Narrow Results

The private sector in Nepal participates in the regulated import and distribution of three types of subsidized fertilizer. However, almost 55% of the agrovets (family-owned microenterprises) that retail agricultural inputs do not comply. Many farmers rely on the fertilizer purchased through these agrovets, including subsidized ones. There is no private sector importer of the three types of fertilizer covered by the subsidy program, which indicates that the agrovets either acquire these through leakage in the government distribution system or through illegal cross-border trade from India, both of which are considered legal noncompliance. We discern the determinants for this noncompliant behavior of agrovets using logistic regression. The results from logistic regression suggest that the agrovets that are more likely to comply are registered, have membership in business associations, and have a higher number of competitors. Those with diversified business portfolios and covering a greater number of districts are less likely to comply. Key informants, consisting of both public and private sector stakeholders, were solicited for their views on solving this noncompliant behavior. The private sector unanimously asserts the need for deregulation of fertilizer imports and the participation of agrovets in the distribution of the subsidized fertilizer. In contrast, the public sector is skeptical of the ability and trustworthiness of the private sector in the import and distribution of quality fertilizer. We propose a middle ground to mitigate private sector noncompliance and suggest a policy revisit to increase the fertilizer supply and distribution efficiency.

Coin-sized Micro-needles Patch to deliver Insulin: An innovation by Shanghai University Scientists

Stem Cells Help Researchers Study The Effects of Pollution on Human Health

A Novel and Robust Muscle Activity Onset Detection Technique by Using an Unsupervised Electromyogram Learning Framework

Early Modern Humans and Neanderthals were close bedfellows

FANCD2 and REV1 Cooperate in the Protection of Nascent DNA Strands in Response to Replication Stress

Spiders' Foraging Strategies Have Cascading Effects on Litter Decomposition Rates

Yingli Announces Sale of 18.8 MW Solar Power Plant in the UK to NextEnergy Solar Fund

China's Award Winning Desertification Control in Kubiqi Desert

Earthquake Early Warning System for Nepal

Mechanical Coupling Mechanism of a Mechanical Force-sensing Channel Protein Discovered by IBP Scientists

Jiahui International Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital to Co-Develop Women's Health Center of Excellence in Shanghai

Big Grain1: The ‘Mr. BIG’ for Crops to Grow Bigger by Regulating Auxin Transport in Rice

When there is no Queen in the house, Asian Hive Bees Avoid Risky Foraging for Reproduction

UNICEF HK joins hands with Government to help Mothers sustain Breastfeeding

Fresenius Medical Care Springs into Action after Deadly Tianjin Explosion

BRH Medical Receives Patents in Both the USA and in China for Its Innovative Wound Healing Therapy.

Climate Change Could Hurt Coffee, Help Banana Production.

Merck Invests €250 Million in Production Value Chain in China.

Biomedical Engineers Design and Test an Improved Method for Healing Burns.

Keratins Function as Markers for Dead Cells.

First Genome Research on Congenital Heart Disease Launched in China.

HONG KONG NEWS – POND Awareness Calls on the Medical Profession to Address Serious Lack of Protocols in Place to Screen, Manage and Prevent Post-Operative Delirium

This paper assesses the value of using Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to account for the spatially and temporally diverse and diffuse potential impacts of hydropower development in South Asia’s Koshi basin. A policy and practice review and key stakeholder interviews identified opportunities for SEA to improve existing planning procedures, and also barriers to effective adoption. Whilst stakeholders are interested in employing SEA to evaluate cumulative impacts, institutional blockages and an economic development imperative for power generation leave little space for consideration of alternative scenarios as part of SEA. The analysis is conducted through the formulation and application of a conceptual framework (CFW) for SEA best practice which is then used to identify priority next-steps for a more dynamic application of SEA in the region.

This paper discusses a design error case in a building project in Nepal, where the designer made the wrong assumptions in roof treatment work for waterproofing as well as for heat insulation purposes. Due to the design error, the project had faced profound roof leakage problems over 6000 sq. meters building area. The worst case was that the instructors and the students had to conduct training programs under the leaking roofs. Water proofing polymer not applied directly over concrete slab top and use of heavy concrete block as a heat insulation material were found to be the technical causes of roof leakage. However, carelessness from designer and supervisors also was profound for the leakage. The paper concludes with the lessons to be learned from the problem.

Despite the long-standing friendship between Nepal and China, their relationship has developed rather slowly since the reestablishment of democracy in Nepal in 1990, mainly due to the constant pressure from Western forces faced by Nepali political elite, as well as the ignorance of most democratic governments about balancing Nepal’s foreign relations, especially between its two giant neighbors, India and China. In recent years, however, the Nepali government has been trying to promote pragmatic cooperation with China in order to garner support for its own development. With the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in building the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI),” the China-Nepal relationship is likely to enter a new era. Based on a historical review of the development of China-Nepal relations, this article offers some suggestions on how to enhance their cooperative partnership in the future.

Water quality remains a significant issue and a source of serious health concern in the developing world. This paper investigates the water averting behavior at the household level by using a primary survey data from Siddharthangar, Nepal. While past studies have generally attributed averting behaviors to risk perception, we place a particular emphasis on the divergence between the household’s perception of their drinking water quality and the actual water quality level in driving the averting behavior. The findings indicate that the perception of the water quality affects a household’s decision to employ water treatment measures. Households that considered their water to be safe were less likely to treat their water. Furthermore, in addition to perception, the result also suggests the deviation between actual and perceived water quality level could also be a crucial element in the decision to employ water treatment measures. Households with divergence between risk perception and the objective water quality levels were less likely to treat their water and this result held across different specifications. In contrast, households with minimal deviation were more likely to employ treatment measures. Findings also suggest the source of drinking water, education level, income and the taste of the drinking water also drives the averting behavior.

The new economic strength of India has helped in expanding efforts in raising South–South Cooperation to a higher level to meet strategic foreign policy goals. Indian development cooperation has widened both in terms of quantum and modalities through which it extends assistance to the countries of the global South. This changing scenario has fostered various institutional changes that have taken place time to time, with an idea of impact assessment and evaluation of various development programs by India. The most recent change was the establishment of Development Partnership Administration (DPA) in 2012 within the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India.

With an increasing role as a development partner, India's active engagement in development partnership through bilateral, regional and multilateral flows is much evident. The notion and logic behind the various development projects that India has undertaken stem from the principles of South–South Cooperation. However, the question arises over the sustainability of these principles in developing countries in general and sustainability of the projects in particular, both of which are essentially heterogeneous in multiple dimensions. In this context, the chapter analyses India's experience of Small Development Projects (SDP) in Nepal and shows that presence of heterogeneity and chaos have created conditions that augur well for the application of the principles of a Southern partner.