Asia

Indian officials to train Nepali technicians for operating Janakpur-Jaynagar railway line
14Sep mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Indian officials to train Nepali technicians for operating Janakpur-Jaynagar railway line

A total of 26 officials from India will be going to Nepal to provide training to Nepali technicians for the operation of the Janakpur-Jaynagar railway line, according to a contract.“To bring officials from India, an agreement has been reached between Nepal and Indian Railway Board”, Director General of Rail Department of Nepal, Balram Mishra said."We asked for the officials from India in an online video conference held between the Railway Department of India and Nepal. There is a vacancy for various posts in Nepal but no applications have come forward. For now, we will bring officials from India who will also provide training to Nepali officials once the recruitment is done," Mishra added.Nepal's Railways Department has already started completing the procedure to hire Indian officials for ...
Read More
J-K: Construction of Srinagar’s international football stadium in full swing
14Sep mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

J-K: Construction of Srinagar’s international football stadium in full swing

The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration is working in full swing in order to host international football matches at the Bakshi football stadium in Srinagar.The stadium is expected to have a seating capacity of 18,000 people.The J&K administration had decided to turn the stadium into an International Football stadium with Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) norms under National Projects Construction Corporation (NPCC) with the budget of Rs 50 crores. However, the construction work came to a sudden halt due to COVID-19 induced lockdown but as the lockdown norms eased, the construction has been resumed.Arshid Hussain, site in-charge, said that the development of Bakshi stadium is being carried out under the FIFA norms. "We are building the synthetic track simil...
Read More
‘Flipkart opens avenues for Nepali sellers as well as consumers’
12Sep mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, Market, USA

‘Flipkart opens avenues for Nepali sellers as well as consumers’

Founder and CEO of Sastodeal, a leading e-commerce company in Nepal, feels that the partnership of her company with e-commerce giants Flipkart and Myntra of India has further strengthened friendship between the two nations.After signing the deal, Amun Thapa said the opportunity would be beneficial for consumers in both India and Nepal."Sastodeal's strategic partnership with Flipkart is a big step towards strengthening the Nepal-India relationship. We hope millions of Nepalese consumers and millions of Indian vendors benefit from this partnership," Thapa said.Under the partnership, cross-border e-trade opportunities for local Indian MSMEs will open up and Sastodeal will host over 5,000 product verticals from Flipkart marketplace sellers operating across the categories of babycare and kids, ...
Read More
Pakistan’s former ambassador to Indonesia sold embassy building illegally
12Sep mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Pakistan’s former ambassador to Indonesia sold embassy building illegally

Pakistan’ former ambassador to Indonesia, Major General (retd) Syed Mustafa Anwar has been found guilty by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of illegally selling the embassy building in Jakarta.Taking the case forward, NAB has filed a reference in court against Major General (retd) Syed Mustafa Anwar, in which it has stated that Anwar sold the Pakistani embassy building in Jakarta at a throwaway price during 2001-2002.The country’s top graft body went on to add that the illegal sale of the embassy building resulted in a loss of USD 1.32 million to the exchequer.According to media reports, NAB’s findings revealed that former ambassador Anwar was determined to sell the embassy building almost immediately after his appointment in Jakarta. For this purpose, he authorised an advertisement fo...
Read More
Kashmir University scientists develop hybrid tomato that grow in winter
11Sep mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Kashmir University scientists develop hybrid tomato that grow in winter

The students and scientists of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology (SKUAST) in India’s Jammu and Kashmir are in the process of experimenting with imported tomato seed varieties to develop a hybrid that will grow during the winter months as local varieties are not cold-resistant and do not grow during winters in the valley."Our professor wanted us to make our own hybrid of different fruits and vegetables. Germplasm was ordered from the United States, Bulgaria, Peru, Germany, and Poland. We already had some local material that we had been experimenting with for a while, so we brought the two together to see what we could create," said Dr Rizwan Rashid, assistant professor and scientist at SKUAST."We hope that our experiments will soon produce good results ...
Read More
Imported seed varieties to soar tomato production in India’s Kashmir
9Sep mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, USA

Imported seed varieties to soar tomato production in India’s Kashmir

With an aim to boost the production of tomatoes in the Kashmir valley, scientists of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST) have imported seeds from different countries."Currently, 122 varieties of tomatoes brought from the USA, Germany Poland, Peru, Bulgaria and different states of India also are available in the high-tech Polly houses of the university where scientists are doing different experiments in the shape of exchange the plasma for better results," said Dr Rizwan Rashid, Assistant Professor-cum scientist at SKUAST.Rashid said that these tomato plants are different from the local varieties and are growing fast with a large number of other crops. He further said that they get funding from the Centre's Indian Council of Agricultural Research and...
Read More
Illegal activities of Nepal PM’s IT consultant get government amnesty: Report
6Sep mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Illegal activities of Nepal PM’s IT consultant get government amnesty: Report

A recent report has revealed that Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's IT consultant, Asgar Ali has been involved in “illegal business” ranging from collecting information illegally to hacking news portals.A report by news portal Kharbarhub.com, citing security sources, said, "Ali's company has used the same server and the same IP from the PM's office to banks and other organizations while grabbing most of the IT contracts of the government.”The report further stated that most of Ali's companies are involved in the contract of more than Rs 20 billion besides involvement in illegal transactions with alien forces, mainly China, to capture the digital domain."Ali, most likely, has some connection with the Chinese and the controversial Huawei Company," the source was quoted as saying.The repor...
Read More
Nepal relies on India for life-saving Remdesivir drug
6Sep mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Nepal relies on India for life-saving Remdesivir drug

In order to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Nepal has been relying on India for the supply of life-saving Remdesivir drug, which is being used for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Though the drug does not cure the virus, it has played a crucial role in treating patients at the critical medical stage.In Kathmandu, Sapana's (name changed) father is admitted to a private hospital and undergoing treatment at intensive care unit (ICU), as he was confirmed to have contracted the virus. She asked her chemist, who had contacts in India, to order Remdesivir as it was not available in Nepal."As my chemist had contacts in India, he was able to bring it to Nepal. Now, my father is doing well and is out of danger. If the medicine was not available in India, his condition would have become worrisome,...
Read More
India-Nepal review implementation of projects in Oversight Mechanism meeting
5Sep mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

India-Nepal review implementation of projects in Oversight Mechanism meeting

In the eighth round of Oversight Mechanism meeting, India and Nepal discussed and reviewed the implementation of India-assisted projects in the last one year.A release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal said: "The Eighth Meeting of Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism was held in Kathmandu through Video Conferencing under the co-chairmanship of Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi and Ambassador of India to Nepal Vinay Mohan Kwatra. The meeting made a thorough review of the implementation of the projects under bilateral cooperation.”During the meeting, the release said, discussions were held on the status of implementation of the ongoing projects under Nepal-India bilateral cooperation covering terai roads, crossborder railways, Arun-III hydropower project, petroleum products pipeline...
Read More
COVID-19 has prompted stimulus measures, but Southeast Asian governments may be missing the chance to go green: Experts
4Sep By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, Singapore, USA, World

COVID-19 has prompted stimulus measures, but Southeast Asian governments may be missing the chance to go green: Experts

Governments around the world are injecting money into their respective economies amid the pandemic. In Southeast Asia though, analysis shows little of those funds are being earmarked for green projects. BANGKOK: Earlier this month, a group of diplomats, politicians and journalists gathered at the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok to discuss an issue of global importance - how to manage a green recovery from COVID-19. This year was meant to be a critical year, they argued, for tackling climate change, where big decisions would be made and transformative policies imagined to avoid future calamity. Instead, they noted that major climate conferences had been postponed and a crisis of potentially staggering magnitude had drifted back to being tomorrow’s problem. The event, hosted by the em...
Read More