Short Poems:Written here and there- makes sense?
The life of a man and a woman
can stop at any moment
without any notice to the concerned
without any information to the kith and kin
our life can stop at any moment
That’s why they say do or die
……………………………………………………………..
The wall was broken
The day we decided to break it
was what we assumed
But it seems clear now
There exists a wall between you and I
There exists a wall amongst us
…………………………………………………………………………….
Thy shan’t kill thou
ordered the god from a grave
as he was dead
God is dead and we need to obey the dead god’s
last commandments
So, my fellow countrymen and country women
I shall proclaim today
in the capacity of your lord
Thy shan’t kill thou
I do not know whether I can proclaim myself as lord
But, as a drunkard, as the situation has compelled me to be
I claim to be your lord
And I shall say to my Bro-Sis
Thy shan’t kill thou
…………………………………………………………
The wall of this room can not stop me from
walking on my path
I have to go away a far away kingdom
to grab my share of luck
and I may remind you that
these four walls can not stop me to fly high
………………………………………………………………………
I do not rest my case ever
until I find the path of justice and fairness.
Fall of Modern Berlin Wall
A tall wall between you and I
Neither you can break nor do I
U on the other side of wall and waiting for my arrival
Alas! I can only wish that
This wall falls like ‘The Berlin Wall’
And shatters all barriers
Between you and I
I can only wish!
It was the wall we built
We thought we never see each other
And forget everything
But the wall now, reminds us about
Us
Even more today than ever
If I see the writing on the wall
There is only your name
Written all over without leaving any space for any more writing
Your name in different shades of colour
And that reminds me about you and our good life we had
Reminds me you more than before
The moment we spent together
N this wish comes there like a dream
If only we can make this wall fall like that fateful ‘The Berlin Wall’.
A Recap of 2009-Welcome 2010
What 2009 was for me??
It was a great year in a way. Nothing much special but still, I consider as a great. There were not much moments where I could have felt pain or regretted. All was all. That was a reason to tell this year as a new year.
Except one thing, The year in 2009, I could not go home. I could not visit my family in Nepal and was thinking to visit around Nepal for sometime, but that could not happen.
This incident was a matter of little worry and only the point which has made my 2009 little dark—a spot, otherwise in a decent New year.
January, February and march were simply good. I do not remember what great happened in this month, but there were no bad moments—that should be even to qualify these three months as great months.
April was a good month. I got a chance to attend training in Bangalore from my Office. There, I met many friends and some friends were nice to meet and know them.
After April, time suddenly changed….I felt half of April, May and June as terrible months. I do not know what had happened but I did not feel good. I felt like my feets were not on grounds. I felt as if I was under tremendous pressure, mental pressure, emotional pressure. Sometimes, it was difficult to cope the pressure exerted on me. I did not know what to do.
Then, I took some breaks in July. The break started from first week of July.
And the wonderful times were back again. I enjoyed July. It was very great month of my life, in a way kind of defining moments. The kind of treatment I
received was simply wonderful.July was best time to spend not being involved in my rigourous job.
N came back to office again after my that break. August, September and October, I just spent working in oofice. That Time, I decided that I need to start resuming my study and then I joined MBA-FCA, a combined course from ICFAI University.
N There was a appraisal session in my job. I got the best rating. N the days are moving on !!!!.
That was my 2009, and I hope that 2010 will be even more better.
I look forward to study more and watch more movies. There are plans for Holidays and to go home and some trekking as well.
I will write as and when they come to reality.
Once again, Wish you all a very great and prosperous New Year, 2010.
Wish you a Happy New Year
To You All, all my dear readers, Wish you a very happy new year 2010.
Let this new year be very prosperous and great for you and may all your dreams come true. I wish prosperity, happiness and a very long healthy life to you.
Have a brand new days and great new year ahead.
There is a long due of a post here and soon, I will be back with a new post. Till then, keep on enjoying reading my blog and celebrating new year.
Second and Third Day In Goa-29th November, 2009
It was a beautiful sunday morning. Guys did get up late. Anuroj and I woke up early and went to morning walk around. We went to a tea shop in Calangute and then headed to Mapusha to buy our return ticket for next day. We had again nice tea and some big Dosa there and Came back to hotel room in Calangute. There we took some photos around.
When Anuroj and I came back from Mapusha, we headed to Dudhsagar falls.N On the way, had Tarbuja and Lemon Soda. When we went to Dudhsagar, we saw falls, and railway trak above the falls. We came back from there in the evening and had our lunch cum dinner in GreenMango Restaurant.
When we reached the room, in the night, we went to Calgunte Beach in the night, took photos there, sat there on the beach shack and came to room in the night around 1 AM. We did our expense calculation in the night and slept.
Monday was last day in Goa. I got up at 6 O’clock and went to baga beach. When I came from there, guys were slowly getting up and being ready. We checked our hotel around 11 AM and went for lunch to one restaurant nearby. There were also nepalese attendants but had a very bad service. After we ate there, the bangalore boys left as they had early train. I, and guys from Pune and Mumbai, took bus and went to baga beach. had boating around to see dolphin. Then, I left leaving guys behiend. Thay had bus late in the evening but I had my bus early at 5 Pm to Hyderabad.
My Goa Trip(November 27 to December 1), 2009
I had been to goa with my friends. Wanted to write a blog post but immediately after coming back from Goa, I had to face wrath of Common Cold and Fever. Now, slowly getting back to normalcy. I am presenting this post with small updates about tip and some photos.
I left office on friday, 27th November, at 4 PM, earlier than normal time schedule. The bus was Paulo Travels from Hyderabad to Goa. The bus was supposed to leave at 5.30 Pm from place called Medhipatnam. But, next day, saturday was ‘Bak-r-id’, a famous day for Muslim people. The speciality of this day is that they celebrate with a lot of mutton, goat’s meat. So, friday, in medhipatnam area, all the roads were converted into goat market. There was heavy traffic, and bus could move only at 10PM to goa, 5 hours delay than normal timing.
I reached Goa at 12.30 Pm on Saturday, 28th November. I was told by my friends who had reached there before me to get down in the place called Mapusha. I got down at Mapusha and bargained with Auto Rikshaws and Motorbikes to go to Calangute where my friends had already booked Falcon Resorts/Ladies’ Chef. A Motorbike wallah and I agreed for seventy Rupees. He dropped me in my hotel where I met my friends from Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai.
When I got ready, out of 8 people, 4 people took bike and we four took auto to go to ‘Dil Chahata Hai’ Fort. Interestingly, there were nepalese everywhere. In hotel, where we stayed there were two nepalese as attendants and where we went for lunch that day, there were also nepalese boys. After lunch, we headed to Fort and took many photos. There, we took Beer Can from local vendor and happily drank at the top of fort.
Then, we trekked down to Vagator Beach. There, we met all the eight people, our original strength. Jumped to water there and then, headed to Anjuna Beach. There, on the way, I bought 50 Rs. Chaddi.
After walk on Anjuna Beach, we went to moonlight Restaurant, again a Nepalese resturant, playing music in nepali. Had nice dinner and drinks and came to hotel. There, we again ate and slept for the day.
N Rest of the photos and updates about second day in next post.
This is a Nepali गजल
This is a Nepali गजल written by myself after a longtime.
Since I like Nepali Poem(kabita) and Nepali (गजल), I will be posting here some more गजल when I have time. You can also send me your Poems and Nepali Gazals. Literature is such an interesting thing in Life and our Nepali literature is also very rich. Just We need to do is keep on Contributing to this field. नेपाली साहित्य, कबिता र गजल मन पराउने साथी हरुलाई तल को गजल प्रस्तुत गरेको छु। तपाईं पनि यदी नेपाली गजल मन पराउनु हुन्छ भने यो ब्लग हेर्दैइ गर्नु होला। मेरो ब्लग मा पालिदिनु भएकोमा धेरै धेरै धन्यवाद।
तिम्रो माया पाउन यहाँ वैरी मात्रै बनाये
तिम्रो लागी सधैं सधैं माया मात्रै खनाये
मायाको सुन्दर संसार पवित्र आत्माको मिलन ठानी
हरेक पल घडी घडी मेरो उपस्थिती जनाये
आत्मा हाम्रो जुडी रह्यो धड्कन हाम्रो एक हुँदा
तिमी सगै जुडी रहे हरपल चाडबाड झै मनाये
आजपनी आगमन तिम्रो होला भनी बसि’रछु
प्रतीक्षा मै मेरो जीवन तिम्रै निम्ती खनाये
Keep on visiting!
Goodbye Dashain—–See You Next year !!
My previous blog entry was on “Aayu drona sute”. In that blogpost, I had written about meaning of “Aayu drona sute” which is a Sanskrit hymns that our parents chant when the offer Tika on our forehead. Now, Dashain is almost over. Dashain will be over on the day of Kojagrat Purnima, which is 15th day of Dashain and as per lunar calendar, this day we can see the full moon.
The full moon day in Nepali is called ‘Purnima’. There are many poems, stories and sayings based on Purnima in नेपाली साहित्य (Nepali Literature). ‘Purnima ko Jun Jasto’ is a phrase widely used in Nepali Sahitya (नेपाली साहित्य). ‘Purnimako Jun Jasto’ is a phrase which always ends with the word Ujjyalo, having a lot of light. So, there can be phrase like your face is purnimako jun jasto/purnimako jun jasto ujyalo. Generally, when people use the phrase ‘purnimako jun jasto’, the word ‘ujyaalo(means light)’ need not be said, as that is understood easily.
The words Purnima, Jun, Chandra are also words they are widely used in nepali gazal ( नेपाली गजल)/
nepaligajal . As we all know that gazal was derived from Urdu and Arabic, but Nepali Gazal has easily adapted this and these days, many people are writing Nepali Gazal. I am also heavily interested in Nepali Gazal but it is very difficult to write a Nepali Gazal which describes our great festival dashain. mero mukh ma ta sadhaai maya prem ko nepali gazal matra aauchhaaa!!!
I have tried a lot to write a Nepali gazal which can describe dashain but I have miserably failed till now. Hopefully, I can write soon here and upload for all the readers.
In Nepali, there are various poems (Kabita) on Dashain. Like Nepali poet, Kabi Siromani Lekhnath Paudyal has written a dashain Kabita ‘Hatyo Sara Hilo Mailo, Harayo Pani ko Barsa’ (All muddy and dirty scenes around are over, and the rain has vanished!!! This describes the period when Dashain is just to come after rainy season in Nepal and Season enters into festival mood). Unfortunately, In Nepal, especially in Kathmandu, this year rained even on the Day of Dashain. It may be because of Climate Change and Warming. may be I do not know!
Nepali kabita are different from nepali ghazals in the sense, Nepali kabitas have their own rules which are popularly called Chhand. Though there are freestyle Nepali Kabita, still, they are different than Gazhals in the sense Nepali Kabitas are untouched by Urdu and Arabic Rules.
Now, in the backdrop of waving goodbye to Dashain festival, I bless all of my readers with dashain festival blessing mantra. Let all my readers are blessed with “aayu drona sute” meaning of which has been already written in my previous entry. For the time being, My blessings to you and hopefully, I can write nepali gazal to enrich(hopefully to enrich) नेपाली साहित्य in my future days. I also expect to write some “Nepali kabita haru”/Nepali Poems in the future to revive my interests in Nepali Literature.
For the time being, my good wishes to you………..Dashain subhakamana before I bid a goodbye to this year’s Dashain. Goodbye Vijaya Dashami, 2009.
Aayu Drona Sute……..to Kaun Jage? Dashain Ko Subhakamana.
“aayu drona sute” is Sanskrit mantra/hymns that our parents chant when they put Tika on our forehead in Dashain. In our childhood, it used to be sometimes fun for us. We used to joke like ‘Aayu Drona Sute’……….dashain ka bela sabai jana sute, Chor haru jage………That means all people like drona and others have slept, and only the thiefs are roaming around in the night………..it was our interpretation to create some humour.
The actual meaning of ‘Aayu Drona Sute’ means May you have a long life like Son of Drona. The Son of Drona is called Asosthama, which is considered to be one of the Aastha Chiranjivi (Aastha Chiranjivi means those eight people who never die as per Hindu epics). Therefore, when our parents bless us saying ‘Aayu Drona Sute’, that means let my children have long life like Asosthama………that means you never die.
“Aayu drona sute” is in sanskrit and it is a long chant and each words used there signify something great thing about various people. It is basically the blessings given by your near and dear ones who are generally aged in your families and respected by all family members.
When I talk about Dashain, the nine days puja/worship to god and the tenth day Vijaya dashami should be fondly rembered. Dashain is a festival having fifteen days totally.
There are Dashain Kabita written by various great poets in Nepal. These Kabita/poems depict the grandeur of Dashain and enlighten more about Dashain.
In terms of food also, Dashain is something different like what did nepali people eat in dashain matters. It is mostly a non-veg festival unless you eat only vegetarian food. Generally, the non-vegetarian foods are eaten from 8th day of Navaratri, which is called MahaAsthami and that is today. People, as per their tradition, cut goat, buffalo, chicken etc. on this occasion.
My dashain wish can not be fulfilled but I am yearning for going home. I wish that all Nepalese Celebtare Dashain in great mood.
By evening, I wish to post a nepali gazal about Dashain. I hope I can write a one to depict the beauty and majesty of this Festival.
Wish you all a Happy Dashain.
N Someone is not well this time. Though she does not know much about Dashain, and does not believe on it, I wish that Maata Durga Bhawani will bless her for her good health and prosperous life.
Once Again, Happy Dashain!
Vijaya Dashami – Dashain – Subhakamana
First of all, I would like to wish a very Happy Vijaya Dashami and Bada Dashain to all my readers who have visited talkingforum.wordpress.com. Dashain is the greatest festival of Nepal and for all Nepalese around the world. This festival is celebrated as a mark of victory of truth over untruthfulness. There are different mythological and religious stories about Dashain and there are different reasons for it for its celebration. Without going in details the reasons behind its celebaration, what can be safely concluded is it is the biggest festival in Nepal and gives the perfect reasons for Nepalese to meet their relatives; to return to country and homes for those who are far from their home.
Last year, I went my home to celebrate Dashain. That was after 5 straight years. But, this year, I again could not go in this Dashain. I may go home only in December this year.
While recalling those good days of Dashain last year and five years before, the blessings given by parents, grand parents with the sanskrit chant of hymns which starts as “aayu drona sute” counts a lot. In Childhood, sometimes, Dashain must have meant money that we used to get from maternal grandparents, but in all essence, the meetings with family members, the blessings by each others and meeting with relatives is just superb that places this festival entirely on a new pedestal.
I wished to write a Dashain Nepali Kabita for this Dashain but because of some other busy schedule, I have not been able to put down anything. Hopefully, Dashain Nepali Kabita, I can write, in some other days within this Dashain.
I am feeling little sad this time not to be in Home. My many friends went home and wished that I could also go. But, the issues of leave. Hope next time, I can fly with them when I go to airport to see off my friend at the airport.
Once again, finally, I wish all of you a happy Vijaya Dashami/Bijaya Dashami and Hope that Durga Maata le Tapai ko Sabai Kalyan Garun. (May ‘Durga Bhawani’ bless you forever and show you the great path in life)
This is a test Post
I maintain many blogs in the web. I am focusing only in one blog these days. The theme of each blog is different but sometimes, I feel that the same blog post can be posted in different blogs depending on its theme and relevance. This blog post is just a test post. I am trying to post a single entry in my four different blogs at a time. For this, I have taken a help of Scribe fire developed by Firefox Mozilla. Let me see how I can do these postings at a time.
I will be back with my regular posts soon.
Rajib Dahal
Farewell to YSR and The New York Times Archive
This post is not intended to be a detailed one. Just a small post out to bid goodbye to Dr. YSR.
First the sad news, The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Dr. Y.S Rajashekhara Reddy’s untimely demise on helicopter crash yesterday has brought this State of Andhra Pradesh in a state of shock, despair and grimming situation. The man was popular as the recent landslide victory of his in State Assembly Election and Lok Sabha Election has brought him again in power after being his victory in 2004 Election. He has just surpassed his 100 days in office. Despite numerous allegation of corruption against him, and allegation of factional politics in his native place Cuddapah, he was the man of masses. He promised a lot to the poor and the reports says that he promised most of them. That was the reason that he was elected again to serve the people of State of Andhra Pradesh. But, the God was very unkind to him and God wanted something otherwise.
Dr. Reddy was travelling to some remote village in Andhra Pradesh in a small helicopter and there were only five people. The climate and the nature’s fury, as the reports says, compelled the pilots to change the route. The plane left on wednesday morning around 9 and the helicopter went contactless with ATC immediately after some 15 minutes and nothing was heard. All machneries of state and Central Government was pressed in action and he was found along with 4 others, almost after 24 hours of his departure from Hyderabad, but when he was found, he alongwith other 4 were already with God. How merciless the God can be !
All the national Indian media have widely covered this incident and human sea on Hyderabad are there on the streets to pay their last respect. My office has also been closed for two days, yesterday and today, to pay respect to him. Eventhough I know him little and his political career, I had lots of respect for his hardwork and feel utterly sad for his untimely demise.
What we can do, when god has some other ideas! My farewell to Dr. YSR, and I am sure State of Andhra Pradesh will miss him for years.
Goodbye Dr. YSR, and May you rest in peace! Wish the God bestow courage to family members to bear this hard truth.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Sometime back, I was browsing The New York Times, one of the best newspapers in the world with wide range of information for any readers. The Economic and technology related columns are the things that are most read by me(by me!, I do not know about others.) While browsing the website, I stumbled on a great service of this NYT. About this, I wanted to write sometime back. This was the archive service.
The archive section gives you all the news from 1851 AD. You can read the free preview and to read the full article, you have to buy/subscribe. For all those reachers, I think it is a very great service though for normal common man like me, It may not be of that much value, or may be I can not afford.
But, I feel it is a revolutionary service.It helps greatly for the researchers and specially for the students of economics, political science and history, it should be of great help.
You can access NYT’s archive section from here:http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=a&query=nepal&srchst=p&submit.x=30&submit.y=11&submit=sub&hdlquery=&bylquery=&daterange=period&mon1=01&day1=01&year1=1981&mon2=09&day2=04&year2=2009
There you can see that I had searched the term Nepal and some of the news were of 1960-70 when there was Panchayat era in Nepal under the leadership of King Mahendra and there are archived news about B.P. Koirala, the first elected Prime Minister of Nepal.
You can see another link where it reports that King took the direct control of Government.
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30814F73A541A7A93C4A81789D95F448685F9
Okay all, read this news and make the full use of them.
Have a good day.
Nepal-India Trade:My Comments
These days, I am doing some kinds of research on India Bangladesh Trade. The issue is simple that one of my clients wants to produce some garments and textiles and wants to sell in India. The issue is whether the client should produce cloth in India and sell or should it produce it in Bangladesh and bring to India and sell. The issues involved are Indian excise duty rate v. customs duty applicable in imports from Bangladesh.
We are analysing the situation and that’s all for the now. I personally wish that they manufacture such garments in Nepal and bring to India and sell here. Hopefully, it makes these Indian manufacturers/importers these kinds of transactions more cost efficient but my wishes have nothing to do here. At least till now, Client has not thought about Nepal as a viable option.
In this context while doing India-Bangladesh Trade Treaty through Google and other legal database, I stumbled on the below presented article in Nepali magazine-telegraphnepal. I liked the one and already presented to readers in my previous blog entry. The same article is presented here with my comments in bold. I hope that you enjoy reading it and benefit by knowing the reality about Nepal India Trade.
We have just heard that Nepal and India entered into another Trade Treaty recently when Nepalese PM Madhav Kumar Nepal visited India. I have not had the benefit of seeing the text of the treaty yet. If someone has the treaty file or link from where I can see it, kindly let me know.
“Enhancement of Nepal-India bilateral Trade & Commerce Ties
Rajesh Agrawal National Council Member, Confederation of Nepalese Industries
The bilateral framework for trade and transit is provided by the India-Nepal treaties of Trade, of Transit, and Agreement for cooperation to control unauthorized trade 1991. The trade treaty valid for five years was renewed through an exchange of letters on December 3, 1996 and March 5, 2002 and automatically renewed for another five years in March 2007.
Under the Treaty of Trade, India provides, on a non-reciprocal basis, duty free access, to the India market for all Nepalese-manufactured articles barring a short negative list (cigarettes, alcohol and cosmetics), subject to the conditions, since march 2002, that the exports meet the domestic value addition requirement of 30% and change in its classification at four-digit level in the course of manufacture or processing in Nepal.
After the March 2002 revision, annual quotas have been prescribed for duty free exports to India for four sensitive items-vegetable fats (100,000 tons), acrylic yarn (10,000 tons), copper products (10,000 tons) and zinc oxide (2,500tons).
Bilateral trade takes place generally in Indian rupees, but Nepal’s Central Bank maintains a list of items that can be imported from India in us dollars.
The India–Nepal Treaty of Transit, renewed every seven years, provides for port facilities to Nepal at Kolkata and specifies 15 transit routes between Kolkata and the India-Nepal border for bilateral trade, 22 entry/exit points are provided along the Indo-Nepal border. The transit treaty was last renewed in March 2006. The agreement for cooperation between India and Nepal to control unauthorized trade was automatically renewed for five years in March 2007.
The two governments are negotiating a bilateral investment protection and promotion agreement.
India and Nepal signed a rail service agreement in May 2004, to extend cargo train service to the inland container depot (ICD) at Birgunj in Nepal. ICD has been constructed with World Bank assistance of US$ 17 million, while India has constructed the rail tracks which link the ICD with the Raxaul railway station in India. The ICD became operational on 16th July 2004. A container corporation of India-led joint venture Himalayan Terminals Private LTD. is operating the ICD.
I do not know how the operation of ICD in Nepal is. I hope that the businessmen are making full use of it. Irrespective of what kind of political relation we share with India now, in economic areas, we are heavily relying upon India. It is beyond any doubt that India alone is our one of the main trading partners. Given the situation, Nepal should be very serious to gain the advantage that we can have from this relationship. India’s population is so huge that if we focus our supply only to some of the Indian population, Nepal has much to gain. In the bilateral trade, the role of transpiration, storage, warehousing and easy customs clearances are some of the prime factors. Both countries should immediately address these concerns. However close and great neighbor we may be with China, the trade from Chinese side will not be going to increase anytime soon as lack of market routes, lack of road and transportation and immense cost of infrastructure involved. But, if we see the south plain of Nepal, Nepal can be easily connected to broad gauge of Indian Railways which has all India connection. Nepal can reap a lot of advantages from these well networked and connected Indian Railways. For this, he existing ICD should be made fully functional and well connectivity with India adds value to our International Trade.
A motor vehicle agreement for passenger vehicles, initialed on 23rd February 2004 awaits formal signature. The agreement envisages bus services between India and Nepal on 14 routes through 5 borders on reciprocal basis. 53 buses will operate under this agreement everyday. Individuals traveling to either country in their personal vehicles would also be able to cross over into the other country without payment of any charge for the first five days.
Why this treaty is not signed yet? This treaty is citizen centric and it helps people of both countries travel freely and without much hassles. As we have already visa and passport free regimes, motor vehicles also should be allowed without any fees but only registration at entry point. Nepal has much to gain from tourism if this treaty is signed. Nepal and India are great pilgrimage sites for many people and many people can travel easily to each other’s countries. Even the presence of few lakhs of Indian people in Nepal annually among those thousand of lakhs people will help our tourism to grow a lot.
Now I would like to high light some of the issues related to trade:
The trade treaty between India and Nepal has made specific provision which allows access of Nepalese manufactured goods to the Indian market without payment of any customs duty.
Generally, when they exempt from customs duty, it is exemption from Basic Customs Duty (‘BCD’). As per Indian law, Customs Duty (‘CD’) has three components. They are Basic Customs Duty (‘BCD’), Additional Duty of Excise (‘CVD’ – It should not be said ‘CVD’ as ‘CVD’ means Countervailing Duty as per WTO laws and will be imposed on different condition and situation but In India, even though, it is a wrong expression, all say it ‘CVD’ with an admission that it should not be called ‘CVD’, and this duty – ‘CVD’ – is imposed in lieu of excise duty, which would be imposed had goods been manufactured in India), and Special Additional Duty (‘SAD’) (imposed in lieu of State level sales tax/Value Added Tax or VAT). So, the major components of can be written down as follows:
CD=BCD+CVD+SAD, and there will be education cess separately and in some products coming from some special countries, there could be anti-dumping duty as well.
Therefore, most of the time when treaty between two countries exempt customs duty in its text, it is only exempt from BCD. So, still there CVD+SAD remains and importer in India has to pay that. Typically, in India, the Trade Treaties are entered by Ministry of Commerce; and they will not be laws automatically. After Treaties are entered by Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, Central Board of Excise and Customs (‘CBEC’) will issue a Notification as per the treaties entered and most of the Notification, generally as a matter of rule, only mentions the exemption of BCD and do not talk about CVD and SAD. This is not only with respect to Notification issued as per Nepalese treaties but also in Notifications issued as per treaties with other countries like Bangladesh, and other African Countries.
But in the past, through national budgets additional duties to the extent of 4% has been imposed on Nepalese exports, later on at the request of Nepalese’s exporters as well as Nepal government these duties were called off. This problem is because of the CBEC Notification only mentions exemption from BCD.
Eventually when the 4% additional duty was waived by other notification, it was made applicable only to those items, which were being exported by the date of the notification as per the list approved by the finance ministry on the basis of H.S. Code classification.
Many items which could have been exported or are exported from Nepal are still subject to this 4% additional duty. This 4% additional duty is called SAD and is in lieu of state level sales tax and VAT in India. Though the VAT rate in India is different for different products, and different for the same products also in different states of India, the SAD is a standard one and is 4% as most of the goods in India are liable to VAT @4% across all the states. The really SAD story about this SAD is that Indian government by Notification has allowed the refund of SAD under certain circumstances. That means importer in India first pays the SAD component while clearing the goods from customs and later, has to file application within one year to ask refund of SAD component if the importer satisfies certain conditions laid down in the Notification. Unfortunately, in India, it is easier to tie a bell in tiger’s neck than to get refund from tax authorities and importer will lose this money which he recovers from final customers and costs of goods will go high which effectively means the exports from Nepal becomes expensive and makes Nepal less competitive.
By this the exports under Nepal India trade treaty has virtually frozen to the items enlisted prior to the notification and for the new items, the treaty is virtually extinct.
As a result of such discretionary levy of the additional duty, Nepalese exports have been badly impacted.
Agro based industries are facing problem of quarantine and lab testing and borders. There is another problem I want to highlight from my practical experience. My home is in eastern Jhapa and cross kakarbhitta Border many times. I see almost all the time, the trucks loaded with wheat ready to go to Bangladesh from Phulbari Banglaband Marg are lined up on the roadside almost for 10-15 Kilometers by not getting customs clearance from India. There is a need of warehousing and large containers to reduce the costs of exports. And this should be done by Nepalese Customs Authorities as well.
The garment industries are facing problems of levy of CVD in India on the basis of MRP.
On this aspect, Nepal should talk with India firmly and much hyped Nepal India Trade Treaty may cover this. But, one thing I want to highlight here is that in this case Nepal is not singled out, almost all the countries are subject to CVD but we should talk with Indian Government and should convince Indian Government to exempts from CVD as well. Interestingly, because of economic recession, Indian government reduced excise duty on almost all goods by 4% in December, 2008 to give impetus to domestic market, and the rate of CVD also automatically went down as CVD rate corresponds to the excise duty rate. On comparative advantage analysis, it may not be that great news to Nepalese exporters as ultimately they have to compete Indian products but in absolute terms, the duty of CVD has gone down by 4%.
Quota and canalization on vegetable fat, acrylic yarn copper products, zinc oxide
On specific items like steel pipes it is required to take ISI mark from BIS before they can be exported though they have already taken ns mark from Nepal bureau of standards.
Pharmaceutical industries are unable to export their products to India, because the registration of their pharmaceutical products in India is almost impossible.
The indo Nepal trade treaty allows for sending any machinery for repair & maintenance only within 3 years of importation from India to Nepal. Whereas in normal cases, it is after 3-4 years of installation that a machinery requires repair and maintenance.
On this point, Nepalese importers will have difficulty to bargain with Government of India as in India, even imports from third countries to India are allowed to send out and bring without payment of duty only within 2 years. I am not so sure about the time period but I am sure not definitely after three years.
By products not being allowed to be exported in India;
These are products where main finished products are allowed to be exported in India, but by–products generated during the course of manufacture of the finished products are not allowed for export to India due to some prohibitions either due to the Exim policy of India or some other notification.
Heavy congestion at Kolkata port resulting in delay and cost increase of import cargos.
Road and customs infrastructure not sufficient, very weak at the borders.
Recommendations
It should be specifically provided in the treaty that neither the central government of India nor the state governments will levy any form of additional duty on goods imported into India from Nepal as per the provision of the India Nepal trade treaty. This is difficult to mention in the treaty as federal structure in India does not allow deciding central government on the matters of taxation of States. However, should Indian Government try to implement this thing, some sorts of relief to Nepalese exporters can be expected. And whatever products it is being levied currently should be waived immediately.
Regarding quarantine testing Nepalese labs should be accredited for the testing.
Third party pre-shipment inspection and their certification is the norm for the exports all over the world, the same can be made applicable for India-Nepal trade on agro products.
Initiations had started for negotiating a bilateral cooperation agreement on standards between bureau of Indian standards and Nepal bureau of standards and meteorology. It should be finalized with both recognizing quality standard marks provided by each other.
Nepal allows the import of Indian products with the minimum of non-tariff barriers and the Nepali exporters also expect the same treatment from the counterpart.
Provision for allowing the sending of machinery for repair and maintenance within 3 years of import only to be amended to remove the 3 years boundation.
The motor vehicle agreement for passenger vehicles should be formalized to allow Nepalese vehicles into Indian Territory which at present require a permit.
Removal of quota and canalization; when the quota was prescribed in 2002 on vegetable ghee, acrylic yarn, copper products, zinc oxide, the import duties in India on these products were very high, but now they have been significantly reduced and in some cases it is even 0%, so there is no logic in continuing with the quota.
Nepali manufactured goods out of Indian and or Nepali raw materials should have a separate procedure for export to India. They should be given national treatment as given by the central government of India to the states like Assam, Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in terms of tariff and non-tariff issues.
The DRP system (duty refund procedure) was introduced for goods exported from India to Nepal in Indian currency with a view to increase trade with Nepal as well to reduce the landed cost of goods to the consumers of Nepal. Under this system the amount of excise duty paid on Indian goods is given as rebate in the customs duty levied by Nepal and that amount is refunded to the Nepal government by the Indian government. During that time import duties were about 25% in Nepal so the full excise amount would be exempted but now the duties have fallen to the range of 5-10% resulting in the full excise not being exempted hence Indian goods becoming expensive.
So for all exports from India to Nepal in Indian currency excise duty should not be charged as in the case of dollar exports.
For the congestion being faced in Kolkata additional sea ports with railway connection for Nepal as JNPT, Kandla, Vishakhapatnam and ICD Tuglakabad for import and export of goods from Nepal should be provided.
ICD Birgunj should be connected with major ICD of India for bilateral and overseas cargo.
The facilities of concur should be extended to carry export material from Nepal to major cities of India and vice versa
Goods imported from third country into India are not allowed to be re-exported to Nepal. This provision should be removed and goods imported into India from third country should be allowed to be re exported to Nepal.
Improvement of cross border trade related infrastructure such as upgrading major customs check points at Birgunj-Raxaul, Biratnagar-Jogbani, Bhairawaha-Sunauli and Nepalgunj-Rupediya to international standards, upgrading approach highways to the border on the Indian side and the Nepalese side; and broad gauging and extending rail links to Nepal.
Lastly rivers flowing from Nepal into India constitute an important part of the Ganges river system. Nepal’s enormous hydropower potential estimated at 83,000 mw, of which 44,000 mw is considered economically feasible, could transform Nepal’s economy.
There is considerable scope for mutually beneficial cooperation between India and Nepal in developing small and medium sized hydropower projects in Nepal for internal use in Nepal or exports to India. Nepal’s hydropower development policy permits private and foreign investment in generation of hydropower, including for exports.
Some Customs Notification issued by CBEC in India:
In this portion, I have presented some of the Notifications issued by Indian Government in relation to customs duties on various goods imported from Nepal. Some of the Notifications may have been withdrawn or superseded by subsequent Notifications, therefore, all may not be valid Notification now but this list should give general idea to you:
The Notification is CUS NTF NO. 03/1997 DATE 16/01/1997, Exemption to goods imports from NEPAL and This Notification has been superseded by Cus Notification No. 85/98 dated 5-11-98.
The Notification is Cus Notification No. 85/1998 Date 5-11-1998, Exemption To Specified Goods Imports – Nepal and SUPERSEDES 3/97 DATED 16-1-97.
Nostalgic yatra to India and my long awaited thank You
In my blog post, I had written a small story about how I came to India. So, the story goes ahead here as promised. My brother Rewati and Didi Minu had come to see me off on Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA). I came inside the Airport. There I had to pay Airport Tax which I knew as the Travel Agency which had helped me to buy tickets had told me that.
After paying that tax, I did not know which side to go. So, I asked a Policeman there. He was very helpful. He asked me where I am going. I said, ‘India’. Why? was his next question. I said to study. Then, he threw another one, R U studying MBBS in India? I wished I could study medicine but I was traveling to India after being unsuccessful in MBBS Entrance Exams. I said No and said that I am going to study Law. He just changed his facial expression, as if he was disappointed after hearing what exactly I am studying. Still, he helped me by telling what to do and where to go. I had no damn idea and immigration procedures and that policeman there helped me telling what to do and where to go. I forgot now exactly what was the procedure there, some immigration stuffs and that was the first and last time till now,that I have passed through TIA.
I had a small bag and they allowed me to carry in Handbag. Interestingly, at that time, I was in a Business Class as I did not get a general economy class ticket. I had to pay higher amount but I was in a hurry and could not wait any more days. I took a seat in Business Class.
There were many people in the Business Class, must be many many big big businessman. I did not give damn to anyone as I did not know anyone.:)
I was just busy in my own world, not happy but little scary and little sad.
I was silent in seat in a middle row of Indian Airlines where in that row, three people could sit. So, next to me, there was a man- a gentle man and next to him were a young good looking lady. I was just silent and just kept on looking here and there, and most of the time tried/stretched myself to look out of Window.
After sometime, they started to serve drinks and I was asked if I drink Beer. I was little horrified by that question and that lady hostess gave me some nice fruit juice. By that time, the plane had already taken off. I was in deep thoughts of my home, my future, my sadness………there was no iota of happiness. Meanwhile, some radio message was aired inside while the plane was flying. The gentleman next to me asked me in English what was aired. The sound quality may be at that time was bad that I also could not understand. I said him I do not know as I also did not understand. I do not know what he felt may be I could not speak nice English and next question he asked me in Hindi, ‘where r u from?’. I just replied in English that I am Nepali. He said, Ohhh! I thought you might be from India and can u speak Nepali? He spoke those sentences in English and in Nepali, I answered, Yes, my language is Nepali. Then, we started talking in Nepali.
The man turned out to be a one of the Directors from Kumari Bank in Nepal. I forgot his name but his surname is Samsher Jung Bahadur Rana. He spoke about his business in Nepal, and his families. The lady next to him was his wife. And that man asked about me and stuffs like what kind of lawyer I want to be? something like a lawyer always taking a side of political party? I said it’s too early to talk. But, I had not imagined that a man from good business background will talk with so nicely with me. He made my journey little comfortable.
In Delhi, we came after 2 hours and around 15 minutes of flying from Kathmandu. N I had to take another Jet Flight from Delhi to Hyderabad on the same evening and there was only one hour gap between the landing of flight from Kathmandu and Domestic flight from Delhi. It is seriously packed schedule and one hour time may not be sufficient for us to catch another flight in Normal Circumstances. Again that Gentleman helped me, he took me first in that row, line where people were standing to get clearance from Indian Immigration. The gentle man requested a man first on the row to allow me to clear first as I have another connecting flight. I got clearance first there among that long line. I was little in a panic and ran taking my bag. I owe a great Thanks to the gentleman. Thank You Sir! I will find your name and put it here some day. N from there, I took prepaid taxi and went to domestic airport and caught my domestic flight. N came back to Hyderabad. That’s all my story! Dudes keep on reading……..Thanx for that gentleman, once again and see you all soon.
Nepal and Foreign Currency Issues
I had written a post here sometimes back. The post was titled as “India and Foreign Currency Conversion”. There, in that post, I had promised at the bottom of the post that I would write something about Foreign Currency issues and conversion related matters on coming days.
Therefore, here it goes-something about Nepal and Nepal’s foreign currency related laws. First of all, to be frank with you, I do not know anything about foreign currency law of Nepal. So, what I am going to write is my experience of almost six years back. This issue is being talked here in the light of difficulties that we face in India to convert your Indian money to foreign currency from Nationalised or Private Banks. If you have already read my earlier post about India, You will know by this time that it is very very easy to get your Indian currency converted to US Dollar or other recognised foreign currency in private open market albeit the rate might be different from what Reserve Bank of India would prescribe.
In this background note, I am talking experience from Nepal. The story is of 2003 June. First time, I was on a foreign tour/trip. For the first time, I was stepping out of my country and was heading to foreign territory. The Country of destination was India 
, the foreign land where I was venturing to.
I knew that Nepalese Currency is of no use in India. I required either Indian currency or USD or something like that. At that time, I did not know much about forex law of Nepal and how to get foreign currency. First of all, I was not sure which currency to get or some kind of cards.
Problem in Nepal is that Rs. 500, and Rs. 1000 currency notes of India are not legally recognized. So, if I wanted those notes, I had to contact some businessmen of Terai and I did not have much time to do so. Another problem was that I did not want to do something illegal which may put me in some kind of trouble in the Airport-Tribhuwan International Airport. Now, legally, the problem was that I could get only Rs. 100 Indian currency and at that time, I was carrying something around 50,000 INR. First time, I was travelling to India and I did not know how much money I need and to get 100 Rs. currency note for that amount would make me to carry a big bunch of papers. I was little irritated with this idea.
My brother had suggested me to make Traveller’s Cheque, which he himself did not know what was that and neither I had any damn idea of what’s that. I thought I should contact with Bank people itself. Then, I visited to Everest Bank, in New Baneshwor where I had maintained my Savings Accounts at that time. I went to Bank told them that I am going to India and asked them to suggest what is the best method to carry some money.
They had only one suggestion-get Indian currency from us and go. I inquired about Traveller’s Cheque, Debit and Credit Card. They had low opinion about India and said me it’s not worth of doing any such things. They asked me about the city where I am heading to, and I said Hyderabad. From their facial expression that they had very low opinion about Hyderabad and in a manner of contempt to this place, said there it will be difficult for you if you do not have hard cash. I myself, did not know much about this place, and did what they suggested. I gave my Nepalese Currency and they gave Indian Currency-bunch of INR 100. The conversion rate was same as it is today as Nepalese currency is pegged with Indian Currency. N I headed to India with inner pockets of pants and shirts filled with Indian currency bunch.
In Nepal’s International Airport, while frisking my body, a policeman asked what’s there? I said-money, Indian Currency. He further said that he does not think that I have 500 INR currency note and I affirmed his thoughts. He said me to move and I moved. That’s all about my experience.
Now, let me add little more of my story before I conclude this. That day, the trip was in many ways a new for me. First foreign trip as already said, first time, I went to any International Airport and first time, I was traveling by Plane, among others. My sister Minu and Brother Rewati Raman Pokhrel came to Airport to see me off. We used to stay in Babarmahal Area and we took bus. There was no need of taking taxi. My sister had recently passed Nepal Telecommunication’s Exam and she had training in Kathmandu at that time. She skipped the half’s day training and came to see me off.
I will write more on this later. Keep on reading !!!
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