Polygamy blossoms in Rukum

By a Post Reporter

RUKUM, Aug 8 - Nand Kishor Bista, resident of Chhiwang VDC-6 is now 25 years old. His first marriage took place when he was 11 and he has already married 7 girls. 

Bista, Chairman of ward No 6, fathered 15 children from his 7 wives, but has now only 6 children and one wife. His fondness for wives and children led him to marry again and again and become father of many children, he admitted.

Similarly, resident of ward No 7 of the same VDC, Shiva Prasad Bista has two wives and 10 children. He is happy that he is going to be the father of another son very soon. Bista, 39, said, "If we have a large number of children, they may spread over a wide area and nobody can threaten us."

Thus polygamy has become a primary cause of population increase in this district. A study conducted in this regard has showed that almost 30 percent of people have been involved in polygamy and given birth to a large number of children.

Meanwhile, the practice of polygamy has been reduced to some extent among the young generation but not wholly controlled.

Polygamy is in vogue particularly among the people of the Magar community. Most of the people who have married at an early age have married again. Many of them are seen eager to take a new wife for the sake of entertainment. A man who was a candidate in the last general election has married eight women for the sake of entertainment. Some of the Magar males fall in love when they are away from home for a long time as they take their domestic animals to distant land for grazing and marry their beloved though they have wives at home.

The attitude of the society has also some bearing in this regard. There is so overwhelming preference for large number of children that people are happy to marry many women and beget a large number of children and marry for the sake of son in case they have only daughters. Harka Bahadur K.C., a school teacher married another lady teacher of the same school after his first wife gave birth to five daughters.

The awareness level about family planning device is very low. Jaiki Budha, a 29-year-old mother of seven children and resident of Bhalabacha VDC-3 said she had no any idea about family planning.

Plight of flood victims in Sarlahi

By a Post Reporter

MALANGAWA, Aug 8 - Their lives were spared though flood inundated their houses at night, but their greatest anxiety is how to earn their livelihood.

All their foodgrain was swept away by floods and they have not received any relief assistance.

Whenever, any well-dressed person happens to come in their village, their first question to him is, "Have you brought the relief assistance for us?"

These are the residents of  ward Nos 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Mahinathpur VDC in Sarlahi district. Their villages were swept away by the flooded Bagmati river on Wednesday.   The 600 people had saved their lives by sitting on the dam which was not completely eroded by the river.

As the area was surrounded by water on all sides, they were out of contact with the other areas for two days. They were rescued by the Royal Nepal Army helicopters on Friday evening.

They passed the two days without eating anything. Most of them had not been able to fully satiate their hunger even by Monday. Though they could save their domestic animals, they could hardly save any foodgrain.

The flood has now receded but they are afraid to go to their villages for fear of floods which may come at any time in this rainy season. The 600 people are staying on the 5 kilometre-long dam by erecting plastic roofs. They depend on their relatives and neighbours for their daily meals. Eighteen houses have been damaged by floods at ward Nos 6 and 7 where the poor families of Musahar and Dusadh communities live. Ward Chairman Hans Lal Paswan says it would be easy for them to earn their living after sometime if they received relief assistance for the time being.He asked, " What is the use of this government which cannot provide us even temporary relief assistance?"

The flood washed away standing paddy and sugarcane crops grown on thousands of bighas of land.

Ramanand Yadav, a teacher who owned 10 bighas of land says paddy and sugarcane crops on his land had been covered with sand and his friends (teachers) are giving him food.

The relief assistance made available by the District Administration through the Natural Disaster Relief Assistance Fund and DDC is so meagre in view of the large number of people seeking relief assistance that it has not been distributed. The number of such people is around 3 thousand.

The problem has arisen because the number of people seeking relief assistance is larger than that of the real flood victims, says Babu Ram Lamichhane, officiating CDO. He said, "We have assigned an Administrative Officer to constitute a Relief Distribution Committee. The committee will distribute the relief assistance only to the genuine flood victims."

The 5-kilometre dam has been damaged at four places and it must be repaired without delay to save 20 VDCs from being affected, engineer Kaushal Kishor Jha of District Irrigation Office said. He added they needed more than 2.5 million rupees to solve the problem temporarily.

Crops damage affect farmers

JANAKPUR, Aug 8(RSS)- The paddy crop cultivated on thousands of bigah of land in Dhanusa district, famous for its agricultural production, has been completely destroyed by flooding this year.

Over 50 villages have been badly affected by flooding in a number of rivers in the district including the Kamala, Vimala, Jaladh and Jamuni triggered by incessant rainfall since the last couple of days.

Sigyahi Madan and two VDCs in the constituency No 1, have been isolated from the rest of the district while some houses at Purendehiya have been inundated. Boats are being used for transport.

With the problem of inundation and flooding, the farmers here are a disappointed lot this time also.

 Last year, they had faced a similar problem of flooding that occurred during the harvest season and damaged the standing paddy extensively.

They are now worried about the repayment of loan they took from the local merchants for their crop cultivation.

A number of VDCs in constituency No 1 adjoining Madhuvani district of India have been greatly affected by the flooding this time. These include Sigyahi Madan, Khajuri Mahuwa, Lakkar, Chorokayalpur, Harite, Inaruwa, Balha Katal, Gothakoyalpur, Hattipur, Hadwad and Dhabouli.

Chakkar, Baphai, Aurahi, Deuri Parawaha, Pharaiya, Makhanaha, Govindapur, Parashahi and Godar in constituency No 2 and Poudeswar and Janakpurdham in constituency No 3 are other VDCs grappling with the problem of flooding.

The railway line has sunk into ground at about five points at Parawaha and the service has been halted, it is stated by the Janakpur railway office.

According to the District Administration Office, over 50 out of 101 VDCs in the district with 62,500 hectares of arable land have been affected by the flooding and work on tallying the loss has started.

The paddy crop in the district, equivalent to Rs 528 million in value, was damaged in 2055 BS also due to disease.

Agricultural workers were compelled to set out for the capital as well as Panjab and Hariyana in India last year in search of work since they were rendered jobless due to the destruction of paddy by flooding.

'I have to bear the loss of the paddy crop on about 2 bigah of land acquired from various people on a share-cropping basis. I am besieged with anxieties as to how to repay loans and support my family through the year', farmer of Chakkar VDC Jivadh Mandal said.

'Relief has not yet been provided to people who are facing problems of food and shelter', headmaster at Shakar Janata high school Jagadishwar Mahato complained.

At present, the grave problem facing the people of this district is  flooding which has surfaced due to lack of river control, irrigation facilities and ditches for flood water, local intellectual Laxmi Prasad Suman said.

A meeting of the Natural Calamity Relief Committee held under the chairmanship of CDO Tana Gautam has decided to arrange  6 boats to reach   the people of the affected VDCs and distribute relief material in a smooth manner, it is learnt from the District Administration Office.

'Ten quintals of beaten rice and one quintal of Shakhkhar have been despatched as relief to Sigyahi Madan and Lakkar VDCs', CDO Gautam said.