TWO BHUTNESE REFUGEES TRAMPLED TO DEATH BY WILD ELEPHANT

WILD ELEPHANT TRAMPLES TO DEATH TWO MALE BHUTANESE REFUGEES

Kathmandu, 27 July: Two aged male Bhutanese refugees were trampled to death by an elephant at the Beldangi camp in Jhapa Wednesday morning, Jhapa, Radio Nepal reports.
They were aged 75 and 78 years and were killed immediately.
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BOYS OUTNUMBER GIRLS AT PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Kathmandu, 27 July: A Department of Education report published recently shows the number of girl students in private schools much lower than boys, while in community schools, girls’ number exceeded that of boys, The Himalayan Times reports

The report said that of the total enrollment of 7,782,291 students, 85.8 per cent are at basic level (Grade I to VIII) and 14.5 per cent at secondary level (Grade IX to XII).

The proportion of girls at basic level is 10.6 per cent while the share of boys at basic level stood at 14 per cent. Similarly the enrollment of girls at basic level in community schools is 89.4 per cent while for boys, it is 86 per cent.

Out of total enrollment, girls constitute almost 50.2 per cent at basic level and 49.3 per cent at secondary level.

Rajya Laxmi Nakarmi, chief, Gender Equity Section, Department of Education, blamed the indifference of parents towards daughters’ education for such situation.

She said, “Despite having enough money to teach their daughters in private schools, many are still sending their girls to community schools and boys to private schools.” She said that awareness among parents on giving same opportunity to their children regardless of gender was must to improve the scenario.

Rajesh Khadka, president of Private and Boarding Schools Association of Nepal, echoed the same.

“Lower middle class and lower class people send their sons to private schools and daughters to community schools.”
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NRNs URGED TO INVEST IN NEPAL
Kathmandu, 27 July:: The central bank governor Dr Yubraj Khatiwada urged Non Resident Nepalese (NRN) to invest in Nepal, The Himalayan Times reports.

“NRNs can invest in Nepal directly through mutual funds,” he said addressing the inaugural ceremony of sixth NRN Regional Conference in Moscow on Saturday. “Investing in recently established Hydropower Development and Investment Company will also be a good idea,” he said, adding that NRNs should take advantage of government policies that is opening various sectors for NRNs such as purchase of housing units and investment in share market among others.

In the budget for the current fiscal year, the government has — for the first time — allowed the foreigners to buy flats. The budget has permitted foreigners and NRNs to purchase housing units in Nepal, with a lock in period of five years, hoping that it would help in facilitating foreign exchange inflow in the country.

“Since Nepali banks and financial institutions are providing more interest on deposits, NRN should cash on this by depositing money in Nepali banks,” he suggested.

chairing over the session on ‘Role of NRNs in investment promotion in Nepal’, Khatiwada expressed that NRNs should utilise the capital, experience, knowledge, skill and technology gained in the foreign land in the development process of Nepal.

This year’s NRN Association’s conference was themed as ‘Strengthening NRN Network-Promoting Nepal’, took place in Moscow on July 23-24.

Meanwhile, representatives of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russian Federation (RFCCI) in Moscow to expand economic co-operation between the two nations.

The MoU was signed by and RFCCI’s president S Katarin and FNCCi president Suraj Vaidya — who also participated in the NRN conference — on behalf of their respective organisations.

Russian business representatives, on the occasion, agreed to visit Nepal in order to identify the potential sectors for Russian investment in Nepal. “The agreement is supposed to encourage the entrepreneurs of the respective countries to come together and recognise investment potential sectors,” said Vaidya.

Similarly, Katarin said that the signing of MoU is the start of a new era of economic co-operation between the two nations.
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