi-dency of Brittany in December’s regional elec-tions, French President Francois Hollande said on Monday. “He is a candidate, and I have authorised him to be a candidate and minister of defence,” Hollande said on RTL radio.

Chinese prez in Britain visitLONDON: Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to begin a four-day state visit to Britain on Monday as part of a push to increase trade ties between the two countries. Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan will be hosted at Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and also receive an elaborate formal wel-come and a carriage ride to the palace Tuesday. Prime Minister David Cameron told Chinese Central Television the visit heralds a “golden era” between the two countries.

Philippines’ Koppu brings severe floodsMaNiLa: Heavy rain and floods are affecting doz-ens of villages, after Typhoon Koppu swept through the northern Philippines. The slow-moving weather system has killed at least two people and forced tens of thousands from their homes. Troops have been deployed to help residents trapped on rooftops, but are strug-gling in remote areas.

israeli killed in bus station attackBeersheBa: An Israeli soldier has been killed in a gun and knife attack at a bus station in Beersheba, southern Israel. The attacker was shot dead. Police said he was an Israeli Arab. An Eritrean bystander, mis-taken as an accomplice, was shot and beaten, and later died. Eight Israelis have died in Palestinian attacks this month. More than 40 Palestinians, including several attack-ers, have been killed.

Guinness records declares the longest baguetteMiLaN: A judge from Guinness World Records has certified a 122-meter-long (400-foot-long) baguette baked at the Milan Expo 2015 World’s Fair as the longest in the world. (aGeNCies)

news diGesT

C M Y K

festive tents

n A hot-air balloon is seen above tents during a tent cultural festival in Hefei, Anhui province, China, on Monday. Nearly 500 tents and about 1,000 people participated in the festival, local media reported. REUTERS

ReuteRsSEOUL, Oct 19

When Ahn Yoon-joon, 86, meets his two younger sisters this week that he has not heard from in more than 60 years, there is much they won’t be able to talk about.

A guide book distributed to the elderly South Koreans chosen by lottery to meet family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War includes a long list of do’s and don’ts—mostly don’ts.

“You can’t ask everything you want to ask. This is not a reunion, but just a meeting that’s staged,” said a frustrated Ahn, who missed out in lotteries for past reunions and said the restrictions have dampened his enthusiasm for the upcoming trip.

The booklet provided by the Red Cross, which organises the reun-ions, advises South Korean partic-

ipants not to press for answers on topics such as the North’s political leadership or living standards.

“In case your family members from North Korea sing propagan-da songs or make political state-ments, please restrain them and try to change the subject,” the booklet advises.

Ahn wants to ask how his father died, but realises it could be politically sensitive for his sisters to answer, as their father was a rich landowner in what became militantly socialist North Korea.

“All I can do is to take down the dates my parents died. There’s nothing else,” he said.

At the outbreak of the Korean War, Ahn, then an elementary school teacher, fled his hometown, fearing North Korean communist forces would conscript him or kill him.

The two Koreas, bitter rivals

that remain in a technical state of war, agreed to hold family reun-ions for the first time since February 2014 after negotiating the end of a standoff at their heavily militarised border.

Under UN Security Council res-olutions imposed after the North’s missile and nuclear tests, only gifts worth 100,000 South Korean won ($88) or less are allowed.

Ahn first thought of a gold necklace for each of his two sis-ters but since jewellery is banned, he will bring medicine and tooth-paste.

The reunion of 90 South

Koreans and 96 North Koreans, the 20th of its kind, will be held at a resort in the North, mostly in a large ballroom under the watchful eye of officials.

The reunions are politically important for the South, where 66,000 people are on a waiting list to see long-lost relatives, a number that is shrinking fast, while the North also seeks to maximise their domestic propaganda value.

Kim Woo-jong, 87, who fought for the South after fleeing the North in 1951, leaving his mother and sister behind, said he will watch what he says during the reunion with the sister he calls “the flower of the family.”

“My history looks bad to North Koreans,” said Kim, partially paralysed by a stroke more than 30 years ago. “But my sister is taking the risk to meet me before we die.”

Many topics off limits at reunions for Koreans divided by war2 0 t h o f i t s k i n d

Iran nuke deal closer to ‘reality’ ReuteRsNEW YORK, Oct 19

The United States approved conditional sanctions waivers for Iran on Monday, though it cautioned they would not take effect until Tehran has curbed its nuclear programme as required under a historic nuclear deal reached in Vienna on July 14.

“Today marks an important milestone toward preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring its nuclear program is exclusive-ly peaceful going forward,” US President Barack Obama said in a statement.

In a memo, he directed the secretaries of state, treasury, commerce and energy “to take all necessary steps to give effect to the US commitments with respect to sanctions described in (the Iran deal).”

Several senior US officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said actual sanctions relief for Iran was at least two months away. Sunday was “adoption day” for the deal, which came 90 days after the UN Security Council endorsed the agree-ment reached by Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China under which most sanctions on Iran would be lifted in exchange for limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities.

Secretary of State John Kerry said Iran would now have to act to restrain its nuclear program.

“These waivers will not take effect until Implementation Day, after Iran has completed all neces-sary nuclear steps, as verified by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” he said in a statement. “If fully implemented, (the deal) will

bring unprecedented insight and accountability to Iran’s nuclear program forever.”

In Brussels, the European Union on Sunday published legal acts that open the way for the bloc to lift sanctions if Tehran meets the conditions tied to the landmark nuclear

agreement. Iran told the IAEA it would fulfill a commitment under the deal to implement the Additional Protocol to its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement, allowing UN nuclear inspectors more intrusive access to Iranian facilities.

US, EU prepare conditional sanctions waivers

n US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford (left) and Israel’s Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot (right) salute during a welcoming ceremony in Israel. REUTERS

MaDriD: The United States is working to avoid the “total destruction” of Syria, and plans a meeting in the coming days with Russian, Saudi and Turkish leaders to seek an end to the conflict, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday.

Washington considers that it bears the responsib-lity “to try and avoid the complete and total destruc-tion of Syria”, fearing the potential fallout across the region and a possible surge in migration, Kerry said on a stop in Madrid.

“We have a moral inter-est to try and stop this unfolding catastrophe,” he said. “The threat of many

more coming if violence continues and Syria abso-lutely implodes is real.”

Kerry also said he feared the consequences of Russia’s air strikes in Syria. “Our fear... Russia is simply there to prop up (President Bashar al-) Assad,” he said, warning that Moscow’s air campaign might “attract more jihad-ists to the fight”.

If Moscow is willing to “help us find a political solution as well as... fight Daesh, then there is a possi-bility to try to find a way to another path”, he said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State extrem-ist group.

‘US wants to avoid Syria destruction’

Germany struggles to find homes for refugeesReuteRscELLE, Oct 19

At a sprawling camp in the German town of Celle, refu-gees wearing thick sweaters sit around a heater smoking cigarettes as rain beats down on the cramped white tent that has become their home. Some of them are ill and wor-ried it will snow.

“The weather is so cold that I can’t even leave the tent,” said Taher, a 25-year-old Syrian farmer. Sitting on his camp bed surrounded by wet washing that hangs limply from tent poles, he reaches for a box of cough medicine.

With the approach of win-ter, authorities are scram-bling to find warm places to stay for the thousands of refu-gees streaming into Germany every day. In desperation, they have turned to sports halls, youth hostels and empty office buildings.

But as these options dry up, tent cities have become the fall-back plan: despite falling temperatures, a survey by German newspaper Die Welt showed at least 42,000 refugees were still living in tents. The challenge of finding adequate housing

is turning into one of the biggest tests for the gov-ernment of Angela Merkel, who has stuck doggedly

to her mantra “Wir schaffen das” (“we can do this”) in the face of rising public scepticism.

InDonESIa TEaRS Down ChURChESReuteRsAcEH SINGKIL, Oct 19

Authorities in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province on Monday began tearing down several small Christian churches after hardline Muslims demanded their clo-sure, citing a lack of building permits, and following reli-gious violence.

Tensions are high among the ethnically and religiously diverse population of Aceh Singkil, where last week a mob burned down a church, leaving one person dead and forcing thousands of Christians to flee the area. Armed police and military troops have been deployed to the area and evacuees have returned. Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim popu-lation and the vast majority of its citizens practice a mod-erate form of the religion. Aceh is its only province to implement Islamic Sharia law as it was granted autonomy as part of a 2005 peace agree-ment that ended decades of separatist violence. Police in Aceh Singkil used sledgeham-mers and axes to tear down the churches—little more than small, wooden struc-tures—as Christian members of the community looked on, many of them weeping.

Afghan TVs face Taliban threatReuteRsKABUL, Oct 19

Already forced to operate in one of the world’s most hos-tile environments for jour-nalists, Afghan television stations are now being open-ly targeted by Islamist insur-gents in a widening insur-gency that threatens cities across the country.

The Taliban’s brief cap-ture of the northern city of Kunduz last month, the first time in 14 years of fighting it had taken a provincial centre, underlined how far its military strength has grown since NATO forces

ended combat operations last year. Amid reports of summary executions, kid-nappings and other abuses, the Taliban also issued a grim warning to two Afghan television stations, Tolo News and 1 TV, designating them as “military objec-tives”. Both stations had reported allegations of rape by Taliban fighters during the fighting in Kunduz, incensing the militant Islamist movement, which accused them of spearhead-ing a US-sponsored propa-ganda campaign. It said reporters and offices of the channels would be consid-

ered “enemy personnel” and would be “eliminated”.

Tolo News, Afghan’s first 24-hour news channel, has been one of the most active reporting operations for years, employing dozens of journalists, many in volatile provincial areas. “It’s unprecedented, I’ve never seen this,” said director, Lotfullah Najafizada. Part of Afghanistan’s largest pri-vate broadcaster, the station has won a reputation for credible reporting in a shifting media landscape that features newspapers, broadcasters and online news sites.

n Migrants rest as they wait covered with blankets to cross the border with Croatia near a village in Serbia on Monday. REUTERS

winter season

BerLiN: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy towards refugees and embrace of Turkey drew criticism on Monday from conservative allies, with one senior Bavarian politi-cian warning against any consideration of European Union membership for Ankara.

Merkel’s offer to support a faster bid by Turkey to

join the EU is a reversal of her view that it should not become a member and underscores how keen she is to secure Turkey’s sup-port in stemming the flow of migrants to Europe.

Germany is a favoured destination for refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa and expects 800,000 to a mil-lion new arrivals this year.

Merkel’s Turkey embrace draws criticism

n South Korean participants for a reunion check old pictures at a hotel used as a waiting place in Sokcho, South Korea on Monday. REUTERS

The reunion of 90 South Koreans and 96 North Koreans, the 20th of its kind, will be held

at a resort in the North

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The new constitution of Nepal is a result of two decades of civil unrest, ideological contestations, and the expression of Nepal’s aspirations and insecurities. Yet, no sooner it was prom-ulgated, it was met with protests and an

‘undeclared’ blockade by Nepal’s southern neighbour. The resultant acute shortage of fuel raises many questions. Is a life with freedom and dignity possible without cook-ing gas or fuel for transportation? Is such a life possible when we spend 30 hours in line for five liters of petrol? The answer, clearly, is a ‘No’.

The constitution is linked with this state of affairs because it not only defines our political processes, but also our economic systems. The new constitution promotes the idea that the government and its agencies are best suited to resolve Nepal’s economic prob-lems. History has proven otherwise. Competition, even without perfect markets, takes us closer to a free market, ie, “free from any intervention by a government, price-setting monopoly, or other authority”. And in most developed nations, practices that stifle competition are treated as crimi-nal activities. In fact, the only economic role of a government in a free market economy is to ensure that the markets remain competitive.

The government’s job, therefore, is to penalise such monopolies, not to legitimise them. A government that runs a monopoly is effectively a feudal government. But even as Nepal’s constitution rejects feudalism in politics, it continues to build on the old feu-dal economic systems.

NOC monopolyThe current fuel crisis in Nepal is a result of the ‘feudal’ monopoly of the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC). The NOC’s website (www.nepaloil.com.np), displays an impres-sive list of its achievements. This is in shameful contradiction of the NOC’s notices of fuel rationing and disrespecting consum-ers. The NOC decides on who gets fuel, and when. One day NOC officials announce that the fuel problem has been solved, and on the very next day, they say that there is no cook-ing fuel for the foreseeable future. In a devel-oped world, such practices would be deemed criminal and the officials would be tried in

the court of law. However, our constitution does not punish them. Instead, they are driv-en around in luxurious SUVs with armed security. Even our republican politicians continue to drive in five-vehicle entourages during this severe fuel crisis, when people do not have enough fuel to cook their meals.

The current economic grievances in Nepal amount to a state’s crime against the people. And the root of the problem lies in state-mo-nopolies. Many criticise the privatisation of state-owned enterprises in the 90s as an irresponsible sale of nation’s resources. However, it is due to those privatisation measures that consumers do not have to line up for buying shoes and cement the way they have to for fuel or Nepal Telecom telephone connections. So, the only one way to free our economic system from political interests is by facilitating competition. Even so, the NOC’s call for a global tender to import fuel from non-Indian sources is still the protec-tion of a monopoly. The right response would have been to give full freedom to all people and businesses to compete with the NOC to purchase fuel from any source.

As individuals, it does not make sense to travel to Tibet with a 10 litre-container for fuel. However, it would make economic sense for business houses to go to Tibet with 100. Yet, if someone were to do that, they would be arrested and their fuel would be confiscat-ed, or they would have to pay such high taxes

that would render the effort economically unviable. There only remains one alterna-tive then—to take the high risk and charge a high price, ie, to create a black market. And it is the customers who are forced to pay for it.

For free market It is tempting to think that the current fuel-shortage is just linked to Nepal’s consti-tutional politics. However, Nepal faced a similar situation when India blocked its border 26 years ago. Both then and now, there was/is a severe shortage of fuel but not of consumer items being imported from India. This is precisely because the latter did came through a competitive market. Granted, in times of shortage, prices go up, but at the very least, customers can buy goods from stores without having to resort to a black market, or be denied the goods alto-gether. A competitive market is able to

source better, store better, serve better, and plan better than state monopolies.

If a person was to go to a store and ask for four eggs, and the storeowner only agrees to sell one egg, why would a customer continue to buy eggs from that store when there are others that will willingly meet the demand? This is precisely what the Indian Oil Corporation has been doing since the block-ade began. Yet, why doesn’t the NOC negoti-ate with other sources? As political appoin-tees, the NOC employees seem to have no incentive to serve those who consume fuel, the Nepali people. The NOC seems to be only accountable to Nepali politicians, who tell them what to do. The NOC is thus, not an economic but a political institution.

To ensure that we do not suffer from such fuel shortages in the future, it is neither enough to straighten out Nepali and Indian politicians nor to ensure that NOC gets addi-tional supplies. It is of vital importance that we amend our constitution so that it wel-comes free-market economic competition without suspicion. This fuel crisis should give a much-needed push for the ‘free mar-ket’ in our constitution. In fact, without freedom in economics, no political system can be considered free.

Pandey is an education-activist and was selected as an Asia 21 Youth Leader

by the Asia Society in 2015

Bhupendra Pandey, who resides in Kadaghari in the Capital, is ready to leave for his home in Dolakha for Dashain. Although both of his houses in Dolakha, one in Babre and the other in Singtati, were destroyed by the earthquakes earlier this

year, Pandey maintains optimistic outlook. Celebrating Dashain with the entire family, despite the broken house, will still make for a joyous occasion. Such posi-tivity in these hard times is admirable. For many oth-ers, this festival season will be a somber one.

To most Nepalis, Dashain means family members spread far and wide congregating in a spirit of conviv-iality, renewing old ties and swapping the stories lived in the year gone by. This year, for huge swathes of the populace, the stories they will be sharing will probably be tinged with anxiety, fear and a creeping sense of hopelessness. Many are earthquake victims—still homeless, still living in temporary shelters, still wor-ried about their future. Many have lost not only their homes but the wherewithal to make a living. For them, making merry during this festival season—which, among others, is marked by getting new clothes, cook-ing sumptuous feasts and playing cards—will be an unattainable luxury. To be sure, most of the earthquake victims had already prepared themselves for a less exciting Dashain; but they were at least hopeful that the reconstruction work would have started by now. To their dismay, that rebuilding and reconstruction plan has been put on hold.

The Nepalis who escaped the earthquakes unscathed too are bracing for a grimmer festival. The ongoing political crisis and the trade blockade have cast a pall over the festivities. For Kathmandu’s denizens, fuel crisis has hobbled their life; many do not even know whether they will be able to travel to meet their rela-tives for Tika. Already, it has become exceedingly diffi-cult to get around, and businesses have been closing up shop much earlier than they used to in the lead-up to the holiday season. Many traders, hoteliers and entre-preneurs have suffered massive losses. It will be nigh impossible for many of them to conjure up the usual seasonal joie de vivre.

Those in government, tasked with pulling the coun-try out of the rut we are in, should thus view the holi-days as a time to get the country back on track. They will need to work closely with the disaffected cadres and denizens of the Tarai and hammer out an agree-ment. They will also need to work closely with Delhi and sort out the mess on the diplomatic front.

The Nepali people are a patient lot, and thus they will perhaps let this one Dashain slide. But even people like Bhupendra Pandey, from Dolkha, who can keep up a sunny disposition despite the odds, can sustain that spirit for only so long. If the country does not find its way back to normalcy before Tihar, we will all be in for a Tihar tinged with despair as well.

Not so festiveAngry and worried, Nepalis will

mark a sombre Dashain this year

Free the market The fuel crisis is a result of the monopoly of Nepal Oil Corporation over the import of petroleum products

EDITORIAL

n People waiting in line for petrol in Jadibuti, Kathmandu. POST file PHOTO

UMANGA PANDEY

thekathmandu posteditorial 06Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Many criticise the privatisation of state-owned enterprises in the 90s as an

irresponsible act. However, it is due to those privatisation measures that

consumers do not have to line up for buying shoes and cement these days

Since 1993

IT has long been suspected that the US has exag-gerated the accuracy of its drone strikes pro-gramme, with critics claiming that a far great-er number of civilians have been killed than

admitted by the US government. Now, with new revelations by The Intercept, an online publica-tion created to report on the Edward Snowden documents and other US national security-relat-ed issues, it has become clear that the drone programme is dangerously flawed. While the missiles themselves may be accurate in the sense that they strike what they are meant to, there are significant problems with the intelli-gence on which targets are hit. From errors in target selection—killing the wrong person—to the circumstances in which a target is struck—how many other individuals are nearby and whether they can be considered legitimate tar-gets—the programme appears to be rife with problems. What is particularly alarming is that new documents concern drone strikes carried out by the US military—which was thought to be relatively more transparent and, therefore, rigorous in its application of force than the ultra-secretive CIA campaign believed to con-trol drone strikes inside Pakistan.

Now, with Pakistan having deployed and used an armed drone in Fata already, the mis-takes of the US programme are perhaps being replicated here. The American experience sug-gests that when a new platform for waging war is acquired and then used against the most serious of national security threats in remote areas. Armed drones can be useful and can have a significant impact. But there are genuine risks. In the Pakistani case, that problem is com-pounded by the near-total absence of independ-ent and verifiable battlefield information. The absence of public information tends to encourage impunity. The US programme includes the president himself in the chain of command and yet many civilians are believed to have died. In Pakistan, who is authorised to select targets and who can authorise the firing of a missile? The people deserve to know what war measures are being taken in the name of the public interest.

Flawed drone strategyArmed drones useful but also risky

wORLDvIEw

A few days after the new constitution was promulgated, former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai quit the UCPN (Maoist) and began his Tarai tour land-ing first in Janakpur, one of the locus

cities of the Madhes movement. His pre-scheduled visit had been postponed to September 27 after he reportedly agreed to burn copies of the constitution in Janakpur as demanded by the protesting cadres. Although he was not welcomed wholeheart-edly there, his visit in such a scenario helped to bridge the gulf between Kathmandu and the Madhes.

Bouncing back On February 4, 1996, Bhattarai had submit-ted a list of 40 demands to the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government and threatened to launch an armed revolution if they were not met. In the charter of demands under the sub-heading ‘Demand Concerning People’s Democracy’, Bhattarai had demanded that regional discrimination between the hills and the Tarai should end. He had argued that backward areas should be given regional autonomy, and that there should be a balance between rural and urban areas. Similarly, under Demand Concerning Nationality, he had written that the open border between Nepal and India should be regulated, controlled and system-atised.

Now, almost 20 years later, the Tarai has been agitating for almost two months seek-ing an end to regional discrimination. In the last two months, over 40 people have been killed in police firing during protests. The Tarai agitation took a new turn after the Madhesi forces imposed a blockade at

border entry points, choking off essential supplies and petroleum products.

But the grievances of the Tarai were not addressed when Bhattarai was in the Constituent Assembly (CA). People across Morang, Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha and Mahottari are, therefore, very angry with the state for failing to address their griev-ances in the constitution. Still, they seemed to have pinned their hopes on the UCPN (Maoist) and particularly on Bhattarai. But Bhattarai should ponder on why marginal-ised people would follow him if he only championed the cause of economic revolu-tion and not political autonomy too.

Is the new power a stunt? After the humiliating defeat of the UCPN (Maoist) in the second CA election, Bhattarai has been saying that a new politi-cal force is what the country needs, which sounds good indeed. Now that he has quit the UCPN (Maoist) Bhattarai has to explain his ideas to the people. After the promulga-

tion of the new constitution, all the parties and their leaders have already begun sell-ing dreams of a new Nepal. Even the top leaders of the CPN-UML and the NC are busy meeting Nepali business tycoons after Bhattarai initiated the process recently.

People are not certain about the success of Bhattarai’s vision of a ‘Naya Shakti’ (new power) on three grounds. First, Nepalis are deeply divided ethnically. The politics of the Madhesi/Tharu population is tilting towards regional politics, and Bhattarai is trying to cash in on it Voting in the Madhes is largely based along caste lines. And in such a deeply divided society, how will Bhattarai succeed?

Second, to make any political project suc-cessful, one needs to have a political grip on the state apparatus. As we all know, it is very hard or almost impossible to create a new political doctrine in a country like Nepal where politics is guided by parlia-mentary processes. Political agendas are implemented with the support of the major-

ity in Parliament. Bhattarai might do well to remember the criticism he had faced after his bold and phenomenal decision to expand the roads in Kathmandu Valley. Furthermore, there is a large group in Nepal that does not want the empowerment of marginalised groups, and Bhattarai is trying to stick to marginalised issues.

Third, Nepal which is sandwiched between India and China, needs to seek cooperation with both the neighbours for its economic development. Meanwhile, China has been doing internal lobbying for the unification of all the communist parties, but after Bhattarai quit the UCPN (Maoist), China is presumably unhappy with him. The international community always gives value to the parties in power or the parties that have the potential to rule the country in the future. How will Bhattarai convince Nepali businessmen and guarantee their investment when they are afraid of the mere mention of the term ‘socialism’ in the constitution?

Once, the current PM Oli had even called all the businessmen and asked them not to be scared of the word ‘socialism’ inserted in the preamble of the new constitution. Bhattarai has, thus, given many reasons to doubt him. Moreover, the ordinary people are still not clear about his roadmap and the chances of its success. Bhattarai needs to clearly explain his vision to the people.

Best of luck Going by the way Bhattarai quit the Maoist party, it looks like a knee-jerk reaction. But he can no longer go back to his erstwhile party which he has called “a house which has been tagged with a red sticker”. So he needs to unite all the small parties through-out the nation. He can attract like-minded youths of different big parties. He also needs motivate the Nepali diaspora which seems to be committed to investing in the nation.

Chaudhary is associated with Terai Human Rights Defenders Alliance

Lay it on the tableBhattarai has embarked on a public relations campaign, but his goals are not clear

RANDHIR CHAUDHARY

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SORDID AFFAIRNo one expected our present football-ers to be classy like the late goalie Anup Rana. Still, it is hard to believe that our rustic sportsmen are capable of this scam (‘Fix this now,’ October 16, Editorial). Nobody is surprised though. If we can have drivers and conductors from the villages graduat-ing into millionaire thugs, then these

footballers with international expo-sure can easily pull a stunt or two with a little help from notorious book-ies like Wilson Raj. Gone are the days when you had to be an ex-bank clerk (of the then only bank) to smuggle gold into the country and earn enough to build a hotel or two. These days, anybody can go very far with a bit of audacity or entrepreneurship and some contacts in the right places. Yet,

it is hard to believe that these national sportsmen would have been fixing matches for the last seven years with-out a powerful local help irrespective of Wilson Raj. There might be more to their ill deeds than investment in a Sikkim casino or acquaintance with a gangster or two, dead or alive. If these were the sole criteria, we will have to investigate many people in this country. After all, there are many politicians who are openly aligned to such shady characters. A thorough probe is, there-fore, necessary to get to the bottom of the most sordid affair in Nepal’s soccer histo-ry. It might unearth more surprises.

Manohar Shrestha, via email

NOT THE ONLY ONE It is really upsetting to read this mis-leading news (‘Too hot to be an engi-neer: I chose my career against marriage, says Sovita Dahal, a soft-ware test engineer,’ October 14, The Kathmandu Post Online). The news quotes a software engineers in the story who says that “there were just three women among the 35 stu-dents on her university course. One left, one got married and only Sovita Dahal finished her degree.” This is not true. The other girl who got married did finish her degree and that is me. I did get married but I did complete my

studies as well. This misreporting should be corrected.

Supragya Devkota, The Kathmandu Post online

Voice of The PeoPleKantipur Publications Pvt. Ltd., Kantipur Complex, Subidhanagar P. B. No. 8559, Kathmandu; Nepal

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thekathmandu post op-ed07 Tuesday, October 20, 2015

C M Y K

Compassion is not as purely selfless as

it might seemDAVID DeSTeNO

DOES adversity harden hearts or warm them? Does experiencing deprivation, disaster or illness make a person more—or less—sympathetic to the travails of

others?You’ve probably encountered exam-

ples of each: survivors of hard knocks who lend a compassionate ear to belea-guered souls, and those who offer only a disdainful “suck it up.” As a result, it may seem that adversity’s effect on kindness is unpredictable.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from studying morality over the past 20 years, it’s that compassion isn’t ran-dom. There are always reasons for its ebb and flow. So recently, my graduate student Daniel Lim and I set out to dis-cover adversity’s logic.

Our intuition was that surviving hardships in life would lead people to become more generous, kind and sup-portive. After all, if you’ve lived through dire straits, you’re all too familiar with the pain and challenges involved. You can more readily adopt the perspective of someone in dis-tress—you can feel his pain—and thus are more likely to lend a hand.

Scientific studies, however, typically favor the more pessimistic view. Adversity is associated with many types of negative psychological out-comes: anxiety, depression and, most notably, blunted emotional responding. It has also been tied to the beliefs that the world is not benevolent and that life is not meaningful. This seems like a recipe for a lack of kindness.

And yet, despite what such studies imply, there are many cases in which adversity undeniably elicits compas-sion. Consider the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in New York, or of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant meltdown in Japan, in which individu-als, even in the midst of their own suf-fering, helped one another in excep-tionally sympathetic ways. Given that adversity is linked with anxiety and depression, why does compassion ever emerge from it? The reason, we suspect, is that compassion isn’t as purely selfless as it might seem. While it might appear to be a response to the suffering of oth-ers, it is also a strategy for regaining your own footing—for resilience in the face of trauma. After all, having strong social relationships is one of the best predictors of psychological well-being in the long run, and so anything that enhances your bonds with others—like expressing compassion for them—makes you more resilient.

Mr. Lim and I conducted two studies, forthcoming in the journal Emotion, to see if adversity in fact promoted com-passion. In both, we asked people about the hardships they faced in life, about the degrees to which they attempted to adopt the perspective of others (i.e., exhibited empathy), and how often they experienced compassion. And to be sure that their self-reported compas-sion was valid, we gave our study par-ticipants opportunities to put their money (or time) where their mouths were.

The first study was conducted online, using Mechanical Turk, Amazon’s piecework marketplace, which allowed us to reach more than 200 people from all walks of life. After they provided information about the adversities they had faced, and their levels of empathy and compassion, we offered them the chance to donate some of the money they were about to be paid for taking part in the study to the

Red Cross to aid victims in need.The second study took place in the

lab. Here, as each participant was working on onerous word problems, he (or she) witnessed the person sitting next to him, who was actually an actor playing the part of a second participant in the study, appear to be feeling too ill to complete work he had been assigned. We watched to see if participants would express compassion for this unwell person and offer to relieve his burden by taking on some of his work-load. Doing so would constitute a pure-ly compassionate act, as it meant spending more time in the lab toiling on unpleasant tasks in order to relieve the discomfort of another.

In both studies, the results were the same. Those who had faced increasing-ly severe adversities in life—loss of a loved one at an early age, threats of violence or the consequences of a natu-ral disaster—were more likely to empa-thize with others in distress, and, as a result, feel more compassion for them. And of utmost importance, the more compassion they felt, the more money they donated (in the first study) or the more time they devoted to help-ing the other complete his work (in the second).

Now, if experiencing any type of hardship can make a person more com-passionate, you might assume that the pinnacle of compassion would be reached when someone has experi-enced the exact trial or misfortune that another person is facing. Interestingly, this turns out to be dead wrong.

In an article recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Kellogg School of Management professor Loran Nordgren and colleagues found that the human mind has a bit of a perverse

glitch when it comes to remembering its own past hardships: It regularly makes them appear to be less distress-ing than they actually were. As a result of this glitch, reflecting on your own past experience with a specific misfor-tune will very likely cause you to underappreciate just how trying that exact challenge can be for some-one else (or was, in fact, for you at the time). You overcame it, you think; so should he. The result? You lack com-passion.

To demonstrate the point, Professor Nordgren and colleagues collected information about their research par-ticipants’ past struggles with unem-ployment or bullying. In separate experiments, they next exposed them to people who were expressing dejec-tion and showing difficulty in enduring one or the other hardship. Those who had overcome more severe bullying felt less—not more—compassion for cur-rent bullying victims. Likewise, those who had faced greater difficulty with unemployment had less sympathy for the currently jobless. When the adver-sities didn’t match, no such empathy gap emerged.

Our findings, taken together with those of Professor Nordgren and col-leagues, bring some order to adversi-ty’s seemingly contradictory effects. Living through hardship doesn’t either warm hearts or harden them; it does both. Having known suffering in life usually heightens the compassion we feel for others, except when the suffer-ing involves specific painful events that we know all too well. Here, famili-arity really does breed contempt.

David DeSteno, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University

—©2015 The New York Times News

Funny thing about adversity

After eight long years of delibera-tions, Nepali people have finally received a constitution written by a Constituent Assembly. The people of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal now expect

enduring peace, good governance, development and prosperity through the implementation of the new constitution.

Devil in details The implementation of the constitu-tion, however, is going to be challeng-ing in the context of fiscal federalism. Experts argue that tensions between the federal, state and local govern-ments are unavoidable mainly due to an asymmetrical distribution of responsibilities and fiscal resources among them. The incipient institu-tional capability to mobilise suffi-cient resources could further exacer-bate the situation. The perceived ver-tical and horizontal fiscal gaps between different governments could also undermine socio-economic devel-opment and service delivery. Constitutionally, the federal govern-ment controls enormous fiscal resources, and state and local govern-ments are also saddled with unavoid-able responsibilities. Hence, inter-governmental conflict and chaos is inevitable. The promises made by leaders which are difficult to fulfil and the thorny issues of federal-ism could also frustrate the people.

The subtleties of fiscal federalism have been hardly discussed, hence it is little understood. The federal struc-ture of the government will need a sufficient amount of human, physical and fiscal resources in the days to come. State and local public expendi-ture will undoubtedly rise due to the necessary physical infrastructure like office buildings, furniture and vehicles and overhead expenses. Moreover, other constitutional com-mitments such as free education, health services and social security, among others, will also increase pub-lic expenditure. The mammoth and lethargic bureaucracy will likely devour scarce financial resources at the cost of development and public services.

Fiscal gapsThe constitution has mandated the federal government to levy value added tax (VAT), income tax, customs duty, excise duty and a number of other taxes. These taxes accounted for around 85 percent of the total revenue in the fiscal year 2014-15. But the state and local governments are only authorised to levy property taxes, user fees and charges that make up a paltry 15 percent of the total revenue. Therefore, state and local govern-ments will largely depend on the fed-eral government to fund routine func-tional assignments.

The tepid behaviour of the political elite and various turpitudes of the bureaucracy could exacerbate the fis-cal gap between the federal, state and local governments. It could eventual-ly become the soft underbelly of fiscal federalism. Federalism, as practised in other countries, shows that over-de-pendency on the federal government

can undermine the autonomy of state and local governments in decision making. Resource-strapped state and local governments will have to com-promise on development and service delivery issues.

However, fiscal gaps can be man-aged by husbanding overlapping expenses, cutting non-essential ser-vices, increasing service provisions proportionate with increased service fees and charges and optimis-ing the size of the bureaucracy. State and local governments should enhance their revenue-generating capability to spur interdependency with the centre. The people should also be ready to pay high taxes and compliance costs. Tax officials will have to cope with the dissatisfaction of the people in having to pay taxes and user fees to the federal, state and local governments.

Tax administrationThe role of the federal tax administra-tion will bemost important. Developing the institutional capability of the tax administration should be an overar-ching mission of the government. The federal tax administration should help develop knowledge, share experi-ences and organise functions of the coming state and local tax adminis-trations; focus on simplifying proce-dures; foster automation; empower taxpayers and enforce laws to enhance normative compliance with the rules. The law requires taxpayers to be reg-istered with the tax system, file tax returns, pay tax dues, maintain books of accounts and be ready to face sanc-tions against deviant behaviour includ-ing tax assessment with penalties.

The current tax administration has many mediocre and less professional staff; most of them lack the required skill and competency to prevent tax avoidance and evasion. So the tax administration should reorient its focus to develop an efficient, profes-

sional and service-oriented tax sys-tem not only to lure taxpayers but also to boost revenue to reduce the vertical revenue gap between the cen-tral, state and local governments.

The crux of the problem of the fed-eral tax administration currently functioning in the country is the dearth of a comprehensive and inte-grated information and database. The tax authorities should develop a robust Tax Information Network (TIN), like the one in India, without delay. Such a network is an institu-tional framework that helps gather, store, process and analyse economic and financial information and data of taxpayers. It can provide access to veritable information about the income, consumption and the real estate, financial and other physical assets of taxpayers so that the tax administration can use the data while assessing tax liabilities. It can assist in developing the institutional capa-bility of the tax administration. TIN can be structured by developing a policy and creating legal and institu-tional mechanism for the automatic sharing of the information collected by different governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Furthermore, the excessively exemption-riddled tax policies should be revisited to expand the tax base. Additionally, it is urgent to seriously think about issues of under-invoicing, transfer pricing and offshore busi-nesses that can siphon off the tax base. Legal provisions relating to safe harbours could be instrumental in not only attracting multinational companies but also reducing poten-tial legal conflicts with those compa-nies. Moreover, the government should duly invoke double taxation avoidance agreements for the auto-matic sharing of information between governments.

No doubt, fiscal consolidation deserves the utmost priority. The political and bureaucratic elites should show prudence and prowess to deal with fiscal consolidation and make the constitution effective in let-ter and spirit. The self-fulfilling prophecy of the political and bureau-cratic elite towards federalism will be a dead duck unless state and local governments enhance extractive and distributive capabilities.

Koirala is Chief Tax Officer at Inland Revenue Office, Bhairahawa

Asset management State governments will continue to depend on the centre for funds

as it collects most of the taxes even under the federal setup

MAHARAJ KOIRALA

MUKUL DeVICHAND

As Indians worry about the rise of intolerance, powerful imag-es like this one are affecting the debate.

It shows an Indian activist, Sudheendra Kulkarni. He was violently doused in ink in an attack by a stridently right-wing Hindu party. They were upset with him inviting over a former minister from India’s traditional enemy, Pakistan. His name was used 36,000 times on Twitter.

Slick phrases can also affect the terms of an online debate. No less a literary figure than the writer Salman Rushdie pushed one this week. “Here come the Modi Toadies,” he tweeted—railing against the most extreme online supporters of the Indian prime minister, who he said were abus-ing him after he joined in a pro-test by writers against the intoler-ance of Hindu right-wingers. Thousands then repeated the phrase.

These viral flashpoints were part of a conversation that con-vulsed much of India this week, both online and off. At the centre of it were more than 40 writers who returned a prominent liter-ary prize to protest against rising intolerance. They are frustrated with the way the violent murder

of an atheist writer, who had crit-icised Hindu belief, was handled. They’re also upset with the ban-ning of beef in some states and the murder of a Muslim man falsely accused of having beef in his fridge.

Behind it all is a disturbing question: is India becoming more openly, and indeed violently, intol-erant—especially towards the Muslim minority, towards athe-ists and indeed anyone else that the Hindu right takes issue with?

For many Indian liberals, the answer is yes and the fact that it’s happening under Narendra Modi, with his Hindu nationalist back-ground, proves a point they’ve been making for years.

Their argument is that Modi, who ran Gujarat state in 2002 when many people lost their lives in religious violence, is a divisive figure. But such accusations seem to have not, thus far, swayed mass public opinion: Modi and the BJP swept the polls last year.

Online too, Modi and the BJP have a huge and loyal following who argue that he is a unifying figure. The idea that Modi’s India is a more intolerant place than what went before simply didn’t stick for ages—so why is it going so viral just now?

Part of it is the sense of a changed moment. “Events in our country have led the liberal folk

to question the government, put them on the spot, in a way that they couldn’t have over the past year and a half,” says well-known online liberal Akkar Patel, who works for Amnesty International but spoke to us in a personal

capacity. “They’ve used the moment quite well.”

The recent violent acts certain-ly give liberals the ammunition they need to get a conversation about intolerance trending. “When it comes to be that a man

is killed after the government starts to ban cow slaughter, I think that gives us a moment to use against the people who are trying to divide the country using faith. And I think the web has given people a tool for people to

reach out,” says Patel.Modi’s supporters give these

arguments short shrift. They deny that intolerance is rising, or that incidents such as the murder over beef are a sign of things changing. “The incident is very unfortunate, shocking,” says GVL Narasimha Rao, national spokesperson for the BJP. “But it is an isolated incident.”

He sees the narrative that has been trending this week—that intolerance is rising under Modi—as a false and manipulated one. “It’s a part of a sinister con-spiracy, and it’s not happening for the first time in this country,” he says. He points out that there were several outbreaks of reli-gious violence during the last, Congress-led, government too, and that many of the recent events have happened in states not run by the BJP.

Despite the fact that many of the writers—like Salman Rushdie with his one million Twitter fol-lowers—are apolitical, he says that in fact online activists from opposition parties are driv-ing this week’s trends. It’s true that Congress and other party activists are tweeting furiously. “They cannot digest the fact that a leader like Narendra Modi who comes from a very unprivi-leged background... has challenged the might of the

Nehru Gandhi dynasty,” he argues.So who is right?Well, there certainly wasn’t a

shortage of religious intolerance before Modi was elected—for example, 82 people died in reli-gious riots in 2013. On the other hand, a national newspaper reported recently that, according to central government data, there were 287 incidents of “communal violence” in the first five months of this year, when Modi’s BJP party was in power. In the same period last year, there were 232 incidents.

It’s hard to be definitive about the issue of tolerance. Indian pol-itics—especially those around communal tension—are compli-cated. Sudheendra Kulkarni, whose face was doused in ink for talking to a Pakistani, was attacked by members of the Shiv Sena, a right-wing Hindu group in Modi’s ruling coalition. But he himself used to be a member of Modi’s own party—the BJP.

Still, the spreading of that image, of the names of writers renouncing their prizes, and phrases like “Modi Toadies” imply that in the ephemeral world of social media at least, the debate about intolerance is now very real—and very serious.

Reporting by Aditi MallyaBBC TRENDING

A week of worrying Is India becoming more openly, and indeed violently, intolerant towards anyone that the Hindu right takes issue with?

n The ink attack coincided with the book launch of ex-Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri (right). PHOTO: AFP

Experts argue that tensions between the federal, state and local governments are

unavoidable mainly due to an asymmetrical distribution of

responsibilities and fiscal resources among them

POsT grAPHics

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Guthrie live in NepalGuthrie Govan will be perfoming live in Nepal at the Club 25 Hours, Gahana Pokhari Marg, Kathmandu, on October 23. The concert, which is a part of Govan’s Clinic Tour- Asia 2015, will also feature Nepali guitarist Binayak Shah. Tickets for the show are priced at Rs 1,500 and 2,000. Starts at 5 pm.

Halloween Costume PartyLevitate Events is hosting a dance show titled The Haunted—Halloween Costume Party at Trishara, Kathmandu, on October 31. The dance show will feature DJ Azen and DJ Black. The show will also feature games like Beer Pong, Flip Cup and Bongzilla. Tickets for the show are priced at Rs 700. Starts at 6 pm.

Trek to GhandrukSave Our Himalayas is coming up with a trekking event titled 10 Days ABC Trek, Time Is Now, to be held start-ing from Saturday, October 24. The participants will be led to Annapurna Base Camp, Ghandruk and Kaski for the excursion. The mission is to bring together youth in Nepal and the youth living abroad, in order to create ways to facilitate cultural exchanges.

PG 08 | Tuesday, OcTOber 20, 2015

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The word-architectSamip Dhungel is a rising star in the Nepali slam poetry sphere. He is known for writing and performing works informed by a socio-political consciousness and a hint of cyni-cism—a perfect recipe for great slam poems. For the last few years, he has been actively promoting slam poetry in Nepal through Word Warriors, a spoken word poetry group, along with his fellow poets. He also routinely visits villages on the Book Bus, a library on wheels. In an interview with The Post’s Gaurav Pote, he talks about his love for slam, his travels and what he’s noticed about gender roles in our society. Excerpts:

What keeps you busy these days?

I just finished volunteering for NSET as a civil engineer for the Post-disaster Detail Damage Assessment project prior to my Dashain break. Besides that, I was recently in Pokhara attending our Write to Speak Intro Tour.

How did you decide to take up poetry? What inspired you?

It was never a deliberate decision, per se, to take up poetry fulltime. It happened quite spontaneously. One thing led to another and I sort of found myself writing poetry round-the-clock and often performing it, which I enjoyed a lot. I recollect my English professor handing me a com-petition flyer for slam poetry. When I got home, I googled what slam poetry was and stumbled upon performanc-es by young slam poets. They were very different from the usual poetry recitals: they were using body move-ments and gestures, which I thought was incredible. They had inspiring perspectives, too, very unlike con-ventional poets looking to distill the meaning of existence or life. These slam poets were more like storytell-ers masquerading as poets and their medium was not their notebook page but the open stage. It was simply amazing. Although I didn’t take part in that competition, I kept myself active in their online community, Word Warriors, formed after that event. Initially, it was merely a Facebook group for me where I post-ed poems and received feedback. I got to read what people of my own gener-ation were writing. Gradually, it transformed from a virtual group to a real and active community of young slam poets. The inspiration was always there, and it still is; what was crucial for me was the platform, which would allow me to transform that inspiration into expression. For me, Word Warriors was that very platform.

We would certainly like to know more about Word Warriors. How are you involved in the group and what do you guys do?

Word Warriors are a Kathmandu-based group of young poets leading the spoken word movement in Nepal. We perform and conduct events, com-petitions and workshops all over the country, sharing the platform that spoken word provides for youth expression and voice. Personally, I am involved with the Word Warriors as a poetry instructor. I previously worked with them as a programme coordinator for Write to Speak, a pro-ject to introduce spoken word poetry to diverse communities in Nepal, espe-cially to young women from marginal-ised communities. I have also travelled with the Book Bus far-flung places in the country. We also do regional slam

competitions and educational pro-grammes tailored for schools. Apart from that we perform at various plac-es, and hold our own events as well.

We keep hearing about the Book Bus. Can you tell us more?

The Book Bus is a mobile library, one of the eight projects run by the American Library. It is sponsored by the American Embassy in Kathmandu and is operated by our mentor organisation, Quixote’s Cove, which also manages our Write to Speak programme. We have an entire library retrofitted into the bus, with solar panels to power the internet and to screen videos under its pullout tent. You’ll have to see it to truly understand its unique setup. Two to four instructors, along with the librarian and the driver, travel with the Book Bus, to conduct science, poetry and art workshops for stu-dents and teachers. Our instructors administer the poetry workshops.

Being a poet and engaging with a literary movement like Word Warriors must be tough. What keeps you motivated?

It’s actually anything but tough. Sure, it can get tiring when you’re required to travel a lot but our pro-jects lead us to places completely new to us, and allow us to meet remarka-ble people from all over the country. We get to interact with young people and listen to their stories, and in the process, we get to immerse ourselves in poetry. That is what keeps me moti-vated. The energy inside a room when we deliver workshops is as much alluring as it is exhausting, and the communities that these ses-sions help build afterwards make it all worth it. There are instances when we meet people who disapprove of the form of poetry that we are trying to promote. I perceive that as our own shortcoming: perhaps we need to able to articulate our intent more effectively.

What philosophy guides you in your life?

I am a tad spiritual so I believe in

good karma. Do good, and good things will happen to you.

What’s your perception of Nepali society regarding gender differences and gender roles?

We have a rigid mindset and social structure when it comes to gender. There are predetermined gender roles that you’re expected to assume as a male or a female member of our society, even as children. There is little space for liberty and our patri-archal framework certainly doesn’t help. We are exceedingly sexist in nature—even our civil policies are. Our ways and dogmas are definitely improving in modern times but we are still in for a long march. The problem is that a lot of people, even from my own generation, don’t think gender identity is an issue at all. All of that has to change.

You must read a lot. Do you have a favourite book or an author? Can you provide some reading tips?

I read as much as my schedule allows. Regrettably, that is not as much as I would’ve wanted. I follow Sarah Kay and Taylor Mali, both American slam poets. Among Nepali poets, I like Bhupi Sherchan and Rashtra Kavi Madhav Prasad Ghimire. I do not have a favourite book, but I do prefer to read non-fiction. I get my poetry fix from YouTube and poetry-related websites. This might sound bizarre, but I pore over a lot of rap lyrics. Eminem happens to be my favourite rap artist and author. Kendrick Lamar is superb, too. I think reading sources should not include books alone. A multitude of media sources are accessible nowadays, and keen readers can use them to find what suits their tastes.

You’re a civil engineer by training. What is it like to balance poetry and engineering? Which role do you find the most fitting for your-self?

I don’t think I have been able to bal-ance engineering and poetry. As of now, the scale is tipping towards poetry. Ideally, I would like to plunge into poetry whenever I feel like, but still be able to stand my ground regarding Civil Engineering at the end of the day—like an amphibian switching between water and land at will. I have a deep passion for poetry, but my training as an engineer doesn’t allow me to be impulsive about that. Let’s just say, I am trying to find that balance.

What’s next for Samip Dhungel?

I can’t really tell for sure. I might be looking to work as an engineer for at least a year. But I will certainly read and continue to write poems during that time.

off the track

[ ]

HAPPy DASHAINDashain means good times and quality time spent with family and friends. The fuel crisis may have put a damper on the festive season, but some of our celebrities featured have plans to keep the Dashain spirit alive, no matter what

Asish syAngden, RJ

This Dashain it’s gonna be the usual eat-drink eat-drink affair. But the biggest difference is that there’s going be a lot of walking and cycling involved. There is no petrol, so I guess with all physical activity, I won’t have to worry about putting on the kilos.

UJAyA shAkyA, AUthoR

This Dashain, my family, which includes my parents, my two brothers, my sisters-in-law and children (all 11 members) will be travelling to Thailand. We’ll spend a few days in Bangkok and then head for Phuket and Pattaya. We will make sure to be back on time to visit relatives and fami-lies for Nakhatyah (the fami-ly-gathering in the Newari com-munity after every major festi-val) as my mom does not want to miss meeting her relatives.

sUpRiyA tUlAdhAR, VJ

Well, this Dashain will perhaps be slightly different, owing to the ongoing fuel crisis in the county. However, I am happy that this year my parents are in town for the festival (not being with par-ents during festivals is horren-dous, something I experienced last year). Other than that, it’s going to be all about special deli-cacies prepared by my mom, thulo muwas and maijus; and we’ll also be imbibing some spe-cial Nepali liquor; then there’s of course the card games, flying kites and my live TV shows on Image Channel. I really look for-ward to talking to my callers dur-ing festivals every year. I hope everyone has a great Dashain despite the crisis.

pRAJwAl pARAJUly, AUthoRNothing excites me more than playing cards during Dashain. I come from a family that loves to gamble. We play cards 16 hours a day. My favourite ‘Nepali’ game is call-break, but all my relatives prefer marriage. I think I am a decent poker player, but older members of my family have been reluctant learners. We stick to flush, call-break and marriage.

MilAn RAi, ARtist Since my entire family resides in London, I’ll not be celebrating Dashain as much as everyone else. I’ll use the time to work on my ongoing projects and commis-sioned works. There are a few international art and exhibition opportunities that I’m looking forward to exploring this year, so I’ll probably work on them as well. I have been in touch with a few needy families after the earthquake. Since winter is fast approaching, I am worried about how they will cope. So I have been collecting warm clothes and blankets for them to use for the winter. It not a large-scale setup, just a little bit that I have been able to put together through my network.

kiRAn nepAli, sARAngi plAyeRI’ll be spending most of my Dashain with my family and friends. It’s one of the best times of the year because there is no rush to do anything, and I get to meet everyone and enjoy the holi-day with them. Besides the usual feasts, card games and drinking, I’ll also be overseeing Project Sarangi, which is a project to streamline the sarangi-learning process for new enthusiasts. It is at the production and documenta-tion phase and there is still some work that needs to be done. I’m quite fond of kites, so as with every Dashain before this, I’ll also be flying kites. The band (Kutumbha) meets Thursdays at the practice room in Mangal Bazaar, so I’ll be spending time with them as well.

shAntA nepAli, MediApeRsonI had wanted to go home to Dharan during the Dashain holi-days this year, but I also made plans to travel to Upper Mustang with a documentary team from Discovery Channel. I’m their coordinator here in Nepal and we’ll be returning to Kathmandu only after Tihar. Before I leave, I’ll be visiting my friends and a few of my brothers-from-anoth-er-mother here in the city. We will celebrate and wine and dine, but we won’t be playing cards.

pARAs khAdkA, cRicketeRI am spending my Dashain the same way all the Nepalis are. There is nothing special for me. I’ll be spending the holiday with my family and since this is my first Dashain after getting mar-ried, I’ll be a tad busier than usual. I will have to visit family members and in-laws for tika and get their blessings. My brother has arrived from the US after eight years and I am looking for-ward to having a good time together. I am not a big fan of cards, but I will play a few rounds with my friends and relatives.

Rohit John chettRi, singeR, 1974 AdThe days leading up to this Dashain have been quite hectic for me—not that I am complain-ing. On the October 21(Kaalratri), I have a solo programme in Pokhara. So, I think I’ll be travel-ling for a bit. I’ll also be attending Kantipur FM’s ChangaChait event. In the earlier years, I would fly kites at home, but this year I will be flying kites together with a whole bunch of people. I just got back from Narayangarh, where we had a 1974 AD concert; and despite the fuel crisis, we had a huge turnout. There couldn’t have been a better way to start Dashain this year.

I am involved with the Word Warriors as a poetry instructor. I

previously worked with them as a programme coordinator for Write to Speak, a project to

introduce spoken word poetry to diverse

communities in Nepal S a m I P D H u N g E l

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PG 09 | Tuesday, OcTOber 20, 2015 kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

Arnold in talks for Enthiran 2Arnold Schwarzenegger is in talks to be part of filmmaker Shankar’s Tamil film Enthiran 2, but he is yet to officially sign the dotted line, a source said. The film will be the sequel to 2010 block-buster Enthiran. “It’s true that Arnold has been approached to play the antag-onist in the sequel,” a source said.

BORN TODAYAmerican singer Snoop Dogg is 44

American actress Nargis Fakhri is 36

Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag is 37

South African model Candice Swanepoel is 27

Australian singer Dannii Minogue is 44

Goosebumps tops BOSony’s Goosebumps beat The Martian to win the box office race this week, taking in $23.5 million in its opening weekend from across 3,501 theatres in North America. Goosebumps stars Jack Black as the famous writer RL Stine whose literary charac-ters—a collection of ghouls and ghosts—escape from his books and wreak havoc on the world.

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Malik ‘still loves’ EdwardsIndo-AsIAn news servIceLondon, oct 19

Former One Direction member Zayn Malik has reportedly told his former fiancee Perrie Edwards that he is still in love with her.

Malik, who left the band in March, dumped Perrie by text in

July but it has now been claimed that he has been sending the Little Mix star messages to say that he misses

her, reported a source.“Zayn has started messaging Perrie

again saying he misses and still loves her,” a source said.

“Although Perrie is trying to be strong and move on, it’s obvious to everyone around her she’s still in love

with Zayn. Seeing him with other women is killing her,” the source added.

Zayn is also “smitten” with Indian-origin Burberry model Neelam Gill and popstar Rita Ora since the split.

Meanwhile, Edwards recently insisted she is loving the single life and is enjoying being chatted up by men in nightclubs.

LONDON: Supermodel Kate Moss has reportedly moved her 28-year-old society photographer Nikolai Von Bismarck into her North London home. According to The Sun newspaper, a source said that Bismarck, who has admitted to drink-ing blood in the past, has reportedly been staying in Moss’s basement for the fear of being spotted by staff or her 12-year-old daughter, Lila Grace, reported a source. A lot of people know Kate has been seeing a lot of Nikolai, but she’s never been this open. Their relationship is pretty intense and he has been virtually living at her London home, but has been staying in the basement quite a lot. “Nikolai has clothes at both of Kate’s houses, and although he hasn’t moved in permanently he seems pretty comfortable there,” the source said. Moss and Bismarck, who is 13 years her junior, have been growing close lately, and she has introduced him to her friends. (IANS)

AdElE is BAck with nEw sinGlELONDON: Grammy award winning singer Adele, who hasn’t released any music since her 2012 hit Skyfall teased fans with a sample of her new material. The 27-year-old singer shared a 20-second snippet of her first song in three

years. However, the star didn’t actually feature in the clip. Instead, the footage simply displayed white text on a black background, while Adele’s voice could be heard singing the words, reported a source. “Hello, it’s me. I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet to go over everything. They say that time’s supposed to heal you, but I ain’t done much healing,” she said. Adele hasn’t released a single since her 2012 hit Skyfall while her last album was the 2011 record 21. Meanwhile, Adele reportedly turned down millions to record the Spectre theme song. (IANS)

sAndrA is thE BOss, sAys clOOnEyLOS ANGELES: Actor George Clooney has joked that his Gravity co-star Sandra Bullock is the boss on film sets. The two stars have been promoting their new project together Our Brand Is Crisis. Clooney is co-producing the comedy-drama, and Bullock stars as Calamity Jane Bodine, a political consultant. “It’s nice just to sort of be able to work together. You grow up, you share life experiences, you’re mellowing out, you share your new sense of self. We’re good at arguing our points of view and never feeling like it got personal,” said Bullock. Clooney’s perspective is pre-cisely the same, reported a source. It’s “really fun,” he said, to sit down with someone you know and say, “Well, let’s make this movie.” However, “Sandra is boss”, he joked. (IANS)

JOhAr GEts OnE milliOn fOllOwErs On instAGrAmMUMBAI: Karan Johar, who is currently shooting for his upcoming film “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” in Vienna, has scored one million followers on Instagram. On this note, the filmmaker has promised to be “more active” on the photo shar-ing website. “A millionaire on Instagram! Will be more active now!! Was feeling like I was cheating on Twitter! But Alls fair in love and social media,” Karan, who was last seen act-ing in the movie “Bombay Velvet”, tweeted on Sunday night. The 43-year-old filmmaker is very active on social media platforms, where he shared news about his professional and personal life. The upcoming directorial by Karan

will feature Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is co-produced by Fox Star India and Dharma Productions. The film, that is releasing on June 3, 2016, will be shot across the globe includ-ing locations like Delhi, New York, London and Paris. (IANS)

KApOOr BELIEvES IN MArrIAGEIndo-AsIAn news servIcenew deLhi, oct 19

He pulled off the most understat-ed celebrity wedding of the year when he got married to Delhi-based girl Mira Rajput. Actor Shahid Kapoor is loving every bit of it. Calling it a blissful change, the actor says he is a

firm believer of the institution of marriage.

“I believe in the institution of marriage. I think it’s beautiful, but I

don’t think it should be e n f o r c e d . W h a t

kind of re lat ion-s h i p

y o u want

w i t h t h e

person you love

is completely

your decision. But I do believe one shouldn’t run away from commitment,” said Shahid.

The actor, who got married to Mira away from the public eye at a low key event sported a dapper look in an all-white suit with a dash of black in shoes.

Link-ups and relationship rumours are part and parcel of an actor’s life. And Shahid is no different. His high profile relationship with actress Kareena Kapoor created a lot of buzz, followed by dating speculation with Bollywood stars Vidya Balan and Priyanka Chopra.

“It’s important to express yourself and it’s important to listen. To say whatever you feel as soon as you feel it. When you speak about something after a certain period of time it loses its context... and it’s difficult for both people to see it for what it was,” Kapoor added.

Justin smitten by his wife Jessica

Press TrusT of IndIALoS AnGeLeS, oct 19

Singer Justin Timberlake got emotional during the 2015 Memphis Music Hall of Fame Induction and thanked his “beautiful and loving” wife for being his support

throughout. The 34-year-old My Love hitmaker, who was honoured by his peers for his talents in the music industry, said the induction in the Hall of Fame has been the coolest thing in his life, reported a source.

“This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. My favourite part about this city is we don’t apolo-

gise for who we are, and that’s who this city has taught me to be. “Baby, I love you more than I could put into words and more than any song I could ever write,” Timberlake said and shared a picture as he describes Biel as “beautiful, loving and incredibly understanding,” Timberlake said.

The singer-actor went on to thank all the artists whom he grew up listening to.

‘Music an integral part of my life’

Indo-AsIAn news servIceMuMbAi, oct 19

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who has crooned numbers like Holi Khele Raghuveera and Ekla Chalo Re and Piddly for his films, credits his father and late poet Harivansh Rai

Bachchan for his inclination towards

music. “The music that represents me, that I get the opportunity to explore and compose, comes from within by its own accord. There is no training nor any professional bear-ing. It just comes.”

“I cannot but begin to believe that the strains of my father’s music interest, has followed my genes as an integral part of my construct. I do not have any other reason for its presence,” the 73-year-old posted on his blog.

The star, who has made a special place in the world of showbiz in his over four decade career, has also inspired many with his vocal quali-ties and its not just movies where he showed his singing capabilities, Big B is also composing and singing for a new TV show Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi. However, he has some “res-ervations” too. “Music remained integral in us all from our days of learning to crawl. But the learning of it, crawled throughout us. Till date, I ask many of those that have the bless-ings of notes and chords and voice, what it would take to be in their jus-tice, in their sanctified courtyard,” said Bachchan.

kAtE mOss livinG with nEw BEAu?

Link-ups and relationship rumours are part and parcel of an actor’s life.

And Shahid is no different

It is claimed that Zayn has been sending Perrie messages to say

that he misses her n Zayn Malik

n Shahid Kapoor

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cross currency

US Dollar 103.95

Euro 117.93

Pound Sterling 160.69

Japanese Yen 8.71

Chinese Yuan 16.34

Qatari Riyal 28.55

Australian Dollar 75.79

Malaysian Ringit 24.69

Saudi Arab Riyal 27.72How to read tHe tableThe chart shows the rates of nine world currencies. Move across the table to find rates of exchange between any two currencies. One unit of the currency mentioned vertically is worth that amount in the currency mentioned horizontally.

USD EUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD INR NR

NR 103.9500 117.9300 8.7100 160.6900 108.9100 80.4500 75.7900 1.6015

INR 64.775 73.3 0.5423 100.339 67.783 50.1082 47.215 0.6244

GBP 0.6457 0.7305 0.0054 0.6754 0.5 0.4710 0.0100 0.0062

JPY 119.45 135.16 185.1852 124.92 92.5 87.1500 1.8440 0.1148

EUR 0.8834 0.0074 1.3689 0.9236 0.6842 0.6445 0.0136 0.0085

USD 1.1320 0.0084 1.5487 1.0484 0.7742 0.729 0.0154 0.0096

F o r e X

Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank

10

moneymoneyfinance&economyfinance&economy

kathmandupostthe

for new notes

n People queue up to exchange fresh banknotes for Dashain at Nepal Rastra Bank’s Thapathali branch in Kathmandu on Monday. Photo: Shaligram tiwari

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Agence FrAnce-PresseBEIJING, OCt 19

China’s economy logged its worst performance since the global financial crisis, official figures showed Monday, with analysts warning it is likely to worsen and the government must do more to avert a sharp slowdown.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the world’s second-largest economy grew at just 6.9 percent in the third quarter, its slowest rate in six years. The figures added to fears over the health of the global economy, and some analysts expressed concern they had been manipulated to under-state the gravity of the situation.

“China’s economic growth is still sluggish with many risks remaining unresolved,” ANZ Banking Group chief economist

for Greater China Liu Ligang said. “We should not be over-opti-mistic. China’s economic growth will continue to slow down,” he said, adding he estimated GDP would grow 6.4 percent next year.

China’s decades-long boom, fuelled by infrastructure invest-ment, exports and debt, made it a key driver of the global economy. Even though growth has eased in recent years its GDP more than doubled in real terms between 2006 and 2014, according to World Bank figures.

Now it is looking to transition to a “new normal” of slower and more sustainable expansion driv-en by domestic consumer demand, but the change is prov-ing bumpy and stock exchanges around the world have been pum-melled in recent weeks by con-cerns over its future.

Monday’s figure from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was the worst since the first quarter of 2009, although it was marginally above the median forecast in a poll of analysts by AFP. It was also the first official confirmation of investors’ fears over GDP since a Chinese stock market slump over the summer followed by a surprise currency devaluation in August.

Analysts now widely expect Beijing to further boost fiscal spe- nding and ease monetary policy to prevent a sharper slowdown. China has already cut interest rates five times in a year and reduced the amount of cash banks must hold in a bid to boost lending.

In a research note, Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics anticipated Beijing would take “additional

incremental measures... but with-out going for major stimulus”.

Many China watchers query the accuracy of official numbers,

with some suggesting they are manipulated for political reasons. “Unfortunately, these figures need to be taken with a grain of salt as official GDP growth appears to have become a poor gauge of the performance of China’s economy,” Capital Economics China economist Julian Evans-Pritchard said in a research report. The firm’s own measures pointed to growth of only “around 4.5 percent” in the third quarter, it said. JP Morgan economist Zhu Haibin said strong service-sector growth figures were “somewhat puzzling” as China’s stock market correction “should have led to service sector deceleration”.

GDP expanded 7.3 percent last year, the slowest pace since 1990, and at 7.0 percent in each of the first two quarters of this year.

The government targets “around seven percent” for 2015. The NBS in a statement described third-quarter growth as a “slight slowdown” and said the economy was still running within a “prop-er range”.

But it added: “We must be aware that internal and external conditions are complicated, and downward pressure for economic development still exists.”

NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun blamed a weak recovery in the world economy and expectations of a US interest rate rise for China’s woes, as well as domestic overcapacity in industries rang-ing from steel to concrete.

China’s growth slowdown has sent prices of commodities rang-ing from oil to copper to mul-ti-year lows, and led the US Federal Reserve to delay a widely

expected increase in borrowing costs. Analysts attributed the July-September decline to the floundering property market and flagging exports, although retail sales offered some consolation.

They increased 10.9 percent in September, marginally ahead of the previous month. Fixed-asset investment expanded 10.3 percent on-year in the January-September period -- lower than a median projection for a 10.8 per-cent increase, according to a sur-vey by Bloomberg News.

And industrial production rose just 5.7 percent year-on-year in September, the NBS said, well down on August’s figure. China’s stock market took the figures in its stride on expectations of more stimulus. The benchmark Shanghai stock index closed down 0.14 percent.

China economic growth hits lowest since financial crisiss low d ow n

sAnJeeV gIrIKAtHMANDU, OCt 19

The general public has been facing hard times travelling by public transportation this festive season. While the una-vailability of gasoline due to the blockade imposed by India has confined a large number of passenger vehicles to their garages, the haphazard ticket prices being charged by trans-portation entrepreneurs have aggravated the plight of trav-ellers.

“Despite getting assuranc-es from bus operators, we did not get a seat,” said Anita Bharati, a traveller waiting at New Bus Park for a bus to Nepalgunj on Monday. “The bus entrepreneur had prom-ised us two tickets. But they let us down at the last moment. We are clueless about what to do now.”

While male travellers have been able to force their way inside a bus or climb up to its roof, it has been a big problem for women travellers, accord-ing to Bharati. Hundreds of travellers waiting for buses at New Bus Park and Kalanki to go home for the festival are in a similar situation.

“It is indeed difficult for travellers,” said Basanta Adhikari, spokesperson at the Department of Transport Management (DoTM). “The number of buses available compared to the rush of trav-ellers is too small.”

According to Adhikari, the DoTM has set up counters at several locations to prevent anomalies, but they have failed to do so. Adhikari added that the government had also given permission to passen-ger buses to serve routes not

included in their permits. The flow of people will

increase significantly from Tuesday. The Dashain holi-days for government officials and private sector employees start on Tuesday. This means a large number of people will be streaming out of the Kathmandu Valley starting Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were 2.5 million departures from Kathmandu during Dashain

last year, and around 2 million people are expected to move out this year. Government officials said that around 1.5 million people out of the expected total departures had already left the valley.

“In most cases, bus opera-tors have been found to have overcharged passengers,” said Adhikari, adding that some of the transportation entrepreneurs had converted their public vehicles into reserved buses so they could

hire them out for exorbitant rates.

“We are taking note of the situation, and have also penal-ized a few offenders,” he said. Jeeps plying the Balkhu-Hetauda route, in particular, have been found to be over-charging passengers.

However, transportation entrepreneurs said that the high ticket prices were the result of a crisis situation. “Most bus service operators have been forced to buy gaso-

line at higher prices. Also, some of the buses that have arrived in Kathmandu from the bordering regions have brought extra fuel with them for the return trip. That is why they have been charging more than usual,” said a transport entrepreneur who wished to remain unnamed.

“You have to realize that transportation operators have been doing all they can to help people reach their homes for the festival.”

Dashain travellers face hard times due to rush

n People depart to their home towns for Dashain celebrations on crowded vehicles, in Koteshwor, Kathmandu, on Monday. PoSt Photo: hEmaNta ShrEStha

Demand for sacrificial animals rises in ValleyPOsT rePOrTKAtHMANDU, OCt 19

Demand for live goats, sheep and mountain goats has gone up in the Kathmandu Valley with the start of the festival. A large number of animals and fowl are slaughtered for feast-ing during the holidays.

Traders from across the country and India have gath-ered in Kathmandu to sell goats during the festival rush. Around 400 traders have been selling goats from various places like Khasi Bazaar in Kalanki, Koteshwor, Chabahil, Balaju Bypass and other loca-tions. According to Deepak Thapa, president of the Nepal Livestock Traders Association, around 40,000 goats will be sold for Dashain.

State-owned Nepal Food Corporation has also been sell-ing goats and mountain goats from its outlet located at Thapathali. It has fixed the price at Rs435 per kg for goats weighing less than 25 kg. Goats weighing more than 25 kg have been priced at Rs445 per kg. Mountain goats cost Rs630 per kg.

However, NFC has procured fewer goats and mountain goats this year due to a halt in the collection process. The company has brought more than 381 goats and 692 mountain goats respective-ly this season, a far cry from the figure of 3,000-3,500 in pre-vious years.

Traders said that some of the goats being sold in the val-ley had come from places like Dhading, Nepalgunj, Salyan, Dang, Gaighat, Nuwakot, Makwanpur and Dhading, while others had been import-ed from India.

Murari Gaire from Dhading who sells goats at Khasi

Bazaar, Kalanki, said that he was happy that his goats got a good price this year as very few animals from India and Tarai had arrived. “Last year, I lost money as Indian goats were available at a cheaper rate, but I hope I will make a good profit this year,” he said.

Meanwhile, consumers have complained that prices of live goats and mountain goats have gone up.

Traders said that they had brought fewer goats and sheep as the fuel crisis triggered by the unoffi-cial blockade by India and strikes in the Tarai had affect-

ed the collection process. Goat prices have soared to

Rs450 to Rs485 per kg from Rs425 to Rs435 per kg a week ago. Similarly, mountain goats are being sold at Rs800 per kg, against Rs700 to Rs750 per kg last month.

Rekha Upreti from Battisputali, who was buying goats at Khasi Bazaar, Kalanki, said that she had to pay Rs1,000 more this year.

“We had bought a goat weighing 31 kg for Rs13,500 last year, but this time we have to pay Rs14,500 for a goat of the same size,” she complained.

n A file photo shows a general view of a goat market in Kathmandu. PoSt Photo

Around 400 traders have been selling goats from various places like Khasi Bazaar in Kalanki, Koteshwor,

Chabahil, Balaju Bypass and other locations

FNCCI urges PM to save economyPOsT rePOrT KAtHMANDU, OCt 19

The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has urged Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to save the country’s econ-omy from sliding into a fatal accident.

A delegation led by FNCCI President Pashupati Murarka met with the Prime Minister at his official residence in Baluwatar and apprised him of the losses suffered by the economy due to the continu-ing political turmoil in the country.

Murarka and his team informed the PM about the situation resulting from the strike and banda in the Tarai region of the country for the past 62 days and the unofficial blockade imposed by India.

According to a statement issued by the FNCCI on Monday, Murarka told the PM that the country’s economy had sustained losses worth Rs1,000 billion and that indus-tries, business enterprises and

industrialists were facing security threats.

“The strike has snatched away the basic human rights of the people and has made survival difficult. The govern-

ment should bring this tenden-cy to a halt at the earliest pos-sible,” Murarka told the PM as per the FNCCI statement. “If the government fails to create a conducive environment,

businesses will have no other option but to pull down the shutters.”

According to the FNCCI, Prime Minister Oli said that he was cautious about the situation and assured the delegation that the govern-ment would support the private sector.

“I expect to get full support from the private sector. The government has been making every effort to resolve the ongoing crisis as soon as possible,” the FNCCI state-ment quoted Prime Minister Oli as saying.

The Prime Minister added that the government’s first priority was to create an investment friendly atmos-phere based on the sugges-tions made by the private sector.

FNCCI special member and former president Chandi Raj Dhakal, Senior Vice-President Bhawani Rana, vice-presi-dents Dinesh Lal Shrestha and Shekhar Golchha and other executive committee members were present at the meeting.

n A handout photo shows Prime Minister KP Oli (left), FNCCI President President Pashupati Murarka (seated, second right) and Senior Vice-president Bhawani Rana (seated, right) during their meeting in Baluwatar, Kathmandu, on Monday.

A delegation led by the FNCCI president met PM Oli and apprised him of the losses suffered by the economy due

to the continuing political turmoil in the country

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moneyeconomy 11Tuesday, October 20, 2015 | thekathmandupost

Dollar weakens on China dataTOKYO: The dollar weak-ened against emerging currencies Monday as growth in China’s econo-my in the third quarter slowed to the weakest pace since the global financial crisis but still beat analysts’ expecta-tions. The South Korean won, the Australian dol-lar and the Singapore dollar rose after the data from Beijing gave a lift to confidence, while expec-tations the Federal Reserve will delay an interest rate hike also provided support. Global markets have rallied in October—following a massive sell-off in the July-September quar-ter—with emerging cur-rencies the main benefi-ciaries as bets on a 2015 rise in US borrowing costs recede. After saying in early 2015 that a rise was expected as the US economy picked up pace, bank policymakers have gradually lowered their expectations, with tur-moil unleashed by China’s yuan deprecia-tion in August. (AFP)

Deutsche plans restructuringBERLIN: Scandal-plagued Deutsche Bank, Germ-any’s biggest lender, Sunday announced a major business and man-agement shake-up that would “fundamentally change” its leadership structure. The announce-ment came after Deutsche Bank this month braced employees for bonus cuts, announced its biggest quarterly loss in about a decade and warned that even dividends could be scrapped. The bank has been undergoing a mas-sive shake-up after its co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen resigned in June over a tangle of scandals and missed profit targets, replaced by new co-CEO John Cryan. The investment and retail bank is mired in around 6,000 different litigation cases and was fined in May a record $2.5 billion for its involvement in rigging interest rates. (AFP)

Air France to stick to job cutsPARIS: Air France will go ahead as planned and cut almost 1,000 jobs in 2016 under the first part of a restructuring plan that triggered violent pro-tests, the chief executive of Air France-KLM said Sunday. The remaining cuts planned for 2017 can still be avoided if negoti-ations with unions are successful before the start of next year, Alexandre de Juniac said in a joint interview with RTL radio, LCI television and the Le Figaro daily. The strug-gling airline’s restructur-ing plan—unveiled on October 5 after pilots rejected a proposal to work longer hours—made headlines around the world earlier when executives were manhandled by furious workers. Human resourc-es manager Xavier Broseta had his shirt ripped off as he clam-bered over barriers to escape, helped by securi-ty guards. (AFP)

news digest

REUTERSSHANGHAI, OCT 19

Quitting her job as receptionist, joining rock bands and chanc-ing her tattoo-sleeved arm at small business ventures would once have branded college grad-uate Ding Jia as a rebel in China. Now she can claim state endorsement as a “creative”.

“I haven’t had a formal job in years,” said Ding, 31, sitting in her tiny coffee and cocktails bar on a trendy Shanghai street. She has no regrets, but no illusions either. “Entrepreneurship can be a really hard experience,” she said. “Profits can be so thin.”

In the week she spoke to Reuters, she and dozens of near-by businesses were forced to close temporarily by city offi-cials on a regular sortie to enforce regulations. While most

parents might warn their chil-dren off high-risk, low-reward self-employment, preferring jobs in government or state-owned enterprises, Ding says her Shanghai nurse mother and cab driver father were supportive.

That attitude finds an echo in high places; recent graduates who start their own businesses are being hailed in state media as a new creative class that will build China’s Silicon Valley. “Creatives show the vitality of entrepreneurship and innovation among the peo-ple, and such creativity will serve as a lasting engine of China’s economic growth,” Premier Li Keqiang said in January. “I will stoke the fire of innovation with more wood.”

In addition to warm words, many are receiving training, subsidies, free office space and other support from district gov-

ernments and universities. Optimists hope the next Jack Ma or Mark Zuckerberg will emerge from this pool, but skep-tics say the policy is setting up inexperienced kids for failure.

The aim is to help shift China’s factory-based economy towards knowledge-driven ser-vices, and address unemploy-ment among Chinese college students. Most private employ-ers have little use for fresh grad-uates from crowded domestic universities, who consequently can earn less than skilled facto-ry and construction workers.

A Peking University study found that entry-level salaries in Shanghai averaged just 3,241 yuan ($511) a month—a pit-

tance in a city with one of world’s 10 most expensive property markets.

Chinese surveys show 20-30 percent of college students now aspire to entrepreneurship or self-employment, and Cui Ernan, labor analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics, said official data suggests they are following through.

Though undergraduate num-bers swelled to record highs last year, the number seeking work in the formal job market appeared to shrink.

Cynics say pushing student entrepreneurship is mostly about helping officials meet tar-gets while heading off political unrest among disaffected stu-

dents, the demographic behind the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-tests. A busy entrepreneur, on the other hand, counts as both employed and as a new business registration.

Parker Liu, currently COO of a mobile technology startup in Beijing, began launching new companies before he graduated. He said district officials regular-ly scoured entrepreneurship events seeking startups to subsi-dize, often on the understanding that the company would register in their district.

Liu said he had received small subsidies from district governments and helped intro-duce officials to other startups, but was doubtful about the ben-efits. “The real problem is the money doesn’t come with educa-tion ... These government officers, they didn’t know much about entrepreneurs or start-

ups, but they know a lot about political evaluations. They have a quota.”

Liu said the support also encouraged too many into sec-tors with low barriers to entry, such as e-commerce, mobile games, and college prep schools.

“In terms of helping the job market, this sort of thing is of marginal benefit,” said Geoffrey Crothall, communications direc-tor at China Labour Bulletin. “They are going to price them-selves into the ground, and so the wages they can afford to pay their staff are going to be very low as well.”

While official data is scant, failure rates appear unsurpris-ingly high. “They have very poor management skills,” said Cui of Dragonomics. “Most of the businesses run by college students I observe, only a few of them succeeded.”

Beijing promotes low-paid college grads to startup CEOsP ro m ot i n g e n t r e P r e n eu rs h i P

C M Y K

farming

n A farmer uses a tractor to plough a field in Bengbu, east China’s Anhui province, on Sunday. AFP/RSS

market watch

Vegetables Unit Price (Rs)

Fruits Unit Price (Rs)

Red Potato Kg Rs 45White Potato Kg Rs 35Onion (Indian) Kg Rs 145Tomato Small Kg Rs 65Tomato Big Kg Rs 50Squash Kg Rs 45Cabbage Kg Rs 55Egg Plant Long Kg Rs 50Cow Pea Kg Rs 110

daily commodities

Apple Kg Rs 150Pomegranate Kg Rs 250Mango Kg Rs 120Water Melon Kg Rs 80Orange Kg Rs 70Pineapple 1Pc Rs 95Cucumber Kg Rs 60Pear Kg Rs 110Papaya Kg Rs 80Banana Doz Rs 80Lime 100 Pcs Rs 475

Pokhreli Rice Kg Rs 65Jeera Mashino Rice Kg Rs 65Indian Bashmati Rice Kg Rs 110Mansuli Rice Kg Rs 55Sona Rice Kg Rs 50 Beaten Rice (Taichin) Kg Rs 115 Beaten Rice Kg Rs 70Big Mas Kg Rs 195Small Mas Kg Rs 165Big Mung Kg Rs 180Musuro (No 1) Kg Rs 210Musuro (No 2) Kg Rs 180Rahar Kg Rs 220Chana (Big) Kg Rs 115Chana (Small) Kg Rs 100Chilli Powder Kg Rs 275

Commodities Unit Price (Rs)

int’l market

Energy Price (US$) %Change

Agriculture Price (US$) %Change

Industrial Metals Price (US$) %Change

COPPER FUTURE (lb) 231.3 -3.00

Precious Metals Price (US$) %Change

GOLD 100 OZ FUTR (t oz) 1,121.30 -0.28SILVER FUTURE (t oz) 14.6 -0.76

COCOA FUTURE (MT) 3,165.00 1.64COFFEE ‘C’ FUTURE (lb) 120.45 0.75CORN FUTURE (bu) 362 0.14COTTON NO.2 FUTR (lb) 62.65 -0.56ROUGH RICE (CBOT) (cwt) 12.11 0.37SOYBEAN FUTURE (bu) 872.50 0.35SOYBEAN MEAL FUTR (T) 309.3 0.36SOYBEAN OIL FUTR (lb) 27.14 0.26SUGAR #11 (WORLD) (lb) 11.45 0.97WHEAT FUTURE(CBT) (bu) 467.75 0.54

RETAIL PRICE

BRENT CRUDE FUTR (bbl) 49.93 -1.48GAS OIL FUT (ICE) (MT) 490.25 -2.00GASOLINE RBOB FUT (gal) 140.56 -2.19NATURAL GAS FUTR (MMBtu) 2.68 -1.54

gasoline watch

bullion

SOURCE: FENEGOSIDA

Rs 51,200

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Chinese surveys show 20-30 percent of college students now aspire to entrepreneurship or self-employment

Something not rotten in Denmarkexample of a welfare state that taxes heavily but enjoys high employment and general prosperity

PAUL KRUGMAN

No doubt surprising many of the people watching the Democratic presidential debate, Bernie Sanders cited Denmark as a role model for how to help

working people. Hillary Clinton demurred slightly, declaring that “we are not Denmark,” but agreed that Denmark is an inspiring example.

Such an exchange would have been inconceivable among Republicans, who don’t seem able to talk about European welfare states without adding the word “collaps-ing.” Basically, on Planet GOP all of Europe is just a bigger version of Greece. But how great are the Danes, really?

The answer is that the Danes get a lot of things right, and in so doing refute just about everything US con-servatives say about economics. And we can also learn a lot from the things Denmark has gotten wrong.

Denmark maintains a welfare state—a set of government pro-grams designed to provide econom-ic security—that is beyond the wild-est dreams of American liberals. Denmark provides universal health care; college education is free, and students receive a stipend; day care is heavily subsidized. Overall, working-age families receive more than three times as much aid, as a share of GDP, as their US counterparts.

To pay for these programs, Denmark collects a lot of taxes. The top income tax rate is 60.3 percent; there’s also a 25 percent national sales tax. Overall, Denmark’s tax take is almost half of national income, compared with 25 percent in the United States. Describe these policies to any American conserva-tive, and he would predict ruin. Surely those generous benefits must destroy the incentive to work, while those high taxes drive job creators into hiding or exile.

Strange to say, however, Denmark doesn’t look like a set from “Mad Max.” On the contrary, it’s a pros-perous nation that does quite well on job creation. In fact, adults in their prime working years are sub-stantially more likely to be employed in Denmark than they are in America. Labor productivity in Denmark is roughly the same as it is here, although GDP per capita is lower, mainly because the Danes take a lot more vacation.

Nor are the Danes melancholy: Denmark ranks at or near the top on international comparisons of “life satisfaction”. It’s hard to imagine a better refutation of anti-tax, anti-government economic doc-

trine, which insists that a system like Denmark’s would be complete-ly unworkable.

But would Denmark’s model be impossible to reproduce in other countries? Consider France, anoth-er country that is much bigger and more diverse than Denmark, but also maintains a highly generous welfare state paid for with high taxes.

You might not know this from the extremely bad press France gets, but the French, too, roughly match US productivity, and are more likely than Americans to be employed during their prime working years. Taxes and benefits just aren’t the job killers right-wing legend asserts.

Going back to Denmark, is everything copacetic in Copenhagen? Actually, no. Denmark is very rich, but its economy has taken a hit in recent years, because its recovery from the global finan-cial crisis has been slow and incom-plete. In fact, Denmark’s 5.5 percent decline in real GDP per capita since 2007 is comparable to the declines in debt-crisis countries like Portugal or Spain, even though Denmark has never lost the confi-dence of investors.

What explains this poor recent performance? The answer, mainly, is bad monetary and fiscal policy. Denmark hasn’t adopted the euro, but it manages its currency as if it had, which means that it has shared the consequences of monetary mis-takes like the European Central Bank’s 2011 interest rate hike. And while the country has faced no mar-ket pressure to slash spending—Denmark can borrow long-term at an interest rate of only 0.84 per-cent—it has adopted fiscal austerity anyway.

The result is a sharp contrast with neighboring Sweden, which doesn’t shadow the euro (although it has made some mistakes on its own), hasn’t done much austerity, and has seen real GDP per capita rise while Denmark’s falls.

But Denmark’s monetary and fis-cal errors don’t say anything about the sustainability of a strong wel-fare state. In fact, people who denounce things like universal health coverage and subsidized child care tend also to be people who demand higher interest rates and spending cuts in a depressed economy. (Remember all the talk about “debasing” the dollar?) That is, US conservatives actually approve of some Danish policies—but only the ones that have proved to be badly misguided.

So yes, we can learn a lot from Denmark, both its successes and its failures. And let me say that it was both a pleasure and a relief to hear people who might become president talk seriously about how we can learn from the experience of other countries, as opposed to just chant-ing “USA! USA! USA!”

—©2015 The New York Times

Fund planned for quake-hit businessesPOST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 19

The government has been working to establish a Reha-bilitation Fund to help earth-quake-affected businesses and the related working procedure has neared completion.

The fund, which will be placed under Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), will provide interest subsidies to earth-quake-affected sectors includ-ing housing, agriculture, trad-ing and tourism.

The size of the fund has not been finalized. NRB has pro-posed a fund of Rs20 billion, but Finance Ministry officials said that it would be smaller. Finance Joint Secretary Madhusudan Pokharel said that the fund would be in the neighbourhood of Rs10 billion.

He added that a final deci-sion on the matter would be taken after holding discus-sions with the new yet-to-be-appointed finance minister. Initially, the central bank had proposed a fund of Rs10 bil-lion. But the Finance Ministry had urged it to first study the needs of quake-affected busi-nesses and decide the size.

According to Pokharel, quake-hit businesses will get refinancing through banks and financial institutions. “The interest rate has been proposed in the range of 4-5 percent,” he said. Earlier, the central bank had sent a draft of the working procedure to the ministry.

The government had announced establishing a fund to support various enterprises related to these sectors in the budget statement for fiscal

year 2015-16. The Finance Ministry has

said that it has set aside ade-quate funds under the miscel-laneous heading, and the nec-essary resources for the fund will be transferred after its size has been finalised.

The government has allo-cated a total budget of Rs92 billion for reconstruction pur-poses. Like other reconstruc-tion tasks, the establishment of the rehabilitation fund had also been delayed.

Finance Secretary Sunman Sharma said that the fund would be established as soon as possible. “Once the new finance minister is appointed, consultations will be held on the working procedure,” he said. “We have planned to introduce and operate the fund after Dashain.”

As per the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) conducted by the National Planning Commission (NPC) with support from donors, the

housing sector witnessed the highest losses of Rs350 billion, while the commercial sector suffered damage and business losses valued at Rs16.95 bil-lion. Tourism suffered total losses of Rs81 billion, while the farm sector suffered Rs28.36 billion in losses.

Meanwhile, the central bank has released the working procedure for providing refi-nance facility for the recon-struction of damaged houses. As per the policy, victims in the Kathmandu Valley can get loans of up to Rs2.5 million from banks and financial institutions at 2 percent inter-est, while those from outside the valley can borrow up to Rs1.5 million.

The central bank has also created a provision allowing earthquake-hit borrowers to get their loans rescheduled by one year. However, NRB Spokesperson Trilochan Pangeni said that there had been few takers so far.

Rajan urges IMF action against ‘extreme’ policiesREUTERSMUMBAI, OCT 19

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday to play an active role in questioning the stimulus policies of developed economies and called on emerging markets to have a bigger voice in global debates.

Raghuram Rajan, a former chief economist of the IMF, said developed countries were adopt-ing monetary policies without consideration for the negative impact they have on the global

economy and he noted emerging markets were engaging in curren-cy intervention that sparked com-petitive devaluations. In a speech ahead of a G20 summit in Turkey next month, Rajan said it was time for policymakers, led by the IMF, to address these “extreme” policies, otherwise “we have to worry where this ends.”

“The IMF has been sitting on the sidelines and applauding these kinds of policies right from when they have been initiated, ‎and hasn’t really questioned the value of these kinds of policies,” he told a G20 consultation meet-ing. “We can do better,” he said,

calling on emerging markets to push back against such policies.

Rajan did not single out any

one country, but he has emerged as a leading critic of ultra-loose monetary policies and those that he says have purposefully pushed down their currencies to gain a competitive advantage.

Some central banks, including those in the United States and the euro zone, adopted so-called quantitative easing policies to counter the global financial cri-sis. After cutting rates to zero, they pumped cash to try to revive economic activity. The US is con-sidering raising interest rates for the first time since 2006.

Indian media has speculated that Rajan could be a contender

to head the IMF after the five-year term of the current head, Christine Lagarde, ends in 2016. Rajan denies any interest in the position and his three-year ten-ure at the RBI doesn’t end until September 2016. Since his RBI appointment in 2013, Rajan has called on emerging markets to have a bigger voice globally, including at the IMF. Otherwise, industrialised economies will always lead the debate, he says.

Rajan said it was critical emerging markets develop more capable economists, who can help steer discussions among policy-makers globally.

n RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan

Page 12: l Printed SimultaneouSly in kathmandu, Biratnagar ...epaper-archive-01.ekantipur.com/epaper/the-kathmandu...Tharu groups over the deline-ation of federal states. Even after the meeting

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REUTERSLONDON, OCT 19

Free-scoring strikers Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal and Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich will be looking to keep the goals flowing in their bid to help win their pivotal Champions League Group F match on Tuesday.

After failing to score in his first eight matches of the season, Chilean Sanchez has netted 10 goals in his last six for club and country, while Lewandowski has scored 22 for club and country this season, including 15 in his last seven matches. He failed to find the net in Bayern’s 1-0 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday but has not gone two matches without scoring all season. Even if he does have an off-day, Arsenal will have Thomas Mueller to worry about

after his 15 goals this season. The Bayern front men pose a

big threat to an Arsenal defence that has performed reasonably well in the Premier League but badly in the Champions League. The side are bottom of Group F, having lost their opening two group matches for the first time. Bayern top the group with six points. Olympiakos Piraeus, who won 3-2 at Arsenal three weeks ago, have three, as do Dinamo Zagreb, while Arsenal have none.

If Bayern win they are likely to seal their place in the last 16 with matches to spare. If Arsenal lose, it is difficult to see them qualify-ing and they cannot afford to drop any more points when Bayern visit for the third time in four sea-sons. After losing to Olympiakos, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted his side faced a huge

fight to qualify. “It is still possible of course to qualify but it is diffi-cult to swallow losing a game like

that and we have a big battle ahead of us,” he said.

Wenger faced a wave of criti-

cism for resting first choice keep-er Petr Cech for the match and playing his reserve David Ospina instead, and it would be a big sur-prise if Cech was left out again as he has played a big role in Arsenal’s two wins since then keeping two clean sheets. Arsenal bounced back from that defeat with an emphatic 3-0 demolition of Manchester United five days later and they maintained their good domestic form with a 3-0 win at Watford on Saturday.

They will have to be at their best again against an in-form Bayern side that won 3-1 in London in February 2013 and 2-0 there a year later. In four Champions League visits since December, 2000 Bayern have lost only once, in March 2005, though they still won that round-of-16 tie 3-2 on aggregate. They now come

back in stellar form, having set a league record of nine successive wins from the start of the season when they beat Werder Bremen 1-0 on Saturday.

Despite already having several injured players, including defend-ers Medhi Benatia and Holger Badstuber, as well as Franck Ribery and Mario Goetze, coach Pep Guardiola rested Douglas Costa an Javi Martinez ahead of the trip to London.

Sanchez, Lewandowski key to Arsenal versus BayernU E FA C H A M P I O N S L E AGU E

Tuesday fixturesn Bate Borisov vs Barcelonan Levante vs AS Roman Arsenal vs Bayern Munichn Dinamo Zagreb vs Club Olympiakosn FC Porto vs Maccabi Tel Avivn Dynamo Kiev vs Chelsean Zenith St Peterburg vs Lyonn Valencia vs Gent

sportskathmandu postthe

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2015PG 12 kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

Sullivan wins by nine shotsAndy Sullivan won his third European Tour title of the season at Vilamoura on Sunday, dominating the Portugal Masters throughout for a command-ing nine-shot victory. The 29-year-old Englishman carded a superb 66 to finish a massive 23 under par. Another Englishman, Chris Wood, took sec-ond place on 14 under after a final round of 68.

Nadal makes it to ATP Tour FinalsRafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych have secured their places at the ATP World Tour Finals. Nadal and Berdych will compete alongside Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka at the season finale event in London from November 15-22. Nadal qualified for the 11th consecutive season after reaching the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters.

Samuels reported for third time West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels is reported for bowling with a suspect action for a third time in his career, the ICC said. The part-time spinner was cited after the first Test against Sri Lanka, which the hosts won on Saturday. Samuels will need to undergo test-ing within 14 days and would be permitted to contin-ue bowling until the results came out.

SPORTS DIGESTMarchisio cools Liverpool talkMILAN: Juventus mid-fielder Claudio Marchisio has brushed off reported interest from Liverpool by claim-ing he is fully focused on regaining his fitness after signing an exten-sion with the Italian champions. Marchisio has been linked with a move to Anfield follow-ing the appointment of Jurgen Klopp as the new Liverpool manager. “I’m not interested, I’ve just signed a contract exten-sion and I’ve just come back from injury,” he told Sky Sports Italia. “I’m working to get back to full fitness.” (AFP)

Ben Arfa leads Nice to victory PARIS: Nice maintained their challenge for a top-three finish in Ligue 1 as Hatem Ben Arfa scored another wonder goal in a 4-1 thrashing of Rennes on Sunday to lift the visi-tors to fifth. With the match still in the balance on 53 minutes, former Newcastle winger Ben Arfa blasted into the far left corner. The only bright spot for the Brittany side was an 88th minute consolation goal from Kamil Grosicki. Earlier in the day, stum-bling Marseille dropped points again as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Lorient at the Stade Velodrome. (AFP)

Hanover move out of drop zoneBERLIN: Hanover and Stuttgart climbed out of the Bundesliga relega-tion zone on Sunday thanks to controversial goals. Hanover’s revival continued as midfielder Leon Andreasen’s win-ner sealed a 1-0 victory at Cologne. Hanover are now unbeaten in their last three games, which followed five straight defeats, while Cologne drop to sixth in the table. Stuttgart shot up from 18th to 15th thanks to Daniel Didavi’s sec-ond-half winner which sealed their 1-0 victory at home to Ingolstadt, but replays showed he was in an offside position. (AFP)

Magpies post first victoryNEWCASTLE: Georginio Wijnaldum plundered four goals as Newcastle United thrashed Norwich City 6-2 at St James’ Park on Sunday to belatedly claim their first win of the Premier League sea-son. Wijnaldum quadru-ple eased some of the pressure on Newcastle manager Steve McClaren. Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrovic also found the net, while Moussa Sissoko played his part with four assists, as Newcastle secured a league victory at the ninth attempt ahead of next weekend’s trip to northeast derby rivals Sunderland, who replaced them at the foot of the table. (AFP)

Vega mulls Fifa candidacy LONDON: Former Tottenham defender Ramon Vega is consider-ing standing as a candi-date in the Fifa presiden-tial election. Fifa has suspended its president Sepp Blatter and vice-president Michel Platini for 90 days amid corruption allegations. “I come without baggage and I have substantial experience from both football and in finance,” Vega said. The former Swiss international, who also played for Celtic and Watford, has worked in finance since retiring as footballer in 2004. (BBC)

Nepal inch closer to big showPOST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 19

Nepal eased to a six-wicket victory over the United States of America (USA) to enter the final of the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday.

A five-wicket haul from spinner Prem Tamang fol-lowed by a gritty unbeaten half century from Yogendra Karki handed Nepal their third consecutive victory that put them in the final with one match against their final opponents Ireland remaining.

Ireland, who ran riot over Uganda with a 158-run victory in another match on Monday, also coasted to their third win in a row. Nepal and Ireland are tied on six points each but the former lead on better run rate. The two teams meet each other on Wednesday before heading into Thursday’s win-ner takes it all final.

The tournament offers only one spot in 2015 ICC U-19 World Cup to be hosted by Bangladesh. The qualifying team will join Afghanistan, Namibia, Canada, Fiji and Scotland along with 10 Test playing nations in World Cup.

In the match at Kinrara Oval, Nepal squeezed out USA for 109 runs in 46 overs after the match had to be reduced to 48 overs due to bad weather.

USA were the first team in the tournament to reach triple figures against Nepal who had bundled out Papua New Guinea (48 runs) and Uganda (71 runs) below 100. Nepal reached 114-4 in just 17.5 overs. Nepal lost new opener Shankar Rana, who replaced Sandeep Sunar, for 12 before Sunil Dhamala (17) and Karki

shared 39 runs for the second wicket. However, Nepal lost Dhamala and explosive all rounder Dipendra Airee (five) in a space of six runs before skipper Raju Rijal (six) head-ed back to pavilion leaving Nepal at 73-4 in 12.6 overs.

But Karki went on to play his shots and forged an unbeaten 41-run partnership with Saurav Khanal sailing the team easily home. Karki completed his half century with a boundary off Vivek Narayan in the 17th over

before Khanal ended the game with a six off Guranshu Sharma in the next. Karki made 53 not out from 46 balls with 11 fours and Khanal’s 12-ball 16 also included two hits to the fence. Mohak Buch took two wickets for US.

Earlier, USA innings revolved around their opener Sagar Patel who scored a painstaking 44 off 105 balls and watched wickets tum-bling from the other end. His

21-run partnership with Kushal Ganji (seven) was the only bright spot for the USA. Tamang broke Patel’s resist-ance in the 37th over as he was out as eighth US wicket to fall.

Patel stroked three bounda-ries and a six. Tohidul Islam (14) and Gaurav Patanker (11) were the only remaining American batsmen to make runs in double figures. Man-of-the-match Tamang finished with the figures of 5-31 from

10 overs, while Aarif Sheikh took 2-9 from 10 overs includ-ing four maiden. Sushil Kandel and Airee also had one scalp apiece.

At the Royal Selangor Club, the Irish recovered from 97-5 to post 255-8 following a centu-ry stand between Lorcan Tucker (90) and Aaron Gillespie (47). Rory Anders then picked up four wickets as Uganda were dismissed for a paltry 97 in 23.5 overs.

DCA LINE-UP MATCHES IN MUMBAI, GOAPOST REPORTDHANGADI, OCT 19

Dhangadi Cricket Academy (DCA), one of the most active academies in Nepal, have lined-up matches against top local clubs in Mumbai and Goa in a 13-day tour of India that begins from Friday.

The club will begin their tour with a match against Police Zymkhana Cricket Academy on October 26 before taking Sindh Sports Club in two matches. They also play against U-14 team of Mumbai Cricket Academy and Lalchand Rajput Cricket Academy in Mumbai. After concluding their Mumbai tour, the team heads to Goa for a match against Vasco Regional Cricket Club.

Academy Director Subash Bahadur Shahi said they have completed all the prepara-tions for the tour and the team is excited for the matches. “This tour will definitely raise the level of our cricket-ers and make them mature in the game,” said Shahi. DCA had previously taken its team to Sri Lanka apart from fixing their kids for friendly match-es in Lucknow.

Aman Panthi will lead the DCA side and the captain hailed the Academy and the tour. “Under its annual pro-gramme, DCA has been pro-viding a much-needed inter-national exposure to its crick-eters. We will be committed to make this tour a successful one,” said Panthi.

Meanwhile, a basketball team of Sudur Pachimanchal Academy left for Lucknow to participate in the ninth International Sports Olympiad beginning from October 24.

Five new faces knocking nat’l cricket team doors POST REPORTKATHMANDU, OCT 19

The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has picked up 20 players for a final round of selection for Nepal’s upcom-ing ICC World Cricket League Championship matches against Papua New Guinea.

Dilip Nath, Yagyaman Kumal, Irshad Ahmed, Sandeep Lamichhane and Bikram Sob are the new faces knocking national team doors for the PNG game scheduled for November 16 and 18 in UAE. CAN will name a final 14-member squad following the last round of selection.

The players were picked up following their performance in the Super League cricket tournament that concluded on

Monday where a Nepal ‘C’ team led by Sharad Vesawkar defeated Paras Khadka-skipper Nepal ‘A’ by 40 runs. While CAN has put on hold the selectio of skipper, Prithu Baskota, Mehboob Alam and Naresh Budhayer were given a chance to return.

Out-of-for m Binod Bhandari was not picked up in the 20-member squad fol-lowing his poor form in 50-over cricket where as Subash Khakurel is poised to make a return making a tough competition in the opening slot with Mahesh Chhetri and Anil Mandal also knocking doors.

Khakurel was kept out of Nepal’s both WCLC matches against Scotland in July owing to his poor form but has

impressed in the Super League scoring two half cen-turies. In absence of Khakurel and injured Sagar Pun, Chhetri and Mandal had opened for Nepal with the lat-ter smashing a century in the first game.

Pun has also been included in the 20-member list along-side Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, Sharad Vesawkar, Shakti Gauchan, Basanta Regmi, Sompal Kami, Rajesh Pulami and Karan KC.

Nepal are going to have a busy three weeks in November as they are scheduled to play a two-day match against Hong Kong, friendlies against UAE local club and Oman apart from a historic one-day game against Pakistan on November 8 before facing PNG.

Inter, Juve draw ‘Derby d’Italia’AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE MILAN, OCT 19

Inter Milan spurned the chance to take command of Italy’s top flight after a pulsat-ing scoreless draw with Juventus that set a new Serie A record gate receipt record at a sold out San Siro on Sunday.

The ‘Derby d’Italia’ is one of the most popular fixtures in Italy and a total of 79,154 spectators turned out to watch the 165th edition at Inter’s shared ground, producing a new all-time gate receipt of 3,740,051 euros.

Roberto Mancini’s highfly-ers hosted the four-time con-secutive Serie A champions looking for their first home win in the derby since 2010, when Jose Mourinho led the Nerazzuri to an unprecedent-ed treble of league, Cup and Champions League.

A home win would also

have pushed Juve 11 points adrift of Inter and even fur-ther away from successfully defending their title. In the end, the hosts were forced to settle for a share of the spoils, leaving Fiorentina, despite

their 2-1 defeat to Napoli, top of the pile with a one-point cushion on Roma. Mancini admitted: “It was a tough game, difficult for both sides. It wasn’t easy to create chanc-es and there weren’t so many

in the end. It was an impor-tant game because winning would have reinforced what we’ve achieved so far this sea-son and pushed Juve further out of the equation.”

Inter remain third, on 17 points, with Napoli, Sassuolo and Lazio all two points adrift. Juventus, eight points behind Inter overnight amid what has been a terrible start to the season, now have nine points from eight games and sit 10 points adrift of Fiorentina.

Three days before hosting Borussia Moenchengladbach, looking to claim their third consecutive win in the group stages of the Champions League, Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri was buoyed with a performance that he believes has reminded Juve’s rivals they are not fin-ished yet.

“I don’t know if we will win the league title this season but we’ll be in the mix,” the Juve coach added.

icc u-19 world cup qualifiers

n Defeat the US by six wickets n To meet Ireland for U-19 World Cup spot n Tamang stars with ball

n (Left) Nepali players celebrate a USA wicket. (Left) Prem Tamang holds the man-of-the-match trophy after helping his team beat the USA by six wickets during the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday. PHOTOS COURTESY: ICC/CAN

n Inter Milan’s Stevan Jovetic (left) vies with Andrea Barzagli of Juventus’ during the Italia Serie A in Milan on Tuesday. AFP/RSS

n Lewandowskin Alexis Sanchez

SummaryNepal 114-4 in 17.5 overs (Y Karki 53 not out, S Dhamala 17, S Khanal 16 not out; M Buch 2-22, A Shoff 1-17) beat USA 109 all out in 46 overs (S Patel 44, T Islam 14; P Tamang 5-31, A Sheikh 2-9) by six wickets under D/L Method

italian serie a

POINTS TABLETeam P W L N/R RR PtsNepal 3 3 0 0 +3.730 6Ireland 3 3 0 0 +3.041 6Uganda 4 1 3 0 -1.365 2USA 3 1 2 0 -1.857 2PNG 3 0 3 0 -3.646 0

icc world cricket league championship


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