Mother’s Day being observed today

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KATHMANDU, May 11 : "Matri deva bhaba, pitri deva bhava, athiti deva bhava, guru deva bhava", which literally means that mother, father, guest and teacher are gods and goddesses. In Hindu religion people worship mother, father, guest and teacher as gods and goddesses.

"Guru Purnima" is the Teacher’s Day, "Bubako mukh herne din" is the Father’s Day and similarly "Aamako mukh herne din" is the Mother’s Day, which falls on 12 May , Sunday, this year.

Hindus throughout the world observes this sanctified day as the day to worship mother. Citizens of Kathmandu, the capital of the only Hindu Kingdom in the world, also celebrates the day by paying reverence to their mothers.

"I have planned to give shoes and sari as presents to my mother," said Sunila Sharma, 21-year-old girl. "Unlike last year I am not financially weak because I have been working for the last five months and I have saved enough money to spend on such occasions."

"We have also planned to give treat to our mother," shouts Sunila’s brother, who have also saved enough for his mother. "This is the first time we are going to give her this grand surprise."

Like Sunila and her brother, many of the other sons and daughters might have been planning for the day.

Gone are the days when children used to give similar fruits and sweets on the Mother’s Day. Nowadays, people prefer something useful and valuable for their mother.

"Mother is the creator and future of every child, so it is the duty of every child to respect, love and regard the symbol of love - the mother," said Hari Ram Joshi, cultural expert. ">From the ancient time, teachers used to teach their students to respect mother, which means that Mother’s Day is a very old practice in human society," he said.

Not only children, even married women and men enthusiastically celebrate the day by offering gifts and making the mother feel cherished. While, on the other hand, mother bestows blessing for long life and prosperity upon her children.

Though it is a heartbreaking day for those whose mothers have already been passed away, they perform Shraddha (offering done in the memory of dead one) and visit the holy site of Mata Tirtha pond situated around four kilometres toward the south-west of the Kathmandu Valley.

On the Mother’s Day, also known as matri aunsi thousands of devotees, whose mothers have already been passed away visit the Mata Tirtha pond, where they take bath from the running water spout and make themselves pure and clean. And then perform Shraddha, chants mantras, light oil lamps and offer daan (alms) in the memory of his/her mother.

It is believed that in the Mata Tirtha pond one can see the face of dead mother, who always gives blessings to their children.

"The exact date cannot be traced when the mother’s festival began," said Ram Chandra Gautam, Professor of Theology at Mahendra Sanskrit University..... "It must be an ancient festival started from the beginning of human life."

According to Gautam, legend had it that in ancient times when no human life was on the earth, God Bramha (creator) created Swayambhu Manu and Satarupa, a male and a female.

From the duo three sons and three daughters were born. The children once a year in the memory of their mother Satarupa visited her with foods, fruits and sweets. From then onwards, every generation of people visited their parents on the Father’s and Mother’s Day.

"It is believed that from the time of first human beings Manu and Satarupa, the day was observed. Therefore this festival is not of recent discovery but is in practice since the time immemorial," said Gautam.

First NAMLS meet held

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KATHMANDU, May 11: The first national conference of Nepal Association for Medical Laboratory Sciences (NAMLS) was held here today.

The one-day-conference comprised different scientific papers on topics related to diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, gastric and many others. Although the history of medical laboratory science is very old in the country, it is not more than four decades old.

At the seminar the participants expressed their hope that the conference would help to promote the image of medical laboratory science in the country and form a platform for the further development of this field.The seminar was participated by different dignitaries from various medical organisations who exchanged their knowledge for the promotion of laboratory science.

On the occasion, Director General of the Department of Health Science, Dr. L.T. Pathak said, " Medical profession is directly related to human life but some people complain it is heading towards commercialisation." He said, "It is necessary for laboratory personnel to be aware of this problem and work towards a sustainable solution."

Similarly, at the programme, the president of NAMLS, Chintamani Sharma expressed his happiness for the commencement of the conference. "It is through such conferences that medical professionals are able to come together and work for better medical services" Sharma said.

Leaders raise voice for national consensus

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KATHMANDU, May 11: Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) President Surya Bahadur Thapa has shed light on the imminent joint efforts coming from parties in the Parliament to ward off what he identified as " the extraordinary crises dogging the nation."

Stopping short of saying that the incumbent government would be replaced as part of the broad national democratic alliance if it did not cooperate, Thapa dwelt at length on national consensus which alone, he claimed, can put an end to the current political crisis arising out of "both insurgency and bad governance all along."

"The crisis is extraordinary calling for extraordinary efforts. No single party or leader can overcome it single-handedly. Hence the joint efforts," Thapa further said. He also announced that the parties were currently drawing up a time-bound programme aimed at ensuring immediate changes in Constitution and the country’s politics.

Speaking in the same wave length K P Oli of the CPN-UML dropped hints of possible national government "to ward off the crises in hand." He, however, debunked the claims that CPN-UML was raring to go to power for the sake of it alone. "We are more interested to simplify the crisis rather than compound them as is happening currently," Oli said.

Oli flayed both the rebel outfit and the incumbent government saying that while the former was waging a futile fight, the latter expects to stay ignoring the directives of the ruling party. " Our problem is this is working to the detriment of the nation," he added.

Earlier, pointing out the anomalies which have set in since 1990, Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani of the RPP said, " Much of what the nation is facing today has to do with protracted bad governance. No parties, which went to power, made it a point to build up the institutions, which has resulted in anarchy."

Dr. Lohani, however, criticised the efforts surrounding the broad national democratic alliance which, said he, could end up as yet another vehicle to ride to power. " If what I have heard is right, they (parties in Parliament) are trying to make just enough changes in the Constitution, which may be enough to facilitate the formation of a national government," Dr. Lohani claimed.

General Secretary of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) Sushil Koirala, too, spoke along similar veins and lamented the fact that bad people have tended to dominate the good ones which has further compounded the problems. "But I am sure much of this will be ruled out once there are collective efforts from the parties in the Parliament," Koirala said.

Speaking at the outset Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) central member Sarita Giri singled out worsening relations between the ruling party and the government as the latest in the long list of problems. Problems also have issued out of wrong analysis of the issues as they come up and equally the worst implementation of programmes and policies.

Giri also flayed the shifting stances of NC President Girija Prasad Koirala and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on the modus operandi to be adopted to ensure restoration of peace in the country. " There is a party president who once wanted to crush the rebels militarily but is now advising talks even as there is a prime minister who was earlier for talks but is now sticking to guns," Giri said in an ironic tone.

Balkumari temple to get a facelift

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LALITPUR, May 11:The over 300 years old temple of Balkumari in ward No. 8 of Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City is getting a facelift, thanks to the locals, local donors and supporting technical institutions.

Seventy-one years old Apulal Maharjan, the chairperson of Balkumari Conservation and Reformation Committee expressed happiness over the local effort to conserve the temple. A religious person has recently promised to provide all the materials to replace the terra-cotta tiles with copper sheets for roofs of the three-tiered temple.

"It has been ages we were thinking of renovating the temple but the Almighty has set the time for now," he said.

There are four pairs of giant stone lions guarding the temple from four directions. They are now in the state of falling down due to unwanted plants. The committee has taken initiation to renovate the lion figures. There will also be better brickpaving, drainage and a door that will prohibit vehicles from drawing near the temple area.

The locals built cemented walls around the temple area that also covered the four small Devi temples around the pagoda. They have also decided to demolish them so that the small stone temple could be visible from the outside, too.

The committee has already found financial assistance from the German Development Institution (GTZ) of Rs 76,000. They are looking for more money to carry on the project. Their application to the municipality for financial assistance is waiting for approval.

"We won’t use only the donations. We have also collected at least 10 percent of the total budget from our side through physical works," he said.

The committee will get technical support from the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust for renovation of lions and wooden windows that may fall any time due to cracks from the inner parts of the wall.

The temple celebrates its annual festival during the days of Ghodejatra festival in April. In fact, the festival of horse was originated from the temple of Balkumari that later became the day of army horse race in the capital. Other festival is celebrated in the month of December.

Govt urged to invest in education

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BHAKTAPUR, May 11:Main opposition party leader Madhav Kumar Nepal today said that the government should invest in education to improve the quality of life of the people in Nepal. Leader Nepal was speaking at a programme organised to lay the foundation stone of "Jana Adarsha Campus" at Madhyapur Thimi-13 in Bhaktapur today.

Nepal also said that due to the lack of census in particular fields of employment, the problem of unemployment has been increasing.

According to Govinda Duval, chairman of the District Development Committee, the campus is being built with the collective effort of the local residents. "The committee has donated Rs 300,000 for the construction", he said.

The campus was built on a government-owned land and is still under construction. The campus plans to offer Bachelor’s Level for commerce students.

SAPC plan of action for agrarian reforms

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KATHMANDU, May 11 : Agreeing to strongly fight "feudalism and imperialism" in the agriculture sector, the South Asian peasant leaders have designed detailed plan of action for the massive agrarian reforms.

Wrapping up the two-day- Second Conference of the South Asian Peasants’ Coalition (SAPC) in the scenic Nagarkot village on Friday, the peasant leaders have also elected Bamdev Gautam, president of the All Nepal Peasants’ Association (ANPA), as the president of the SAPC.

Speaking at a press conference organised to make public the Nagarkot Declaration today, SAPC Secretary Prem Dangal said that the conference has designed a three-page detailed plan of action in six categories – agrarian reforms; fighting WTO, WB, ADB and IMF policies; sustainable agriculture, human rights, gender and strengthening of SAPC members and the secretariat. High on the agenda is the campaign demanding WTO out of agriculture, Dangal said.

On the occasion, Dangal said that the conference has also planned to publish a quarterly magazine "Peasant’s Voice", create a website and incorporate various concerned organisations in their campaign for the agrarian reforms.

He said the peasant leaders have also agreed to celebrate April 17 as the "Peasants’ Day".

On the occasion, SAPC chief Gautam said that the peasants’ movement now would be concentrating on protecting the patent rights of the farmers and promoting their traditional measures. "At the moment, the agriculture sector in the developing countries is in trouble and there is no food security," Gautam said. "So we have agreed to alienate the WTO Agreements on Agriculture from the agriculture sector."

We have also agreed to strongly fight the feudalism and imperialism to salvage the agriculture sector from possible sink, Gautam added. The secretariat of the SAPC has been set up in Nepal.

During the conference, the South Asian peasant leaders have vowed to move ahead with massive reform plans by identifying that the apex of the peasants’ problems are the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organisation (WTO).

"We reiterate that at the apex of the peasants’ problems are WB, IMF and WTO who are in the service of and are in close conspiracy with multinational corporations (MNCs) are the triad tools of imperialist notably the G-8 countries," the four-page declaration has said.

The developed countries and their multinationals have used the WTO Agreements on Agriculture to dump their excess foods in developing countries, which has depressed the prices of local agriculture products of peasants leading to massive displacement and migration, the Declaration said.

On the top among the plans of action agreed by the peasant leaders are – resisting the WB market driven model of land reforms and resisting the process of globalisation and calling for WTO out of agriculture.

Altogether 88 peasant leaders from Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka and guest leaders from the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand also vowed to eliminate the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in the South and Southeast Asia region.

The peasant leaders have also agreed to hold the South Asian peasants meet in the Philippines in February 2003. The third conference will take place in the Philippines after three years.

Villages and towns in Nepal: Another Beirut, Punjab and Kashmir?

Damakant Jayshi

Two things always greeted me whenever I used to go to my village during my summer vacations when I used to stay in India. The sweet melody of kaafal pakyo, kaafal pakyo... by cuckoos always reverberated the air. And of course, there used to be the ubiquitous "Yo Radio Nepal Ho...".

After 1999, this was the first time I went to village again during the summer. Once I reached Bartung (in Palpa district, adjoining my own district Syangja), I not only savoured the tasty kaafal (raspberry) but also as the bus resumed its journey towards home, I could hear the sweet melody. Right through to my village, Malunga. The district headquarters, where the first assault took place after the truce was violated by the Maoists, is a two-hour drive from there.

But I was shocked by the silence in the village, later in the evening. And the next morning as well. Something was terribly missing. At first, I failed to realise what it was. And then it dawned upon me and hit me like a sledgehammer. I am not exaggerating here. "Yo Radio Nepal Ho..." was conspicuous by its absence. The 7 o’clock (both the morning and the evening) news was an integral part of nearly all the houses in my village. It would give you the strange feeling when you hear Radio Nepal. Almost throughout Nepal, one could fairly guess, the sound of "Yo Radio Nepal Ho..." could be heard. But no more.

Probably the cuckoos are unaware of the changes in the countryside, so they still sing their mellifluous tunes. Had they been able to feel the carnage and the resultant pain around them, their tunes may stop altogether and the villages will then turn into ghostly deserts.

Something is changing in this Himalayan Kingdom and changing very fast, beyond recognition. The smile from the people is fast becoming a premium. If this is the rate at which that enchanting smile (so commonly referred to by all the visitors who have been to the countryside) is vanishing, a time will come when it will become extinct.

We are breathing in terrorised times that has become a living nightmare. When I was a school student, I would read the news of bomb blasts and deaths which had become daily ritual of sorts on the streets of Beirut in the Middle-east in the 80s as well as in Punjab. Kashmir was also simmering, not to forget the killing fields of Assam. But it was always accompanied by the feeling that the blasts and killings were far, far away, as if one was watching a movie. It was so unreal. "Terror can never be part of my life and those near me" was the dominant feeling even as one glanced through the morning papers and watched the news.

Sadly, terror has become a part of our lives. Not only in Kathmandu, which has been rocked by blasts in the recent past but also my village that has the remotest chance of Maoist strike or being the venue of army-rebel cross-fire. Hopefully, they won’t. But despite that, the villagers were terrified enough not to listen to the news of Radio Nepal in the old days. Throughout my three-day stay, there was no public airing of the news. Only, on the fourth day, I heard it inside a tea-shop when I went to take a bus for Kathmandu.

If this is the condition of a village where, as I said, there is hardly any chance of any extreme Maoist activity, I shudder to think what could be the life of the people in those places which have suffered from Maoist attacks and been the victim of cross-fire between them and the security forces. No doubt, they have close encounters with death daily, without knowing whether they would live to see another sunrise.

Are we becoming another Beirut, Punjab or Kashmir? And to think that Nepal was proposed as the Zone of Peace!

The innocent who are dying have nothing to do with any so-called "revolution" or "people’s war". They would rather be left alone and allowed to carry on with their living in their old leisurely ways. But the unfortunate ones. They are paying dearly for a "bright" future! I have literate people arguing that this is a normal occurrence when a war like this is being waged in a country. True. But go and tell this to those who have lost father, mother husband, son and daughter, and so on.

Those who want "revolution" know that they are risking their lives. But the tragedy is many are dying who have no such fanciful notion for a future that is bright where there will be a free flow of milk and honey. How much more blood will have to be spilled before we sip our milk and honey?

Will someone please give the answer?

Lack of textbooks affects students in Gorkha

By Ishwori Neupane

GORKHA, May 11: A month has already passed since the commencement of the new academic year, but the students attending schools here are still without their textbooks.

This has disrupted the study of more than 91,000 students in the district, the concerned sources said.

Delay in the printing of textbooks and ineffective distribution system has been attributed as the reasons behind the present gloomy situation in the school education, sources said.

The guardians and the students from the district’s remote villages are visiting the stationary shops in the district headquarters regularly in look out for textbooks, but to no avail, said the bookshop owners in Gorkha bazaar.

Equally worried are the students, teachers and the guardians. But most affected are the students of class six and nine, as they are unable to use even the old textbooks because their course books have been changed from this year. Even the science textbooks of class nine have been changed from this year.

To make matter worse, primary school students in the district, who are supposed to receive textbooks free of cost from the government are yet to receive them which has totally hampered their studies, said the sources at District Education Office (DAO).

"As all the students do not have books, it has become difficult to conduct classes regularly," said Babu Kaji Shrestha, headmaster of Shakti Secondary School in Gorkha bazaar. "We are unable to provide books to thousands of students because the concerned department has not sent the books yet," accepts Ram Babu Joshi, who runs a bookshop in the district headquarters.

Janak Education Material Centre is the state-owned autonomous body that is solely responsible for publishing the textbooks and providing them to Sajha Publication for distribution.

"We have to buy books from Sajha Publication at Narayanghat and Pokhara and they do not provide the books as per our demand," said Joshi.

Tanka Nath Khatiwada, chief at the regional office of Sajha Publication in Narayanghat, said that the textbooks were not printed in required number and thus could not be provided to the retailers as per their demand.

Four rebels killed in fresh encounters

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KATHMANDU, May 11 : In fresh army-Maoist encounters at various parts of Kalikot and Dadeldhura districts during the last 24 hours, four Maoist rebels have been gunned down, the Defence Ministry said here today.

According to the regular press statement of the Ministry issued here today, three rebels were killed at Poripali area of Kalikot district. Similarly, another rebel succumbed to army bullets at Jogbudha area of Dadeldhura district.

The security forces have also recovered a large cache of guns, pistol, various weapons, bombs, booby traps and other equipment from the incident sites, the Ministry said.

Meanwhile, separate groups of security forces discovered other eight bodies of the fallen
Maoist rebels at Chainpur of Sankhuwasabha district yesterday. The rebels were killed by the security forces after they attacked the base camp of the Armed Police Force (APF) on Tuesday night, the Ministry said.

Security forces also discovered a large amount of equipment used in the booby traps hidden underground at Basbari of Sindhupalchowk district. Likewise, large amount of food grains stored in a cave at Namsari area of Dhading district have also been seized.

Iodized salt in scarcity

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SIMIKOT, May 11:A meeting of Goitre Control Porgramme decided to deliver the iodized salt in Karnali zone immediately after the Members of Parliament representing the zone informed the meeting that the people of the zone are going without the iodized salt for a month.

Salt Trading Corporation (STC) decided to supply the same amout of iodized salt as of previous year in the beginning of the fiscal year.

"The STC decided to supply 175 quintals of salt to Humla district alone," Krishna Chandra Poudel, the Chief District Officer (CDO) said. "There is acute shortage of salt in the district and we have only 30 to 35 quintals of salt in stock."

"As this quantity of salt is not enough to meet the local demand, we have not distributed it," Poudel added. The district need more than 400 quintals of salt immediately to fulfil the demand, according to Poudel.

Jeewan Bahadur Shahi, the chairman at the Humla District Development Committee (DDC) claimed that the ineffective government policy is responsible for the scarcity of salt in the district.

"The government should either revive the old practice of importing salt from Tibet or supply the enough quantity of salt in the district," Shahi demanded.

Do not come back to village, advise kinsmen

By Prakash Adhikari

DAMAULI, May 11:As the outlawed Maoist rebels intensify their activities in the four remote Village Development Committees (VDCs) of the Tanahun district, the locals have started writing to their kins in safe regions not to risk their life coming back to the villages.

Since the imposition of emergency in the country, no security personnel have shown up in the villages to the southern belt of the district like Saabung-Bhagawatipur, Rising-Ranipokhari, Kotdurbar and Ramjakot. As the consequence, these far flung villages have become safe heaven for the Maoist rebels from the neighbouring districts of Palpa, Syangja and Nawalparasi, according to locals who left the villages.

The Maoist rebels have been terrorizing the people of those villages for about a month, said a school teacher, hailing from Ramjakot village who is now in the headquarters of the district, Damauli.

"My family also wrote to me asking me to stay here," said the teacher showing the letter sent by his family. "In the absense of security forces, the Maoists are impsoing pressure on the teachers, government officials and other social and political activists to leave their respective jobs," he added.

"The group of around 150 armed rebels walk freely in the villages and terrorise the people including teachers and students in the schools," the teacher said. According to him, most of the youth have already left the villages due to the rebels’ mounting pressure to join the rebel group and many more are thinking to do same.

The security forces in the district accuses the locals for not giving them the enough support to increase their activities in the district to eliminate the terrorists.

After the emergency in the country, 17 Maoists have been killed in the district by the security forces while two security personnel were killed in ambush put by the rebels.

Timber smugglers caught red-handed

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GULERIYA, May 11: Twelve timber smugglers were arrested by the Forest Users’ Group in the buffer zone of the Royal Bardiya National Park and handed over them to the Sabrani Forest Office in Thakurdwara here yesterday.

Legal action against the criminals is in process, said the concerned office. The arrested are Dhan Bahadur BK, Lalbir BK, Khusiram Tharu, Chodiram Tharu, Kaviram Tharu and Hari Chowdhary.

Meanwhile, the patrolling team of Sabrani Forest Office arrested six people who were found cutting trees illegally and those arrested are said to be related to the Belauli Forest Users’ Committee.

According to officials of the National Park, Ganga Bahadur Khadka, Thakkar Bahadur Khadka and Bol Bahadur Khadka of Deudakhola Village Development Committee (VDC) - 9, and Hasta Bahadur Oli, Dambar Bahadur Thapa and Dhaniram Tharu of ward no 5 were arrested with 38 pieces of cut logs that were found in their possession.

The Sabrani Forest Office said legal action has been taken against the incumbents as per the Wildlife Conservation Act.