Freedom fighter Mahendra Nidhi remembered

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KATHMANDU, March 12: The 81st birth anniversary of late Mahendra Narayan Nidhi, a freedom fighter, was observed amid a function here Wednesday.

Different speakers speaking at the function shed light on the personality of Nidhi, his role in restoring democracy in the country and on his contribution to the ruling Nepali Congress party. The function was organised by the Nepal Students’ Union, the student wing of Nepali Congress, Dhanusa-Kathmandu Committee.

Nidhi, who died two years ago, was one of the personalities who played an important role during the popular movement of 1989 to restore democracy in the country by overthrowing the then 30-year-old Panchayati regime. Nidhi, the former general secretary of the Nepali Congress Party, also held the post of deputy speaker in 1958. He also became minister in the interim government after the restoration of democracy.

Remembering his more than a half century old closeness to Nidhi, former prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai said that Nidhi was an embodiment of boldness and courage. Besides, he was broad-minded, simple, strategic and a true follower of Gandhi.

"Nidhi often wished that the country become wealthy and all people be educated," said Bhattarai. He urged the gathering at the function to work for making the vision of Nidhi come true.

Speaking at the programme, Basu Risal, the former vice-chairman of the Upper House, recalled the personality of Nidhi and said that the country at present was facing a tough time caused by "external forces". Without pinpointing the external forces, Risal said, "All political parties of the country should unite for the sake of nation."

Another NC activist Yog Prasad Upadhyay said that Nidhi was a staunch supporter of idealism and discipline in politics.

State Minister for Education and Sports, N.P. Saud, said that Nidhi often guided him during his political career as the president of the Nepal Students’ Union.

Thousands of Hindus throng to Pashupatinath

Perina Pathak

KATHMANDU, March 12 : The entire periphery of Pashupatinath temple was reverberating with sounds of "Om Nama Shivaya, Jay Shiva Shambhu, Jay Pashupatinath." Throughout the day thousands of Hindu devotees thronged to Pashupatinath temple to pay homage to Lord Shiva.

Known as the day of origin of Shivalinga, people believe that if they pay homage to Lord Shiva today all their desires will be fulfilled and they will attain success in life.

Only to have a glimpse of Pashupatinath, thousands of Hindu pilgrims thronged to Pashupatinath temple today. With bel patra, white flowers and a bottle of milk on a tray Sunita Devi from Samastipur, India was also waiting for her turn to offer puja.

"It was 10 O’ clock when I arrived here but I have not been able to penetrate this crowd yet, I am waiting for this crowd to reduce," said Devi, standing at Tilganga stop, where the Valley Traffic Police Office had halted all the vehicles.

Taking a puff Dharma Baba, with long hair rounded on his head, said that the management was very satisfactory and the only problem there was the place where pilgrims could get food. Baba, who hails from Gujarat,India, has been a regular visitor to Pashupatinath temple at Shivaratri for the last eight years.

Baba arrived here last week and is staying at Pashupatinath temple periphery. "Puffs, chilim, gaja (marijuana), are Lord’s favourite so as we are the God’s devotee, we also take these as God’s prasad, but sometime teenagers come to us and give us trouble asking for a puff," says Baba.

Besides Hindu believers and Babas, tourists have also made their presence in large numbers enjoying the dance, jhaki and songs dedicated to Lord Shiva. Jonathan Hans from USA, who was taking a photo of Dharma Baba, said, "This is my first experience with these kinds of people and places where such Hindus especially these Babas with unique getup have congregated."

"Today people and mainly the Shivabhaktas (devotees of Lord Shiva) take fast throughout the day, pay homage to Lord Shiva and when the night falls lit fire in the name of God," said Hari Ram Joshi, a cultural expert.

It is believed that to have bonfire on the Shivaratri evening is the last flame of fire of the winter season; this reminds us that the winter season has come to an end and spring has begun to take place from today, said Joshi. "Those who keep jagram ( the act of keeping awake throughout the night in the name of God) also light dhuni (fire flame) so that it becomes easy for them to spend the night by reciting hymns in groups," said Joshi.

Many mythological scripts have described the mahima (greatness) of Lord Shiva among which Shiva and Linga Puran are the legendary scripts especially dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Legends have it that once God Brahma and God Bishnu had an argument and were tangled in a quarrel. Bishnu was claiming that he was more powerful than Brahma and Brahma was stressing that it was him who was more powerful.

Then for the final decision over the dispute they both went to Lord Shiva. For Shiva too it became very hard to decide upon the case. Shiva then formed a huge Jotirlinga (his own manifestation) and asked one of them to find the initial point and other the end of Jotirlinga.

Both set off to find their destination but as they could not succeed in their attempt they both returned to Shiva. Brahma told a lie that he got to the end, whereas Bishnu told the truth about his failure to get to the point..

Lord Shiva finds out the truth and declares Bishnu as the more powerful deity. "It was on Shivaratri day that Lord Shiva appeared in the Linga form, therefore, people celebrate this day as the Day of Lord Shiva," said Pundit Gopi Krishna Gautam.

Regional meet on cookstove programme

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KATHMANDU, March 12 : The Asia Regional Cookstove Programme (ARECOP), Indonesia, and the Centre for Rural Technology, Nepal (CRT/N) are jointly organising a regional meeting from March 13 to 16, states a press release issued here today by CRT/N.

Representatives from Thailand, the Netherlands, Laos, Malaysia as well as from Country Focal Points (CFPs) of ARECOP- supported ICS National Networks in ARECOP-focused countries, such as, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Philippines, Combodia and Srilanka are participating in the meeting.

Each CFP will have an opportunity to present their present national network status, their relationship and position with regard to the regional network and their past achievements, giving an overview of what their future expectations with regard to their network and its relation to the regional network would be.

The participants will also formulate plans of activities together for the 5 years to come so that the network can realize a more tangible plan of action.

ARECOP has been supporting the Improved Cooking Stove (ICS) Network, Nepal Chapter with CRT/N as Country Focal Point (CFP) since 1995 to strengthen the ICS-related activities of the network, which till date incorporates 38 member organisations.

The programme aims to support the promotion and dissemination of Improved Cooking Stove Programmes supported by the government, INGOs, NGOs, and other community organisations.

Kathmandu in the clutches of local clubs

The city of Kathmandu is strong in youth power. They can make anything happen in the city. It is as if the rein is in their hands and the laws come out from their brain. The only problem is that they seldom give the citywise directions.

While taking a tour around the city, you can easily find one or two youth clubs in each city corner, either in core or in newly emerging suburbs. Whether registered or not, they rule the locals with their unwritten laws and the people, mostly newcomers in the locality have no other way than obliging to their demands. They make their own rule to govern the locality.

They become the authority to decide who should own a shop in the area, where one should park his vehicle and how much should he pay for that. Those highschool students and dropouts distribute plastic buckets to collect dust and demand money double the market price, they employ night security guards and demand money to pay them.

All the public places in the area are their "possessions" and in most of the cases, they are the only rightful squatters for such public places. They would proudly construct concrete "club buildings" for their internal use. Most probably they run gymnasium there, the most favourite social service they can offer. Out of the hundreds of such clubs, hardly a dozen library have been opened and are running properly.

The local religious or social constructions like temples, sattals (open rest-houses) or old public toilets are also theirs and they can turn them into club buildings, shops and telephone booths. Unaware of the religious, archaeological and social values, they reshape such temples and sattals, according to their immature designs. In most of the core area, old public toilets have been dismantled. In fact, such temples, sattals and public toilets have been incentives for many youths to constitute youth clubs.

Such clubs have their own business. Apart from giving their buildings in rent, they can also give the government-made roads in rent. Pay-parking at the roadside is the most popular business they can do to have beer party in the evenings — zero investment, and they don’t have to show their income to anyone.

The local authorities can’t control their activities as their relation with the ward office is always smart. They indeed have become two components of local government — one the legal and the other, practical. The complimentary nature has given profit to both the sectors (let the people suffer now and again). If the ward committee can build its office on the public land, why can’t the clubs erect a stall there and harvest the fruit of rent every month? In many cases, both the components make such a match that bigger and bigger deals are made easy in local politics.

According to Ward Profile, prepared by Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme, there are 262 such clubs (that include some of NGOs but omit many of such local clubs). Those are: 46 in Central Sector (Ward no. 1- 1, 5-5, 11-20, 31-6, 32-7, 33-7), 41 in Western Sector ( 6-3, 7-7, 9-10, 10-11, 34-5, 35-5), 24 in North Sector (Ward no. 2-6, 3-..., 4-5, 16-7, 29-6), 68 in North Core (Ward no. 17-12, 18-7, 19-5, 24-6, 25-5, 26-4, 27-5, 28-11, 30-13), 50 in South Core (Ward no. 12-14, 20-8, 21-14, 22-10, 23-12) and 33 in Western Sector (Ward no. 13-6, 14-16, 15-11).

We don’t know whether this is good or not. Who knows? Chief District Officer says it is the responsibility of Social Welfare Council and the council says it is interested only in those who bring foreign donations.

Why should one bother when the city-dwellers have to be aware of the legitimatise local "social workers" who want donations from every residents, shop-owners and even passers by. Let this go on, perhaps this is the new definition of self-governance, at least it applies with the capital city.

A dispirited Mahashivaratri this year

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KATHMANDU, March 12 : The Mahashivaratri festival this year did not see the jubilance as it saw in the previous years. Reports were received here, from our correspondents around the country, stating that very few devotees visited the Shiva temples, owing to the security situation in the country.

Most of the places around the country well-known for Shivaratri Mela, saw no fan fare this year. Even the rituals like Koti Homa, recital of Rudri, Shiva Bibaha and others were not carried out at Hari Nandeshwor temple of Saptari district.

Shiva temple at Galeshwor Dham, at Myagdi district also wore a deserted look in Shivaratri this year. The Dham, where the facial portion from the dead body of Satyadevi, the consort
of Lord Shiva is assumed to have fallen by the Hindu myth, had drawn huge number of devotees in the past.

The temple of Halesi Mahadev, renowned as ‘Pashupatinath of the East’ at Khotang district also saw very few devotees visiting the temple from the vicinity of the temple. During the previous years, the temple attracted Hindu devotees from as far as India, alongwith Lamas, Buddhist priests.

The religious sites like Shreesthan, Naawisthan and Kotila at Dailekh district were in similar state like the others. The devotees from the neighbouring districts Jajarkot, Achham, Kalikot, Surkhet, Nepalgunj and Jumla would throng at these sites en masse, during the festival in the past years.

Malaria, TB: Main health concern in Kavre

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KAVRE, March 12 : Despite a dozen of organisations working in the sector of health in the district, the status of health in the rural parts of the district is degrading alarmingly. This was disclosed at a discussion programme
conducted in Banepa by the District Health Office (DHO) of Kavre yesterday.

Malaria has emerged as a great health hazard in the district since last year with the disease claiming 36% of the people, which is the highest percentage in the country, according to DHO.

According to DHO, tuberculosis (TB) has also emerged as one of the main health concern in the district. "The main reason for the increase in TB cases is lack of awareness among the rural people and the negligence of the patients in taking the prescribed dose of medicine," said Bal Krishna Bhushal, chief of the DHO.

Other health problems cited in the programme were pregnancy and family planning. According to Mina Kattel, chief of Women Development Branch,
Kavre, many mothers in the district lose their lives due to lack of proper care during pregnancy.

As informed by DHO, family planning in the district has not been very effective as most of the couples go through the permanent measures of family planning only after the age of 40. The participants in the discussion programme said that there is an urgent need to create awareness among the couples in the rural parts of the district to adopt the permanent measures of family planning.

"The agenda on health has never been raised in the meetings of District Development Committee (DDC)," said Ram Hari Subedi, the Chief at the DDC.