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Daily Chatpat
Today's Chatpat: October 4th, 2023

1. The Hinduvta influence is slowing rising in Nepal as well. Nepalgunj witnessed communal discord yesterday as Hindu and Muslim youth clashed with each other. The District Administration Office (DAO) has announced a curfew in the area to prevent any further mishaps.

A self-styled Swami who was seen wielding a Khukuri, while dressed like he had just gotten out of a bath has been arrested by Nepal Police. The Swami was calling for murder of anyone who kills cows and had boasted that he would take care of the families of those who participated in such acts. Five years ago, the same person was arrested by Nepal Police after it was revealed that he had paid two men to shoot him in the foot in hopes of inciting religious riots.

2. Bajhang was rocked by an earthquake of 4.2 M which managed to shake Delhi and some parts of India as well. The government does not seem serious enough to prepare for any earthquakes in the country. It's been 8 years since we were hit by a 7.8 M earthquake and all of us seem to have gotten over it.

The preparedness of the government can be seen as many government buildings across the country damaged by the 2015 earthquake have not been repaired or even demolished. A prime example would be in Singha Durbar, where the government has not shown an ounce of interest to even repair the walls surrounding the seat of power.

3. Nepal Oil Corpoation (NOC) is in the news again after its recent price hike of fuel products and then subsequent withdrawal of the hike after the direct orders of the Prime Minister. NOC claims that fuel price hike are conducted scientifically with the international market rate in mind. But I guess, the withdrawal was done politically as the PM was facing pressure and even ridicule for his two-weeks long foreign vacation.

NOC charges taxes on fuel products, not once but seven times with different headings and then adds its admin costs, dealer commissions and a small profit MARGlN which forces the consumers pay around 80% more than the price the fuel products are purchased from Indian suppliers.

NOC is known to be the most generous state-run enterprise when doling out bonuses to its employees. It provides daily transportation allowance of Rs 175, khaja allowance of Rs 100. Clothing allowance is provided annually and is double what other civil servant gets. They even get Rs 15 per day to wash their clothes.

They get one month social security bonus every year plus other bonuses. They get medical bonus even if they are not sick to the tune of a month salary for higher-ups and double that for the lower-level staff. NOC has Rs 300 crore bonus fund and this year alone, it is setting aside more than Rs 18 crore for bonuses.

4. Nepal's cricket team are out of medal contention as they lost to India but managed to win the hearts of the Nepali and foreign fans with their formidable showing against the cricketing giant. Hong Kong has managed to haul in more than 45 medals at the Asian Games. Singapore has won its first athletics gold medal, as sprinter Shanti won the 200m Gold. Earlier, she finished with a silver medal in the 100m.

Maybe, we should send out athletes to the Singapore Sports School or model something after their sports programs so that we can perform better in athletics and other sports. Nepalese athletes were at par with most Asian nations in long distance running, martial arts and boxing in the 80s.

5. The Kathmandu Metropolitan City has sent requests to Nepal Police to take action against 73 cooperatives in its area. Many cooperatives have collapsed in the past two years, defrauding common depositors to the tune of billions of Rupees.

Most cooperatives in the country are being run like a family business where depositors' money is invested in real estate ventures and other unproductive sectors without the approval of it's own boards and at the whim of the chairperson and his family and close relatives.

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