Shabda Gyawali's Blog

Oslo remains the world's most expensive city to live in, according to the latest Worldwide Cost of Living survey. It is now more costly to live in London and Paris than in Tokyo, which was unseated from the top spot in last year's survey. Eight of the ten dearest cities are in Europe, partly reflecting the strength of European currencies. New York, 28th of the 132 cities surveyed, is the most expensive destination outside Europe and Asia. Those looking to live on a budget should move to Latin America, which accounts for a quarter of the cheapest 30 cities. The cost of living in Buenos Aires is a little over half that in New York. The Worldwide Cost of Living survey compares the cost of living in over 130 cities in nearly 90 countries. It gathers detailed information on the cost of more than 160 items—from food, toiletries and clothing to domestic help, transport and utility bills—in every city. More than 50,000 individual prices are collected in each survey round, and a cost-of...

THE Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points at its next meeting on December 11th. America's central bank has already cut rates by 75 basis points since September. At the beginning of the Fed's last rate-cutting cycle in 2001, central banks elsewhere followed suit. But so far this year, no other rich-world country has lowered its key lending rate. Several, including Sweden, Norway and Australia, have tightened policy since the Fed's first cut. China, facing rising inflation, has also made money dearer. In Britain and the euro area, rates were increased earlier in the year but have been on hold since the summer.

Nepal ranked 142 out of 177 countries in UN's 2007 Human Development Index (HDI), which measures achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational status and standard of living. The Global Human Development Report (HDR) for 2007/08 released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Tuesday states that enrollment in primary, secondary and tertiary education in Nepal is up to 58.1 percent from 56.1 percent last year and life expectancy of Nepalis has increased to 62.6 years from 62.1 years of last year. Similarly, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by one third and purchasing power parity in US dollar terms has also increased. Although in 2006 Nepal was placed at 138th spot, major adjustment was made in the index later due to shift in the statistics and Nepal ended at 144 th spot among the 177 countries on the HDI . But despite positive changes in key indicators Nepal trails behind all the South Asian countries in terms of HDI. Sri Lanka (99 th) is the top among ...

GMR Energy, a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure, has entered into a share purchase and joint venture agreement to acquire 80% stake in Kathmandu-based Himtal Hydro Power, reports Business Standard online. The report states that according to a release issued by GMR, Himtal has a survey license issued by the Department of Electricity Development to undertake the feasibility and environmental impact assessment studies for setting up a 250 Mw Upper Marsyangdi - 2 hydro power project. The company said necessary applications have been submitted to the investment promotion board, Department of Industries of the government of Nepal for their approval. GMR Energy manages six projects -- 220 Mw barge-mounted power plant near Mangalore in Karnataka, 200 Mw plant at Chennai, 388.5 Mw plant at Vemagiri in Andhra Pradesh and 140 Mw plant at Alaknanda, Uttarkhand. It is also developing a 1000 Mw thermal power plant at Dhenkal in Orissa and a 160 Mw hydro power plant at Talong in Arunachal Pradesh. nep...

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http://economist.com/media/audio/specialreport_tech_Nov07.mp3

By SANJAYA DHAKAL Like every other time, the past one week also witnessed a volley of debates, discussions, demonstrations and expert-speaks on the issue of price hike of petroleum products. No sooner had the government decided to hike the prices of petroleum products, some political parties – notably the Maoists – and their student organizations have started demonstrating demanding the rollback. It does not need an expert economist to see the utter necessity of hiking the fuel price – notwithstanding the terrible problems common people are certain to face due to its hike. Since past few years, the price of crude oil in the international market has been spiraling out of control. From around $ 30 a barrel in 2003, the price has continued to soar to reach $93 a barrel this week (One barrel is equal to 159 liters). And Nepal being a country that has to import all of the petroleum products, it is unnatural and against normal economic sense to continue to subsidize the fuel at the cost of c...

There’s a lot of talk about micro enterprise and its associated issues at the moment, with many sallying into the debate on poverty solutions waving around concepts like micro finance and technology inclusion as sorts of panacea pin ups. There are plenty of advocates arguing that if only we could get the capital, or the computers, or the craftsmanship into the hands of the poor, we could deal a fatal blow to world poverty as we know it. But while micro enterprise undoubtedly has a key role to play, the evidence suggests there’s plenty of room for improvement in the construction of the concept. In Nepal, the Small Farmer Development Programme’s micro finance operation reports loan default rates as high as 60%, while in Bangladesh, journalist Gina Neff found 55% of the Grameen Bank's clients were not able to meet their basic needs after eight years of borrowing, with most using their loans to buy food rather than invest in businesses. What is going wrong? And what can be done to turn...

After the high drama on Sunday at Parliament, the political polarisation in the insurgency-ravaged Himalayan nation has become a new root of anxiety. As the Maoists voluntarily vacated their proposal on republic, the members of the insurgent-turned political party supported the application of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninists). In reciprocation, the CPN (UML) supported the Maoist proposal on fully proportional electoral system for the Constituent Assembly election. The undeclared “Left Alliance” in the parliament is now sure to divide the members. Fully aware of the possibilities of polarization, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Speaker Subhas Nembang repeatedly requested the political parties comprising the Seven Party Alliance (SPA), to maintain the bonhomie. The CPN(UML), one of the major factions of the ruling alliance, on Monday ruled out the possibility of political polarisation. The UML is being blamed for joining hands with the “ultra-left” Maoists. In...

In one sense, the globalisation that is transforming our world today is nothing more than the recent movement of people, ideas and technologies, taking advantage of a new era (politically and economically), of relatively easy travel, easy communication and open opportunities for education, self-betterment and self-aggrandisement. Globalisation is ultimately about choices exercised at a global level: economic, lifestyle and identity (particularly in relation to terrorism). The real dividing line between those for and against the broader globalisation project has less to do with Right and Left than it does with a particular stance on the wisdom of leaving as many choices as possible to individuals. What defines the anti-globalisation radicals is a lack of faith in human beings. The movement of people from one country to another will apparently destroy national cohesion and integrity. Individuals will be ground down along with their local identity by an impersonal global capitalist machin...

OSCILLATING between military takeover and civilian disarray, Pakistan often seems consigned to a classical form of governmental perdition. Yet the coup that General Pervez Musharraf, the country’s president, launched on Saturday November 3rd, was in fact something new. His first coup, in 1999, was designed to restore order after civilian misrule. Now General Musharraf wants to shore up his own unpopular, and perhaps illegal, government. He has suspended the constitution—a step the government has inaccurately described as constituting a state of emergency—and sacked most of the Supreme Court’s judges. This includes the chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, a champion of swelling opposition to the general. The courthouse in Islamabad is now sealed off by barbed wire and armed police. Private television news channels, foreign and Pakistani, have been hauled off-air. On November 4th the prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, suggested that a general election due in January could be postponed for a year...

I ain't republican but if I am allowed to vote I would have voted him ...