Govt committed to alleviate poverty

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KATHMANDU, Feb 8: P. L. Singh, Minister for Population and Environment today said that the government is attentive towards the alleviation of poverty by effectively implementing the population control programme and encouraging to establish a small happy family.

Minister Singh made this remarks while inaugurating a seminar on "The Integration of Population and Development" jointly organised by the Ministry of Population and Environment and UNFPA here today.

"There is the need for cooperation and coordination among all sections of the society to manage population, a multi-pronged and multi-faceted area", Singh said.

"The unbridled growth of population will not only have an adverse impact on natural resources, infrastructural build-ups and services but also heighten poverty and social disharmony", he said, adding that the Tenth Plan will give priority to a long-term strategy to overcome the problem.

Dr Mukti Narayan Shrestha, Secretary at the Ministry of Population and Environment said that as population and development are inter-linked, population management should be considered as the focal point in order to confront widespread poverty, illiteracy and backwardness as well as to provide momentum to development activities.

Dr Harka Gurung, renowned demography expert presented a paper on "A Long Term Plan for Population Management" and Dr Jagdish Chandra Pokharel, member of National Planning Commission on "The Integration of Population and Demography."

The participants expressed concern over the high fertility rate and problem of migration which has caused alarming growth of population and its serious repercussions on the social pattern in the near future.

The population distribution in the Himalayan region accounts for 7.3 percent, in the hilly region 48.5 percent and in the Terai belt 48.5 percent whereas the growth rates are 17, 68 and 15 percent in the Himalayan, hilly and Terai regions.

Stress on civic education for school children

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KATHMANDU, Feb 8: Dr Robert J Stahl, a professor of Civic Education today stressed the need of civic education for school children to make them the concept of democracy clear in the country.

He was addressing a discussion programme on strengthening democracy through civic education, organised by the American Centre Friday.

"If you want to maintain democracy, you have to build up a broader aspect of civic education," he said.

He said, "We need to replace the present culture with a civic culture to understand the essence of democracy in full form." He also said, "But it is not easy, simple and quick."

Stahl, who came to Nepal for a week-long programme, said that the people of Nepal are discontented with democracy and the government in the past 10 or 12 years and the action of the governments and their results are responsible for it.

"Freedom is not free. It costs. It costs money, sweat and blood," he said explaining the importance of democracy in the country. But he also warned that in democracy, you become more political and more involved in politics at different levels.

Earlier, the Curriculum Development Centre Sanothimi organised a two-day seminar on Civil Awareness in Kathmandu on Wednesday and Thursday, in which Stahl was invited as a resource person to facilitate the seminar.

Stahl, based on his experience of civic education taught in different times, emphasized the need of designing civic education suitable to the country as what can be termed successful in one country cannot be adopted in another. states a press release from the American Centre.

Rober C Kerrr, the Director of American Centre pointed out that civic awareness is crucial for promoting democratic society.

During the two-day- seminar, the participants analyzed all the school level textbooks on Civics, Social Studies, English and Nepali to find out where elements related to civic awareness have been incorporated in the texts and what additional concepts could be added.

Govt urged to focus on public health sector

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KATHMANDU, Feb 8: Minister of State for Health Mohan Bahadur Basnet today inaugurated a workshop on Situation Analysis: Environmental Health in Nepal.

Professor Hari Bansh Jha, the team leader of the situation analysis criticized the government for not paying due attention in the public health sector, while presenting the summary of the Situation Analysis of Environmental Health in Nepal.

He said the Ministry of Population and Environment and Ministry of Health have developed policies, guidelines and standards in related fields but they are not adequate, particularly in environmental health sector.

"The concerned stakeholders have not properly visualized the gravity of the situation for developing environmental health policy."

He blamed poor coordinating mechanism at the inter-ministerial level with regard to environmental health issues.

He said because of the growing level of pollution, infectious diseases like diarrhoea, JE, meningitis, kala-azar, viral hepatitis, malaria and parasitic infections have been affecting public health and killing people each year.

But Jha’s analysis could not estimate the actual number of people affected or killed from various diseases.

The situation analysis was held by the joint endeavour of the Nepal Health Research Centre and World Health Organization.

Call to end discrimination against Dalit communities

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KATHMANDU, Feb 8: With a view to uprooting the practice of untouchability, a public hearing programme on "Dalit Movement and Liberation" was organised here today.

Addressing the programme organised by the Institute of Human Rights Communication, Nepal, Yuvaraj Sangraula, a noted advocate said that the state has to play a significant role to end discrimination against the downtrodden communities.

"State must punish those who are involved in discrimination against the Dalits," said Sangraula. "Government should be serious in punishing those people who are involved in discrimination."

Sangraula also said that commitment on the part of political parties is really necessary. "The commitment should not only remain in a manifestoes of political parties. All the parties should think seriously over abolishing the practice of untouchability," said Sangraula.

Speaking at the same programme, member of the National Human Rights Commission, Kapil Shrestha said that the 8-point declaration by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba should be fulfilled soon. "Deuba’s announcement to form a Dalit commission should be materialised soon," said Shrestha.

Prime Minister Deuba in the last session of the Parliament had vowed to end the practice of untouchability by constituting a Dalit commission.

NMCC holds rally against corruption, irregularities

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KATHMANDU, Feb 8: The National Movement against Corruption Committee (NMCC) registered their demands at the Central Offices of all national political parties following a silent rally today.

It is learnt that the protest rally started registering their demands from the party office of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP)and went on registering their demands at Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, CPN-ML and Nepal Sadbhavana Party(NSP)offices respectively.

Prem Bahadur Khati, representative of the NMCC said if the demands are not fulfilled within two months, the committee will be compelled to continue the protest.

"The demands should be fulfilled within two months. It is high time that political parties think seriously regarding corruption and irregularities in the country, "said Khati.

The demands include transparency in foreign aid, constitution of the high level committee to take action against the corrupt, making public the income and expenditure of every political parties and the declaration of the corrupt as "economic terrorists".

The parties are learnt to have taken the demands seriously as the donors expressed concern over the corruption and irregularities in the Nepal Development Forum held recently at the Capital.

Row over compensation stalls Melamchi Project

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CHAUTARA, Feb 8: With the affected people refusing to accept the accorded compensation, the construction work of the much-touted Melamchi Water Project has come to a standstill.

The locals recently lodged a complaint at the Home Ministry saying that they would not accept the compensation amount set by the government’s Compensation Determination Committee, as it was too low. They appealed the Ministry to stop the construction work until the compensation matter was settled.

The Compensation Committee had fixed amounts ranging from Rs. 2,50,000 to 4,50,000 at the bazaar section, which is ten times more than the land price fixed by the District Revenue Office for the farmlands in the area.

But the locals who will be displaced by a road set to run through their settlements, say the amount is "impractical and very low".

The Home Ministry is now planning to study the problem. "We are to make an investigation into the issue on the basis of documents on land compensation," says Kosh Kumar Nemwang, Deputy Secretary at the Ministry said. Another Ministry source says the complaint is coming from those owning 25-30 kattas of land who will be displaced by the 18-kilometre-long ‘entry road’.

Raj Kumar Malla, the acting Director of the Compensation Committee, asserts that the
demand of the locals is not justified as the Committee is offering a better price than what the Land Revenue Office has fixed as the value of the land.

"If the locals don’t accept the compensation, the project can’t proceed as per the provision in the loan treaty," says Malla.

Nine bridges have already been constructed along the entry road by the government, while the rest of the work is to be done with loan from outside donors, it is learnt.

Telepone of govt offices cut off

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RAJBIRAJ, Feb 8: The Tele-communication office here has cut off the telephone line of the Saptari District Development Committee as it delayed to clear up the bill that amounts 3 hundred thousand rupees.

The chief of Nepal Telecommunication Office Rajbiraj Indel Yadav said, the DDC was informed frequently to clear up the bill as soon as possible but the office didn’t paid any heeds to the words.

Apart from late dues and VAT the office has to pay 2 hundred and 86 thousand rupees. Since it is a public service office, one line has been connected and that too will be cut off soon if they don’t pay the dues, the officials said.

DDC member Bhim Raj Yadav said, the telephone has been misused and used for private works by the officials. The 3 telephone lines were there in the rooms of Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Local Development officer respectively.

But the Local Development officer Uday Pratap Singh denies the accusations saying that the local representatives are responsible for the situation because they not only misused the facility by themselves but also let it misused by their close partners. According to the Telecommunication Office Rajbiraj, more than 12 local offices have been deprived from telephone facilities, as they didn’t cleared up the bills. While others have started it.

‘ Democracy is not served to people’

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SIRAHA , Feb 8: Speaker of the House of Representatives Tara Nath Ranabhat has said that democracy was not served to the doorsteps of the peoples. " Democracy could not be reached to the village level until and unless the wave of development reaches there."

Rana Bhat, while speaking after inauguration of 8th district council meeting, claimed that the government was obliged to mobilize the most sensitive forces of the country due to Maoists’ attack upon it.

Terming the Maoists as terrorists he " if they were nationalists, they would not have involve themselves in destroying the development infrastructures".

He also suggested seeking safelanding of the emergency rather than suffering the jurnos and the general peoples.

He blamed those advocating active monarchy as anti monarchists.

‘They could as well have used mineral water for irrigation’

By Bikash Thapa

Biratnagar, Feb 8: Allegations of massive corruption are doing the rounds about the Sunsari-Morang Irrigation Project, the largest of its kind in the country. It is said that millions of rupees have been misused in setting up the infrastructure for the project.

"If one had kept a close watch on the money spent on the Irrigation Project, in the past few years, irrigation could have been carried out by the mineral water sold in shops," was the strong indictment made by parliamentarian Lal Babu Pandit representing Constituency-3 of Morang district. The corruption charges came out into the open seeing the poor quality of roads laid for the Project by the Consumer’s Committee.

The Committee has constructed over 100 kilometres of roads for the Project at several VDCs, including Banigama, Kaseni, Thalaha, Bahuni, Karauni, Hoklabari, Babiyabirta and Darbesha.

These constructions involved a lot of irregularities, say the chairmen of the VDCs.

"We were given Rs 20,000 for the construction of three kilometres of road at Babiyabirta VDC, but the Committee has put the construction cost at Rs 50,000," alleges a contractor.

Similar allegations were made by some others. Says Balaram Siwakoti, Chairman of Derbesa VDC, "The Committee has shown a cost of Rs 900,000 to gravel a road but the VDC would do it at the cost of just Rs 300,000". He also says too many roads than necessary have been built for the project, and all of them of a poor quality. "Why should a project concerned with irrigation build roads unnecessarily?" asks Siwakoti.