Opportunities and Challenges of Online Banking in Nepal

This descriptive study aims at exploring the challenges and opportunities of e-banking in the Nepalese banking sector. The required data are collected from bank employees by applying a self administered questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and the desktop research. The findings demonstrate that banks expand to e-banking services in order to remain competitive, to update themselves with new technological developments and to minimize transaction cost and to facilitate customers. The major challenges faced the e-banking customers are non-familiarity with advanced technology, internet connection problems, problems regarding security and privacy. These challenges have a negative influence on the adoption of e-banking services by customers in Nepal. To overcome the challenges, Nepalese banking industry should invest on adopting the most secured and trustworthy e-banking system and educating customers on the use and importance of e-banking regularly.

Influence of Past on Present: A Naturalistic Study of Ghosts

This article analyzes and evaluates Henrik Ibsen’s most controversial drama “Ghosts” from naturalistic point of view. Naturalism views human life in relation to internal and external environment. It insists on the effect of the past that shapes the present life of human beings. Based on this philosophy of life, this article examines how the life of the leading characters Mrs. Alving and her son Oswald has been influenced. Mrs. Alving’s present values and views on life have a concern with conventional and religious past whereas Oswald’s philosophy of life is guided and governed by his dead father. This article also shows heredity and genetic transformation are biological facts that affect human life. Thus, the object of this article is to explore how human beings are controlled by the inescapable past.

Demographic Characteristics and Buyers Purchase Decision of Two Wheeler Brands in Bagmati Province, Nepal

The purpose of this paper is to analyze buyers’ demographic characteristics that influence purchasing decisions of two wheelers brands available in the Nepalese market. The survey study was conducted in the four districts of Bagmati province. Altogether, opinions of 208 respondents were included in the study to express their assertion of two wheeler purchasing decisions. Cross tabulation was done to identify patterns of demographic (categorical) variables and two wheeler brands. The chi-square analysis was done to examine associations between demographic variables and purchase decisions of two wheeler brands. The results of chi-square analysis indicated that buyers’ gender, age, education and occupation have highly significant association with purchase decision. Similarly, income level and marital status are significantly associated with purchase decision. The various categories of demographic characteristics analyzed in the study influence buyer two wheeler brand purchase decisions.

Efficiency, Profitability and Stability of Nepalese Commercial Banks

Efficiency, profitability and stability become an area of emergent concern in the literature and the practice. This paper attempts to examine the efficiency, profitability and stability of the Nepalese commercial banks and shows the importance of banking activities rather than simply profit achieved. Descriptive and causal-comparative research designs are used and data are collected from the financial reports of respective banks and NRB reports during the period of 2011/12 to 2019/20 of 27 commercial banks with 243 observations. Descriptive statistics have been used to present quantitative data in a manageable form and the relationship between dependent and independent variables are examined using correlation, simple and multiple regression analysis. It is found a negative and significant relationship between bank efficiency and profitability; a positive and significant relationship between bank efficiency and stability. Perhaps, this paper may be the first attempt to examine the determinants of efficiency, profitability and stability of Nepalese commercial banks. It is expected this study will bring new insight into the banking field and would provide a framework and guidelines for future study in Nepalese financial sectors.

Role Relations in George Orwell’s 1984: Agency-Goal Analysis

This research paper concentrates on George Orwell’s novel 1984, published in 1949. The novel explicates the ugly lifestyle of citizens under the rule of a powerful totalitarian ruler Big Brother. Being a ruler, the Big Brother has ultimate political power, and that is, in the narrative, linguistically asserted. This research paper examines how such political and social power of a character/person is imposed in the linguistic territory of a narrative in the light of Critical Discourse Analysis. Critical Discourse Analysis evaluates how the social and political agency of any person in any given discourse works in the linguistic form, theorists like Anthony Giddens elaborate on the role of agency in shaping the social structure. For the purpose of examining the agency in the narrative, with a particular focus on agency-patient role relation, this research brings in the role relations as the trope and, thus, concludes that totalitarian rulers drain out the agency of the citizens even in linguistic form, along with socio-political agency.

Shared Predicament of Nature and Motherhood in Kamala Markandaya’s Nectar in a Sieve

This paper examines and analyses conflating relation of nature and motherhood in Kamala Markandaya's Nector in a Sieve by applying ecofeminist perspective. The novel revolves around a central character called Rukmani who struggles hard to survive and sustain her family working in the field. Her misery begins to unfold due to infertility she bears. Her daughter, Ira faces the same problem her mother had faced. It almost ruins Rukmani’s life. She is always obsessed with motherhood, nurturing qualities, and natural surrounding around her. This paper explores why motherhood always bothers Rukmani thereby showing her bonding and belonging to nature. This paper being qualitative in nature applies ecofeminist theories for the textual analysis of the primary. The paper concludes that Rukmani’s struggles in reproduction and her strong will to be in land community asserts the shared predicament of nature and motherhood where she is more obsessed with her biological role of mother.

Determination of Break-Even Point through Consumer Preference Relation

Social choice theory beliefs about how the consumers function to chose their interested goods and services. Preference relation with affine indifference curves that has a concave representation has a linear utility representation. This study asks how individual preference relations might be combined to give a single ordering which captures the overall wishes of the group of individuals. There are certain properties that one would like such a utility rule, utility have thus become a more abstract concept that is not necessarily solely based on the satisfaction or pleasure received. Concept of cardinal utility is studied in three different situations Debreu (1958) gave quite different approach. This study maintains link between mathematical theory and financial concept to determine break-even point through the consumers’ preference relation.

Entrepreneurial Motivation and Venture Performance: an Intensive Review

Human motivation has been treated as a significant determinant of initiating work related behavior and subsequently getting optimal performance. The relationship of motivation, behavior and performance is commonly tested in several domains of human life (e.g. education, health, sports, exercise, work etc.). However, application of motivation approach in the domain of entrepreneurship is only in its infancy. Hence, this paper aims to review literature intensively that makes a clear direction for the study related to entrepreneurial motivation and suggests new research line for the future. The results found two major directions in the study of entrepreneurial motivation. The first includes the studies treating motivation as a unitary variable with partial and linking role in comprehensive framework. The second includes the studies treating motivation as multifacted construct with central role. The study helps to broaden the knowledge in the field of entrepreneurial motivation and its role to be entrepreneur.

Managerial Perceptions on Internal Business Process Perspective in Commercial Banks of Nepal

This paper aims to explore managerial perceptions on the internal business process perspective in Nepalese commercial banks. A set of questionnaire consisting five-point Likert-type scale statements was administered to collect data from sample units; state-owned banks, private banks, and joint venture banks. The findings indicate that customer need satisfaction has been perceived as the top priority measure of the internal business process perspective in Nepalese banks. Distribution reach and process delivery aspects of the internal process perspective have also got more preferences as per the perceptions of the managers. However, some other aspects such as service cycle duration, a sufficient number of training hours, and a comprehensive innovation process seem to be less preferred. The overall results show that the internal business process as per the response is satisfactory.

Nature as a Healer against Anthropocentric Disposition in Anita Desai's Fire on the Mountain

In her novel Fire on the Mountain, Anita Desai, by making her characters burn the images related to the ill and superstitious law of the anthropocentric world, intends to revere the natural world, which for her possesses healing capacity to revive the dying identity. Nanda Kaul, the protagonist and her great-granddaughter, finds pleasure with nothing else but with the barrenness, stillness, calmness and voice of silent breeze and music of nature itself. The fresh air of the quiet breeze in the naturally painted house wins the heart of the protagonist over the stale air of the electric fan in the artificially painted house. By utilizing theoretical ideas of ecofeminism in communication with deep ecology, the article concludes that the proper tribute to nature is possible when hierarchies between human and non-human blur and biocentric world view exists.