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Govt assistance waits for cooperatives to make hay

KATHMANDU, Dec 26 - The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) has proposed a directive regarding the operation of 4,000 cooperative shops to be set up throughout the country as announced by the government through the budget of the current fiscal year. The government has announced that it would provide Rs. 100,000 to each cooperative as seed money. The cooperatives to be set up in every village development committee (VDC) and in municipalities with a population of 30,000 will provide consumer goods at reasonable prices to poor and marginalised people. MoAC spokesperson Dr. Hari Dahal told the Post that the cooperatives would provide goods to identified low-income customers at very reasonable prices. As per the proposal, the district development committees (DDCs) will provide identity cards as per the recommendation of the VDCs and municipalities where the cooperative shops will be situated. Dr. Dahal added that the cooperative shops would use the money provided by the government as seed money to purchase goods to operate the shops initially. Ministry officials said that they were planning to open such cooperatives by mid-April next year. Secretary of the ministry Tek Bahadur Thapa said that establishing such shops was a challenging task as there were no cooperatives in half of the VDCs. “There are many things to be worked out including the mechanism of operating the shops and recruitment of staff,” he said. The ministry's proposal has given first priority to consumer-related cooperatives to run the shops. Different monitoring systems will be set up to run the cooperatives. The minister, the registrar of the Department of Cooperatives and local development officers at the district level will head different structures to run the cooperatives effectively. There will be a board to oversee the shops at the local level.

Call to reopen closed industries
Workers accuse factory owners of foul play

KATHMANDU, Dec 24 - Workers affiliated with the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Union (GEFONT) demanded on Tuesday early resumption of the operation of various textile and garment industries that have remained closed for various reasons. The workers stressed that the Lalitpur-based Krishna Pashmina Industry, Butwal Spinning Mill, Jyoti Spinning Mill, Gopi Kapada Industry, Tribeni Textile and jute industries must reopen. General Secretary of Nepal Independent Textile and Garment Trade Union (NITGTU) Gyan Bahadur Thapa said that the factory owners were closing their industries to avoid paying appropriate wages to the workers. “Some industries like Krishna Pashmina refused to abide by the agreement reached among the workers, owners and the government two years ago regarding wage increments for workers,” he said. Speaking at the 22th anniversary of the NITGTU, the trade union leaders vowed they would continue the struggle to maintain the wages of textile and garment workers at the level set earlier for workers in other areas. The workers, entrepreneurs and the government signed an agreement recently to increase the minimum wage for unskilled workers to Rs. 4600 per month in most of the industries, except for workers in the jute industry.  For the garment, textile and carpet industries, it was agreed that a task force will be formed to recommend a wage increment, although the already set wage rate will be implemented.  GEFONT general secretary Binod Shrestha said that the GEFONT was committed ensure set minimum wages for all workers. He blamed the Maoist affiliated trade union of creating anarchy in the industries, just to be viewed as more revolutionary. He also acknowledged that the current global economic recession was hitting Nepali workers hard. GEFONT deputy general secretary Harid Datta Joshi blamed the industrialists of staging dramas in order to avoid paying the minimum wages as set earlier for workers affiliated with certain industries.

Tourism promotion govt mantra: Yami

KATHMANDU, Dec 24 - Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Hisila Yami said, “The government is committed to promoting tourism, and it has already allocated Rs. 280 million to develop tourism infrastructure.” Addressing an interaction held in Pokhara from Dec. 22-23 to discuss ways to develop tourism and civil aviation in Pokhara and the region, she added that she was here to do a feasibility study for a regional airport in Pokhara which would connect it with cities in India. The minister also appealed to all the stakeholders to work together to make Visit Nepal Year 2011 a success. She announced that an airport shuttle bus service would  run in the event of a strike as Pokhara was a domestic air hub linking the country's western and far western regions. Minister Yami revealed that the New Tourism Policy was in its final stage of preparation. She added that efforts would be made to build an international regional airport in partnership with the private sector under the Build Operate Own Transfer (BOOT) model.

Loan waiver relief for farmers

DANG, Dec 26 - The government has announced that loans taken by farmers in amounts of less than Rs. 30,000, including the principal and interest, will be written off. The number of loan applications being received at the Agricultural Development Bank's branches and sub-branches in Dang has increased. According to the bank, the total amount of loans provided to farmers has reached Rs. 120 million. Around 3,704 farmers have applied for loans of up to Rs. 30,000 at its branches in Ghorahi, Lamhi and Tulsipur and sub-branches in Gadawa and Narayanpur. According to Shyam Narayan Upadhyay, head of the Ghorahi branch, it has lent money to 335 farmers. The principal amounts to Rs. 10 million and the interest comes to Rs. 124,000. Similarly, data provided by the Tulsipur branch shows 571 borrowers with the principal amounting to Rs. 7.85 million. The Lamhi branch recorded 986 borrowers with the principal amounting to Rs. 73.5 million. Director of the Gadawa sub-branch, Madan Pandey, said it had provided loans amounting to Rs. 10.119 million to 335 farmers. The Narayanpur sub-branch has lent  Rs. 10 million to 943 farmers. According to Upadhyay, 600 farmers in Ghorahi and 300 in Narayanpur have had their debts cancelled.

Financial Institutions join hands

Plastic money — debit and credit cards — are the latest craze in town. The financial institutions not only compete but also feel proud in offering this latest banking product. But for the first time, they have joined hands to provide service to their large clientele base.

Eight financial institutions — Nepal Investment Bank, Nabil Bank, Bank of Kathmandu, Laxmi Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Sunrise Bank, Nepal Development Bank and Nepal Share Market Ltd — today jointly inaugurated ATM Lounge at New Road. The initiative is expected not only to provide better services to the customers but also reduce the cost of operation of ATMs for all the participating banks.

"This is the first time Nepali financial institutions have joined hands to operate ATMs at a single location," said Anil Shah, CEO of Nabil Bank.

"Its a creative competition," he said adding that ATM Lounge will be more convenient for customers and cost-effective to the financial institutions as well. In the cut-throat competition also, they are working together to enhance their quality of service they provide their customers.

There are 25 commercial banks, 59 development banks, 78 finance companies, five rural development banks and many cooperatives, at present. And five more commercial banks and around a dozen development banks are in pipe line. All the financial institution strive to offer modern banking services to the customers.

The plastic money that everyone prefers to carry is considered the cheapest way to pay for purchases and withdraw cash. The cardholders will now have the advantage of availing the facilities from the 24-hour Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) of any of these eight financial institutions of their preference from a single location at New Road that is the oldest financial hub of the Kathmandu Valley.

Along with the newly-installed ATMs at New Road today, Nepal Investment Bank has now a total of 58 ATMs, whereas this was Nabil Bank’s 35th. This is the eighth ATM of Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) — the only government bank — and its 11th ATM of the Laxmi Bank.

"We assure that we will strive to provide similar and innovative services in the days ahead," Shah added.

Contrary to writing cheque in old days, the usage of debit cards is increasing recently. It is said that debit cards carry the lowest overall costs. "However, the increasing load-shedding has made it difficult for the banks to provide the 24-hour service to their customers," said one banker.

Potato Farmers unable to get market

Farmers of Tipling Village Development Committee (VDC), in the northern part of Dhading district, are facing problems selling their crop as the transport service to ferry their produce to the markets is not available.

It takes three days to walk from Tipling VDC to the district headquarters, Dhadingbesi.

A farmer Kache Ghale of Tipling VDC-9 said that the villagers have been subsisting on potatoes for more than six months every year due to the lack of food grains in their village.

Due to the inability to reach the market on time, they are been selling the potatoes at the rate of Rs 25 per pathi in their own village.

“It takes four days for them to take their produce to Dhadingbesi bazar and that also is a very costly affair, another farmer of Lingcho village in Tipling VDC-9, Lopcha Thapa, informed.

The villagers are forced to consume potatoes as their morning and evening meals. Each household produces five to 20 muris of potatoes.

"Except for one or two days a week, we survive on potatoes," said Thapa adding that the yield of millet in the VDC, however, was good.