Workshop on discrimination against women organised

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24 - A two-day consultation and interaction workshop-cum public hearing on the draft report of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was held today in the capital.

The objective of the workshop was to present the status of implementation and impacts of legislative, judicial, administrative and other measures taken by the government in fulfilling its obligations under CEDAW. The draft report presented by Pratap Kumar Pathak, joint secretary at the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) said that the draft report was prepared on the basis of secondary as well as documentary sources of information.

Speaking on the occasion, advocate and founder of Forum for Women, Law and Development, Sapana Pradhan Malla said, "Even after the establishment of CEDAW, there is a persistent gender disparity, inequality and discriminating laws against women in Nepal".

Bharati Silwal Giri, assistant resident representative of UNDP said, "A survey conducted by UNDP with HMG and Central Bureau of Statistics has brought reports of gender disparity in Nepal". Expressing disconte-ntment over gender inequality in Nepal, she stated that the Department of Labour has prepared a report that pointed out the reason for increasing unemployment in the country is due to women’s participation in income generating activities.

Representatives from the ministerial level, NGOs and INGOs took part in the workshop, which was jointly organised by the MWCSW, UNDP and Mainstreaming Gender Equity Programme.

Teaching and research must go hand in hand

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24 - Teaching-learning process has suffered from a very outmoded approach. Teaching,in fact, is different from research works. For years Tribhuvan University has simply set up teaching departments that produce more theoreticians than research-minded independent scholars and scientists.

"This out-of-date approach to higher learning has greatly affected the latent talents of thousands of graduates annually produced by the University," Dr Dayananda Bajracharya, Vice-Chancellor of Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (RONAST) said. He was speaking at the inaugural function of the four-day national training workshop on Ethnobotanical Research: Laboratory and Field Methods at the Tribhuvan University, Monday.

" The Tribhuvan University has had a very different approach to higher learning. It viewed teaching and research as two different components that wasted the potentials and energy of the graduates and research scholars of the country produced in the past," said Dr Bajracharya shedding light on various research fellowships and scholarship schemes recently planned by RONAST intending to encourage university professors and science faculty members to take up researches and adopt a new approach to higher learning.

However, he said that the Academy is under a serious financial recession and has not been able to provide adequate scholarships to aspiring individuals and researchers..

RONAST has recently entered into an agreement with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. According to the agreement, Swedish Academy will provide financial support to RONAST for a period of three years. Also, the Academy will facilitate the exchange of Swedish scholars and scientists to Nepal.

"This could be an excellent opportunity for a country like Nepal, which has wide cultural diversity to expand the scope on ethnobotany research , which is an emerging inter-disciplinary science today," said Dr Sanu Devi Joshi, Head of the Department of Botany, TU" adding that the newly emerging science has tremendous job prospects.

Until now, 30 graduates have completed their research on Botany while another 70 have been working in different parts of the country as teachers.

"Teaching alone is not enough without a corresponding research," said Dr Professor Dr Govinda Sharma, Dean, Institute of Science and Technology, TU outlining how the old concept of teaching has affected the growth of independent minded researchers and innovators. He urged the faculty members to embrace research and bring into practice the knowledge gained in science rather than confining it to the classroom lecturing.

Dr Gyan Lal Shrestha, President of Green Energy Mission/ Nepal, who is also a professor of Botany at the Central University said,at the exhibition, that Nepali society has remained poor and cut-off from development despite possessing enormous natural wealth due to illiteracy and lack of knowledge about thousands of species of medicinal plants.

Referring to the popular herbal plant-Bel tree put on display in the exhibition, he said that it could cure diabetes and attract billions of rupees worth of foreign currency if research and specialization in the field of Botany is given a serious thought.

Heramba Raj Kadel, a research scholar at the Central Department of Botany blamed the present course contents and unavailability of adequate laboratory equipment as stumbling blocs to carry out research works.

Dr Robin Taylor, Ethnobotanist from Hollins University, USA also spoke during the workshop, which was organised by the Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal (ESON), Central University and jointly sponsored by the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Plants Initiative Programme and University Grant Commission (UGC).

‘Nepal’s population trend towards lowlands’

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24 – The latest data made available on the view of Nepalese population from 1952 until the present shows that the lowlands have surpassed the hills and mountains as far as the population growth rate of Nepal is concerned.

The noted scholar of Nepal, Harka Gurung, shed light on the population of Nepal from 1952, the first-ever scientific census of Nepal, till today, presenting a working paper at a seminar here Monday .

"The trend of population growth in the country in the last half century is towards the lowland from the hills and mountains," said Dr. Harka Gurung, a noted scholar.

"There is inverse relationship between elevation zone and population growth rate. This means higher the elevation, lower the growth rate," Gurung said. According to Gurung, the mountain region has a growth rate of 1.52 whereas the rate is at 1.52 in the hills. Similarly, it is placed at 2.55 for the inner Terai and 2.70 for the Terai.

According to the paper, in 1952/54 Census, 64.5 percent of Nepal’s total population was confined to the highlands, and the Terai had 29.1 percent while the inner Terai had 2 percent population. However, there has appeared a sharp difference in this year’s Census 2001. The 2001 Census has shown that the Terai has 53.9 percent of the total population, the paper stated.

"The population, during the nearly five-decade period, nearly trebled (2.8 times)," the working paper added.

The average population growth rate of Nepal, according to 2001 Census, is 2.27. According to Dr Gurung, 23 districts have higher population growth than the average and 52 districts have low growth rate.

According to the paper, four districts - Khotang, Bhojpur, Mustang and Syangja- have low growth ratio in population.

Population growth is often associated with development and urbanization. However, for Gurung it is not acceptable. "Despite backwardness of Manang, it has the highest population growth rate of 5.71," Gurung said.

Maoists continue attacks on civilians

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KATHMANDU, Dec 24 – Maoist rebels have targeted their attacks on cadres of other political parties and civilians after bearing heavy losses on their side in the Cordon and Search Operations launched by the security forces over the last four weeks.

Our Synagja based reporter says that the rebels on Sunday severely attacked Bhakta Bahadur Malla, 50, Nepali Congress Chairman of Bahakot VDC, and Khem Bahadur Rana, the Headmaster of Bahakot High School.

Both the injured have been airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment, police said. Dr. Keshav Raj Dhungana at the District Hospital in Synagja said that one leg of Malla and a hand of Rana had been found to have been dismembered.

Meanwhile, a report from Tanahun stated that a group of armed rebels on Sunday night attacked the Vice-Chairman of eastern Chok Chisapani VDC, Prem Upreti, and one Nepali Congress cadre, Chhatra Raj Bhandari, in Purkot VDC. Eyewitnesses said the rebels had disconnected electricity before assaulting the people.

According to another dispatch from Banke district, the rebels hurled a pressure-cooker bomb in the house of Krishna Man Shrestha, Banke District Working Committee Chairman at Udharapur VDC-3 yesterday. The Area Police Office in Dhanauli said that two rooms of the house had been badly damaged due to the bomb blast. The rebels had forced the housekeeper to flee the house before they bombed it.

Likewise, the District Administration Office in Lamjung said that nine suspected Maoists had been taken into police custody in connection with Sunday’s land-mine blast on the Bensi Sahar-Chame road, where three soldiers of the Royal Nepal Army were killed and 26 others injured.

Meanwhile, a report from Surkhet said that the rebels on Sunday set free Bhuwan Bahadur Budha, the Agri Gaon VDC Chairman, from their captivity after much pressure of the local people. Budha was abducted by the rebels on Saturday. The villagers rounded up the rebels at Pani Khola village of Bajedichaur VDC where the chairman was taken as a hostage.

Indian kidnappers kill one, release another after ransom

By Gopal Devkota

BIRGUNJ, Dec 24 – One of the two Nepali youth abducted nearly a month ago was killed by his Indian abductors at Chhapra, India, 30 kilometre south of this border town of Birgunj while the other returned home after nearly a month paying more than half a million rupees to the hijackers for his release.

The kidnappers killed Rajesh Raut Kurmi, an inhabitant of Birgunj 6, and kept his friend Shyam Bahadur Saha in custody for twenty eight days at Chhapra, where they were on tour since November 25 under the influence of their new friend Mansur Alam in a hired zip.

According to Saha, who was released Sunday after paying the money with injuries throughout his body, they met unidentified Indian nationals, whom Alam knew, at Raxaul. The Indian nationals, after they were three kilometres away from Raxaul, looted golden chins and rings of the Nepali duo at a pistol point and administered drug injection, which made them unconscious, according to Saha.

Twenty-two years old Saha found himself at a cottage being chained and the body of his friend. Saha continued his misfortunes, adding that the abductors then demanded from Saha 2.5 million Indian currency for his release.

The abductors bargained with Saha’s family for more than 25 days for the money and agreed to release Saha after getting Rs 300,000 in Indian currency, more than half a million Nepali rupees.

Saha and Kurmi on November 25 set for an India putting trust in their new friend Mansur Alam. Saha accused Alam of all the misfortune to him and his deceased friend. "Alam is responsible for the kidnap and the murder," said Shah.

Meanwhile, police at Birgunj said that they are working with their Indian counterparts to investigate case.