Submit your Article

The government has been collecting huge amounts of money in cash penalties from the traders found involved in market anomalies. However, consumers fail to receive benefits largely in the absence of an effective monitoring mechanism. The records with the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumers Protection (DoCSCP) show that Rs 770,000 was collected in cash penalties from such traders in the last one week. Out of the market monitoring conducted in 89 outlets in the Kathmandu Valley, 36 traders were slapped with cash fines. These operators of the outlets were charged with fines ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 100,000 per outlet. Of them, a grocery shop in Dhunge Adda and a dealer of drinking water in Mulpani were fined Rs 100,000 each and a grocery in Chabahil was slapped with Rs 50,000. The actions were taken against the stores for not renewing their business operating licenses. According to DoCSCP officials, most of the penalized outlets were related to drinking water and food supplies. Likewise, the traders were accused of not maintaining price lists of goods, not cooperating with the monitoring officials on the spot, and not having renewed licenses, among others. Due to the lack of effective government monitoring, the selling of expired food items and price hikes are rampant in many places across the country. But the department officials blame insufficient budget, lack of manpower and inadequate logistics for unrewarding results from poor market monitoring. Consumer rights activists said weak government mechanisms for market monitoring has allowed unscrupulous traders ample room to cheat consumers. “In fact, the protection of consumers’ rights is not the priority of the government authorities,” said Madhav Timilsina, President of Consumer Rights Investigation Forum. The Consumer Protection Act prohibits traders from cheating consumers by engaging in adulteration, giving short measures, or surcharging. As per the law, the government authority can impose a cash penalty from Rs 5,000 to Rs 300,000 on the spot. According to Mahesh Bhattarai, Director General of DoCSCP, the random cross-checking of the outlets alone might not help reduce the misconduct going on in the market. He says the lack of a proper data-keeping system, consumers lacking awareness to deal with billing and lack of resources with the department have led to poor outcomes from the market monitoring. “We have planned to develop a separate software to maintain market records and to coordinate with other government agencies related to the market system and consumers,” he said.

Call it a political accident, a miscalculation, or a simple twist of fate, but there is no escaping the fact that this is the time of reckoning for the Nepali Congress. The party has been relegated to the opposition benches even after winning the most number of seats in the House of Representatives. The culprit here is no other than Sher Bahadur Deuba, the leader of the grand old party, who threw it all away by letting the pre-election ruling coalition break down. With only 89 seats secured in the 275-member parliament, the picture was quite clear for the NC: the party had no chance of leading the government while also holding all the important positions of president, vice president and speaker. The solution was also simple enough: work out a power-sharing deal with the CPN (Maoist Center), the key coalition partner, on those highly coveted posts. But no, Deuba refused to delay his personal ambition of becoming a prime minister for a record sixth term, instead of handing over the premiership to Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal for 2.5 years and taking over the reins for the remainder term. This was what Deuba and Dahal had agreed upon after all, but the former reneged on the deal. In the words of senior NC leader Ram Chandra Poudel, it was Deuba who betrayed Dahal. "We have nothing left now, we've lost everything," Poudel told the media on Sunday. Dahal, whose party won just 32 seats in the Nov 20 parliamentary election, had no qualms abandoning the coalition and forging an alliance with the CPN-UML led by his former rival, KP Oli. Deuba was confident that Dahal would never ally with Oli, or vice versa. This was a major miscalculation on Deuba’s part. If anyone who could have sniffed out Dahal’s agenda, it was Deuba. After all, the Dahal had broken faith with the NC and joined forces with the UML ahead of the 2017 polls. Now, Deuba’s leadership is being questioned within his party. Some leaders have even called for his resignation. “Our party president and parliamentary party leader, Sher Bahadur Deuba, should immediately resign from both positions on moral grounds,” party leader Gururaj Ghimire wrote on his Facebook. According to some NC leaders, Deuba had been taking decisions on vital issues without consulting with the party, save a few leaders from his faction. He had surrounded himself with a close group of advisors, including Purna Bahadur Khadka, Bimalendra Nidhi, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Prakash Sharan Mahat. These leaders allegedly offered wrong advice to Deuba, to the detriment of the party. When Dahal staked his claim to the post of prime minister after the election results, Deuba made him wait until the NC’s parliamentary party poll. And being selected as the PP leader, Deuba, on the advice of his lieutenants, tried to convince Dahal to allow him to lead the government first. It is said that Deuba had agreed to hand over the power to Dahal at a meeting that took place on Dec 17. However, Deuba later backtracked from the understanding. NC central member Nainsingh Mahar called the dissolution of the five-party coalition a “terrible mistake” by Deuba."It was necessary to continue the coalition. Our friends were deprived of the opportunity to contest the election because of this coalition. We knew the Maoists wouldn't be loyal, but we abided by the decision taken by the party leadership." Mahar wants an answer as to why the party leadership didn’t make an effort to save the coalition after the election.“Those responsible for breaking the coalition must face action,” he demanded. Deuba needs some explanation before the party's Central Working Committee and Parliamentary Party. Some leaders say the party president is not only who is at fault. They have also blamed the anti-establishment leaders including Shekhar Koirala and Gagan Kumar Thapa for putting pressure on Deuba to take an inflexible position and demand for both prime ministerial and presidential posts.

I’m a 21-year-old girl and I just don’t understand my fear of syringes. I have a good pain threshold, but when I know I’ll be getting an injection, whether it be for a blood withdrawal or a vaccination, I become anxious. I feel like I’m going to pass out. People say it’s because I’m afraid of the pain the syringe will bring, but I know it’s not that. I don’t know what happens to me, but I get panic attacks. How do I handle it? – An anxious girl Answered by Rishav Koirala, psychiatrist and researcher Trypanophobia is the extreme fear of needles, and it includes syringes too. Phobia is an extreme and irrational fear specifically towards a particular thing, which in your case are syringes. As you mentioned your threshold for handling pain is high, we can say your fear of syringes can be a phobia.  What you need to understand is that, at times, phobia comes along with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Although the precise origin of GAD is not entirely understood, it’s likely that a number of different variables interact to contribute to the disorder. The disorder keeps one constantly worried, and in fear. In your case, GAD heightens when your phobia is triggered. There are a few tips I want you to know that will help you with your fear while getting your blood drawn or when you have to get a vaccine. Since you feel like you might pass out, it’s better to get the procedure done lying down or in an inclined chair. It’s also a good idea to not look at the needle. You can distract yourself with something else. Maybe use your phone or take someone along with you to keep you wrapped up in a conversation.  Deep-breathing techniques help during any process that provokes anxiety. Learn the process at home and practice before you use it during the procedure. Believe in yourself then you can overcome this fear. Always inform the medical professional about your phobia before they get ready with a syringe.  Now, for the treatment, phobias are usually treated with exposure therapy. It’s the process where you gradually face your fear. Expose yourself with a photo of needles first. It might be triggering at first, but give yourself some time to get comfortable with the process. You don’t have to do it alone. Keep someone beside you in case you need them to calm you down. After you are well-adjusted with the picture, move on to an actual needle. You can ask someone to hold it for you, and gradually move on to holding it yourself. You can visit a professional if you think you need their help.  Secondly, it’s always a good idea for you to visit a psychiatrist when you feel anxious because they will help you out through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It’s a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. It’s most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression. Another way to deal with such moments is to take anxiolytics, while going on a vaccination or when you want to have blood withdrawn. Benzodiazepines are a type of sedative medication. This means they slow down the body and brain’s functions. They can help with anxiety. For that, you need to meet a psychiatrist to know about the doses. I hope this helps. If it doesn’t it’s always good to schedule an appointment with a professional. 

Three and half months after the Mobile Device Management System (MDMS) was implemented, the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) is going to ‘enforce the system strictly’ from Dec 30. On Friday, the telecommunications sector regulator said that MDMS, a security system that enables the regulator to implement policies that secure, monitor, and manage end-user mobiles, will come into full implementation and called for registration of mobile phones brought from outside the country within Dec 30. Issuing a public notice, NTA has called mobile users who’ve bought mobile phones from abroad but are yet to register in MDMS to come for registration with customs documents along with the 15-digit IMEI numbers of their handsets. Once the MDMS is implemented, NTA can block smartphones that have been brought to Nepal without customs clearance. MDMS has been expected to end the import of ‘grey’ mobile sets as the authority can block such smartphones. According to mobile phone importers, around 30-40 percent of the smartphone market in Nepal is of 'grey' handsets with about Rs 12-15 billion worth of mobile devices imported to Nepal illegally every year. The enforcement of MDMS has come at a time when there is a slowdown in the Nepali mobile phone market after the government restricted imports of handsets costing over $300 in April this year. The delay in the ineffective implementation of MDMS as well as a surge in illegal imports has posed serious issues to the domestic mobile phone market. "The MDMS implementation could provide some respite to us," said Deepak Malhotra, president of the Mobile Phone Importers Association. According to him, it is high time that the government enforces the mechanism effectively. "Last time, the government had not carried out the MDMS plan in full phase, so it was not that effective," said Malhotra, adding, "We believe the plan will succeed this time as they have done all the necessary homework." The domestic mobile phone business is currently going through a lean patch with a slowdown in demand as sales have fallen by more than 40 percent, say importers. According to them, mid-range phones dominate the market and even that segment is not doing well currently. They say it is the government that will also benefit from the implementation of MDMS as all types of imports will become legal and more revenue will be added to the state coffers. With the government imposing import restrictions on mobile phones above $300 for more than six months, the overall imports of mobile phones have declined by 51.24 percent in the first five months of the current fiscal year. Nepal has imported mobile phones worth Rs 11.20 billion in the first five months of FY 2022/23 compared to Rs 22.97 billion in the first five months of FY 2021/22. While the government has lifted import restrictions, mobile importers say it will take some time for the market to bounce back. What is MDMS? MDMS is a security system that enables the telecom regulator - Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) to implement policies that secure, monitor, and manage end-user mobile devices. Once the MDMS comes into force, the entry of 'grey' devices into the market will be stopped as SIM cards on unregistered phone sets will not work. The NTA has built a centralized system that keeps a record of mobile phones after their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is registered with it. Every mobile phone has a unique 15-digit IMEI number. IMEI numbers of officially imported mobile phones are initially registered by the importing company. As per the law, the telecom regulator has to give a type approval for the phones before it is imported into the country. NTA looks at the lab report of the mobile phone sets. After a mobile phone has been manufactured, the company needs to obtain the IMEI number from the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM). The importer will send the list of IMEI numbers to the authority, and the authority will verify it. The authority then checks the IMEI number with the data of the GSM. If it is found good, the authority provides a no-objection letter to the customs, and the customs office will check whether the mobile that has been imported is IMEI listed or not. This way, the system helps to ensure that genuine devices are imported. Once the phone is connected to the mobile network, the IMEI number is detected with the help of the system. If the mobile has not arrived through formal channels, then it will be blocked. So, to use a mobile phone, it needs to be registered. Customers who have purchased their sets from official dealers are not required to register their phones.