Make food safe

It is indeed welcome news that in the past couple of months the Central Food Laboratory has initiated investigation against as many as 94 industries which have been producing substandard food items. What is encouraging is that investigation against eight different milk dairies inside Kathmandu valley has reached the final stage and the Laboratory is planning to file lawsuits against them within a week.

Obviously, the quality of food supplied by different industries and merchants has a direct impact on public health. In this connection, the Laboratory’s finding that all dairy firms, except Dairy Development Corporation, were mixing powder milk imported from different countries in milk product is a telling example of how private sector dairies have violated the standard norms of production. Even the state-owned Dairy Development Corporation was found to flaunt the norms as it, along with some other firms, have failed to meet the required solid content in their milk. Such irresponsibility among producers of very essential consumer item such as milk must not go unchecked.

Apart from milk, there are also other sectors which grossly violate rules in the production of food items. Six companies are already facing legal action for supplying adulterated food items and twelve cases of adulteration are awaiting court verdict. What is important here is: things should not just end with initiating investigation and filing lawsuits against  some industries or producers. Even the concerned officials have agreed that it often takes long for a case to be finalised. This no doubt hinders the process of correcting things. Therefore it is very important that the process of action against those violating regulations related to food be expedited. A separate food quality control unit should be established, giving it full authority to prosecute the guilty promptly on the basis of valid proof. This is because cases relating to irregularities in food content should not be allowed to wait too long to be resolved. Unfortunately, even cases relating to food issues are treated as other cases by the District Administration Office, the body that screens such cases. For example, out of 50 cases filed during the past sixteen months or so, only twenty have been finalised.

Unless a speedy mechanism is developed to bring food supply under a standard or quality regime, adulteration of food and other forms of standard violation will continue with impunity and consumers will continue to suffer.

As for the present cases of violation of food norms by milk  dairies, the government must take prompt measures to not only to ensure the quality of milk but also to set an example that such practice will not go unpunished.

This can be done by either suspending production in the dairies or by using a special technical
team which can monitor strictly. Consumers on their part must become aware and boycott the products of such industries.

Population : The challenge ahead

-By Dilip Raj Maskey

In Nepal the population growth, combined  with environmental mismanagement, has created a crisis of survival. Efforts by the government, international development agencies, lending institutions and NGOs are underway to reverse 30 years of environmental neglect and pave the way for basic health care and family planning services. The acceptance and use of better family planning services are necessary to decrease the fertility rate and slow down the high population increase.

The cursory history reveals that in 1972, UNFPA first offered assistance to the government of Nepal to achieve its population goals by helping them to carry out the first demographic sample survey. In 1974 UNFPA started family planning and maternity and child health care activities. At the same time it started to give assistance in the area of population education.

The first five year country programme began in July 1980, and was aligned to His Majesty’s Government’s Sixth Five-Year Plan. In July 1988 the second country programme was approved. It was implemented till July 1992.

The main objective of the National Population Policy as enunciated in the Ninth Plan (1997-2002) is to bring about a balance in population growth, socio-economic development and the environment to fulfil the basic human needs of the Nepalese people. A long-term objective of the policy is to create an environment, through socio-economic development, which fosters a demand for small family size of two children. This objective will be attended in a phased manner.

The goals of National Population Programme for the Eighth Plan were: to reduced the fertility rate from 5.8 to 4.5; to raise the prevailing life expectancy, to reduce infant mortality rate of 102 to 80 per thousand to 130 per thousand, to reduce maternal mortality rate of 850 to 750 per one hundred thousand, and to manage internal migration.

It may be recalled that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has been assisting Nepal’s population programme since 1970 and the level of its assistance has increased over the years. UNFPA agreed to support a comprehensive population programme in the amount of $ 19 million, of which $ 15 million would be programmed from UNFPA’s regular resources, over a period which started from July 1992, to assist His Majesty’s Government of Nepal in achieving its population and development activities.

Under the agreement, UNFPA will finance population activities in various areas like: maternal and child health, family planning, population information, education and communication, data collection and analysis, population policy etc.

Aside from this, some international non-government organisations (NGOs), such as Save the Children are active in the field of health and population, including Maternity and Child Health in Family Planning (MCH/FP), in limited geographical areas. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has supported the Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN) since 1959. FPAN has focused on MCH/FP service delivery, including family planning education and related health components. FPAN’s annual expenditure is $ 80,000.

Focus on family planning: The largest and strongest sector of these country programmes is the family planning and maternity and child health care. The focus is on community participation, women’s involvement, training of health workers, strengthening the service outlets and increasing the capacity and number of participants in family planning/maternity and child health care. The Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities concentrate on strengthening the capability of the central authorities to plan and implement programmes in population education, information and  communication.

UNFPA, inter alia, has assisted the government to establish the central department of population studies at the Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. In addition to national and government execution, and UNFPA execution, some projects are executed by WHO, UNDTCD, UNESCO and DTCP. ESCAP provides technical backstopping for several projects.

His Majesty’s Government of Nepal recognises that many of the nation’s development efforts in the past have been seriously compromised by demographic processes, and it is therefore introducing new measures, and strengthening old ones, with the aim of rectifying this situation and establishing a better balance between population and development. Nepal’s population increased at an average of more than 2 percent per annum during the last decade, and now each year the number of births exceeds the number of deaths by more than 4,50,000.

The population of Nepal has doubled during the last 30 years, increasing from 9.4 million in 1960 to 19.1 million in 1990. Even if the country is able to reduce the total fertility rate to 4.0 from its current rate of 5.5, it is estimated that the population would reach 23 million by the year 2015. It may double again by the year 2045.

The face of poverty is well known to all of us, brought into the homes of the comfortable by satellite television at times of famine and want. Those who work in agriculture, health or who live in the world’s poorer countries, are accustomed to seeing with their own eyes the suffering wrought by malnutrition and disease.

To sum up, despite significant improvements in the world’s food supplies, 15 to 20 percent of the world’s people still do not have sufficient food to lead healthy and productive life.

The responsibility for this cannot be charged on the farmers alone. Many other social, economic and physical factors contribute to hunger and malnutrition: rapid population growth, an unhealthy environment, lack of a basic education and access to information, and the very state of poverty itself. Poverty alleviation and human development has been in the top of the agenda in the developing countries in 1990s. Above all, it depends on the commitment of the national government and the political will to succeed.

We all are beautiful and good looking

-By Sameer Khatiwada

Are you interested in looking at  beautiful things? Well, it is obvious you are. Some of you are more and some are relatively less. Naturally, boys fall into the more category but exceptions do exist. I mean to say, boys love to look at beautiful girls but you cannot simply infer that girls are unwilling towards this human-trait.

When I was in my school, I and my buddies used to have a craze to take a look at beautiful belles. Sometimes we used to be so obsessed that we even used to miss our supper. Talking walk through the school premises was the most attractive activity for us. The sole aim of it was to take sporadic and sometimes even suggestive looks at the ladies. I even used to feel that I am not doing the right thing, but the fear of being ostracized is quite obvious among schoolboys. In my view, living in a purely residential school is a wonderful experience because you never miss anyone except than in leave-weekends. But, if a beautiful girl was absent other than in leave-weekends, her absence used to be felt by many of us. If she showed up after some days, a different sort of pleasure and happiness used to bubble up in our minds. Above all, during those days, we used to feel that beauty was the greatest thing present on the earth.

I still remember those rock’n’roll days when we used to frolic through the school, singing songs and cracking up jokes. Laughing wildly, and talking with each other as if the world is under our feet makes me feel nostalgic. Glancing at beautiful girls and even gazing at them, was more than normal. We used to worship beauty as if our lives are stuck with it. Girls with gorgeous looks naturally used to be the heartthrob of many of us.

Since the au revoir by the junior batch, I have always missed my school. The wonderful experiences remind me of my ‘heavenly’ days. But, one of the greatest things on the earth has clicked on my mind only after I left the school, that is, every human being is beautiful and good-looking. 

We cannot call a lady, or anyone for that matter, ugly because the colour of the skin and the structure of the face never gives the true identity of a person. Even in an ugly face, something might be beautiful and mesmerizing. Our eyes  are not honest with us because they only love the view of blooming flowers. The secret of a person lies nowhere than on her face but only few of us penetrate deep enough to know the secret. My kid mentality is no more within me because I have ceased to judge a book by looking at its cover. I feel a different attitude towards beauty has germinated in me. My school days makes me feel nostalgic, not because I miss my buddies and our craze for beauty, but I miss the rock’n’roll days of fun and fair.

I have got a friend with whom I had seldom talked with when we were in the school. I rarely used to look at her because I used to think that she was not beautiful and charismatic. But, these days I have become close with her because of our frequent meetings. Now, when I look at her I see a beautiful girl with attractive looks. I have even started to feel kinship with her. I feel I am getting matured because I have ceased to give a ‘batting average’ to a person. I think we are not supposed to classify our own beings.

When I walk through the streets of Kathmandu, I see thousands of faces a day. But the interesting thing is, all those faces to me are beautiful and good-looking. A girl is always for herself, but we lack eyes to recognize her beauty. Beauty is not what we see, but it is what we feel. Last but not the least, thanks to my school-days because my blunder might have made me worthy one to have seen the beauties of looks and figures.

In black & white The lure of the printed word

-By P Kharel

Writing for news publications is an  opportunity to reach numerous readers we could otherwise not communicate with, at least not within a short span of time. Such a forum is a vehicle to attract an audience whose size depends on the topic, contents and also the influence of the media carrying the contributions. Some use their pen loyally in  the services of political parties and political leaders.    

Little preference: SLC toppers do not consider journalism among their preferred career choices. They never mention it. Not that  they are not aware of the field. After all, it is media people who flock  to them for interviews. Journalism is generally a low-paying profession  that entails uncertain working hours and a risk-ridden future. Is it not  the height of contradiction that in a country with a high rate of   unemployed graduates, the electronic media are so liberal with  non-graduates for entry? They give 101 arguments as to why graduates are  not necessarily competent. For that matter, the weekly papers also do the same, except that they pay little and hence often cannot draw talented  graduates. If that is the case with full-time journalists, the conditions  faced by free lance writers can be quite daunting.

Why write? The pressure of deadline can be demanding. Whether at leisure  or under time pressure, one has to meet the dictates of a deadline. One’s  regard for the pen and desire to reach a large audience are clinchers  for pursuing the writing profession. Writers in Nepal often face  difficulty in finding newspaper space. They are challenged with greater  difficulties when they seek not only space but also expect to be paid for  their work.    

Not all writers are without narrow motives. A few years ago when yours  humbly was still with The Rising Nepal, someone fumed and fretted as to  why his article on foreign policy did not appear. It later came to be  known that he had been angling for an ambassadorial assignment. His  article was not published because it was not worth printing. Currently,  the same worthy serves as our ambassador in a European country. Another   someone netted himself an ambassadorship for the services rendered through a score of articles he wrote in support of a particular party.  For such people, writing has proved to be a “rewarding” experience of a dubious category. 

Writers claiming to be journalists are expected to stay miles away from  being  pawns for narrow partisan interests. The public should not be prisoners of prejudices of newspapers, their publishers or, indeed,  journalists. Writers are expected to hone their writing speed with  clarity of thought, sequence, angle and the points for arguments. Some   biased upstarts might taunt or terrorise people with venom-laden words   neither substantiated by facts nor convincing lines of argument. Their  sole obsession  is to ensure that their target loses sleep.

There are people with pretensions of having been journalists for 30 years  but without being able to produce even 15 articles written under their  by-line or having edited any newspaper for decades. One’s age alone is  nothing much of substance. It is by their writing that journalists are defined by the reading public, unless they fall in the category of those  unsung heroes who painstakingly handle the news desk, away from public  gaze or quick recognition. The printed word puts in record what one’s   views on different issues are. Fence-sitters refrain from being specific  and confine themselves to hemming and hawing in order not to rub the big  and the mighty the “wrong” way.    

Better market: Daily newspapers in Nepal are a relatively  good market for job security, regular pay and less partisan journalism. A  few magazines offer good salaries but this alone is no big deal for those  who find their working conditions stifling, as has been indicated by journalists who quit well-paid jobs to venture into freer but financially  less paying pastures. Similar is the condition of writers.  

Although a degree of scepticism does help in developing a cautious  approach, journalists should not be automatic critics or cheer-leaders of  anyone. They should be sensitive and sensible, shedding blinkers of the  prejudiced type. Their power-packed pen releasing analyses, arguments and  information can make valuable reading. Professed conviction is convincing  when the reading public perception of a writer is that s/he is not hankering after any financial reward or assignment of power and position other than legitimate remuneration from the publishers in return for the  “services” rendered through their printed words.   

The basic ideals and principles of journalism should not be buried deep  to promote partisan interests. To stick one’s neck out for even causes  unpopular within the corridors of power is a severe test of conviction  and courage. Sycophancy-mongers of the political activist variety vainly  try to put to shame the intellectual capacity of the saner sections of  society.     

Print journalism and independent writing are a profession of letters  calling for a practice not narrow in taste but severe in criteria. The exercise can mean courting trouble and inviting the wrath of people with  considerable clout. Rumours fly fast and thick, and attacks against writers follow hot and heavy when something bitter but true comes out in  the open.    

Some do not have the courage to express their ideas contradicting the  political mighty who might be less read and knowledgeable regarding  certain issues. They prefer to nod approval of whatever the politically  influential says or does. They whisper their discontent or disagreement  only within the confines of their study. There is more to it than meets   the eye if  “experts” and “intellectuals” take a cue from their political  masters when commenting on various topical issues, lest they not figure  in the latter’s good books.   

Without comment: Minister of State for Local Development  Mohammed Aftab Alam, quoted in Himalaya Times, “Bureaucrats are involved  in making ministers, ministers of state and assistant ministers clash   with one another.”