'Minorities discriminated'

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LALITUPR, April 29 - Numerous minorities and marginalised communities have been subject to various forms of racism and institutinalised discrimination, said international activists today.

Addressing a press-meet held after the three day Asia-Pacific NGO Networking Meeting for the World Conference Against Racism, they said that the process of globalisation as implimented by the WTO regime is further marginalising Dalits, indigenous peoples and minorities who are already a deprived section of society.

"In the name of privatisation, globalisation has destroyed whatever opportunities were created by affirmative actions initiated by governments," a release states. Paul Divakar, from National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, said that racism exists almost everywhere in the world but some countries like India and Japan are working hard to make it invisible.

Laurie Wibeberg, from NGO Liaison Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, said that governments often hide the truth of the existance of racial discrimation so helps from NHOs are saught.

NGOs should work for demand based programs: Pradhan

TKP : What is an NGO ? Could you define it, please?

KP: Broadly speaking, all the organizations except the government organizations are Non-Governmental Organizations. But, in practice, NGO generally means the institutions registered under Institution and Association Registration Act, 2034. There are some organizations like University Teachers’ Association which seem to be Non- Governmental Organization. But, they are registered under National Directives Act, 2018. So, they are different. The organizations like Forest Consumers’ Group, Mothers Associations etc. are categorized under Community Based Organizations( CBOs) and Peoples’ Organizations(POs) in some other countries. But, such categorization is yet to get legal status in Nepal.

TKP: Could you please elaborate on the origin and development of NGOs in Nepal ?

KP: The origin of NGO traces back to the establishment of Red Cross Society and the Paropakar Sangh at the international and national level respectively. After 2012 BS donors started extending financial aid for development activities in Nepal. But, everything was channeled through the government. The donors wanted to work in partnership with private sector or directly at the people’s level. So, the Institution and Association Registration Act, 2034 was enacted allowing private participation in the national development process. Donors began to pour money into development activities in partnership with the local NGOs. But unfortunately neither the donors nor the recipients are satisfied with the overall return. After two decades long experience, donors are again seen tilting towards the Government Organizations (GOs) mainly due to low rate gain while working in partnership with NGOs. But, this does not mean that the donors are being drawn away from the NGOs. When a government is not strong enough to carry out all developmental activities, NGOs are supposed to supplement it and when the government is strong enough to carry out all its developmental activities, the NGO’s role should be changed to that of a watchdog.

TKP: Who can register an NGO in Nepal? And how do they function?

KP: The procedures and legal provisions for the registration of an NGO in Nepal are very liberal and easy. Any nine citizens can register an NGO by submitting a constitution of the organization and by filling a prescribed form obtained from the office of the CDO. There is a joke "even nine criminals can register an NGO." There are over 20,000 NGOs registered with the CDO offices all over the kingdom, out of which only around 12,000 are registered with the Social Welfare Council. Among them, only about 60% are renewed or audited.

TKP : What do you think is the cause for low performance by the NGOs and causing frustrations among people?

KP : Lack of demand based programs is the biggest cause of NGOs’ failure. There is a trend to carry-out supply based programs and the most of the NGOs accept whatever they can get hold on. For example, in Rasuwa, famine was on and the people were starving and sick. I asked for programs based on their immediate need. Unfortunately, what the donors offered me was Human Rights program. They had no money for food or medicine but only for Human Rights propagation. What people need urgently was food not to know about their rights. Nobody will be interested or willing to participate in such programs and it is bound to create negative impact upon the target group.

Another reason for the failure of the NGOs is that most of them are politically affiliated. Most of the big-shots like MPs and secretaries have at least some NGOs after them. Very few people comply with the Institutions and Associations Registration Act, 2034. It would have been sufficient to achieve the objectives of the NGOs, if all the NGOs complied with the Act. Above all, both the government and NGOs are not transparent. So, there is a conflict of interest between them.

TKP: How about you? Do you maintain transparency?

KP: We are very transparent because we work in partnership. Not only that, we work by sharing the cost. So, transparency has to be maintained automatically. We worked in partnership with District Development Committees (DDCs), Judicial Council etc.

TKP: Donors provide their taxpayer’s money. Won’t there be interest tags? If yes, what kinds of vested interests have you found among donors?

KP : At the formal level there is no such interest. The only interest is humanitarian interest. Let’s say, developed countries’ national policy to provide assistance to developing countries. But, there are some exceptions also. One of the INGOs was found involved in religious propagation and spread of Christianity. So, the government had it banned.

TKP : The last comment you wish to make?

KP: NGOs have great role to play for the development of the country. But, certain checks have to be maintained. Most of the NGOs spent up to 60 % of the fund for their upkeep and administrative cost and only about 40 % of the money is channeled towards developmental activities. So, this should be checked in time ensuring maximum flow of fund to the beneficiaries.

Doctor’s absence hinders post mortem

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BESISHAHAR, April 29 - Since there is no doctor in Lamjung District Hospital, post-mortem of a man and his maternal uncle was not performed even on the third day of their death.

Tal Bahadur Tamang, resident of Banjhakhet VDC-6 and a student of local Marsyangdi Multiple Campus, committed suicide on Friday morning by hanging himself in a tree near his house., according to police.

His maternal uncle, Buddhi Bahadur Tamang, 65, of the same VDC had arrived here from his sister’s house in Chitwan when he heard the sad news. He fainted on hearing about the death of Tal Bahadur. He was rushed to the hospital, but he was declared dead immediately after he reached the hospital.

The lone doctor of the hospital has gone to Kathmandu to attend a seminar. The posts of two other doctors had remained vacant in the hospital.

Locals look forward their migration to safe place

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CHITWAN, April 29 - The eleven thousand people of Padampur VDC, which is located in the vicinity of the tourist destination of Sauraha in the Royal Chitwan National Park, are excited with the prospect of their migration at Saguntol within a year.

They are happy because they are going to be shifted to a safe place ( safe from the attack of wild animals) which is made available to them by the government.

These people had been residing in Padampur VDC since 2016 BS in the development process of Chitwan and they had been the victims of the wild animals of the park and the Rapti river.

Padampur VDC is surrounded by the park on three sides and by the Rapti river on the fourth side of the VDC. Therefore, the life of local people is at risk from all the four sides. Dozens of people die every year after they are attacked by wild animals while many people also lose their lives in the process of crossing the river.

Realising this risk being faced by the local people, the government decided in 2050 BS to shift these people to the forest area of Jutpani VDC ( currently Saguntol). "Since this time, people of Padampur had started to dream about their golden future," Chairman of the Transfer Committee, Babu Ram Puri said.

The government arrived at the decision following the requests of the local people and different political parties for many years.

About two thousand bighas of forest land in Saguntol has been cleared to resettle the 11,519 people of 1,887 households living in Padampur VDC. Altogether 1,689 households of seven households living in seven wards of Padampur will receive their land in Saguntol after the committee completes land plotting by the middle of May.

The process of shifting the remaining 198 households of Padampur is under way. We shall complete the entire works and we shall submit the report to the government by the middle of April next year if the government makes available necessary budget and resources, Puri said.

The Transfer committee has distributed compensation amounting Rs 60,246,000 out of Rs 93,000,000 received from the government, but it still needs Rs 156,306,000 to provide compensation to the people.

The transfer committee has drawn up different plans and is implementing them in an effort to make Saguntol a model village.

The plans include vital aspects of human needs such as roads and sewerage development, electrification, overhead tank for drinking water, tree plantation on both sides of roads, wells and water taps at different points, deep tubewells etc. Construction of some of these works have also been completed.

Plots of land have been earmarked for VDC office, police post, health post, post office, two temples, six national primary schools and one secondary school. Construction work of the different buildings is in the final stage.

The Local Development Ministry has also constituted a consultative committee to systematically implement the plans of the transfer committee.

Chairman of Padampur VDC and member of the transfer committee Jaya Chand Prasad Chaudhari said that the land provided to the people of Padampur was insufficient and demanded that various other opportunities be provided to them to enable them to survive.

A tree plantation programme is under way in the four thousand bighas of land in Padampur VDC, which is now a part of the Royal Chitwan National Park, with the cooperation of King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, Sauraha. Meanwhile, a formulation seminar was organised in Sauraha recently for the development of Padampur VDC.