| Sajha.com Archives | |
| Username | Post |
| Logical Sense | Posted
on 07-Oct-03 09:03 AM
As you may know, HMG of Nepal and FNCCI are jointly organizing the first NRN conference on October 11-14, next week. If Sajhaites have any ICT-related proposals (Information and Communication Technologies?) for inclusion in the draft declaration of the conference, please send it directly to organizers at www.nrn.org.np by October 9th. |
| Neural | Posted
on 07-Oct-03 06:55 PM
International Conference in KTM: International Conference on Power System "Challenges to Electric Utilities in the new Millennium" Sept 22-24, 2004, Ktm, Nepal. Organized by: IOE, TU in association with IIT, Bombay IEEE PES. Submission of Abstract: before February 20. 2004 Notification of acceptance of abstract: by May 10, 2004 Submission of final version of full paper: by July 10, 2004 Official web-site : www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~peps/ICPS2004 |
| Bhunte | Posted
on 08-Oct-03 03:22 AM
neural, interesting... you may want to contribute a paper on "hydro rent issues in nepal". .... |
| ashu | Posted
on 10-Oct-03 06:32 PM
The NRN Conference starts from today. King G is doing the inauguaration bit at the Birendra International Convention Center today (Saturday) at 3 pm. Hope to see a few Sajha folks at the conference, which goes on till Tuesday. oohi "resident Nepali" ashu ktm,nepal |
| Biswo | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 01:41 AM
I am not sure whether those still holding Nepali passports are called NRN or not, and a look at the conference's attendants don't give me any clear answer either. As for giving incentive to foreign investors, I believe our country should do even more to attract domestic investors. These billions of remitted rupees have ended up buying the same lands and houses over and over: the rapid buying may have temporarily provided a good rate of return to some, but down the road, these inflated prices will harm the returnees greatly. And it seems all we have in Nepal are houses: ugly houses standing up in what once was garlic/ cauliflower producing luxurious land, and people slouching off inside, ,even in daytime,watching in cable programs made by a daughter of Jitendra. We don't have factories belching out smokes, we don't have the cacophony of machines, our education system is so wretched one can become associate professor just by counting the years of service (please, correct me if I am wrong) and our student are ,well, the less said the better. I remember a 'talk of the town' about some of these 'honored' NRNs last summer. Apparently a group of them tried to open a bank in Nepal because they had hard time laundering money in their country of residence. Mahesh Acharya previously said yes to their effort, Dr Mahat later objected. The final answer to them was No.If this is true, I think it was a good decision: because it stopped us from being Bermuda or Caymon. The measure of goodwill toward Nepal of NRNs can be found in other ways: expatriate Chinese have established a lot of scholarships for poor Chinese of mainlands, they have opened hospitals, they rushed to invest in China while the Japanese stood by incredulously in 1979. Those who are crying out loud for dual citizenship and tax break only are not there for the altruist reason, and they should be dealt with reason rather than emotion. I found it so ironic when I was in Solukhumbu: Even though he was a foreigner, Ed Hillary made schools, airports, hospitals in that godforsaken land. In Khunde, there is a hospital, now finally being served by an excellent Sherpa doctor who was also a doctor in Patan Hospital. Throughout Khunde hospital's history, foreigners seemed to be the only doctors serving there. Ed always wanted a local to serve there and had previously sent at least a boy to USA to study medicine. The boy chose to stay in USA. |
| vivashme | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 05:14 AM
I will be at the ICT session tomorrow. Hope to meet some sajha folks. Is anyone participating? |
| ashu | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 06:11 AM
Vivashme, I will be there tomorrow, as I was there all day today. Wil answer Bhunte's questions/concerns and will share my impressions/thoughts about the whole conference later. So far, I see the conference -- though far from perfect -- is an EXCELLENT beginning to bring NRNs and RNs together. oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| Arnico | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 07:46 AM
I think there may be a relevant OpEd piece in tomorrow (Monday)'s Kathmandu Post ;) - Arnico. |
| Ruby | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 12:28 PM
bhunte ji, you wrote "Bhim Udas from Italy". udas lives in russia not itlay, at least accorging to the Nepali Times. unless, I am missign something. |
| llcoola | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 12:39 PM
Are they gonna talk about incentives if someone chooses to come back to Nepal for good? I mean Taxes and custom. |
| Bhunte | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 01:33 PM
Ruby, I believe WFP HQ is in Italy, but you may be right. |
| najar | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 07:03 PM
Arnico-- ahem ahem :) Nice to see a familiar name and a wonderful piece on the TKP early mon morning. Good job, comment bhare belukaa..ahile gtg to work... |
| Biswo | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 09:35 PM
Arnico's article in the Kathmandu Post: http://www.kantipuronline.com/php/kolnews.php?&nid=1046 Readers will definitely know why I once called Arnico a great visionary of our time! |
| kalekrishna | Posted
on 12-Oct-03 11:51 PM
Arnicoji, excelent piece (reffering to your visionary article). Local populace and local administration have to play the leading role. Rampur campus is an ideal example, its contribution to the development of its surroundings is remarkable. But there is a growing tension between the students and locals and I heard the authority decided to boycott the local market and increasing more frequent campus bus service for marketing at Narayanghat. Likewise the medical college at Bharatpur, which can be seen as an ideal example of what you have mentioned is also under constant pressure of locals under different contexts. Hence, whatever may be the decission at higher level, unless the local populace is made to belief that it will benefit them, all these dreams will be hard to materialize. Visionary local leaders, with less selfish approach can make the dream come true. Till then let us just hope in near future most of us (Sajhapur nivasis) will be in a position to influence the local leaders to be so. |
| Poonte | Posted
on 13-Oct-03 12:52 AM
Ahem, Arnico! I, along with some of my Nepali friends, during occasional frustrations with the less-than-expected grades in undergraduate years, used to joke that we should start a nice univesity in Nepal itself, and require these Amrikaanes to take TONFL (Test of Nepali as a Foreign Language), give them a hard time getting visas to go study in Nepal (by requiring them to produce all sorts of bank statements, sponsor letters, etc.), and have them work their a@@es off at the cafetiria, and so on. Now, you've made it sound like our superficial dreams (dreamt of while intoxicated at a local bar) may not be unrealizable afterall! What can I say? I am all with you on this! ******************** Just a quick note on one of the facts that you had mentioned in the beginning of the article: I could be wrong on this, Arnico, for I lack the reference to any specific resource to verify this, but I was under the impression that many Saudi/Arab students did leave the US after 9/11, and some of the universities had to cut down on financial aid to foreign students because they now were cut off from the tuition revenues from rich Arab students. This may have also prompted those universities to issue more than normal I-20s to students from other countries in the hope of making up for the lost revenue. I had also heard that the number of new Arab students seeking student visas also declined significantly after 9/11. Once again, I could be wrong on this -- my assertion is based on hearsay only! :) |
| najar | Posted
on 13-Oct-03 09:25 AM
Okay back to hajeer :) Usually I just skim through the TKP OPEDs looking at the topic titles and the authors. A pleasant surprise this morning, to see two familiar names--our own Arnico and Samrat Upadhyay (he too, has written an interesting column for those who want to read further). Arinico has presented a persuasive piece with clearly outlined idea, explaining the need , way to address and how to go about doing it. A complete package! I also found Biswo's posting above re foreign investment really insightful. Although there are bunch of universities and colleges emerging, don't know what the quality of education in them are--as much as i try to be positive, am little skeptical about several. Every other person i run into seem to be doing MBAs at these private insitutes that are advertised to be of western standard and affiliated with this and that univs in the US , UK etc. The way professors and instructors are/have been hired, seems like anybody can teach. Someone I know who'd done fashion design but at the same time took MBA exams at TU says she teaches management at two diff colleges. Medical schools also have added up to quite a bit. I am not saying the quality of all colleges and univs is bad, and from what i hear KU is adopting a more progressive approach in both hiring, teaching, recruiting and practicum component. But still, a quality research based univeristy/research center/medical center etc very much like what Arnico suggested, perhaps also having a diff disciplines would be a great investment! Oh, if only i had the money!! :) I hope the NRNs gathered in the capital DO read Arnico's article and consider investing in this sector. |
| Arnico | Posted
on 13-Oct-03 10:23 AM
Sathi haru ho. I had just posted the article in another thread when I saw your comments here already. Let me reply to those comments here, while hoping not to distract too much from the original point of the thread, which seems to be a far broader discussion of the NRN conference and investment in Nepal. Meanwhile a few replies: Najar: Good morning! Biswo ji: Thanks. Am not sure about being a visionary. I prefer to call myself a dreamer. Kalekrishna: thanks for your comments. I would love to hear more about Rampur and the medical college in Bharatpur. Poonte: Thanks for your comments, I fear I might flunk the TONFL! About the Saudi students and middle eastern students in general: yes, my sentence was really poorly phrased. I meant in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, based on my readings at that time in articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education, NYT, etc. Yes, on a longer time scale, Bush's foreign policy and the tightening visa regulations HAVE had a strong impact upon the attractiveness of the US to middle eastern students wishing to start or continue their higher education. On second thought I might have been better off NOT including that sentence. Najar: Good evening. Yes, the number of institutions offering MBA's has mushroomed. I have no way of assessing their quality. As far as I understand, MBA programs are a lucrative ways for new institutions to raise cash. Obviously I am advocating institutions with strict hiring practices to ensure quality. As for different disciplines: absolutely. I did not mean just a medicine oriented university AT ALL. I would like to see strong liberal arts based undergraduate curricula developing leadership in a wide range of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, as well as a wide variety of professional fields. |
| Neural | Posted
on 14-Oct-03 03:13 AM
Bhunte, am thinking abt Power System Planning and operation with Economic Aspects.... let's c |