14 INJURED IN BHAKTAPUR BUS ACCIDENT

14 INJURED IN BHAKTAPUR BUS ACCIDENT

Kathmandu, 6 April: Fourteen passengers were injured in a bus accident
in Bhaktapur Friday morning.
Four of the seriously injured are being treated at B and B Hospital.
The bus was heading for Changunarayan from Bhaktapur.
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LESS THAT 31 PERCENT DEVELOPMENT EXPENDITURE SPENT SO FAR

Kathmandu, 6 April: In dismal government performance, government spent only 30.87 percent of the development budget outlay in the current fiscal year, a
government budget review Thursday revealed.
OnlyRs.22.42 billion of the allocated development expenditure was spend even as the budget was presented in time this year.
Of the set amount, Rs.19.76 bullion was spent in convertible currency and Donors contributed Rs.2.42 billion.
Q3 of the annual fiscal ends mid-April.
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MEDIA GOOGLE

“But the senior UML leader supposedly free of any form of corruption,
dared to blame the whole judiciary for corruption. He would have done
himself and his ilk a singular service if he and other political leaders in the
country could take a little time off to contemplate their own doings in the arena of corruption and gauge their own shortcomings.”

(Shyam Bahadur KC, The Kathmandu Post, 6 April)
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NEPAL BECOMING TRANSIT ROUTEFOR INDIA-CHINA TRADE
EVEN AS INDIA DENIES NEPAL,PAKISTAN DIRECT OVERLAND TRADE ROUTE
Kathmandu, 6 April: The government has agreed in principle to provide transit facility to India for transporting goods via Nepal, Prithvi Man Shrestha writes in The Katmandu Post..
India had been seeking such a facility on reciprocal basis given it has been providing transit facility to Nepal. Indian trucks will be able to transport goods from one part of India to another part via Nepal’s 27 border points after the countries sign a letter of exchange.
This is the first time that Nepal is formally providing such a facility to India, according to officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS). “Nepal agreed in principle to this effect during the recent bilateral Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) meeting in New Delhi, India,” said Lalmani Joshi, secretary at the ministry.
The Southern neighbour now has asked Nepal to expedite the agreement signing process. “We will sign the letter of exchange within a few weeks,” said Joshi. “The agreement will be implemented after that.”
Nepal had been providing such a facility to India on a temporary basis though a government decision whenever floods caused transport disruption in bordering Indian states.
The commerce secretary level meeting held last December had agreed to sign an agreement to this effect along with other agreements such as India allowing Nepal to use the Bisakhapattanam Port, providing transit facility through India’s Rohanpur to Sinhabad of Bangladesh and minimising hassles on Phulbari-Banglaband transit route.
Although India has provided transit facility to Nepal through the Phulbari-Bangla Band route to reach Bangladesh, the road is in poor condition and Nepal faces many hassles there.
As far as Rohanpur-Singhbad railway route is concerned, Nepal and Bangladesh and India and Bangladesh have signed agreements for using the route as transit for trade among the countries. Nepal can use the route as per the Transit Treaty and Railways Service Agreement it has signed with India. Under the Transit Treaty, India has pledged Rohanpur-Singhbad railways route (connecting Bangladesh with India) as a transit corridor for Nepal for trade with Bangladesh.
Despite holding this transit rights, Nepal has not been able to make use of the facility so far due to the lack of train service between India and Bangladesh. Nepali officials believe that the transit facility given to India would benefit Nepal as the country can charge fees on Indian cargos such as entry fee in dry port, service charge and road transportation fee.
“The biggest advantage for Nepal is that the country will have more bargaining power as it can claim that it has also given something to India,” said a government official involved in the matter.
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GLOBAL TAB AND INTEX AVATAR TAB LAUNCHED
Kathmandu, 6 April: The market for tablets in the country has been booming continuously with workstations turning dynamic and connectivity playing a larger role in human life. And in a bid to cash in on the growing popularity, IT dealers have been introducing new varieties of tablets, The Kathmandu Post reports.
SG Global has brought out the Global Tab while Zeal Enterprises has unveiled the Intex Avatar Tab.
“A tablet is revolutionary device across the globe, and in Nepal too the market seems to be booming. This is why we have introduced the Global Tab in Nepal,” said Akhil Gupta, director of SG Global. He added that connectivity was turning into a necessity among professionals as their lifestyle was becoming busier, thus leading to a wide scope for such kinds of products.
According to Gupta, the new tablet from SG Global comes with a 7-inch TFT touch screen with HD quality, mobile calling and SMS, camera, music and gaming along with various other applications. The device runs on Android 2.2 operating system and can be connected through GPRS and Wi-Fi network. As for the memory, it has a 4 GB hard drive which can be expanded up to 32 GB along with 512 MB RAM.
The tablet allows the user to make phone calls and send SMS, features which are not available on low cost models, according to the company. The company believes that the newly launched tablet will be a success in the market due to the fusion of superior features and reasonable price. “We received 1,000 bookings within the first two days,” said Gupta. SG Global has priced the device at Rs 9,999 and it comes with a six-month warranty.
According to the company, it is targeted at those who need to remain in touch through the internet, students and gadget fans who are looking for an entry-level feature-loaded tablet.
Similarly, Zeal Enterprises has come up with the Intex Avatar Tab. The Intex is equipped with an 8-inch display screen, 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 8 GB hard drive which is expandable up to 32 GB through micro SD card and 1 TB through external drive, built in 360 degree G-sensor, mic, camera and full HDMI video output. According to company, the device runs on Android V2.3 platform.
“The market for tablets in Nepal is growing continuously. Gadget-savvy people along with those who are fascinated with new technologies are switching to tablets due to the multiple features they contain,” said Saroj Poudyal, director oft Zeal Enterprises. “The newly unveiled device from Intex is a medium range tablet and is targeted at youngsters and students who are keen to use the latest technology-laden devices,” Poudyal said. The company stated that it had received bookings for 150 devices. Poudyal said that the company intends to launch another variant of the tablet within the next two months. The Avatar is priced at Rs 18,000 and comes with a one-year warranty.
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