Latest news with #Nepali
Time Business News
2 hours ago
- Business
- Time Business News
One Year On, Indians Pay Freely in Nepal While Nepalese Are Still Denied QR Access in India
New Delhi– Despite India and Nepal signing a memorandum of understanding over a year ago to enable cross-border digital payments, a one-sided implementation has persisted. Indian visitors in Nepal have been using UPI-enabled apps to pay via QR codes since mid-2023, but Nepali citizens are still unable to use the same facility while in India. Nepali officials attribute the delay to reluctance on the Indian side, despite Nepal's technical readiness and successful test runs. Nepal Rastra Bank has already approved the initiative, and trials like the one conducted by Nabil Bank in Mumbai last year have proven functional. Yet, the official rollout for Nepalis in India—initially scheduled for early 2025—remains stalled with no clear timeline. According to Nepali officials privacy to the matter, the official launch of QR-code-based payments in India has been delayed due to reluctance on the Indian side. One key challenge lies in the difference in transaction models between the two countries. In India, QR-based payments are typically free for users, whereas in Nepal, Indian users are charged a minimal 1.95% merchant fee per transaction. To make the system viable in India for Nepalis, commissions would need to be paid to Nepali banks, which currently lacks a sustainable framework. In March 2025, officials announced that a pilot phase allowing Nepalis to scan and pay in India would begin within two months. However, there has been no visible progress, raising concerns about commitment to cross-border digital inclusivity. The original agreement, signed on June 1, 2023, between Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL) and India's NPCI International Payments Limited, was intended to ease transactions for tourists, businesses, and students. But while the vision was bilateral, the execution so far remains largely one-directional. As bilateral tourism and trade grow, the inability of Nepalis to make seamless payments in India—while Indians enjoy full access in Nepal—raises questions about parity and reciprocity in digital finance cooperation between the two neighbours. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Time of India
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Bihar SIR exercise: No one has any problem except opposition, says BJP
File photo: BJP spokesperson Ajay Alok (ANI) NEW DELHI: BJP spokesperson Ajay Alok on Wednesday justified the ongoing SIR exercise of the voter list in Bihar , saying no one has any problem with it except the opposition, whose concerns are driven by vote bank politics. "The opposition parties are very worried about its Bangladeshi, Rohingya, Myanmar, Nepali brothers. Election Commission is doing its job. 88% people have uploaded their forms. No one has any problem with this except the opposition," Alok told reporters. Alok also accused Congress neta Rahul Gandhi of being a "habitual liar and offender" when it comes to disrespecting the armed forces. Hitting back at Rahul for his "circus" jibe at the govt's handling of China issue after EAM S Jaishankar met Chinese President Xi Jinping, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said he would advise the LoP in LS to cooperate on foreign policy matters & avoid making comments "against the country". "When our foreign minister goes to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting and if he does not meet his Chinese counterpart and the country's president, then who will he meet? Italy's PM?" Alok asked. Tagging a media report on Jaishankar calling on Xi and apprising him of recent developments in India-China ties, Rahul had said the minister was "running a full-blown circus aimed at destroying India's foreign policy". Two days after a court granted bail to Rahul in a defamation case filed over his remarks against the armed forces, Alok accused him of being a "habitual liar and offender".
The Hindu
15 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Calcutta High Court dismisses teachers' petitions against new SSC recruitment rules
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has dismissed all the petitions regarding the School Service Commission (SSC)'s new recruitment notification where 'untainted' teachers who lost their jobs after the Supreme Court ruling had petitioned against many of the subject seats being reduced, and the eligibility criteria of the 2025 exams being different from 2016 making the process harder for older candidates. The division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das De delivered the judgement on Wednesday (July 16, 2025). They said that they will not interfere in the new notification issued by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) new recruitment notification. A week back, Justice Saugata Bhattacharya of Calcutta High Court had only said that the government must take out the 'tainted' candidates out of the new examination; this judgement was upheld at the division bench ruling on Wednesday. Mehboob Mondal, a representative of the 'Joggya Sikkhak Sikkhika Adhikar Mancha' (Deserving Teachers' Rights Forum) told The Hindu that the new rules of the 2025 recruitment is not allowing special candidates to fill up forms, even candidates with 40-45% marks are barred, but all of them had cracked the exams in 2016. This has left them in the lurch, even though they have served in schools as untainted teachers for over seven years. He also added that some subjects like Chemistry or Nepali language have no seats in 2025 exams, but the same teachers got jobs in 2016, now they have no option but to skip the exams and lose their jobs. 'We had petitioned that we should not have to compete with fresh candidates because we had already passed the exam. The 2016 panel should have been separately recruited. We are losing all faith in the judiciary because they failed us and we are being punished and losing jobs because of the government's corruption,' Habibullah, a representative of JSSAM said. He also shared doubts that the same WBSSC body, which was caught in a corrupt recruitment process by the Supreme Court, has been directed to conduct the rehiring process. 'What is the guarantee that they will not steal our jobs again? Finding the tainted candidates cannot be our responsibility. It was either the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) responsibility or the government's responsibility, why are we being criminalised for their lacking?' Mr Habibullah added. Previously, the JSSAM representatives had said that they were against filling out the new recruitment form because they are 'untainted' candidates, the last date for which is July 21. They wanted a review petition at the Supreme Court before the last date, but it has not yet been listed. According to the representatives, this has led to a section of the 'untainted' teachers filling up the new recruitment form to stay on the safe side, so they have a shot at getting back to their old jobs. After the verdict was announced, state lawyer and Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee called it a victory for the state. 'The court has recognized the state's rights. The Supreme Court has said that the recruitment process has to be started according to the 2016 recruitment process. The court did not accept the unreasonable request. We also have to consider how many people have come in the last nine years,' Mr Banerjee added. According to the last WBSSC notification for the 2025 recruitment, the experienced teachers will get a 10 marks advantage. This is the only leeway that the 2016 panel of teachers will get in the fresh hiring process. The petitions were in response to the Supreme Court ruling, which upheld the cancellation of approximately 26,000 appointments made during the 2016 recruitment process conducted by the WBSSC, citing irregularities. On April 17, the top court allowed 'untainted' candidates to continue in service until December 31, or until a fresh selection process is completed.
SBS Australia
a day ago
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Seven Nepali community groups in Victoria receive state government grants to celebrate Teej and Gaura Parva
Subscribe to the SBS Nepali podcast here . Disclaimer: We would like to inform you that the opinions expressed in the segment are those of the talents themselves.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
'How will you...?': Why Asaduddin Owaisi warned youth against getting addicted to reels
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has warned the youth against getting addicted to reels, saying too much consumption of such content can "destroy brains". He also linked his warning to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls ahead of the assembly election in Bihar. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi warned the youth against harmful impacts of getting addicted to reels.(ANI) Urging all to read newspapers instead of scrolling through reels, Owaisi on Tuesday said, "You can't become leaders, doctors, engineers, or scientists if you waste time watching reels. Watching reels only destroys the brain and wastes time." Invoking the controversy surrounding the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, Owaisi asked the youth how will they answer Booth Level Officers if they remain engrossed into reels. "I mean what is going on in Bihar in the name of intensive revision, many people are being called Bangladeshi, Nepali and from Myanmar... if a BLO comes up to you, how will you answer their questions?" Owaisi asked during an address in Hyderabad. The Election Commission's SIR exercise recently sparked a controversy, and Owaisi has also spoken against it, questioning the poll panel's authority to determine citizenship of Indians. "Who gave the ECI the power to determine whether someone is a citizen or not? Our party was the first to say that SIR is NRC through the back door," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. He also demanded the results of the last time this exercise was carried out in 2003, and how may foreign nationals were revealed at the time. "We demand the number of those BLOs. We will ask our party members to meet those BLOs and ask them where the people from Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh are that they are talking about..." Owaisi said. As part of the exercise, the EC has so far collected 86.32% of enumeration forms, and the final round of door-to-door visits for this will soon take place.
