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Kathmandu Saturday February 09, 2002 Magh 27, 2058.
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Govt committed to alleviate
poverty
Post Report
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.
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