Mountain fight

Everest rage is a result of the clash of two distinct climbing styles in the Himalaya, and was bound to happen sooner or later

On the month that Nepal is preparing to mark the 60^th anniversary of the first ascent of the world’s highest mountain by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Sherpa, the news of gangland-style fight on Mt Everest has come as a brutal reminder of just how much climbing has changed.

The partnership between Hillary and Tenzing marked the beginning of a long tradition of teamwork between Sherpas and their mountaineer employers who valued their stamina, endurance and sure-footedness at high altitude. But the under-current of resentment between the ‘sahibs’ and their hired help had been growing. It reached boiling point last Saturday on the Western Cwm.

A Buddha figure on the summit of Mount Everest

The incident on 27 April on the Lhotse Face below Camp III has shaken the mountaineering world, and divided the tourism fraternity into distinct camps depending on whose version of events they believe more. But the bottom line is that the worldwide publicity has hurt the reputation of both sides in the mountain fight.

It has also drawn attention to the over-commercialisation of the Everest industry that got international attention after the book and film ‘Into Thin Air’ by Jon Krakauer about the traffic jams on the summit ridge of Everest that led to the tragic loss of 12 lives in the spring of 1996.

The clash is between purists in mountaineering who say that the pioneering spirit of exploration and adventure has been eroded by large commercial expedition-style assaults on the mountain. Expedition climbing is a part of the Sherpas’ livelihood.

Jonathan Griffith (r), Ueli Steck (l) on a Facebook picture on the way to Kathmandu.

The fist-fight near Camp 3 this week between Sherpas and three world renowned Alpine-style climbers has been jokingly called the highest brawl in world history, and got worldwide attention in media, blogs and social networks.

Jonathan Griffith from Britain, Ueli Steck from Switzerland and Simone Moro from Italy climb Alpine-style which means they do not use Sherpas and climb in small groups of two or three without oxygen to climb some of the world’s most difficult faces.

Moro climbed Shisha Pangma South (8008 m) without oxygen in 27 hours in 1996, using skis in the descent from 7100 m. It was during his winter ascent of Annapurna South Face that his climbing companions Anatoli Boukreev and Dimitri Sobolev were killed in an avalanche.Steck climbed the difficult north face of Eiger when he was 18, and is reputedly one of the three best alpinists in Europe. He was part of the daring but unsuccessful rescue bid of Spanish climber Iñaki Ochoa de Olza in 2008, who had collapsed at nearly 8,000 m on Annapurna.

In this week’s fight, Steck sustained facial injuries from a rock thrown at him, and Moro survived a knife attack that hit his belt when a group of nearly 100 Sherpas attacked their tents when they descended to Camp II.

Simone Moro’s Facebook profile picture.

Jon Griffith told the Guardian: “There was a 50-minute period where we all thought we were going to get stoned to death.”

The attack was triggered by an altercation on the treacherous Lhotse Face where the Sherpas from different expeditions were fixing ropes. The trio were climbing freely, and had to traverse the rope at one particularly exposed spot on the slope.

The Sherpas say the three climbers continued climbing even after being asked not to, and at one point they met near the rope. Moro is said to have hurled expletives in Nepali at the Sherpas, as well as on the open walkie-talkie. Back at Camp II, it got physical.

Says a Namche-based businessman, echoing a popular sentiment there: “The western media as usual is lapping up the blogs by these three guys and the Sherpas haven’t had a chance to tell their side of the story. The three flouted the etiquette of mountaineering and demeaned them with foul language.”

On Monday at base Camp, Moro and his team and the Sherpas had a meeting in which both sides acknowledged their mistakes and promised not to repeat it.

Garrett Madison, a five-time Everest summiteer and guide wrote the first objective account of the fight in a blog on Outside Online saying: ‘In climbing … Mt Everest all the teams collaborate in working together to ultimately achieve a mutual goal to reach the top safely, and the Sherpa are a major part of this goal. I sincerely hope that this incident does not damage how the Sherpas perceive the foreigners who come to climb on their mountain.’

The Kathmandu airlift

Many people living in Kathmandu Valley’s densely populated core will not have much of a chance of survival when the next big   earthquack strikes. So disaster preparedness experts are turning their attention to making sure Nepal’s only international airport will be operational to fly in relief.

Historical records show that earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 and above have hit central Nepal regularly every 80 years on average. The last one was in 1934, when at least 10,000 people were killed in the Valley although the epicentre was 150km to the south in India.

An earthquake of the same intensity would kill more than 100,000 people outright in Kathmandu Valley, experts estimate, leaving double that number seriously injured and up to 1.5 million people homeless. Survivors will face serious shortages of food, shelter, and medicines. Highways leading to Kathmandu will have been blocked by landslides and the airport will be damaged.

@ 2012 GEO GOOGLE EARTH

PUTTING IT ON THE MAP: A Google Earth image shows how Kathmandu airport is now subsumed by the city.

A 7.0 magnitude quake in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, in 2010 killed 200,000 people and damaged the city’s Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport. Relief supplies couldn’t get in for three days until the US military repaired the runway and flew in air traffic controllers and navigation equipment.

Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport has only one runway and geological tests have shown that parts of it are vulnerable to liquefaction damage during an earthquake. Just thinking about it is scary for Kathmandu airport’s Operation Chief Deo Chandra Lal Karna. He says: “It is a huge challenge, but if all goes well we can be better prepared.”

Learning from the Haiti experience, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) recently prepared a ‘TIA Disaster Response Plan’ with help from the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Canada’s University of British Columbia. It lays out emergency response for the first 72 hours to repair damage, restore flight operations, prepare staging areas, and logistics for flying in relief.

The plan covers overseas humanitarian assistance for one month and housing for 1,000 emergency personnel in the open areas around the airport, including the golf courses. A team of engineers from the Nepal Army’s Kali Baksh Battalion have been trained by the Hawaii-based USACE on emergency repairs after an earthquake.

“We have learnt from Haiti’s disaster and lack of preparedness and want to avoid the same happening here in Nepal,” explains Punya Shakya, project director of TIA Improvement Project at CAAN. Kathmandu Valley needs about 4,000 tons of food every day and the currently airport can only receive 533 tons daily. The airport could be Kathmandu’s only lifeline to the outside world and will be the entry point for food, medicine, tents, and international rescue personnel. But unlike Haiti, which is only a two hour flight from Florida, Nepal is 10 hours away from the nearest US military base in the Pacific or Indian Ocean. Help from India could be limited because a big earthquake in Nepal would also devastate northern India.

TARIKU TESHALE

A US military C-130 at TIA

“We now have a plan that will ensure that our airport is more prepared and the Home Ministry will give full support to the response plan,” said Pradip Koirala, joint secretary and a senior member of the ministry’s disaster management unit.

In September, the airport authorities are organising a full-scale drill to rehearse rapid response and practice coordination between airport officials, the Home Ministry’s National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC), rescue and fire fighting services, the army, police, hospitals, and aid agencies.

The airport’s runway is 3,000m long and can accommodate military cargo jets like the C-4 and C-130s and wide-body 747s, but if jets will not be able to land. Bhairawa and Pokhara airports are being upgraded, but won’t be ready for at least three more years.

For now, the TIA Disaster Response Plan needs to be taken to another level: funding. The airport immediately needs $1 million for prepositioning of food and other emergency relief supplies and equipment. Another $10 million is needed for the airport to be fully prepared.

“The planning at the moment is at an advanced level, but there is a gap in funding support,” says Andrew Martin, head of UN’s Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which is part of the Nepal Risk Reduction Consortium.

Under the plan, the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) is supposed to take the lead in coordinating logistics with the government and locating humanitarian staging grounds.

Accident & Health Insurance

insurance products give you one less thing to worry about, should the unthinkable happen. There are various options in our Accident & Health Insurance Plan “Life Shield”, you can choose to get the ideal combination of benefits for you and your family which are as follows:

1.     Life Shield ( Lump sum Package ) : with lump sum benefits  in case of ND ,AD, D & PTD , AMR ,IH-A, AWI

2.     Life Shield (Life Time Income Package) : with benefits ND and per month benefit in case of AD,D & PTD

3.     Life Shield ( Combined Package ) : with benefits in case of ND ,AD, D & PTD , AMR ,IH-A, AWI

4.     Life Shield ( Accident & Sickness In – Hospital Income Package ) : with benefits in case of ND ,AD, D & PTD , AMR ,IH-A & S, A & S In – Hospital surgical expenseBenefits Details:
Natural Death (ND):
This benefit ensures that your family gets the basic income protection in the event of death.

Accidental Death, Dismemberment and Permanent Total Disability (AD, D & PTD) – LUMP SUM
Accidents are the leading causes of death and disability. Serious disabilities also cost the family more in terms of strain on finances. This Benefit provides a lump sum payment of cash to protect your family against this serious and potentially devastating risk.

Accidental Medical Reimbursement (AMR):
Accidents happen and happen frequently. Fortunately most are minor and can be treated at a clinic. This Benefit provides protection even against the most minor of injuries. We will pay for your medical bills, should you require them treated at any medical center.

Accident & Sickness In-Hospital Income up to 52 Weeks (IH – A & S): 
The last thing you need to worry about if you have to have a stay in the hospital is who will look after the children, the pets, or even the house. This Benefit provides you the added finances to cover whatever you feel is important during your stay so you can concentrate on getting well. You can use it for childcare, travel expenses, a private room or even help at home if you need it.

Accident Weekly Income (AWI):
Other injuries may prevent you from going to work. We recognize this and will replace part of this loss income with a cash compensation for your temporary disability.

Accidental Death, Dismemberment and Permanent Total Disability (AD, D & PTD) - LIFE TIME INCOME
Death and serious disabilities also cost the family more in terms of strain on finances. This benefit replaces this loss of income by providing monthly Income for life time, with a minimum guarantee of 20 years.

Accident & Sickness In-Hospital Surgical Expenses (A & S In-Hospital Surgical Expenses):
Some Injuries & Sickness at Hospital requires surgical procedure.  This benefit provides cash compensation for surgical expenses as per surgical schedule.

Overview

Covered under this plan
This plan covers Death, Disability, Accidental Medical Expenses and In – Hospital Income due to Accident & Sickness that commence or occur after the effective date of the Policy.

Key Features
•    If you have Life Shield you can go to the best Doctor / Hospital for even minor injuries as MetLife Alico will reimburse your Bills.
•    Anyone can afford it, for Rs. 3 to 4 per day you get protection against financial burden caused by unforeseen event like   accident.
•    It compensates your Income when you are unable to work or if you are hospitalized due to disability or sickness.
•    24 hours – World Wide Coverage.

Eligible: This plan is available to all applicants with the ages of 18 to 59 years.

Medical Examination: Not required.

Coverage of the plan: This plan provides 24 hours a day and 365 days world wide Protection at home, at work or during travelling

 Critical Care

Critical Care is designed to provide you and your family with the necessary financial protection if you are diagnosed and proved as suffering from any of following 31 illnesses : Stroke, Major Cancers, First Heart Attack, Serious Coronary Artery disease, Heart Valve Surgery, Fulminant Hepatitis, End Stage Liver Failure, Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, End Stage Lung diseases, Kidney Failure, Major Organ/ Bone Marrow Transplantation, Aplastic Anaemia, Loss of hearing(deafness), loss of speech, Muscular Dystrophy, Alzheimer’s disease / Sever Dementia, Motor Neurone disease, Parkinson’s disease, Benign Brain Tumour, Major Head Trauma, Bacterial Meningitis, Blindness ( loss of sight), Coma, Major burns, Multiple Sclerosis, Paralysis, Poliomyelitis, Encephalitis, Apallic Syndrome, Progressive Scleroderma, Systemic Lupus Erythematous with Lupus Nephritis.

In addition, it provides lump sum cash in case of death before any illness is diagnosed.

 Key Facts:

What are the possible consequences you may face if a Critical Illness is diagnosed?

•       May stop your current income

•       Financial burden on your family

Critical Care Policy will provide you lump sum cash for the treatment to protect you from financial crisis in such event.

• Eligible Age :18- 59 years
• Term : 1 year ( renewable up to 5 years )

Credit Care

It covers the Life of Insured Borrower. Credit Care pays to Financial Institution the Loan amount if Insured Borrower dies ( or becomes Permanent Total Disability ) before the payment of Loan amount.

•                  Eligible Age (of borrower): 18 to 59 Years                                                                                                                         

•                 Insurance term : as per term of loan

•                Premium mode : Annually

Micro Insurance

It covers the life of borrower of microfinance institutions. It pays to microfinance Institution the Loan amount if Insured Borrower dies before the payment of Loan amount.

NEPAL ECONOMY

Nepal, one of the world’s most breathtakingly beautiful countries, is also one of its least wealthy. Primarily an agrarian economy, Nepal grows her own grain, sugarcane and tobacco. Jute is grown and processed in local factories. Industry includes carpet manufacture, jute, cigarettes, sugar and oilseed mills, cement and brick production. Imports, which far outstrip export, include heavy machinery, petroleum and fertilizer and as you will realize in any middling town even, soap, shampoo and other fast moving consumer goods. Exports are carpets, leather goods, jute products and clothing.Major trade partners are India, the USA, the UK, Singapore, Japan and Germany.

Tourism is obviously a heavyweight industry and a source of precious foreign exchange.
Foreign aid plays a major role in Nepal’s economic life. Infrastructure development projects and environmental conservation are areas where the government’s efforts find willing international support. Of late the government has set in motion measures of financial prudence by cutting back on expensive subsidies and cutting down on its erstwhile bulky bureaucracy.
GDP: $26.2 billion (1998 estimate) purchasing power parity
Per capita Income: $1100 per annum, purchasing power parit

The Benfits and Importance of Life Insurance Policies

Life Insurance is considered to be an important part of an individual’s investment portfolio, not necessarily to accumulate wealth, but to feel financially secure. Other then this when you opt for a life insurance policy you enjoy other benefits also, like tax-deduction options, and in some cases long term capital gains. What is important when you opt for a policy is the term and plan related to that particular policy. Always remember Life Insurance is primarily made keeping your family and those who are dependent on you in mind. There are various companies that would ask you to opt for a policy from them, and incase if you are an amateur investor and try to push things in a hurry, you might end up settling for a wrong deal. Here, we will discuss on a few guidelines that an individual should follow prior to opting for a policy or while assessing an insurance plan. 

When you decide to invest in Life Insurance, it is imperative that you understand your financial status, your future liabilities & commitments and then opt for a policy that would suit your needs in the longer run. Insurance is by and large regarded as one of the best savings cum investing scheme. Students who earn while studying and those who take up full time employment after their studies see insurance as a profitable scheme to regulate their savings. Important factors that an individual needs to understand prior to opting for Life Insurance Policies are 1) Requirements, term (duration) and premium to be paid 2) Nature and benefits of the policy in the longer run & 3) Coverage of the policy. The need and income of an individual helps him decide the amount of Life Insurance Premium. The insured should also think about the benefits that he and / or his nominee will receive before deciding to go for a particular policy. Life insurance covers the risks of loss due to the death of the insurer. Hence it is advisable that before you purchase the policy; take a look at the plan of the policy in detail. Most of the Life Insurance Companies would provide you with a ULIP (Unit Link Insurance Plan). Consulting an expert or your friends, & other reliable sources like the internet, that would provide accurate data helps. Analyzing the different categories of insurance, conducting a proper market research, checking your financial constraints where you ensure that you pay your insurance premiums simultaneously is important.

Ideally all life insurance companies invest the insurance premium funds in the various types of projects meant for developments and attractive returns. This project varies from government funded bonds to private companies. As an investor and depending upon your risk tolerance you can divide your investment funds in various modes which can be Balance, Maximizer, and Minimizer. Balance fund manager will invest your fund equally in government sector bonds as well as in private sector. In Maximizer mode your complete fund is invested in private equity market, which completely depends on market conditions. This fund at times may give you unexpected results and at times may even ruin your principal amount. In the last type of investments the fund is completely engaged in government bonds, wherein risk is almost null with assured returns. 

Like other investment modules Life Insurance also has advantages and disadvantages. The prime advantage is financial security for the obvious reasons. It helps facilitates economic movements. Life insurance companies collect premiums from multiple investors hence gathering large funds. This money is used to finance trade and other financial development activities. Last but not the least it helps in reduction of tax payments. Policy holders are entitled to claim income tax exemptions for paying the premiums. The amount and the extent to which they are allowed depends on other factors like the persons income and if the insurer is a private player or run by the state. Drawbacks include incompetent facilities as all Life Insurance Companies are not able to provide the exact kind of life insurance policy as desired by consumers. Moreover the services of insurance agents could sometimes do more bad than good. Some of them try to convince their clients to invest more or to choose certain policies which are not much beneficial to the clients. A person will find himself in trouble if he invests more than what is actually required. But as the number of advantages out numbers the disadvantages, investing in Life Insurance is always considered to be a good move.

Another important factor that needs attention during the framing of the policy is Life Insurance Quotes. Life Insurance quotes are the prices at which life insurance policies are proposed to be sold and vary from company to company or individual to individual, mainly depending on the term of the policy. Other important issues that address the quotes are age and income, the physical features and family details of the insurer. The time through which an insured pays the premium for the policy is called Life Insurance term. On a general basis, there are no standard premiums as far as term insurance is concerned. A person can decide the amount to be paid on the basis of his requirements in terms of coverage and affordability in terms of finance. As of now the top 5 life insurance companies in India are Reliance Life Insurance, HDFC standard Life insurance, Bharti-axa life insurance, ICICI Prudential life and off-course LIC India. The following companies were considered after being judged on parameters such as the insurance quotes, the term that the insured had to pay the premium for, the cover that the policy was covering, etc, etc. All in all getting an insurance done for yourself at the earliest, once you start earning is an excellent way to get your financial future secured.


The process of insurance has been evolved to safeguard the interests of people from uncertainty by providing certainty of payment at a given contingency. The insurance principle comes to be more and more used and useful in modern affairs. Not only does it serve the ends of individuals, or of special groups of individuals, it tends to pervade and to transform our modern social order, too. The role and importance of insurance, here, has been discussed in three phases: 1) uses to individual 2) uses to a special group of individuals ie business or industry and 3) uses to the society.

USES TO AN INDIVIDUAL
1. Insurance provides security and safety
The insurance provides safety and security against the loss on a particular event. In case of life insurance payment is made when death occurs or the term of insurance is expired. The loss to the family at a premature death and payment in old age are adequately provided by insurance. In other words, security against premature death and old age sufferings are provided by life insurance. Similarly, the property of insured is secured against loss on a fire in fire insurance. In other insurance, too, this security is provided against the loss at fire, against the loss at damage, destruction or disappearance of property, goods, furniture and machines, etc.

2. Insurance affords peace of mind
The security wish is the prime motivating factor. This is the wish which tends to stimulate to more work, if this wish is unsatisfied, it will create a tension which manifests itself to the individual in the form of an unpleasant reaction causing reduction in work. The security banishes fear and uncertainty, fire, windstorm, automobile accident, damage and death are almost beyond the control of human agency and in occurrence of any of these events may frustrate or weaken the human mind. By means of insurance,however, much of the uncertainty that centres about the wish for security and its attainment may be eliminated.

3. Insurance protects mortgaged property
At the death of the owner of the mortgaged property, the property is taken over by the lender of money and the family will be deprived of the uses of the property. On the otherhand, the mortgage wishes to get the property insured because at the damange or destruction of the property he will lose his right to get the loan repayed. The insurance will provide adequate amount to the dependents at the early death of the property-owner to pay off the unpaid loans. Similarly, the mortgagee gets adequate amount at the destruction of the property.

4. Insurance eliminates dependency
At the death of the husband or father, the destruction of family need no elaboration. Similarly, at destruction of property and goods, the family would suffer a lot . It brings reduced standards of living and the suffering may go to any extent of begging from the relatives, neighbours or friends. The economic independence of the family is reduced or , sometimes, lost totally. What can be more pitiable condition than this that the wife and children are looking others more benevolent than the husband and father, in absense of protection against such dependency. The insurance is here to assist them and provides adequate amount at the time of sufferings.

5. Life insurance encourages saving
The elements of protection and investment are present only in case of life insurance. In property insurance, only protection element exists. In most of the life policies elements of saving predominates. These policies combine the programs of insurance and savings. The saving with insurance has certain extra advantages-i) systematic saving is possible because regular premiums are required to be compulsorily paid. The saving with a bank is voluntary and one can easily omit a month or two and then abandon the program entirely. ii) in insurance the deposited premium cannot be withdrawn easily before the expiry of the term of the policy. As contrast to this, the saving which can be withdrawn at any moment will finish within no time. iii) the insurance will pay the policy-money irrespective of the premium deposited while in case of bank-deposit, only the deposited amount along with the interest is paid. The insurance, thus, provides the wished amount of insurance and the bank provides only the deposited amount. iv) the compulsion or force to premium in insurance is so high that if the policy- holder fails to pay premiums within the days of grace, he subjects his policy to lapsation and may get back only a very nominal portion of the total premiums paid on the policy. For the preservation of the policy, he has to try his level best to pay the premium. After a certain period, it would be a part of necessary expenditure of the insured. In absense of such forceful compulsion elsewhere life insurance is the best media of saving.

6. life insurance provides profitable investment
Individuals unwilling or unable to handle their own funds have been pleased to find an outlet for their investment in life insurance policies. Endowment policies, multipurpose policies, deferred annuities are certain better form of investment. The elements of investment ie regular saving, capital formation, and return of the capital alongwith certain additional return are perfectly observed in life insurance. In india the insurance policies carry a special exemption from income-tax, wealth tax, gift tax and estate duty. An individual from his own capacity cannot invest regularly with enough of security and profitability. The life insurance fulfills all these requiremens with a lower cost. The beneficiary of the policy-holder can get a regular income from the life-insurer, if the insured amount is left with him.

7. life insurance fulfills the needs of a person
The needs of a person are divided into a) family needs,b) old-age needs,c) re-adjustment needs,d) special needs,e) the clean-up needs.

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