Khwopa Journal

The Role of Government Auditing for Combating Corruption and Promoting Integrity in Nepal

Baburam Bhul — 2023-12-29

The purpose of this article is to analyze the role of government auditing for corruption control and promoting integrity in the public administration of Nepal. This article utilizes content analysis that relies on a systematic literature review of secondary sources from relevant various sources, employing content analysis as the main research strategy. In terms of corruption control, Nepal's government auditing has been playing a crucial role in both preventive and promotional efforts, as well as corrective arrangements. Nevertheless, preventive actions are not always executed. The conclusions show that the government auditing has a major impact on fighting against corruption through Office of the Auditor General Nepal. This study also discovered that the amount of corruption and government performance had a substantial impact on governance. However, this article suggests that the competence of the auditor should be improved for making more responsible in identifying fraud and exposing corruption activities. Thus, if auditing is to play a more prominent role in the fight against corruption, auditing standards shall include specific requirements relating to control corruption, government auditors must co-operate and exchange information with other investigating agencies, auditing techniques should be made more robust to detect corruption, and the auditing profession must embrace effective preventive measures such as anticorruption recognitions and certifications. The article’s findings strongly support the promotion of good governance and the utilization of government auditing and its recommendations to enhance transparency and accountability in Nepal's governance, benefiting political parties, governments, civic organizations, and other stakeholders.

Memory in T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land

Komal Prasad Phuyal — 2023-12-29

The greatest of the issues in modernism emanates from memory in human beings. It is the first condition for people to realize what they have lost in their life, resulting from World War I. Often known as the manifesto of modernism in the West, T. S. Eliot’s 1922 poem The Wasteland deals with the intellectual, social, political, and quotidian issues of the people, basically resulting from memory. The people begin to value the glory of the past as the epitome in contemporary times, meaning that they have been driven out of paradise now. In other words, memory became a tool to rewrite a new Bible in the twentieth century following the trail of John Milton’s The Paradise Lost (1667). The phantoms of negative memories torment the people in the West: for instance, the people set out in search of Christ or metonymically the Holy Grail. Most importantly, the poetic persona is Tiresias who still remembers both his lives. He searches for the images that best represent the experience of living in the Western world shattered at the hand of the destructive forces. The centers of the civilizations have undergone massive destruction and they have remained unable to reconstruct themselves. Both the poet and the poetic persona go through the pages of the books of the Western and Eastern body of knowledge to identify the remedy for the fragmentation or loss of the binding principles of human society. This study aims to explore how memory is treated in modernist literature to examine the presence of history in making sense of the presence. The Eastern myths remind the Western world of the cure to the existing problems of society. In fact, this paper claims that The Wasteland builds its argument in the treatment of memory as the prime factor in the articulation of the central vision about the West in general and modernism in particular.

The Narrative of Abjection and Dissidence: Reading The Voice of Bhumika

Kumari Lama — 2023-12-29

The paper explores the narrative of abjection and analyzes the voices of dissent portrayed in Bhumika Shrestha’s autobiography Bhumika: Autobiography of a Transgender (2018). Shrestha is a trans-woman, who suffers due to the established gender concept, normative heterosexuality and encounters consistent criticism, hatred and rejection from the society. Nonetheless, she dares to challenge the established social values and gender austerity. She rejects and resists against the patriarchal gender coding and struggles hard for her identity claim. She has been raising her voice for the rights of sexual and gender minorities since she got associated with Blue Diamond Society. To explore the established idea of gender and abjection, I have analyzed the life experience of Bhumika employing theoretical concept of Judith Butler that sheds light on the discriminatory concept of ‘liveable’ and ‘unliveable’ bodies in terms to sexual orientations.

Toxic Masculinity and Compulsive Heteronormativity in Konkona Sen’s Movie, A Death in the Gunj

Palistha Ranjitkar — 2023-12-29

Gender is one of the most contested subjects in literature. Some prominent scholars like Judith Butler have argued that gender is not innate, but performative. For instance, masculinity is a construct which is always believed to resonate with a compulsive heteronormativity. The fact that men have to behave like an actual “macho; the giver ; the doer completely contrasting feminine virtues such as the emotional , passive and the receiver is prescriptive of the ways through which heteronormativity has become naturalized since the beginning of the civilization. This paper looks into the subtle details about the rooted construct of heteronormativity resembled in the movie “A death in the Gunj’(2016) . Here the protagonist Shutu faces spiritual conflict between his naturally innate virtues like kindness, sensitivity, introversion which goes quite contrary to the compartmentalized masculine virtues such as assertiveness, bravery, manhood and a pressure to maintain a proper “macho” personality. This research looks into the prominent crisis of masculinity and gender performativity that the world faces today. Is it only essential to venerate the so called masculine virtues like dominance and assertiveness? If yes , what about kindness, sensitivity and the capacity to feel emotions that are so much sidelined as feminine virtues? What is the position of man in the modern society? The movie “ A death in Gunj “ paradoxically opens up these hard questions through the characterization of Shuttu who remains unloved and forsaken and drives himself towards the annals of self-destruction and suicide for the reason that he finds himself very vaguely suited to fit into the societal constructs of what makes a proper “man’. This research employs Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity to look into all these prominent gender questions. It also employs Lacan’s construct of symbolic order where language is a source of both alienation and subjectivity considering the fact that while language structures our understanding of self and reality, it alienates from the self that stemmed from the imaginary order from our authentic selves.

Mind, Language and Thinking in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot

Raj Kishor Singh — 2023-12-29

This paper claims that mind, language and thinking have triangular relationship. It raises an issue whether language is necessary in the process of thinking. It is very debatable issue whether language and thinking are interdependent or independent elements. Role of the mind must be significant in the process of thinking. Language is a tool for thinking. This triangular issue of mind, language and thinking has been brought into the scene when Lucky, in Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, is sitting and thinking. Lucky’s thinking inspires us to explore the triangular issue. After analysis of the data and the language used in thinking by Lucky, it is discovered that mind is a catalyst and language and thoughts are substances in the mind. Benjamin Lee Whorf's hypothesis states that the influence of language on thinking is obligatory. Oscar Wilde remarks that language is the parent, and not the child, of thought. Bertrand Russell claims the role of language is to make possible thoughts which cannot exist without it but processing is in the mind as inner or mental speech. Language influences our thinking and, thereby, our thoughts.

Current Trends in Writing Thesis at Master’s Level in English of Humanities and Social Sciences

Raj Kumar Gurung — 2023-12-29

This paper explores the current trends in writing thesis in M. A. English. Both the supervisors and master’s level students encounter several problems during the thesis writing process. Most of the students do not update the MLA and APA formats and other components of thesis. Then some students purchase the readymade thesis from the market or hire the ghost writers. This study analyzes the problems faced by the thesis supervisors and the students. Thesis writing has been a challenging job for the students because of various contexts and issues. It intends to generate some concrete suggestions to settle the issues of thesis supervising and writing by investigating and identifying the genuine problems. The current trend of thesis writing is not satisfactory. This paper aims to create the friendly environment between the supervisors and thesis writing students so that thesis writing process becomes simpler. The study adopts the survey methods and document analysis for the discussion of the issues raised. This project focuses on these questions: Why has thesis writing become the most challenging task? Who is responsible, the supervisors or students? What are the ways of making thesis supervising and writing friendlier? This study aims to bridge the gap between supervisors and the students; and open the avenue for the further research to bring out result oriented and less problematic thesis

Cultural Tourism in the Tourism Industry in Patan Area, Nepal

Rohit Kumar Shrestha — 2023-12-29

The objectives of the study are to determine the benefit of cultural tourism for local people around Patan Darbar Square and assess the association between external tourist arrival for cultural tourism and income earning of Patan Darbar Square. This study was also based on both primary and secondary data The study used a descriptive research design and a case study method. This study adopted a qualitative method for the first objective of the study and a quantitative method for the second objective. Interviews were used for primary data. Interviews were conducted with culturalists, employees of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, and social workers within Patan Darbar Square in Nepal. Judgmental sampling techniques were adopted to collect primary data. Secondary data was collected from Lalitpur Metropolitan City of Lalitpur district. The simple correlation was used for quantitative data analysis whereas thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. According to the interview of research participants, cultural tourism provides benefits for local people around Patan Darbar Square in varied ways. There is a low positive correlation between external tourist arrival for cultural tourism and the income earning of Patan Darbar Square in Nepal. Practical implication of this study is that the metropolitan city should preserve and mobilize several tangible and intangible cultural heritages to earn much more foreign exchange.

Assessing Groundwater Level and Water Quality in Bhaktapur Municipality: A Pre-Monsoon and Post-Monsoon Analysis

Rohinee Bishwas Mandal — 2023-12-29

Groundwater is a crucial natural resource for sustaining human life, agriculture, and ecosystems worldwide. In many Asian countries, including Nepal, groundwater has emerged as a dependable source of water, particularly in areas where surface water is scarce or unreliable. For instance, in Bhaktapur Municipality (BM), Nepal, groundwater has been contributing around 50–60% of the total water supply. However, over the past few years, extensive extraction, alterations in the land use pattern, and other anthropogenic interventions have posed serious threats to this highly valuable resource. As such, groundwater monitoring is an essential primary step for understanding the status of the groundwater resource. Meanwhile, the Water Quality Index (WQI) is an effective tool that can turn complex water quality data into simplified information that is understandable and usable by the public. This study aimed to understand the groundwater levels and further comprehend the groundwater quality using the WQI of the BM. The groundwater level data and water samples were collected from 24 spatially distributed wells of the BM in the post-monsoon of 2021 and the pre- and post-monsoon of 2022. Laboratory analysis was carried out to determine the nine physico-chemical water quality parameters, and the obtained parametric values were compared with those of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Drinking Water Quality Standard (NDWQS). The results show deeper groundwater levels in the core area than the periphery, and the water quality getting poorer from post-monsoon 2021 to post-monsoon 2022. The EC, TDS, pH, phosphate, chloride, and hardness of most of the samples were within the permissible limits of WHO and NDWQS, whereas the turbidity, ammonia, and alkalinity of many samples exceeded the permissible limits. Average WQI revealed that the majority of the samples were unsuitable for drinking and suitable only for household and irrigation purposes. This study provides insights into managing water demands, addressing issues of water scarcity, and highlighting the urgent need for additional research and policymaking to improve drinking water quality and the sustainability of groundwater management in BM.

Assessing Washing Methods for Reduction of Pesticide Residues in Green Leafy Vegetables

Sajana Khagi — 2023-12-29

The use and import of pesticides have been increasing each year to increase agricultural production. The most highly consumed pesticide in Nepal is fungicide followed by insecticide, herbicide and others. Exposure to these pesticides may result in serious health effects. The main route of exposure is the consumption of contaminated fruits and vegetables. Many studies have shown to reduce the pesticide residues level through various culinary and processing treatments. This experiment was carried out to compare the effectiveness of four washing methods to reduce pesticide residues in vegetables. These comprised of running water method, washing by using NaHCO₃, NaCl, and vinegar solution. The leafy vegetable samples, Bok choy (N=61) were purchased from local markets and analyzed for the contents of the two pesticides, 2,4-D and atrazine. Samples were extracted using Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) method and analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with stable isotopically-labelled internal standards. The quality of the method was examined in terms of accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ). Washing vegetables under running tap water significantly decreased (p<0.05) 2,4-D residues by 50%. However, atrazine residues were not reduced significantly from washing under running water but washing with vinegar had a significant effect. This study suggests that washing vegetables before consumption is important to reduce intake of pesticides and associated health risks.

Homelessness within Homeland: Oppression of Hazara in Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

Sangita Gajamer — 2023-12-29

In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, I explore the ethnic tension between the Pashtun and Hazara communities and the Pashtun's suppression of the Hazara community. Hosseini advocates for the oppressed Hazara minority in the novel, as a member of the ruling Pashtun community, he unconsciously glorifies his own racial superiority by presenting the Hazara as voiceless and miserable, unable to survive without the aid of the Pashtun community. Regarding Hazaras in the novel, the concept of citizen is not applicable since they are discriminated against and excluded by Sunni extremists in Afghanistan. Sunnis are “privileged,” and this position has created a situation of discrimination and inequality towards the underprivileged Hazaras, and they are denied to have equal rights. Hazaras in Afghanistan are not treated as “citizen subjects,” and they have been living in a stateless condition, full of discrimination, inequality, and mistreatment. To deal with the issues, the internal displacement of Hazara communities and the historical background of refugees in Afghanistan, I have brought the ideas of Derrida, Foucault, Hannah Arendt, Balibar, Hemel, Agamben, Ranciere, as my theoretical tools as well as other references from migration, displacement, and refugee and try to connect the refugee crisis of The Kite Runner in a global spectrum.

Effect of Corruption, Income Inequality, and Unemployment on Poverty in Context of Nepal

Suban Bijukchhen — 2023-12-29

The aim of this study is to look into the connections between unemployment, economic inequality, and poverty in Nepal. In the study, variables including absolute poverty, CPI index score, Gini coefficient, and unemployment are used with data from 2000 to 2020. The Toda Yamamoto test was used in the study to determine whether the variables were causally related because not all data were stationary, even at the second difference. Additionally, the stability was evaluated using a cointegration test, and the normalcy test was observed using a descriptive analysis. According to the study's findings, poverty in Nepal is significantly influenced by corruption, income inequality, and unemployment. The variables are found to have a direct or indirect correlation with one another. Therefore, the study comes to the conclusion that preventing poverty in Nepal would be difficult without reducing corruption, economic disparity, and unemployment. Policymakers may find the findings helpful in creating plans to combat poverty and advance the nation's economy.

HRD Programs and Employees’ Innovative Behavior in Nepalese Organizations: Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment

Yogendra Adhikari — 2023-12-29

This study explores the relationship between HRD programs, employees' innovative behavior, and the mediating role of psychological empowerment in the Nepalese organizational context. HRD programs are crucial for improving employees' knowledge, skills, and abilities, which can lead to improved job performance and innovation. Psychological empowerment, which refers to employees' belief in their ability to control their work and make decisions, can be a critical factor in promoting innovative behavior. There were 52984 employees from banking, insurance, and hotel industry as population from which, 607 were taken as sample using disproportionate sampling method. This study has adopted a quantitative research design. It has adopted a descriptive, correlational, and explanatory research design approach. The study has used tools like exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling to explore, confirm, and test the relationships among the variables. This study suggests that HRD programs can influence employees' innovative behavior in both direct and indirect ways by promoting psychological empowerment as well. The findings of this study can help organizations in Nepal design and implement HRD programs that encourage innovation and creativity by promoting psychological empowerment, ultimately leading to improved organizational performance.

Assessment of Toxic Heavy Metal Content in Children Toys

Anjana Suwal — 2023-12-29

The children toys are the most favorable things for children to play. But these children toys are not safe from toxic chemicals too. There is presence of different toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead, barium, chromium, zinc etc. The standard value for different heavy metals is set up by the government of Nepal that came into effective from July 15, 2017. The standard was set up for the 12 toxic heavy metals as cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, zinc, antimony, arsenic, barium, bisphenol A, bromine, selenium and phthalates. The study was focused on the study of the compliance of toxic heavy metals in children toys with the national standard. For the study total 52 toys were collected from different places of Nepal: Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Chitwan, Janakpur and Nepalgunj from the local vendors to the supermarkets. The toys were generally made up of plastic, rubber, metal, foam etc. After the collection and sampling of the toys they were tested in the lab of Nepal Handicraft Association of Nepal Bureau of Standard and Metrology (NBSM) by the X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) technology. Among the 52 toys, no any heavy metals were detected in 15 toys and 37 toys were detected with multiple toxic heavy metals. The heavy metals detected in the toys were lead, cadmium, bromine, chromium, zinc and barium. Even most of the detected result is under the compliance it is very serious issue that the non-compliance result of heavy metals like lead is very much more (4688 ppm) than the standard value (90 ppm) in the toy: tortoise. In the same way, 22 children toys have the labelling and rest do not have the labelling. But the labelled children toys don’t have the labelling about the chemical safety. Though the national standard has been formulated the local or the parents themselves are unaware about the toxic heavy metals present in the toys. As well there has raised a big confusion in the standard of the toxic heavy metals as the new standard has been published omitting the standard of the heavy metals as phthalates, BPA, bromine and zinc. Thus, these points should be considered in order to implement the standard effectively and to save the children from the chemical hazards.

Effect of Debt and Export on GDP of Nepal: an Empirical Analysis

Nabindra Lal Karmacharya — 2023-12-29

This study aims to investigate the intricate relationship between Nepal's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), total debt, and export. Nepal, as a developing nation, faces numerous economic challenges, making it imperative to understand the dynamics of these key economic indicators and their interrelation. This study applies quantitative research methods, including statistical analysis, to examine the long-term trends, patterns, and causal relationships among these variables. The research begins by providing an overview of Nepal's economic landscape, highlighting its reliance on export-oriented industries and the significant impact of external debt on the national economy. A thorough literature review is conducted to identify existing theories and empirical studies related to GDP, total debt, and export, providing a foundation for the subsequent analysis. The study employs time-series data provided by NRB database, covering a significant period of 1975 to 2020 AD, to construct a robust empirical framework. Various econometric techniques, such as correlation analysis, regression models, normality test, are applied to explore the relationship between Nepal's GDP, total debt, and export using EViews 10. The findings of the study contribute to a deeper understanding of the economic dynamics in Nepal. The results reveal important insights into the impact of total debt on GDP growth and the role of export in driving economic development. Furthermore, the study uncovers potential feedback effects and spillover mechanisms among these variables, providing policymakers with valuable information for formulating effective economic strategies and debt management policies. Overall, this study sheds light on the complex relationship between Nepal's GDP, total debt, and export, offering valuable insights into the country's economic performance.

Relationship between Institutional Structure and Economic Growth in Nepal

Niroj Duwal — 2023-12-29

The macroeconomic performances of any countries are influenced by the with institutional structure. This study aims to estimate the effects of capital formation, labor force participation, and basically institutional index of economic freedom; size of government, legal system and property rights, freedom to trade internationally, sound money and regulation on economic performance using time series data from 2001 to 2020 using ARDL model. The results shows that the gross capital formation, the labor force participation rate have positive relation with GNI per capita whereas the legal system and property rights have negative relation with GNI per capita increases. In long run, only the annual growth of gross capital formation has significant relation with GNI per capita growth but rest of the variables are insignificant. It can be concluded that the institutions are less likely efficient. The bureaucratic quality is least effective, doing business is costly due to weak social structure. The existing institutions have not sufficient level of regulations legally. It can be claimed that there is not efficient set of institutional structure which is valid in every country as a good institution in Nepal.

Corportae Governance Issues in Nepalese Banks and Financial Insti-tutions and Legal Settelement at the Supreme Court of Nepal

Rashesh Vaidya — 2023-12-29

Corporate governance includes a set of relationships among Board of Directors, management team, employees, and other stakeholders of an organization. Corporate governance is a mechanism that determines the setting of goals, attainment of objectives, and monitoring of the performance of an entity. Banks and financial institutions (BFIs.) in Nepal have been under great concern regarding good corporate governance from the regulatory body, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), a central bank of Nepal. After back-to-back off-site supervision and on-site supervision, issues of corporate governance have come to the surface. Issues of corporate governance at Nepalese BFIs go beyond the picture reflected in the books of accounts and financial indicators. Hence, issues of corporate governance have been raised in the courtrooms of Nepal. Thus, the paper conducted a case study on the issues of corporate governance within Nepalese BFIs. In such a scenario, the Supreme Court of Nepal, in most cases, gave verdicts in favor of the central bank, found the top managerial personnel to be the main culprit, and ordered it to settle the issues as corporate governance comes under the jurisdiction of NRB.

An Analysis of the Determinants of Bank Stability in the Banking Industry of Nepal

Krishna Prasad Gwachha — 2023-12-29

Bank stability refers to the ability of a financial institution to maintain consistent and secure operations, even in the face of economic challenges or shocks. This research study examines the determinants of bank stability in the Nepalese banking industry. The study analyzed data from commercial banks over a wide time range from 2001 to 2023, utilizing the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model technique. The study found that bank size, funding risk, liquidity risk, and GDP growth have a positive and significant impact on bank stability in Nepal. The study also found that credit risk has a negative impact on bank stability. This implies that higher levels of credit risk increase the likelihood of bank instability in Nepal. Banks must give utmost priority to effectively managing and controlling bank size, funding risk, liquidity risk, and fostering GDP growth in order to bolster bank stability and fortify the country's financial system. However, the study also found that credit risk has a negative impact on bank stability. This implies that higher levels of credit risk increase the likelihood of bank instability in Nepal. The implications of the research study for policymakers, regulators, and banks, emphasize the need for effective risk management practices, adequate capitalization, diversified funding sources, and a supportive economic environment to ensure a stable banking sector. The implications of this finding hold great importance for policymakers, as they highlight the crucial role of preserving current bank stability in order to attain even greater stability in the future.

Effect of Governance on Tourist Arrival in Nepal

Naniram Sapkota — 2023-12-29

It is believed that governance has a direct impact on all sectors of the state. This paper aims to examine the effect of governance on the tourism sector by adopting the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGIs) produced by Kaufmann et al. (1999). For analyzing tourism sector performance, the annual number of tourists arriving in Nepal and their average length of stay have been taken separately from 2005 to 2019 as dependent variables. The six indicators of WGIs are taken as independent variables which include political stability and absence of violence, government effectiveness, voice and accountability, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. The data were collected from secondary sources and analyzed by descriptive statistics using multiple-line graphs and regression models. The result shows that most of the WGIs insignificantly explained both the number of tourists and their length of stay. The finding differs for political stability and the absence of violence which significantly explains the relationship with the average length of stay per tourists. In a nutshell, the study concludes that governance-related indicators have not found a significant impact on tourist arrival in Nepal. Further, the findings of this study suggest reforming the existing level of all worldwide governance indicators for better performance of the tourism sector.

Impact of Debt on the Economic Growth of Nepal

Rashmi Baral — 2023-12-29

Public debt and Economic growth have always been the major topic of discussion in the Nepalese economy. Nepal, an underdeveloped country, is always trying to take a leap towards development but both external debt and domestic debt have been the major challenging tasks to perform in the economy. This study has empirically explored the relationship between foreign debt, internal debt and economic growth in Nepal. The time series data for the period of 1975-2021 AD has been applied. Unit root test with Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) model has been used to test data stationarity. The result of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model shows that internal debt has positive relationship with GDP whereas foreign debt has negative relationship with GDP. Toda-Yamamoto causality test method has been applied because of the non -stationarity of the data at level. The stationarity of data was seen only at first difference and second difference. Toda-Yamamoto Causality Test found the casual relationship between foreign debt, internal debt and economic growth in Nepal. The test is set at 5 percent level of significance. According to the results of the study, foreign debt and internal debt have unilateral relationship with GDP i.e. economic growth. This study shows there is long-run unidirectional causal relationship between foreign debt to GDP and also between internal debt to GDP in Nepal.