Digital banking in Nepal: Focus on infrastructure, security

A banking service involves a customer’s presence at an outlet to perform a transaction. This has compelled the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) to open large numbers of branches across different geographical areas. They are now opening branches across the 753 local levels, as directed by the regulatory authority.

Winning over customers traditionally meant extension of the bank network and offering suitable products and services at a competitive rate. However, with the advent of modern alternative channels of banking, the concept of physical outlets has started to look less relevant. As Bill Gates said in 2008, “banking is essential, banks are not”. The use of internet technology to provide bank services has changed the way banking is done, and will change the banking industry as a whole in the days to come. As such, digital banking refers to the process of facilitating various banking activities using electronic channels, like Automatic Teller Machines (ATM), Point of Sales (POS), telephone, mobile phone, the internet and SWIFT transfers.

It was as early as 1990 that Nepali banks started adopting means of digital banking. The medium of digital banking for the payment of retail transactions in Nepal are cards, internet banking, mobile banking, e-wallets, POS machines and Point of Transactions (POT) machines. Similarly digital banking tools that the users are availing for the transaction of large volumes are Electronic Cheque Clearance (ECC), Interbank Payment System (IPS) and SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication). From mobile top to utility bill payment; from ticket booking to money transfer – banking users are gradually adapting themselves to digital banking in both remote as well as urban areas.

The number of cash-based transactions has been decreasing every year. NRB has been discouraging cash-based transactions by reducing the limit to such transactions. For instance, a banking transaction is now limited to Rs 1 million from Rs 3 million. Similarly the volume of Electronic Cheque Transactions has been increasing through the NRB-promoted Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL). Similarly, an increase in the number of ATM outlets (2791 in 2074/75) along with POS machines has enhanced the popularity of debit cards.

However, going digital is no piece of cake. The SWIFT hacking of NIC Asia Bank the previous year, thefts in a number of ATMs and the recent theft from Esewa have increased concerns about the reliability of digital banking in Nepal. Despite the internet’s access to 63% of the total population, access to digital banking among the same mass is really low. This is because people still regard digital banking a complicated procedure. And although they know that a wide range of transactions can be done through their mobile phones, people hesitate to make use of them. A regulating system is being developed, which has created confusion for the service providers. Time and again update on the threshold for mobile payment is another confusion.

Inability to maintain robust infrastructure has been a hindrance to the development of digital banking in the country. We lack standard IT tools, a dearth of skilled manpower, poor infrastructure and the use of pirated software is high. Security is a big concern. The National Cyber Security Index 2018 ranks Nepal 92th out of 100. This means that Nepal’s ability to prevent cyber threats and manage unintended cyber incidents is poor.

Though an increasing number of people are using digital banking services, most people still prefer traditional banking practices. For a country like Nepal, with a literacy rate of 64% and 60% of the population still without a bank account, it is a challenge for the regulators and market players to promote digital banking.

So as to promote digital banking in Nepal, the central regulatory authority, Nepal Rastra Bank, established a Payment Systems Department on July 2, 2015, with the sole authority of regulation, supervision and oversight of the entire payment system in the country, including licensed non-bank financial institutions. At present NRB has been providing license to non-banking financial institutions as Payment Service Provider (PSP) and Payment Systems Operator (PSO).

Nepal Rastra Bank has formulated and implemented a number of acts and laws and by-laws and issued directives to guide payment systems-related activities in Nepal. A Payment System Act is under review in the federal parliament. NRB has also focussed on tools to reduce the cost of using such tools and also to make it convenient. The overall ambience is conducive for igniting a take-off phase of payment systems in Nepal. The internet penetration is 63% of the total population as of 2017. Similarly the number of mobile phone users in the country is 34% higher than the total estimated population of the country. Likewise, the development of Payment Switch has also been topmost priority of both the government and the NRB.

The era of digitalisation has already entered Nepal as it can be seen in every sector – from local governance to transportation and Inland Revenue Department. The future looks optimistic about moving towards a cashless economy.

Dhungel is Assistant Director at NRB and Regmi Assistant Manager at Rastriya Banijya Bank

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A version of this article appears in print on May 20, 2019 of The Himalayan Times.

Forex reserve of Nepal: Current status

Forex reserve of Nepal has been decreasing. Monetary policy 18/19 has a target of maintaining Forex reserve sufficient to cover 8 months of imports of goods and services. However according to first quarterly review of current monetary policy such reserve stands to cover 7.9 months of such imports.

Inspite of remittance growth, increasing volume of imports vis-a-vis dismay exports, deficit forex earning via tourism sector( Nepalese spending abroad amounts NPR 29 Arab and that earned by Tourism industry is NPR 15 Arab), etc have contributed for such state of economy. Central bank, as such has decreased exchange limit to $1500 from $2000. This can be helpful for short term but in the long run government should attempt measures to address the widening trade deficit, introduce planned development measures for tourism industry, and other industries that will diversify Forex earning. hashtag#stateofeconomy hashtag#current hashtag#centralbank hashtag#forex hashtag#reserve hashtag#stability hashtag#concern

Overcoming the Trust deficit

Nepal at present is in the dire need of capable political leaders that can break-through the current situation of uncertain political situation, towards laying strong foundation for progressive and peaceful new Nepal. However at present there is a serious leadership crisis because of which the country has not been able to put strategic focus on things of priority. The bitter fact is that acute incapability of contemporary political leaders has led our nation into doldrums. Time and again some beacon of hope in form of youth leaders arises in Nepalese political sector however even they not being able to make remarkable contribution to country, whether constrained by the corrupt system or any other reason.

The general public has huge distrust and confidence crisis towards the political parties and its leaders. The main reason being their inability to deliver the promises to the people. Be it political parties, government, or their leaders, the promises for positive changes and development comes strongly during election times which later turns into damn lies. The leaders become helpless citing a reason or other; foreign interference, coalition pressure, opposition parties, etc. For example Confession of Ex-PM Sushil Koirala that he couldn’t delivers as expected and that his team has become more corrupt is one of its kinds. It is astounding for the top executive heads of the country to mark such helpless comments without making deliberate effort to crack-down the corrupt and clumsy system of the country.

It is not only the political parties and their leaders that confronts trust deficit but also the government. Consecutive failure to deliver according to election manifestos is a one of the reason for the same. Politics in Nepal has mostly centered on government formation and breaking down. There is always presence of opposition party that makes enough exercises to out-throw the ruling parties from power and this happens ad infinitum. And ruling party exerting adequate effort to stay in power. As such more energy and resources are utilized for government changes and its retention than delivering on the strategic agendas of the country.

It is also evident that there is large chunk of intellectual population that always keep advising what politicians are supposed to do, but are very hesitant to dirt their hand to clean the political system by involving themselves. It should be admitted that the first step towards restoring trust on political system would be the entry of capable and visionary intellectuals with clean background into it. Also the need to elect capable and honest leaders is of paramount importance. Also, until and unless the leaders that we choose don’t live up to our aspiration, trust will not establish and society will not progress. Such elected people should make sure that government so formed initiate measures to be more open and approachable. As citizens we should also restore our confidence on politicians and ensure our active engagement in government affairs. Active engagement of citizens would ensure transparency, accountability and trustworthiness on the government and its leaders.

Capitalizing the Youth Energy

Nepal is a young country with about 70% (i.e. 15.91 million) of the total population below the age of 35 years. Approximately 38.8% of total population is marked by the age between 16-40 years. It is for that reason our country Nepal stands as one with lowest median age of 22 years. In spite of its youthful population, Nepal has not been able to mark rapid economic development in absence of stable political situation and policies to govern the youth employability issues.

It is estimated that every year 500,000 jobs needs to be created to provide full employment to the youth force that enter the labor market. However it is no surprise that only a fraction of those youths get job in local market while most of them are bound to leave country for employment opportunities. Figures estimate that approximately 350,000 to 400,000 youths leave the country each year as a migrant worker. It is a matter of fact that around 1500 youths leave country each day in search of better future abroad, most of them being as migrant worker.  Rests are either educated youths who land to developed countries in search of better future or youths who stay in country; unemployed and mostly uneducated.

PC: www.uphondo.com

While the population of youth is very large in Nepal, the status of youth in workforce is somehow poor. Most of the youths who leave country as migrant worker are unskilled. This not only leads to ill-treatment of the workers abroad, but also results to low per capita remittance flow to the country.  In spite of this, remittance from abroad contributes more than 25% of GDP, which is nearly double the country’s revenue from export of goods and services. However the pity being that remittance has not been channelized towards investments in wealth creating projects. Beside migrant workers, the migrating trend of educated youths is in the rise. This sometimes leads to dearth of qualified workers in national projects of long term strategic importance. The disappointment also being that the sectors which have maximum involvement of youths are also not effectively managed. For example, agriculture sector which employs about 74% of total labor force has contribution to GDP of less than 35%.  As such the nation has not been able to capitalize most out of its youthful population.

 With around 70% of total workforce integrating into international labor market every year; it is evident that this trend will increase even further.  The median age of Nepal is 22 years and with population growth rate of 2%, it will decline further. While proportion of labor force is decreasing significantly in western world, that of Nepal is increasing. As such Nepal has comparative advantage in the global context, with regard to the labor force. As a least developed country (LDC) aiming to graduate from LDC by 2022, Nepal is still to use its resources for rapid development, including the human resources. Success to develop quality manpower will not only contribute more for national building but also increase remittance from abroad.

As such, the need of time is to address the youth employability issues via proper policy. A recent improvement in this direction has been the introduction of Employment Policy 2015. The policy aims to provide training to youths in sector of strategic importance like agriculture, hydro-power, tourism, manufacturing etc. It also aims to promote entrepreneurship spirit by providing seed money to aspiring youths while also linking them to domestic markets. Thus the policy does not only envisage creating employment opportunities in local market but also aims to improve the status of migrant workers by providing them necessary training. However, government should consider a proper implementation of this policy unlike the erstwhile Youth self-Employment program of providing Rs.200,000 per youths as seed money where the fund was found to be misused by most of the party aides. Failure to do so would have serious ramifications in long term where Nepal might enter into phase of economic colonization as suppliers of clerks to the whole world. 

Indo-Nepal relationship in need of an overhaul

                 

Nepal and India shares a special relationship since time immemorial. The dynamics of Indo-Nepal relationship cannot be ascertained without comprehending multi factors upon which the relationship of both the countries is based on. As neighbors, Nepal and India are not only linked by land mass but also have many common grounds of mutual cooperation and understandings. Two countries are linked culturally, religiously, economically, and also politically.  In spite of this special bonding between the two countries, many a times bilateral disputes arise which have strained the climate of trust and boding. Such conditions have been prevalent now in Nepal after the promulgation of constitution, in which some of the suggestions of the Indian establishment were ignored by the Nepalese political parties. These difficult conditions are not new, but result of Indian interfering behavior of India, based on the faulty treaties between Nepal and India, which needs a timely review and renewal to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

Nepal foreign policy is largely based on two doctrine of foreign policy of its founder King Prithvi Narayan Shan which states: “Nepal is a sandwich between India and China”, and “Do not involve in offense, but any warfare should be based on defensive basis only.” Thus these two principles can be taken as the pillars of foreign policy of Nepal.

Though formal diplomatic relationship was established only on 13^th June, 1947, Indo-Nepal relationship has been marked by extensive cooperation and mutual understanding, crossing the limits of formality. The relationship between the two countries is one of its kind and very much inter-related and inter-dependent. Many a times, foreign affairs experts opine that the policy of Nepal with India is in fact the foreign policy of Nepal.

One of an important dynamics of Indo-Nepal relations is the latter’s economic dependence on India. Nepal gets 2/3 of its exports from Indian, including necessities like petroleum products for which it totally depends on India. Its current trade deficit with India has crossed USD 3.80 billion, and is ever increasing. India also has been contributing on the political developments in Nepal, which most of the time has been debatable, leading backlash in both the countries. Pioneer leaders of Nepalese political parties were involved in the Indian Independence movement and had a good relationship with the leaders like MK Gandhi, Nehru, Lohia, etc. After the Indian independence, it assisted the political transition in Nepal with the advent of constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy by ousting the 104 years Rana oligarchy. Since then India has been having a say in political developments in Nepal and has been using it as a mechanism to maintain its big brotherhood attitude in Nepal.

While, as a buffer state between India and China, Nepal has been successful to maintain an arm’s length distance between its immediate neighbors. Nepal is committed to avoid the use of its land against security concerns of India (terrorism, money laundering etc.) and as also vividly supports one-China policy.  Nepalese delegates keep on reiterating these policies whenever they are engaged in mutual discourse with the delegation from its immediate neighbors. As such it can be said that Nepal has been able to address the security concern of its neighboring countries.

Among the earliest treaty between India and Nepal is Peace and Friendship treaty-1950 which envisions a common custom regime, free employment, and free movement across border, etc. While the basic structure of governance in India remains the same, it has undergone massive change in Nepal since the Peace and Friendship treaty of 1950 was signed. Thus time and again the need to amend 65 years old treaty is felt.

Over the years there have been quite a few instances of ups and downs in the Indo-Nepal relationship. 1990 blockade, Mahakhali treaty, Pancheswar Treaty, Bhutanese refugee issue, border disputes in Susta and Lipulek , and recent unofficial blockade of India after the promulgation of the constitution in Nepal, etc are few to name. These issues led to a massive outpour of anti-Indian sentiments in Nepal, which had led the relationship between the countries to a record low

The sooner the better, leaders from both the countries should realize that foreign relation based on the principle of Panchasheel, UN charter, international norms of Peace and welfare etc.  can help. As per the need of the time, India and Nepal should overhaul the diplomatic relationship and also the relevant treaties which lay foundation to such relationship. This can lead towards foundation of trust in upcoming diplomatic courses between the countries. Similarly India should stop meddling into political happenings in Nepal which while focusing on the miniature affairs, may end up jeopardizing its strategic concerns in Nepal. In the same way, Nepalese political leaders should display maturity in dealing with its giant neighbor. Nepalese government should consolidate the foreign policy of the country and empower foreign ministry to execute its diplomatic affairs.

In the recent context India should have been gracious in welcoming Nepal’s new constitution while registering its reservations/suggestions. Thus, India need to immediately correct the course and remove the blockade in Nepal and create a congenial environment for overhauling the overall diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Gratitude towards Unsung Heroes of our life

How thankful are we to others on daily basis? Do we acknowledge the kindness that people bestow on us? Do we care to appreciate those who perform their duty sincerely? Or we just take them for granted!

There are many people who by the virtue of performing their routine job put our life at ease. If we go on enumerating, the list will be long. So, how often do we really thank the early milk boy in the morning, newspaper hawker for timely delivery of newspaper, canteen staff for a warm cup of tea, delivery boy from online shopping stores, traffic polices for their service under scorching sun, even teacher who teaches us? When I asked this question to some of my friends, positive responses were very few.

Some people may argue that aforementioned people do not render any extraordinary job that we should be thankful of. And their reason also being that they are paid for what they do as part of their duty. Yes, I do agree that such people might not be extraordinary in their contribution to society but can you imagine the frustration they may have because of having to work for long hours in unfavorable working condition like scorching sun, dust, rain etc. And most importantly can you imagine even a single day in the absence of their services. So my question to those people who hesitate to be thankful would be:  Wouldn’t it be nice to simply thank them? Won’t it motivate them to think that they are doing a good job and encourage them to perform even better? (which in turn favors us more)

As such being thankful is in fact a worthy choice to make. The most basic advantage of being humble is that it doesn’t cost us anything but only results to gain. It is a choice which when practiced makes us happier and optimistic. It not only assists us to improve relationship with people around us but also helps us to drive out negativity and enables us to learn more from these unsung heroes of our life. So the choice is yours, whether you stop by to your unsung heroes and thank them for their service or not! 

Living Life in Peace

The contemporary world is getting more cacophonic every day. Not a single day is passed without the news of hatred in the form of bombings, killings, genocide etc. The world that we will leave for upcoming generations will be many a time more chaotic that the one which welcomed us. Though the world is getting flatter with the advent of many flattening technology, and people are rejoicing better life, at the same time some part of the world is getting left out. As the countries like the United States, Canada, etc. keep progressing; many countries in the Asia, Africa, Arab world etc. are falling apart.

The tendency of progression/regression of the countries can simply be explained based on belief on hope or humiliation. The leading countries like United States, Canada etc. are very optimistic countries and believe that there is solution to every problem and that tomorrow will be better than yesterday. These countries instill better hope to its people, encouraging them to toil hard towards more progression. As a result, they have become a dream country to 7 billion world population and thus are laboring hard to not be out of league.

In contrast there are countries driven by pessimism, often leading to state of frustration and humiliation. Most leaders of these nations keep their citizens engaged in the glory of the past without a hope of a promising future;  with  discussion of pre-historical periods and its various ‘ism’ as if they are in the 1970’s or 1980’s. Nations and people of these developing countries (e.g. Arab world) rejoice in the grandeur of the past and the image of superiority, when confronted with the concurrent economic and political backwardness, feel humiliated. These humiliated ones engage in extreme violence, which if prolonged may be a threat to whole mankind. This is exactly what is happening in the world post 9/11 incident of the American twin tower case, followed by the Iraq occupation and the current Islamic states operations.

Now the question for people and nations to decide is whether to join the league of countries that transpire hope and aspirations for the upcoming generations or the one that wants to be a threat to them. Whether to be the one to build new landmarks achievement for the future, or the one to bring the existing glory down. The remedy now being that the under-developed countries and the failed countries should enter into level of self-cure: self-introspection and confession. 

Similarly for the developed countries, they should be generous enough to inspire these left out countries to come in track of optimism. Thus the need of the time is for all countries to work together to share that pie of optimism with each-other, and bring the left-out on the track. If this part of the world which is optimistic doesn’t reach to the pessimistic one, than the latter will engulf the previous one. The sooner we realize this, the better the future will be. 

(Published on December 2, 2015, The Kathmandu Post, http://epaper.ekantipur.com/epaper/the-kathmandu-post/2015-12-02/pages/4ec8950671_2015-12-02_6.pdf )

Online Business Surge in India and its Future Prospects

If you study the recent trend in the online business in India, you can easily find out three major market players. Namely: Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon. For traditional India where online purchasing was a taboo and thus was limited to few online tickets booking, these companies together have introduced a new culture of online business culture in India. A business that is forecasted to grow from sales of $ 2.3 billion (As of 2014) to $32 billion (as of 2020).

For Flipkart which is largest internet company by its market value of $7 billion, it went through rough ways to arrive at this position to bust the myth that consumers like to see and feel the product before buying. Reluctance of customers to give details of their credit cards, fear about the delivery of the product, suspicion to get exact product etc. were of paramount amount which pioneers like Flipkart had to go through. 

These companies are at the verge of cut-throat competition as they have been going with massive marketing strategy to boost the sales. Recent humongous sales made by e-tailers like Flipkart of $100 million in 10 hours as "Big Billion Sales day" and Snapdeal retaliating the same with sales of a crore per minutes proves this. As such there is a humongous sale that these companies have been able to make. And thus large amount of profit. While the competition is tough over a small profit margin, these companies are also facing challenges. The recent challenge is not because of the competitors in online commerce, but because of the competition/conflict between these e-tailers and brick and mortar models. It should be understood that it is until recently that brick and mortar business have been dominant in doing business in country like India. But this culture is changing rapidly. 

Challenges to Indian e-tailers:

1) Tough competition from competitors who are coming up with innovative strategy to increase sales.

2) Problems from top brands having brick and mortar outlets like: LG, Sony, Samsung etc. who are accusing the e-tailers of making predatory sales (selling below cost), thus damaging their sales and brand names.

3) The customers in Tier-I cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore etc. who prefer see-feel-buy approach in contrast to online modes. Luring them for online business might be relatively difficult.

4) New entrants in the industry which might reduce the price of product offerings sharply in contrast to the old market leaders. Similarly, it is also more likely that manufacturers and brands might offer product offerings via their own online sites. 

5) Another possible challenge would be large brick and mortar group like: Reliance Industries, Future Group, TATAS group planning to go online to expand. etc

Brighter side:

It can be seen evidently that Indian e-tailers have been inspired from Chinese mega online internet retailer: Alibaba's success, which raised record high of $21.8 billion IPO. The statement of Flipkart CEO and Founder Sachin Bansal to make Flipkart a $100 billion club member in upcoming 5,10 or 15 years provides a hint that they are planning for a rapid growth of company business in near future. 

Now lets us put light on the basic facts that hints us about the brighter aspects of growth of online business in India.

1) Online retailers selling product-offerings in a cheaper price as they save on rent and other infrastructures are sure to attract large untapped customer segment in future.

2) Online markets are growing rapidly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where physical outlet are absent or are few. They will penetrate the market deep enough before physical outlet set-up there and start to attract the customers.

3) Indian is a country with population of 1.2 billion out of which the population of age group of 18-40 is 40% (as of census 2011). And this is the chunk of population on which online retailer have been finding a dip in sales. This trend is supposed to increase even more. 

4) The service that these companies offer is almost flawless. Delivery before the delivery date, free delivery, 30 days replacement period, etc. will lure more customers to try these sites.

5) The online market has moved towards growth phase of business cycle in which the startup has dried up in recent years as investors are focusing more in larger companies. Thus the prospects of larger companies to grow are even more.

6) Proliferation in the use of smartphones in Indian market which have enabled large base of customers to go online regularly and thus have access to these sites will increase the sales even more in near future. 

Around the World in Eighty Days

Round the World in Eighty Days is an travel adventure novel written by French writer Julis Verne. Published in 1873, this creation is one of the most acclaimed work of Mr. Verne. 

I had wanted to read this novel since a long period of time. But it is just recent that I finished reading this book and would like to give a brief review of it.

Background of the Novel

Phileas Fogg is a well-to-do Londoner, who lives a lonely life. Nothing is known about him beside a fact that he is a member of prestigious Reform Club. Mr. Fogg is less communicative, with restricted social contacts, making him a more of enigmatic character. Though Mr Fogg is rich, of which source is not known to anyone, he is not lavish, nor a miser and prefers to use his resources for noble and benevolent purposes.  In the story, Fogg gets involved in a discussion with his friends from the Reform Club based on a article in The Telegraph which mentions that the circumnavigation across the world is possible in 80 days because of extended Railway tracks in Indian subcontinent. Fogg believes that the journey was possible within the stipulated time frame which his friends deny. Thus more for prestige than for rewards, Fogg enters into a £20,000 wager with his friends in Reform Club to circumnavigate the world in 80 days. The day of wager was October 2, 1872 and Fogg was supposed to be back by December 21, 1872, 8:45 pm. 

Following characters, circumstances make the novel really interesting that you just want to finish it within one sitting.

Mr. Fogg a man of Enigmatic Personage

Mr, Fogg is a man of extreme mathematical precision, such that he dismissed his servant, James Forster, for serving him water at 84 °F rather that 86 °F. Then after he appoints a Frenchmen named Jean Passepartout, who accompanies him to the journey across the world. His mathematical precision becomes instrumental for him to complete his journey in time. Throughout the journey his personality traits like: calmness, cleverness, benevolences, etc makes him a man of great mystery, making the readers believe that he is  the accused robber. 

The itinerary of the journey is as follows:

Source: Wikipedia

Fix: The Detective

They reach Suez canal in time from where they embark journey to Bombay. While leaving Egypt, they are marked by a detective from England, name Fix, who mistakes Fogg for a bank robber in  England who was in large after robbery of £50,000, for the latter had same description like that of the bank robber. Because of failure to attain warrant, Fix keeps following Fogg and boards the same streamer to Bombay and from Bombay to Calcutta and infact the whole world, to realize at the end that Fogg was not a bank robber.

Aouda: A young Indian Women

The only ladies described in the novel, Fogg and Passepartout, along with their guide meet her while travelling a section of Bombay to Calcutta in an elephant. During the journey, they come across a procession whereby a Aouda, who is a sutte(sati- a widow), is to be sacrificed by burning in a pyre of wood along with her husband. Passepartout wit-fully pretends to be the dead husband and scaring off the priests, rescues her away. She now becomes the added member of the tour.

Circumstances makes Aouda to remain in the Journey

Aouda was supposed to be left to her affluent relative in Hongkong. But Fogg learns that her relative have already left Hongkong and currently resides in Holland. As such Fogg takes Aouda along with him to London.

Fix the desperate detective creates obstruction

Failing to get warrant, Mr. Fix tries to hold Fogg in Hongkong (last British soil in the journey). To do so, he gets Passepartout drunk in an opium den. By this Fix becomes partly successful in stopping Passepartout to not to tell his master about the premature departure of the ship.

Undeterred Fogg

Throughout the journey Fogg remains undeterred and only thinks of best possible way to win the wager. The wager was a matter of pride to him and he was very careful of not making any mistakes along the journey. On way from Suez to Bombay, he paid good reward to streamer engineer to advance their journey by two days. In India he purchased an Elephant at a heavy sum of money and in the end gifted it to his guide who remained faithful in performing his job with utmost sincerity.  In Hongkong, having missed the journey, Fogg hires a boat to escort him and Aouda to Sanghai for a hefty sum of money. The plan was to catch a streamer to Yokohama from Sanghai Similarly to travel from Hudson, US to Liverpool-UK in time he purchases a whole ship for a hefty sum of $60,000 and similar stories continues. Upon reaching to London, he would put himself in a position whereby he would already have had spent as equal to the amount of wager. 

Passepartout: A faithful servant 

Passepartout remains very obedient to this master Mr, Fogg. He risks his life to rescue Aouda from a sacred procession, amidst a risky situation. In another circumstances, though Fix tells him that his master is a bank robber, Passepartout doesn't believe on him. He feels very sorry for his master when he knows that because of him his master missed the ship in Hongkong.

Fogg gets arrested, gets clean chit but losses the Wager

It was not necessary for Fogg to delay his journey by saving life of a unknown Indian women (Aouda). But he risks his wager and his life to save her. Similarly when Passepartout was captured by Indian in America, he takes help of American soldiers to rescue him alive. What can be learnt of Fogg is that he was morally correct and kind  person. Upon arrival to Ireland, Fix arrests Fogg in charge of Bank robbery, later to realize that the original bank robber had already been caught. Disappointed Fogg reaches London just five minutes late thinking he lost the bet.

Passepartout makes Fogg win the lost Wager

Fogg was disappointed as he thought that he had lost the wager and apologized Aouda for having brought her to London in a situation where circumstances had made him poor. Then Aouda confesses her love to Fogg and asks him to marry her. Fogg ask Passepartout to take appointment from Minister. While Passepartout goes to take appointment the next day, he realizes that the date was December 21 and not December 22. The fact was that they gained one day travelling eastward. Passepartout hurries to inform Fogg who comes in the last moment to claim that he has won the wager.

The story ends whereby Fogg wins the wager and gains  £20, 0000. But to the end of his journey he spend about  £19,000 on the way. He divided the remaining amount between Passepartout and detective Fix.

Though Fogg didn't really earn any amount from the wager, he was happy and content that he held his pride high. Most importantly the biggest gain to him from the journey was to get beautiful Aouda as his wife.

Conclusion
Overall these characters and plots make the whole novel very interesting and worth reading. As the story flows, writer also describes the plot in a wonderful way. The writer has really done a good research and made the whole sequence of the story very lively and moving.  At times I felt that I was also travelling with Mr. Fogg across the globe. This book would be a nice read and would like to rate it 8/10. To get book for free flip through "free books section" of Kindle books  download it. If you are lazy enough to read the book, there is a movie based on same story.

Concluding Relief/Rescue works

Probable risk of earthquake made us ponder about us going out of Kathmandu valley for relief works. Beside I was volunteering in Rotary Relief secretariat and didn't have enough time to work in field. As such we contacted some volunteering organisation and sent relief materials with them. 

Relief and rescue activities were almost coming to end and it had entered to rehabilitation phase. As such for rehabilitation required specialised skills and network, we didn't enter into it and were almost winding up our activities. This week we provided materials to two places. 

 Kathajor VDC, Ramechhap

We packed sanitation materials for 30 families of Kathajor VDC of Ramechhap. Along with sanitation materials, blankets was also sent to every family via assistance from Rotary Disaster Relief secretariat in Nepal. 

 

 Jeewanpur and Chhatre Deurali VDC, Dhading

Rotaract Club of Sainbu Bhaisepati was planning to go to two villages of Dhading district which was also amongst most hit earthquake area. As they had done preliminary need assessment and had also managed for transportation, we agreed to sent sanitation items through them. There were about 100 beneficiaries families. Rotaract Club of Sainbu Bhaisepati was also providing other relief materials like food, temporary shelter, etc. As such our sanitation packs made a complete relief package to the needy people. 

We still had some amount left with us, which we decided to deposit in PM Relief fund. I would write in brief about it in next blog.  

P.S:  Each sanitation material pack had following materials:

Mosquito Coil                                    1 packet per family

Tooth brush                                     2 units per family

Tooth Paste                                     1 unit per family

Lifebuoy Bathing Soap                   2 units per family

Wheel OK Washing Soap              2 units per family

Handiplast                                      4 units per family

Sanitary Pads                                 2 units per family

Shampoo Sachets                          5 sachets per family

Post Earthquake relief works: My Second Week in Nepal

By now more than 7000 people had lost their life because of the earthquake. However life had started to come back to normal as magnitude and frequency of aftershocks was decreasing.  People had started to come back to Kathmandu and streets had started to be busy and moving.  This week I, along with some of my friends were to start with relief material distribution within the vicinity of the Kathmandu valley.

Khokhana,Lalitpur    
We did survey of nearby villages on the outskirts of Kathmandu: Lubhu, Imadol, Khokana, etc. These area were severely affected by earthquake resulting significant loss of life and property. While in Khokhana, we met a Buddhist monk in a bhuddhist center where around 140 people were living after they had lost their houses. We enquired about the need there and came to know that they were in dire need of sanitation items. 

We organized sanitation items for 140 peoples the same day and the very next day we went to the same place to handover it to Vikshyu Sudhiru. We thanked vikshyu for helping people at such critical period and departed to prepare for next program.

Jhaukhel VDC, Bhaktapur

We had collaborated to with Rotaract Club of Himalaya Patan for our next program in Jhaukhel village of Bhaktapur. Jhaukhel is one of the oldest settlements of Kathmandu valley and most of the houses there were broken down by earthquake. On behalf of SVCET Nepali students, we had arranged sanitation packs for 126 families which included various items like toiletries, mosquito repellent, first aid kits, etc. While Rotaract club had arranged for food and medical team.

We reached Jhaukhel at around 11 am and started to arrange things for distribution. Our medical team also settled their camp swiftly and within some minutes we  would start our camp on full range. As we started to distribute relief material, I heard people making noise and crying. I thought that some dacoits have committed crime. But after few more second ground shook like anything. Then I realized that it was an earthquake. I could see many elderly people, infants and children, women crying. While some of volunteers started to run to open space, I requested the villagers to not to panic and just stay where they had been, Given the difficult location of school, chances of stampede were high. So we just stayed there. The quake gave up within 30 seconds, but increased our fear again. People who had resumed to normal life started to fear again. Aftershocks continued as we went to open space. People were so worried to ensure safety of their relatives and friends. In couple of  minutes, phone line was busy. However I texted my brother to inform I was safe and got to know everything was fine in home.

We rested in open place for a while and interacted with local people. People were not only scared but also irritated with frequent nature of earthquake.  A constant cloud of fear and uncertainty still surrounded them. I got to helpless to see people being panicked. But there was nothing we could besies what we were doing. After about an hour, we resumed our operation in open field and started providing health care and relief materials. About 126 families were benefitted from the camp. We thanked everyone of helping us to organize program in smooth and effective manner and promised of any possible help in future.

It was about 5 pm in the evening when we returned. On way we saw many old houses in Bhaktapur area being demolished by earthquake. People were outside of their building, in open places and were making sure about safety of their family, relatives, friends and neighbors. Amidst all these uncertainty, we still had hoped to help people and bring their life back to normalcy.

Bela VDC, Kavre District

We were informed by one of our friends that some 30 family in Bela village of Kavre district were in dire need of relief materials as no other organizations had been there since day 1 of earthquake. We arranged all available sanitary items and made 30 packs. Meanwhile we had also collected blankets through Rotary International 3292, Nepal and Bhutan. Now only thing that we needed was Tarpaulins. Out of 30 tarpaulins that were needed, I collected 10 from Rotary International 3292 and remaining 20 was provided by Manish Gautam brother from Rotaract club of Kasthamandap. We collected all the items and headed off to Bela. Since we had only few beneficiary families and things were not in big quantity, we decided to curb cost by travelling in public bus. Though it gave us some inconvenience it helped us to save cost. 

We finally reached the place at 10 am. From there it was 30 minutes walking to reach the village. We carried the boxes ourselves and walked down the way to reach the village. In coordination with a local school teacher, we distribute the materials to available families. As we were about to return, the very local teacher offered us food. We didn’t want to become burden to people at such difficult situation and thus declined the offer thankfully. But a Nepali never gives up in hospitality, no matter in what condition his family is. He insisted that he would prepare basic meal.  Finally we agreed and stayed there for lunch.