Buddha Jayanti in London

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KATHMANDU, May 9 - The 2545th Birth Anniversary of Lord Buddha was observed in London, United Kingdom, by the Nepali communities living there, according to a press release issued by the Yeti Nepali Association here today.

Nepalese Ambassador to UK, Dr Singh Bahadur Basnet opened the function by lighting a traditional oil lamp at the Boston College of London Monday. He expressed pride that the apostle of peace was born in Nepal, and called on world communities to follow the path shown by him.

President of the Association, Dr Raghav Prasad Dhital, Founder and General Secretary of Nepalese Literature Development Council U.K Suresh Jung Shah, Nima Wangle Lama, Chirangibi Dhakal, Buddhist Monk Konchoy Wandvi Lama, Hari Thapa, Daulat Rai, Basanta Rayachhetri, Dr Janaki Dhital and Chandika Paudel also shed light on life and teachings of Buddha.

Personalities honoured

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KATHMANDU, May 9- Her Majesty Queen Aishwarya Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah gave away prizes and certificates to various individuals on the occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of Child Development Society (CDS) at the Russian Culture Centre today.

Speaking on the occasion, Sarad Sharma, president, CDS, said the organization has been providing facilities to more than 3,000 children for the last ten years.

Dr Hemanga Dixit was given a letter of appreciation for his dedication in health services of the children for the last three decades. A twelve-year-old, Nabin Biswakarma was given a child encouragement award who had designed a helicopter sample and Kedar Shakya, journalist, for his contribution to child development through his investigative reporting on children for a decade.

On the occasion,lifetime membership certificates were also awarded to 113 persons for their continual support through various kinds of child development programmes.

Stress on child awareness

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KATHMANDU, May 9- Centre to Assist and Protect Child Rights of Nepal, CAP-CRON Wednesday said a large number of children mostly under 16 years of age are currently in detention on the charges of criminal activities.

Speaking at a public seminar, Surendra Prasai, president of CAP-CRON said the present situation is so desperate that there is a need to launch child awareness programmes to stop children from ending up in prison cells.

Accused of being involved in criminal activities, around 200 children are currently serving jail terms, Bal Krishna Mainali, general secretary of CAP-CRON said.

Various child rights activits have cited poverty as the main reason for migrating children most of whom have ended up in the streets after their masters meted out serious harassment
to them.

Citing an example of a 12 years old girl from Nuwakot, who succumbed to rape last year, Krishna Gopal Shrestha, former MP, who was also the chief guest at the programme, said a large number of such children in the capital are potentially vulnerable in the houses of their masters who employ them.

Workshop on children's rights opens

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KATHMANDU, May 9 - Chairman of Raj Parishad Standing Committee, Dr Keshar Jung Rayamajhi inaugurated a two-day workshop on the issues of children’s rights and domestic workers, here today.

Titled Our Responsibility Toward the Rights of Children and Domestic Child Workers, the workshop is being organised by CWISH (Children Women in Social Service and Human Rights), an NGO which has been working to provide education to domestic child workers for the last five years.

Employers of the children working as domestic servants, their teachers and ward representatives are taking part in the workshop.

On the first day of the seminar, the representative of Legal Aid Counselling Centre informed the participants about the rights of children as stated in the Act on the Rights of Children. The children’s rights to life, development and protection were discussed during the workshop.

Speaking at the programme, president of CWIN (Child Workers in Nepal) and the Federation of Non-Governmental Organisations, Gauri Pradhan, said that around 45 thousand children are working as domestic workers in the Kathmandu Valley alone. He emphasised on raising awareness about the rights of such children, particularly the right to education, so that they grow up as promising citizens.

"The most important thing is to create awareness among the employers regarding the rights of their child workers," he added.

Role of youths highlighted

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KATHMANDU, May 9 Dr Mohammad Mohasin, chairperson of National Assembly inaugurated a seminar on Responsibility of Youths on Today’s Context organized by National Democratic Youth Federation here in Kathmandu today.

On the occasion Dr Mohasin discussed about the condition of the country and said that the country is directionless today." Party system is not working well and civic society is disintegrating", Dr Mohasin added. Dr Mohasin asked all parties to come to the negociation table.

Speaking on the occasion, Suresh Acharya, president, Nepal Journalist Association stressed on the role of youths and said it should not be a political tool but independent creation.

During the programme Dr. Mohasin awarded prize to Susmita Kadel, player, for her outstanding role for promoting fame of the country.

In the programme, Balkrishna Khand, Basanta Nembang and Uday Raj Pandey were also present.

Farmers worried over low vegetable price

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HETAUDA, May 9 - Farmers in Bajrabarahi VDC are worried as they are not receiving adequate price for the vegetables they have produced.

Farmers have grown cauliflowers with the loan obtained from Agriculture Development Bank, but they are selling cauliflowers now at a throw-away price.

Local farmer Bishnu Bahadur Bidari says, "Cauliflower is not grown elsewhere; there is cauliflower only in our village. However, the price is very low. We cannot pay back even the bank loan."

Farmers in Bajrabarahi VDC, which is located in the northern belt of Makwanpur district, have grown plenty of cauliflowers and pea pods but the prices are extremely low.

According to local farmer Shashidhar Subedi, the cauliflower is being sold at 4 to 5 rupees per kilogram. Two truckloads of cauliflowers are being sent to the Kathmandu valley or other different places of the country daily. But as the price is very cheap, farmers are disappointed.

Vegetables are chief sources of income for the majority of farmers living in Bajrabarahi VDC, about 70 kilometres from Hetauda. This is one of the important vegetable-growing VDCs in Makwanpur district.

Last year, we obtained more loan from banks than in the past with a view to increasing our income. The product is also good, but since the price is too low we are encountering tremendous difficulties, says cauliflower producer Bam Bahadur Thakuri.

Although there is no good demand for cauliflower, we cannot keep it always on the ground. When we want to sell it at the market, traders are not willing to buy it at more than Rs 5 per kilogram, he added.

Documents seized

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ILAM, May 9 - Suspected Maoists seized photography instruments and other important documents from the employees assigned for taking photographs of eligible voters at Naya Bazaar Village Development Committee (VDC) of the constituency No-3.

According to photography team member Diwakar Bhandari, their instruments and other documents were looted by six people, who claimed themselves to be Maoist rebels. The suspected rebels also warned them not to visit the VDCs again with the same purpose.

Work for the photography was ordered for the second time following the flaws in the majority of ID cards that were prepared earlier in the constituency.

One for the ‘Byroad’

By Suman Pradhan

KATHMANDU, May 9 - I am neither a crystal ball gazer nor a fortuneteller. But just as untrained quacks are not disqualified from performing complex surgeries in this Himalayan Kingdom of ours, my lack of training in futurology should not bar me from making a few predictions of what awaits our beloved motherland this monsoon season.

Remember what happened last year at Krishnavir? A huge mudslide brought all traffic on the Prithvi Highway, admittedly Kathmandu’s busiest road link to the outside world, to a standstill for days. Not only that, thousands of passengers were stranded in oh, so miserable conditions without food or drink.

This leads me to make my first prediction: We’ll have more of the same this year, courtesy the Sadak Bibhag.

If you find it difficult to stomach this, consider what happened only last month when just a few hours of rain brought the hills tumbling down, again at Krishnavir. The result was a day-long traffic jam extended to another day because our truck-driving boys just can’t shake off their habit of double-parking on a two-lane highway.

Officials at the Sadak Bibhag tell me they have brought in more bulldozers at the site anticipating worse things to come, but still that is hardly likely to scare away the gods from pouring in the rains, triggering another mud-slide to be sure. The Sadak Bibhag must get the blame for all this because they had one year to convince some foreign donor to provide aid to avert the catastrophe, but apparently they just sat on their dozers doing nothing.

How do you escape this certain-to-befall fate at Krishnavir? Simply by changing your travel plans. Instead of rumbling down the cursed highway, just fly out of the Valley in one of those spanking new C or D class airplanes (how come they aren’t A class?) which are said to be the epitome of youth, safety and comfort. By the way, the pictures taken from the windows of a particular class of aircraft is lot less fuzzier than another class of aircraft. I am convinced.

And this brings us to my second prediction: No matter which aircraft type you try to book, the planes will already have been overbooked just when you need them.

Sure there are dozens of small new aircraft zipping in and out of Tribhuvan International Airport these days, what with the "Open Skies" policy of the first Nepali Congress government in the early 1990s. But have you tried to find a seat to anywhere other than Pokhara during the monsoon? You now know what I’m talking about.

But dear folks, there is hope along the way. You see, the government has recently ensured that this small problem will be taken care of. They have brought in Lauda Air. Since this particular Air flies empty most of the times, it can be used to ferry up all the passengers who change their travel plans for fear of the Krishnavir Effect. The Board of Directors at RNAC is already making the necessary arrangements, or so I hear.

Which brings us to the third and last prediction: The RNAC board is certain to ask for, and get, cabinet approval to use Lauda Air to ferry passengers which, in turn, will attract the CIAA.

It might sound crazy, but knowing how the national airline works, this is not a far-fetched scenario. RNAC bosses ask for higher approval for anything they do, knowing well in advance that the CIAA will soon be on their heels. Better to pass on the buck, then. Prime Minister Koirala can testify to the devastating effect of this devious tactic, I am certain.

All this compels me to change my own travel plans. But since travelling by air can get the country’s Prime Minister into trouble, I’ll do him a favour by travelling by road. I’m taking the Byroad.

Road construction keeps people home

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HETAUDA, May 9 - Many poor people of this area who at other times used to go out of their homes to make a living during this season of food shortage almost every year in the past are happy to receive employment in their native place this year.

Dhan Bahadur Lama, who has crossed 70 years, is busy working in a road construction project. Father of half a dozen children, Dhan Bahadur gets out from his house at 6 a.m. daily with a shovel in his hand and is accompanied by his 15 and 17 year old sons who are also equipped with various tools to dig roads. They have been working regularly for the last 15 days.

In the past, Dhan Bahadur and his two young sons used to wander over different parts of Chitwan in search of work. Three years ago, one of his small daughters died in this season by consuming poisonous roots as they were returning home from work. His heart is still heavy when he recollects the incident that took place due to his poverty.

Like Dhan Bahadur, a large number of local people from Rupachuri, Raksirang, Kankada and Sarikhet are happy to get job in road construction project this year. Those who are stout and strong are working in the road and earning foodgrains under the Food for Work Programme.

Construction work is going on in Manahari-Rupachuri, Manahari-Chainpur and Simpani-Sarikhet roads. The 10- kilometre long roads are under construction with the joint efforts of Makwanpur District Development Committee, World Food Programme, Employment Commission and SAPROS Nepal.

About 240 to 400 men and women are working daily in each of these roads, according to Bijay Karki of SAPROS Nepal.

Most of the Chhetris, Bahuns and Tamangs of this area used to go out to different places including Chitwan while the Chepangs used to go to the forest in search of roots in this season of famine. This year, local people have not gone out and even Chepangs have also not entered the forest as all of them are employed, Karki claimed. Each worker is getting 4 to 12 kilograms of rice everyday on the basis of his labour, according to SAPROS Nepal.

Locals deprived of banking facilities

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SINDHULI, May 9 - The shifting of banks to more ‘secured’ areas due to worsening condition of law and order has caused difficulty to the locals in most of the VDCs of this district.

As the branches and sub-branches of Rastriya Banijya Bank and Agriculture Development Bank are shifted to the district headquarters due to worsening law and order situation, rural people are gradually being deprived of banking facilities in this district.Three branches of Rastriya Banijya Bank were providing services from different parts of the district, but they have all been transferred to the district headquarters this week as directed by the central office of the bank. The branches located at Kabikot, Jhangajholi, Ratmata and Bhiman are engaged in transactions from the district headquarters.

According to Manager of Rastriya Banijya Bank Sindhuli, Padmanabh Upadhyaya, the branches were moved to the district headquarters under the direction of the central office following the increase in incidents of bank looting all over the country.

As the local people have not been able to come to the bank after they have been transferred, bank staff have very little work to do. It is interesting to see the crowd in the bank, but the crowd is not of customers but of the staff of four branches of the bank.

Most of the banks which have been shifted were located near the police office and local people complain that it was only a pretext for the bank to shift the branches because all of the branches were running in losses.

As the banks have been removed from the rural areas, people are deprived of banking facilities on the one hand and the bank staff are finding it difficult to recover their investment on the other. People who have opened their accounts in the bank are also facing difficulties to withdraw money because they are required to come to the district headquarters.

The Agriculture Development Bank has invested 72 million 197 thousand rupees. While the loan recovery rate is extremely low, there is a large crowd of people thronging to the bank and seeking to obtain loan, according to Bank Manager Pitambar Jha.

The bank staff claim that they were finding it difficult to recover the loan because the Maoist workers had told the people to obtain bank loan but not to pay it back.