His Majesty to inaugurate Buddhist ceremony

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LALITPUR, Nov 18 - His Majesty King Birendra will inaugurate the silver jubilee ceremony of Lalitpur Bouddha Vihar Association (LBVA) on Monday, the organisers said.

Talking to reporters today, Mayor of Lalitpur Sub-metropolitan City and Chairman of LBVA, Buddhi Raj Bajracharya said the ceremony will be organised with a week-long series of programmes. "This silver jubilee will let the people understand what the Buddhists of Lalitpur possess to offer to mankind," he said.

Buddhist prayers of Namsangiti, Gyanmala prayer songs, and traditional musical prayers as well as cultural programmes will take place daily during the celebration. And prayers by the Therabada monks, Lamas and Bajracharyas including the Panchadana (a donation programme for 250 monks) and ENT health camp will also continue on various days.

Apart from this, the Buddhist Art Exhibition will take place on the occasion in which various famous traditional artists will display their masterpieces. Lalitpur is famous for the metalwork, stone works and wood works which has turned the name of the city into a City of arts.

Buddhist scholar Prof Asha Ram Shakya said, "Such a grand exhibition is taking place for the first time in Lalitpur probably after 50 years."

The programme, being organised at the budget of Rs 700,000 expects to receive 200,000 visitors, including tourists.

ILO convention coming into force from today

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KATHMANDU, Nov 18 - International Labour Organisation’s convention aimed at eliminating worst forms of child labour is coming into force from Sunday in 40 countries that have ratified it.

ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182 was adopted unanimously by International Labour Conference on June 17. It was first ratified by the Seychelles and later by Malawi in 1999 and a year after the Convention is being implemented in more than 40 out of 175 ILO member states.

The Convention defines the worst forms of child labour as slavery, debt bondage, prostitution, pornography, forced recruitment of children for armed forces, use of children in drug trafficking and other illicit activities and work that is harmful or hazardous to the health and safety of children.

Once a country ratifies the Convention, it becomes bound under international law to incorporate its provisions into national law and practice. The countries are also required to take immediate and effective action to prohibit and eliminate the worst forms of child labour under 18 years of age.

Various programmes are being held worldwide to mark the implementation of Convention-182. This was announced at a press conference by ILO/IPEC (International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour).

Nepal, which is about to ratify the Convention as per a Cabinet decision in the coming winter session of the Parliament, is also celebrating the enforcement of the statute tomorrow. Monday is the International Child Rights Day.

"The Convention will help liberate 50 per cent of the estimated 250 million child labour engaged in hazardous work," said C N Edmonds, associate expert, IPEC.

ILO-IPEC has selected Nepal, alongwith Tanzania (Africa) and El Salvador (South America), as sample countries where a time bound pilot project on the elimination of worst forms of child labour will be implemented. The five-year programme, starting next year, will cost millions.

"Nepal has been selected as its government, civil society, NGOs and the media have highlighted the child labour problem," said

Y Amatya, National Programme Manager, IPEC.

ILO plans to implement the project in other countries in Asia. "We are taking this pilot project as a challenge," added Amatya.

According to a survey by ILO, out of the 6,225,000 child population in the age group of 5-14 years in Nepal, 1.7 million children are engaged in economic activities. Those engaged in hazardous and exploitative work number 2,50,000.

In today’s press conference, L Tegmo-Reddy Senior ILO Advisor, presented a video show of ILO-IPEC campaign entitled "Combating Child Labour : A Global Cause".

Maoists attack police post in Baglung

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KATHMANDU, Nov 18 - Police and suspected Maoist insurgents are exchanging fire at an area police office in Bohara Village Development Committee (VDC) in Baglung district, some 50 miles far from the district headquarter till late Saturday night.

The Maoists have surrounded the police office and are continuously making announcements on hand mikes pressing the policemen to surrender, latest reports say.

When contacted on phone, Baglung District Superintendent of Police (DSP) Jeet Bahadur Pun said communication could not be established to the Maoist attacked police office till 8:30 p.m. The Maoists started the attack at around six this evening.

Though additional police force have been deployed from Burtibang Police Office, it will take at least four hours before they reach the encounter spot in Bohara VDC, DSP Pun said.

Some 30 policemen are stationed at the area police office in Bohara VDC, which is nearby the Maoist affected Rolpa and Pyuthan districts, police sources said.

Armed with strategy and funds, Nepal looks to save pregnant lives

By Meena Kaini

TUNIS, Tunisia, Nov 17 - It’s difficult to believe, especially if you live in the bustling metropolis of Kathmandu. But in the whole of Nepal, of which Kathmandu is a very small part, there exists only 12 trained midwives.

No wonder, say experts, that a dozen women die each day from pregnancy related complications in Nepal, a country where 90 per cent of the delivery is carried out at home without any qualified attendants. And what has resulted in such poor statistics?

As health experts point out, the major hindrance is created by misallocation of scarce funds, as well as lack of human resources, and the low level of acceptance of the health service providers by the community. Culture plays a key role and the traditional health practices get by without anybody questioning them. Nepal’s difficult topography, creating poor accessibility to the health centre, only adds to the problem.

In order to bring down the number of deaths due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, Nepal is developing and embracing the National Safe Motherhood Plan of Action starting December.

The conference "Saving Lives: Skilled Attendance during Childbirth" ended with a pledge from the government officials as well as the non-government partners for concerted efforts to reduce the maternal mortality with special emphasis to make the policymakers aware of the gravity of the problems faced by women in the country. The plan of action formulated after the extensive discussions between the government officials, NGO partners and experts specializing on women’s health has put special focus in using the media to dispense information as well as to create awareness.

"We need to formulate a comprehensive strategy to develop necessary human resources so that every pregnant woman could be attended to and reduce the risk of complications," said Dr B D Chataut, Director General at the Department of Health Services (DoHS) at Ministry of Health, who is also attending the conference here.

Nepal’s situation in availability of the services to women is like this: there is no assistance available for 11 per cent of the deliveries, while friends and relatives provide assistance in 56 per cent of the cases. According to statistics provided by DoHS, doctors and nurses provide delivery care in nine per cent of the cases and Maternal and Child Health Workers (MCHW) and other professionals assist in only over one per cent of the cases. One Village Development Committee (VDC) has only one MCHW responsible for the total women and child population of the VDC.

Compare this to Sri Lanka, where the coverage by skilled attendant during childbirth exceeds 96 per cent.

"The community never seeks the service providers during pregnancy and delivery, which clearly shows that delivery is never taken seriously," said Dr Kritanjali Koirala of Focal Point for Safe Motherhood at Family Health Division, Ministry of Health.

Experts say that any woman can experience life-threatening and unpredictable complications that require immediate medical care during pregnancy. Out of the total 2,786 physicians registered with Nepal Medical Council, only 130 are obstetricians/gynaecologists and almost all, if not all, of them are concentrated in Kathmandu Valley and other urban centres.

Women in Nepal also face another problem: they have very little say in pregnancy related decision-making. Rather than they, it is family members, such as husbands and in-laws, who make decisions for them.

The National Plan of Action has decided to lead awareness programmes on gender discrimination and its impact on maternal health and use of services. "We need to reach out to the decision-makers at household level and make them aware of the complications and consequences," said Dr Ava Darshan Shrestha of Safe Motherhood Network, Nepal.

With the problems now identified, the policies already in place and those to be devised in the future await only an effective implementation.

Deepak Magar wins Surya Nepal Eastern Open

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DHARAN, Nov 18 (PR)- On final day of the Surya Nepal Eastern Open, which concluded here at the par-70 Dharan Country Club Course today. Deepak Magar shot his second successive round of two-over 72 to aggregate four-over 144 for the 36-hole tournament. That gave him a two stroke victory over Ramesh Nagarkoti, who shot a blistering round of two-under 68, which helped him leapfrog to runner-up spot at an aggregate of six-over 146.

Overnight leader Deepak Neupane had a terrible back nine and was placed tied for the third place along with Pashupati Sharma and Deepak Acharya at eight-over 148. Deepak Magar earned Rs 8400 for his effort,while Ramesh Nagarkoti was richer by Rs 5900. Neupane, Acharya and Sharma received Rs 4,133 for joint third place finish.

In the amateur section, Kathmandu’s CB Bhandari played a solid second round of level par 70 to take the title ahead of local golfer Mani Rai, who returned a card of four-over 74 on day two. Bhandari’s two-day aggregate was 10-over 150, while Rai was at 152.

The Surya Nepal Western Open was sponsored by Surya Tobacco Company Pvt Ltd. The two regional tournaments, the Surya Nepal Masters which will be played at the Gokarna Golf Club, Kathmandu. A total prize of Rs 12,00,000 is in the offing at the Surya Nepal Masters.

In the pro-am played alongside the main event on Saturday, Bisnu Neupane’s team of Major Ram Bahadur Gurung and Gyan Bahadur Gurung, took the top honours with a total of 106 stableford points. Local Pro Deoraj Pakhrin led his team comprising Desh Gurung and Keshar Limbu to first runner-up place with 105 stableford points, while Radhey Shyam Thapa’s team of Harka Rai and Dilip Pradhan were second runner-up with 102 points.

The prizes were distributed to the winners after the main tournament by the Club President Dil Pradhan Yogendra Rai of Dharan municipality.