Computer Association of Nepal - USA

Dear CAN-USA Members.

I wanted to share with you my experience with CAN in Nepal and few people in the IS&T industry and some beauraucrats that I met during my visit to Nepal last month. Few days after my arrival in Kathmandu, I was invited to program organized by CAN on the occasion of Dashain and Tihar. Contrary to my experience from years ago when CAN organized grand parties around Dashain, this program had paper presentations and discussions in a number of different IST related topics. Two separate Papers were presented on “IT Policy and Programs of Government of Nepal” and “Opportunities and Challenges of ICT in Nepal” in moderated sessions. The environment was very professional with the participation of representatives from Ministry of Industry and Commerce, HLCIT, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, Ministry of Information and Communication, NTC, Office of the Controller of Certification, and individuals from different background. I was invited as one of the speakers, and was impressed by the interest of the attendees for CAN-USA. In approximately 15 minutes of my talk time, I presented CAN-USA and our vision moving forward. My request to the attendees to help us in developing programs to best serve Nepal was very well received and I fielded a lot of questions on what we have done so far, what we plan to do etc. To my surprise, a lot of attendees had heard about CAN-USA although did not know in detail what we really do. People familiar with CAN-USA such as Sanjiv Rajbhandari and Ganesh Shah had good things to say about what we have done so far, and were hopeful we would have some more projects similar to the one we had under Transfer of Knowledge.

I could not attend the NRN pre-conference program organized at IOE pulchowk becuse I did not get the exact details of the nature and timing of the program in advanced and I was out of valley on the day the event was scheduled. But Binod Dhakal, CAN exec represented us and highlighted the joint efforts of CAN and CAN-USA.

In a different event, I had an opportunity to personally visit with most of the CAN execs for a discussion that lasted over an hour. The program was centered around greater collaboration between CAN and CAN-USA. Although we discussed along a lot of different things, here are the major points the discussions circled around:
1. The current optical fibre network is not sufficient to meet the upsurging demand for the information infrastructure. The CAN representatives wanted us to voice the need in order to bring the attention of investors from within the country or aboard.
2. The IT Policy has been drafted but the implementation has been slow and ineffective. The attendees of the meeting wanted us (CAN-USA) to participate in an effort to push the implementation and also in counselling/ suggestion to responsible govt agencies in Nepal or its representatives who visit the US.
3. CAN in Nepal has been expanding in terms of membership at a regional level but the benefits realized by its members have been limited. CAN wants to initiate a drive to request various government, non-government, and multinational agencies to involve local talents and talents of Nepali origin in multinational/international funded IST projects. Not a quota but promoting local entreprenueurs. Their question was how can CAN-USA help.

To summarize, people in the IST arena in Nepal are starting to know about CAN-USA and our programs. The broader IST community in Nepal has started to build expectations from IST professionals around the world and the best organization they know as of now is CAN-USA. CAN in Nepal is looking for more programs/projects/initiatives that will help their members and the IST professionals in Nepal. I think they are looking for some help to design approaches that would be beneficial to the members. They also expect us to highlight some issues such as IT Policy implementation.

Venue: Taste Of Himalaya, Berkeley

Members Present: Gaurab R Upadhaya, Amod Pokharel, Prajesh Shsrestha, and Bineet Sharma

We had a very fruitful exchange of ideas with CAN executive member Mr. Gaurab Raj Upadhaya who works for Packet Clearing House of Berkeley as a Internet Economic Analyst.

Discussion topic covered were:

a) Ways to energize the base and stay in the radar of everyone:

- Automatic calendar update so that members know what is going on.  Schedule can be sent using ICS format so that members can merge the schedule with their calendar (outlook, google calendar or etc.)   (action item for Gaurab ji to demo)

- Providing food during meeting is a crowd puller idea

b) Create Facebook page (action item Prajesh Shrestha)

c) Monthly electronic bulletins which will provide current events/news to members in a regular basis (Bineet to initiate conversation with CAN Nepal to provide a resource, Gaurab ji to follow up)

d) TOK to be pushed.  Banking industry could be next as one off TOK program to keep ball rolling while CAN scrambles with office space in Nepal for regular TOK programs

e) More ways to network - Gaurab ji to provide connection with Bikesh Sharma (Stanford Professor) and Om Prakash Gyawwali, a research scholar of Stanford

Now that we have 501 (3) (c) Tax Exempt status, let us brain storm on how to further our cause.  It is important that all CAN-USA members are well versed on rules and regulations.  Please read all important legal documents including the letters from IRS and FTB regarding the exemption status.

CAN-USA Articles of incorporation

CAN-USA Amendments of articles of incorporation

CAN-USA By-Laws

Click here to verify the Tax Exempt Status from IRS website.

Exemption letter from IRS is available upon request (info@can-usa.org)

Exemption letter from CA FTB is available upon request (info@can-usa.org)

You can read more about 501 (3) (c) from IRS website, and many other websites who provide help to non-profit organizations.

Please provide your valuable comments, ways to effectively utilize this privilege in executing projects to further our cause.

First session of  cloud computing course was well received in Nepal.  The entire power point presentation is available online: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=ddmf2fbk_26hk97ptcb.

This thread is created for interacting with the instructors of Cloud Computing.  Please post your question in comment section and one of the instructors will reply to you appropriately.

Just for the reference purposes here are few interesting questions which were asked during the first session:

Q. How relevant the cloud computing is for Nepal.  Especially when there is 16 hours of loadshedding?

Q.  How does the transaction processing work with Cloud Computing.

Q. Really a comment: Would you put some graphics in your presentation?

Our instructors will answer these and other relevant questions.

As a chair person of ANA 2009 Souvenir, I would like to request you to be the part of this magazine. I always value your time and effort given to the community and your precious knowledge will help us to make ANA 2009 Souvenir a masterpiece. I know it is not possible for one or two person only to cover up all the issues of ANA and Nepalese community of USA therefore I want you to be the part of Editorial team to make it happen.

 Here are few ideas I have developed and discussed with the ANA convener, chair person and co conveners. This year for the first time I have proposed to cover up (if not all) most of the Nepalese organizations of USA to be enlisted.

Beside that there will be feature articles and columns on the topics as mentioned below, (if you think some topics are left out please feel free to suggest, This is not final just my proposal for this issue).

The topics are related to Nepalese Literature, Culture, Music, Arts, Social issues, Professional, Business, Immigrations Law, Education, NRN issues, General interests etc.

Therefore without your kind support and participation this would not be possible for us to publish Souvenir. Let me know if you have some more friends in your mind to join in this list. I sincerely hope you will accept my proposal to be the part of this team.

So far we have not formed editorial board; we will form it as soon as we get confirmation from you.

Advisors: ANA convener/Co convener, ANA Chair person,  

Editorial Team:           Dhruva Thapa, Sandeep Puri ,

English section:           Mani Nepali, Amod Pokhrel, Narayan Pradhan

Nepali Section:            Anil Pandey, Shekhar Dhungel, Basu Dhakal

Science and Tech:       <Requesting Names>

Business/ Law:            Rudra Sharma, Harihar Dahal, Dorji Lama

Org. & Culture:           Tej Rai, Lakpa Sherpa, Santosh Lama, Bishnu Gurung

Layout and Design:    Wendy Malla, Sanjeev Rimal, (as mentioned by Govind Dai) Pratik Thapa

Advertisement and Publication: Usha Lama

Govind Giri Prerna, Govindsing Rawat.

Dhruva Thapa

Chair person ANA 2009 Souvenir

Introduction to Cloud Computing & Storage

This course will explore the current buzzwords, technology and go through some of the case studies on companies currently using Cloud Computing. This
is suitable for those who are looking for a lucid explanation of cloud computing.  In the first session , we will go through the various aspects of the cloud ( SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) and look into their pros and cons. In the second session, we will go through some live examples on some of the popular services, e.g. EC2, S3 and AppEngine.

cloud_computing@can-usa.org

CAN-USA Professional Networking Program

Vision

Since its birth on July 29th 2007, CAN-USA has been striving to work towards professional development of its members and ICT development of Nepal.  The Professional Networking Program is geared towards either goal by bringing the Nepali community in the ICT (information and communications technology) sector together and reaching out to the broader American community.

Today, professional networking among the Nepali Diasporas is generally confined to friends and is mostly at a social level.  CAN-USA aims to bring these busy technology and development professionals together so that we can help each other in our own fields.  At the same time, some can employ CAN-USA’s platform towards ICT development projects in Nepal.  Such a platform will also serve as a key resource to students and recent college graduate to advance in their career paths.

Plan

CAN-USA shall commence a series of bimonthly networking sessions, where individuals come to share their ideas and experiences in an informal setting.  These gatherings could be held in semi-private spaces such as restaurants or halls.  Generally, luminary speakers or another CAN-USA event will accompany the networking session.  CAN-USA encourages Nepali and American professionals to come together, share their ideas and broaden their network.

Bay Area Professional Networking Series

We will begin the Professional Networking Program in the San Francisco bay area. Silicon Valley is home to many Nepali high-tech professionals, working in a variety of industries and organizational frameworks. The first professional networking session will be held on April 10, 2009 between 6-8PM at WFG Auditorium, 2077 Gold St, Alviso, CA 95002.  During the session Transfer of Knowledge session on “Cloud Computing” will follow this professional networking.  At Nepal site there will be elaborate inaugural ceremony at the ministerial level.

Future

These bimonthly professional networking sessions will be organized in different parts of the US.  Another important networking session will be held during the 2^nd Annual CAN-USA ICT Conference during the ANA 2009 convention. 

The video conference meeting between CAN Nepal and CAN USA was held on 16th March 2009 at Mercantile premises Durbar Marg at 8:30 am Nepali time. The meeting was in presence of honorable presence of honorable Minister of Environment Science and Technology, CAN president, CAN Executives, Executive Director of NITC, Controller - Office of Controller of Certification and members of CAN-USA.

List of participants: CAN Nepal                         List of Participants: CAN USA

1. Er. Ganesh K Shah:               Minister                         1. Bineet Sharma   President

2. Er. Suresh K. Karna:              CAN President              2. Pukar Malla       VP West Region

3. Amrit B. Thapa:                     CAN 1st VP                  3. Prabuddha Dhal VP Mid Region

4. Kishor Pant                            Can 2nd VO                 4. Suresh Ojha        GS

5. Er. Binod Dhakal                   CAN G Secretary           5.Deepak Neupane  Secretary

6. Hemant Chaurasia:                 CAN Treasurer               6. Bijay Niraula         Exec Member

7. Narayan Neupane:                 CAN Secretary              7.Amod Pokharel      Exec Member

8. Gaurab Raj Upadhaya:           CAN Member                8.Nabin Acharya       Exec Member

9. Amrit K Pant:                         CAN Member                9.  Prajesh Shreshta Member

10. Bhim Doj Ssrestha                CAN Member               10.Anjana Chalise     Member

11. Dr. Subarna Shakya:            NITC                             11.Ksheetij Thapalia  Member

12. Rajan Raj Pant                     Controller office                       

13 Krishna K Shah:                    MOEST                        

14. Rajiv M. Karmacharya:         Mercantile                     .

After introduction between two CAN’s, CAN-USA introduced about what is CAN-USA and the agenda put by CAN-USA. The agenda are as follows:

Technology improvement of Nepal:

Future Collaboration:

                  USA - Nepal global Nepali relationship.

·         Online coursers

·         Technologies in hospitals

·         technologies in universities

·         technologies in industrial areas

·         Advertisement, newspaper and websites

·         Job Listings

·         Emergency telecommunication in Nepal.

CAN-USA talked about transfer of knowledge between world wide to Nepal. Few point regarding different types of knowledge were discussed. Those are:

                        1. Technical knowledge

                        2. Economic Knowledge

                        3. Scocial Knowledge

                        4. Cultural Knowledge

                        5. Medical Knowledge

CAN-USA also talked about online education for Nepalese kids in United States and globally to teach them Nepali languages, cultures and traditions. The main goal for this online education is to generate work in Nepal. As all are aware that project management skills in Nepal are so fragile, they also talked about project management opportunities through video conference, e-concepts like e-learning, information’s flow, e-libraries etc.

Few ambitions put by CAN-USA for ICT sectors development in Nepal:

a)  By creating System world wide to participate in Nepal developments.

b)  By creating economic opportunities.

c) By creating model for development, dissemination through UN bodies.

d) Sharing tips for high end technologies

e) By promoting the professional networking.

f) By sorting of digital device.

After these discussions the minister thanks to CAN-USA with his exquisite speech saying, Nepal government is working on ICT policies and will be forwarded to both CAN’s. In his speech he added that if transfer of knowledge between CAN-USA and CAN Nepal works out regularly, then the main advantage will be development in the field of any related technologies in Nepal.

Dr. Subarna Shakya thanks to CAN-USA and talked about future development of ACY projects in Nepal.

President of CAN Nepal adjourned the meeting by thanking  to CAN-USA and other executives. He mentioned that if these types of knowledge sharing could be applied regularly then this will be the equal opportunities and paramount benefits for ICT development.

AOB:

CAN USA put some issues to Minister and those are as follows:

1. VISA issues: Should be fast track visa process for CAN-USA Volunteers.

2. Custom clearance for donated technical H/W for sponsored projects

3. Clarifications and understanding polices of United States.

Nepal Electronic Transaction Act and Regulations:

Electronic Transaction Act 2963 in English

Electronic Transaction Regulation 2064 in English

Nepal ICT Polcity related documents:

IT Policy 2057 in English

Proposed new structure of IT Policy in English

IT Policy 2065 in Nepali

As you all know we have decided to hold our second annual ICT development conference in July 4th weekend during ANA 2009 Convention in the Bay Area.

This year we need to be very aggressive in our financial planning.  State of the economy is not in our side.  Some of our proactive members have started thinking about this and I would like all of our memberships and the well wishers to participate in financial planning discussion.

Let us brainstorm on ideas for collecting funds especially for our second annual conference.  This should include corporate sponsorships, private donation and membership dues.

Bring in your ideas….