The project will be taken up as a High Impact Community Development Project (HICDPs) at an estimated cost of Nepali Rupees 42.95 million.

The Indian embassy in Kathmandu, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration and Triyuga Municipality, Udaypur signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of new building for Balmandir Secondary School at Triyuga Municipality of Udaypur district, the embassy said in a statement.

India is also reconstructing 71 educational institutions damaged during 2015 earthquake in eight districts of Nepal under reconstruction grant of Nepali Rupees 5800 million.

Eight schools have already been completed, work on 62 schools is underway and the Tribhuvan University Central Library project is under tender process, it said.

Source: Zeenews.india

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According to the World Bank’s Nepal Jobs Diagnostic Report, around 3.8 million wage jobs were added to Nepal’s economy between 2008 and 2018.

The share of wage employment in total employment in Nepal increased significantly from 17% in 2008 to 24% in 2018. Simultaneously, the portion of unpaid workers and self-employed farmers declined drastically, especially among men.

Though Nepal had slower GDP growth than many South Asian countries, the nation witnessed faster job growth during the last decade. On average, Nepal’s total employment growth increased by 3% per year. Meanwhile, wage employment increased at 7% per year, compared to 2% of non-wage jobs.

The employment growth can be primarily attributed to the gradual shift in Nepal’s economy from a largely subsistence agricultural sector to modern industry and services.

In the last decade, agriculture’s share of employment and domestic output has declined, while the industry has witnessed steady growth, now accounting for over half of total domestic production.

During the review period, many men have started working in construction, manufacturing, commerce, and transportation. Even though most of these jobs are informal or temporary wage jobs, they are more productive and significantly improved livelihoods than farm work.

Sectoral Shares of Employment

Sectoral Shares of Value Added

In addition to the four million wage jobs in Nepal, around 2.8 million Nepalis were engaged in foreign employment. Most of these foreign migrants are men, 75% are under age 35, and 85% have less than secondary education. However, despite the mostly unskilled nature of the work, the foreign migrants earn much higher wages than those employed at home.

Wage Employment in Nepal and Abroad

Other Notable Statistics Revealed by the Report

• Extreme poverty dropped from 46% in 1996 to 15% in 2011
• Over 50% of employment is in subsistence activities, and 60 % is in unpaid work
• Only 7% of employment is in formal wage jobs

“The shift towards wage employment signals a fundamental change in Nepal’s economic development and is similar to patterns seen worldwide. As economies diversify their production activities and increase scale economies, employment becomes more specialized and more productive, and jobs are increasingly based in firms rather than self-employment and pay more,” said Elizabeth Ruppert Bulmer, the main author of the report.

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However, the government has not yet completed the reconstruction works due to the inconvenient working environment and lack of facilities.

According to the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), the has spent a total of NPR 309 billion through government agencies and NPR 72 billion through other private agencies.

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As part of the agreement, India has agreed to provide USD 16.2 million to both the UN agencies, including USD 8.79 million to UNDP and USD 7.41 million to UNOPS.

This fund will be utilized for the construction of around 50,000 houses in Gorkha and Nuwakot, two of the districts badly-hit in the 2015 earthquake.

Through this fund, the UN agencies plans to provide all the needed socio-technical assistance related to rebuilding damaged sites for around 26,912 houses in Gorkha (by UNDP) and 23,088 houses (UNOPS) in Nuwakot.

Overall, this three-year project aims at ensuring the rebuilt houses are in line with the government norms and are quake-resistant.

Problems Faced So Far

As part of relief measures post the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, the Government of Nepal has called for the owner-driven approach for the renovation of quake-hit structures across the country and has had also announced USD 250 million aid and a USD 750 million Line of Credit for the same.

With this, socio-technical assistance for the procurement of related material which includes materials, technical support, finance, technologies, skill-set and land, among others.

This sort of confusion was witnessed in the reconstruction activity that has been underway since 2015, which saw a high number of householders seeking hands-on technical support, in-time funds, among others to build government-compliant and safer structures.

Now, these hassles are likely to be addressed under the new project which is promising the deployment of architects, masons, community facilitators and trained engineers for a constructive move.

“We look forward to making this partnership a success to ensure that the poor, vulnerable and marginalized households who need our support the most are able to reconstruct resilient houses speedily while leaving no one behind,” says Renaud Meyer, Country Director, UNDP Nepal.

Solution Ahead, Technical Assistance Vital

“We have learned from the experiences around the world that disasters like this tend to disproportionally affect socially and economically vulnerable people. These projects will address the special needs of those populations and make them more resilient to disasters in the future,” said UN Resident Coordinator Valerie Julliand at the project signing ceremony while also thanking India for its support.

Meanwhile, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri opined that this project will address the technical concerns of the householders and assist them with all the needed expertise for safer construction.

“The partnership agreement with UNDP and UNOPS will enhance the availability of technical knowhow and expertise to house owners in Gorkha and Nuwakot districts to reconstruct their homes with earthquake-resilient features,” reads Puri’s statement.

Sanjay Mathur, UNOPS Asia – Regional Director was also happy at the favor extended by the Government of India and Nepal towards helping the needy.

He said, “With the generous assistance of the Government of India and in close partnership with the Government of Nepal, we will all be working together to support those families in greatest need, safely rebuild their homes and their lives. This is critical to sustainable development and we are proud to be a part of this effort.”

This three-year project will be carried out jointly by the Embassy of India, Kathmandu, Nepali National Reconstruction Authority, Central-Level Project Implementation Units of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration Nepal, Nepali Ministry of Urban Development and all the related local municipalities, government offices and rural municipalities in the two districts.

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Fighting back social challenges and natural calamities, Nepal, in 2017, made major strides in almost all areas including inclusive development, industry and commerce, economy, politics, human rights, among various others.

Here are some of the key highlights of major developments in Nepal in 2017:

Bilateral Ties and Key Pacts

2017 has been a prosperous year for Nepal in building its image in the global arena through diplomatic ties.

On December 19, 2017, Nepal completed 60 years of its diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka.

US Ambassador to Nepal Alaina B Teplitz (In Right)

The United States Embassy also celebrated 70 years of US-Nepal bilateral relationship on December 13, 2017.

Besides strengthening existing ties, Nepal also began its diplomatic relations with nations such as State of Eretria, Uganda and Kingdom of Bahamas.

Very recently, a new friendship association to boost Nepal-Myanmar diplomatic ties was also formed. The Myanmar-Nepal Friendship Association is the first such group formed since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1960.

Nepal also signed bilateral partnerships with various countries for cooperation across different sectors.

Nepali Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi and the Ambassador of Morocco to Nepal Mohamed Maliki signed a MoU for the formation of a bilateral consultation mechanism between Nepal and Morocco on August 3, 2017.

Nepal has also signed a Bilateral Labor Agreement with Jordan on October 18, 2017.

         Indian Businessmen Invited to Invest in Nepal

The Government of India also promised its investment in the Nepali industry.

In response, the Government of Nepal has very recently welcomed the Indian business community to invest in Nepal.

“It’s an opportune time to invest in Nepal with bilateral trade on the upswing,” says Embassy of Nepal Charge d’Affairs Bharat Kumar Regmi.

Japan and the United States also promised assistance and funding for the development of Nepali education sector.

In a move enhancing its diplomatic ties with Nepal, the Parliament of Brazil has also formed a six-member Brazil-Nepal Parliamentary Group.

This is the first such Group in the history of Nepal-Brazil ties and is formed as a result of the recently-approved statute to promote inter-parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.

In a recent meeting on December 25, 2017, Oman and Nepal discussed bilateral cooperation across various sectors, wherein, the Under Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of Oman Ahmed Hassan Al-Dheeb welcomed collaboration with the Nepali business community across various sectors.

Earlier, Nepal had also expressed willingness to send its labor to work in Oman thus enhancing the Oman-Nepal labor cooperation.

With an aim to boost the Nepal-Austria bilateral ties, the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (AFEC) had also signed a MoU on October 31, 2017.

The new collaboration will focus on enhancing private sector collaboration for promoting trade, commerce and technology transfer between the two countries.

Here, it is noteworthy that the leftist alliance, which will form the next Nepali Government, has recently announced that the new Nepali Government will maintain Nepal’s diplomatic relations with neighboring nations based on independent foreign policy.

Politics

2017 has changed the political landscape of Nepal and has, in fact, emerged as the game-changer year for the country.

Local-level polls and legislative polls, the most-awaited elections for Nepal and its citizens, were successfully held in 2017. These elections were held in the country for the first time in the last 20 years.

The local polls were held in three phases with the first two phases on May 14 and June 28, and the third phase on September 18, 2017.

Another major milestone for Nepal is the two-phase country’s parliamentary and provincial polls held on November 26, 2017 and December 7, 2017, respectively. In this election, Nepali politics saw major political shifts with the Communist alliance winning the game finally to form the next government.

Interestingly, the red flag (left parties) registered grand victory in both the landmark polls of Nepal.

Next

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According to the Department of Archaeology Nepal, while a total of 753 shrines, monasteries and temples suffered the damages across the country, Kathmandu alone saw the damage of 241 temples and shrines, followed by 130 in Patan and 73 in Bhaktapur.

Out of the damaged temples, 83 temples have already been reconstructed and 56 are in multi-year plan, informed Bhesh Narayan Dahal, Department’s Director General.

The Department has already announced 17 tenders for the renovation of rest of the temples, Bhesh added.

Bhesh further informed that the renovation of Changunarayan temple was completed at a budget of Rs 30 million.

Completion of the reconstruction of Taleju temple, 90 percent renovation of Swayambhu-based Anantapur temple, ongoing renovation of Nautale Darbar located at Hanumandhoka at the initiative of Chinese Government are among other reconstruction and renovation projects.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Government has been carrying out reconstruction of Bungamati-based Rato Machhindranath Temple and is set to finish the process in two years, and the Kathmandu Metropolitan City is taking care of the Kasthamandap reconstruction activity.

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Voicing against the delay in reconstruction of monasteries hit in the massive earthquake in 2015, around 500 monks gathered on streets of the capital city on Tuesday.

The gathering, which included monks from 14 quake-hit and 11 other districts, marched towards the office of the Buddhist Philosophy Promotion and Monastery Development Committee (BPPMDC).

Besides a prompt response for the reconstruction of destroyed monasteries, monks also demanded the resignation of BPPMDC Chairperson Narendra Kumar Gurung and Khempo Karma Chhiring Tasi Lama.

“People holding these crucial posts have failed to discharge their duties. It’s high time we spoke for our rights. We don’t have monasteries to pray even more than two years after the quake,” said Furi Sherpa Lama (49) from Solukhumbu, the district that witnessed the destruction of as many as 154 monasteries in the 2015 quake.

No Aid Despite the Allotted Budget

Out of 5,000 monasteries in Nepal, 993 witnessed damages in the 2015 earthquake. Even though a sum of Rs 8 billion was allotted for their reconstruction, none of the monasteries have received money, said the monks.

“We received a letter from the BPPMDC director asking us to start reconstruction. We hired masons, dug the foundation and collected all raw materials required for building the monastery. We were told that we would get Rs 5.1 million for reconstruction. But, we never received the money,” says Pema Garja Sherpa lama (73) of Okhaldhunga-5, Okhaldhunga district that witnessed a damage of 17 monasteries.

Adding to the concerns, the Nepal Reconstruction Authority (NRA), about a month ago, scrapped the decision of Rs 8 billion budget and allocated only Rs 1 billion for reconstruction, stating that ‘the BPPMDC’s estimate was too high’.

Krishna Bahadur Tamang, Coordinator of the monk’s struggle committee said they would announce further protests if the demands are left unaddressed.

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