NBA conference to focus on legal, political issues

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KATHMANDU, March 4 : The Nepal Bar Association (NBA) will hold its third annual conference from March 6 in the capital. The three-day meet will be participated in by lawyers from across the country and discuss various issues regarding the Constitution, legal and political issues, and protection of human rights.

At the press conference held at NBA today, NBA said the conference, entitled "Sovereignty Vested in the People : Our Belief and Commitment" will be participated in over 2000 lawyers from 80 NBA branches. Furthermore, legal and political issues regarding the constitutional assembly and the role of the constitution for the solution of the present crisis in the country will also be discussed.

The conference will be inaugurated by Chief Justice Kedar Nath Upadhyaya. NBA will discuss the legal provisions of the present government which was formed as per the royal proclamation on October 4.

"The royal move was extra-constitutional and therefore a political decision need to be made to solve the current crisis," said Sindhu Nath Pyakurel, president, NBA. Pyakurel added this issue would be discussed during the meet.

Other issues on the agenda will be the protection of human rights, the role of political parties after democracy, the achievements of the 1990 popular movement and how it can be protected. Similarly, the importance of the Upper House in the absence of the House of Representatives and the role of both the Judicial and Constitutional Council will also be discussed at the conference.

Report sheds poor light on girls' education

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KATHMANDU, March 4 : Nepal has the lowest female literacy rate in the entire SAARC region, said a preliminary draft report presented today based on the findings of an investigative reporting on girls’ education undertaken by Education Journalists’ Group (EJG).

According to project co-ordinator Rajan Sharma, the presence of civil society was found strong in the five surveyed districts, while the presence of the government was found very weak. The study was conducted in each of the five VDCs in four DACAW districts in a period of six months during the last year, in order to outline the overall impact of UNICEF activity as well as the cases of success and failure.

The survey found that a range of incentives, scholarships and facility for feeder hostel is directly related to girls’ participation in education. However, cases of not delivering scholarships to the awarded have been observed due to irregularities from headmasters. Such instances were immediately reported in newspapers, as education journalists operating in the districts, namely Kavrepalanchok, Saptari, Kapilvastu and Dadeldhura co-operated in the survey.

Figures show that literacy level of people above six years is 54 percent, of which 65 percent are men and 42.7 percent are women. The net enrolment rate for boys stands at 86 percent and for girls, 74.6 percent. This shows stark gender disparity in education, says the report. According to education expert Sushma Acharya, the traditions that bar girls from attending to social life during the menstrual period is also one of the factors widening that gap.

"There are instances in which girls are not allowed to attend schools during the 5 odd days of menstruation. That means 60 days in a year. And remember that schools are already operating way below the required number of days," says Acharya, bringing out one of the serious causes that leave girls behind in education.

Another education expert Bidyanath Koirala opines that earning and learning should be encouraged rather than learning and no earning. "Our curriculum should be skill-oriented so that students do not just get certificates but also have a better chance in the job market."

While the government policy continues to place strong emphasis on educating girls, the Maoist insurgency disturbed current plans and policies, states the report. "Teachers have been beaten to death and even killed, school buildings have been bombed and destroyed by the insurgents. Kidnapping of students and disturbing their exams made normal functioning of the education system increasingly difficult," states the report.

Community Recycling Centre opened

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KATHMANDU, March 4 : With the theme ‘Kathmandu Recycles’, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the Nepal Recyclable Goods Entrepreneurs’ Association inaugurated a Community Recycling Centre (CRC) today.

The main objective of the CRC is to keep the environment clean and healthy, and free of solid waste products.

Inaugurating the centre, Surya Sharan Regmi, executive director of KMC remarked that civil society and private sector should take initiative to keep the environment free of reusable waste materials.

He emphasised that every citizen should feel responsible for clean Kathmandu and they should work for it.

Speaking on the occasion,he also assured assistance and guidance from KMC for the operation and development of the centre.

Speaking at the function, Gopal Parajuli, Assistance Executive Director observed that management of solid waste product is very important as the country is in the phase of urbanisation.

Kathmandu Recycles is a response of KMC to the growing solid wastage problem and through this project, KMC aims to encourage citizens to recycle their waste materials and increase the supply of contaminant-free raw materials for recycling industry. On the occasion, the organisers also exhibited the products of Living Eden Art Foundation (LEAF) made of recycled paper. The products mainly included wall hanging masks and models of various animals and also a wooden piece with paintings.

Stress on employment for disabled people

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KATHMANDU, March 4 : The International Labour Organisation (ILO) today began a two-day workshop to discuss ways to provide decent employment to disabled people and bridge the social disparity between the able and the disabled people.

Inaugurating the programme, Minister for Labour and Transport Management, Kamal Prasad Chaulagain said that disability does not necessarily mean inability and should not be taken as the same. He stressed on the need for social and employment equality and diversification of workforce in organisations to include all kinds of people

ILO country director for Nepal Leyla Tegmo-Reddy said, "Disabled people not only have valuable contribution to make to the national economy but their employment may well reduce poverty and the cost of disability".

Munishwor Pandey of National Federation of Disabled (NFD) expressing his view that discrimination still existed in a number of reputed non-government organisations (NGO) urged representatives to give opportunities to the disabled.

B.R. Bhattarai, secretary with the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare shed light on numerous facilities provided by the law and by the government for the disabled, and further added that not one but all sectors, institutions and people should work together to develop a friendly world for the disabled.

Representatives of various NGOs, government agencies, National Planning Commission, Trade Unions, present and prospective employers and other relevant stakeholders are participating in the workshop.

Three dead in separate incidents

KATHMANDU, March 4 (PR) - Three people died in different incidents today, according to the Police News Bulletin.

Ratan Shrestha, 24, of Palpa district, Chahara Village Development Committee (VDC), who was electrocuted, died while he was being taken to hospital.

Seventy- year-old Mahane Newar of Bhaktapur, ward no 1, who suffered burn injuries due to an accident while cooking, died while he was under treatment.

Meanwhile, Navaraj Thapa, 45, of Bhaktapur district, Katunje VDC, committed suicide by hanging himself on the branch of a tree.

The police are conducting investigations in all three incidents.

Collective efforts vital for nation development

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KATHMANDU, March 4 : Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, today stressed the need for collective efforts of all the Nepalese people to overcome the existing problem plagueing the country to lead the country towards prosperity.

Addressing the 29th batch graduates of the Rastriya Sewa Dal (RSD), a force of school-level children trained by the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) in the capital Tuesday, Prime Minister Chand said, "The country is our common work-field, so we should contribute something from our side to the prosperity of the country."

On the occasion, Chand also highlighted the role of youth in the overall development of the country.

At the function, Chand also handed over awards to the best-performing cadets of the Dal which trains about five hundred school children every year in the Kathmandu Valley and in major RNA battalions in the five development regions.

Shri Krishna Lama, a student from Adarsha Secondary School, Bhaktapur and Anu Tamang from Shanti Bidya Griha, Lainchaur received the awards.

Advisor to the RSD Mohan Chemjong said that the RSD has been providing various trainings to some 500 school children.

Women's rights issue discussed

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KATHMANDU, March 4 : The problems of sexual abuse faced by women and children and its possible solutions were brought out at an interaction programme organised by Aawaz, a social organisation, at Martin Chautari here today.

Speaking at the programme, Irada Gautam, the founder president of Aawaz shared her experiences by telling the story of the suffering of women and children who were victims of sexual abuse from the members of their own family, especially husbands and fathers.

"The women from Surkhet who are sexually abused and tortured badly by their husbands and fathers ultimately came to Aawaz for help and support," said Gautam.

"We study and understand their problems at first and relieve them by giving their rights and that is the objective of Aawaz," she said.

According to her, awareness is vital to mitigate the incidents of violence against women and children."The victims themselves must raise their problems openly," Gautam remarked.

Aawaz, which has already solved more than 50 rape cases and 20 child sexual abuse cases is planning to give schlorship to trafficked girls in the near future.

Age-old profession suffocates Badi women

By Dil Bahadur Chhatyal

DIPAYAL, March 4 : Women of the Badi community, an ethnic community in Dipayal, have developed an extreme hatred towards their traditional profession of prostitution. However, due to lack of other ways to earn a living, they are forced to join the trade, according to sources.

"Fear prevents us from dying. Survival requires food. We have no land therefore there is no option for us other than to go in for prostitution," lamented Rabina Badi, 30.

She attends to four or five clients in a day and her guardians get the clients for her, according to Rabina.

The fact is that the guardians encourage their girl child to take to prostitution from the tender age of 10 or 12. Though, another marginalised group kamaiyas or bonded labourers in the mid-western region got freedom at the initiation of NGOs and INGOs around three years ago, the plight of Badis have been overlooked.

Flesh trade has remained the main source of income for this underprivileged community where a family depends on the earnings of the female members. Ironically, the males are engaged as ‘pimps’ who get the clients.

These people do not have land and the money they earn is spent lavishly. While the women are engaged in earning money, the males spend time getting drunk.

"We have neither land nor skills. Though our lives are spent in this horrifying environment, I would be very glad if our offspring did not have to lead such disgusting lives!" said an elderly Badi woman.

The literacy rate in this community is almost zero. "Since the family indulges in this business, the children do not have an academic environment at home. There is hardly anyone who has attended high school," according to Keshab Bista, a local.

Jaundice epidemic on rise in Manthali

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MANTHALI, March 4 : Communicable disease jaundice, detected in a few persons earlier, has made an epidemic rise in Manthali, headquarters of Ramechhap district. Most affected by the disease are children. To worsen the situation, the local health institution lacks drugs for the disease.

Local Bhaiseswar and Tekanpur area have over 50 jaundice patients. Around seven to eight jaundice patients visit the District Ayurvedic Health Centre (DYHC) daily, according to Radhakrishna Dhungana a doctor at DYHC.

"While more patients are turning in each day, DYHC is running out of drugs. When we requested the centre to send us more drugs, we were told to buy them from the market. The drugs are not found in the local market," said Dhungana.

The disease was first noticed in two children of Little Star School, in the locality. "We asked the children to rest at home for a month until they recovered. No school children have suffered from the disease after this," said Sujata Budhathoki, a schoolteacher.

A primary health centre in Manthali is also receiving jaundice patients, according to Ram Hari Subedi, a health worker at the health centre.

The disease spread through contaminated food, water and cooking oil, according to health workers.

Meanwhile, locals are flooding the local clinics for blood tests, according to sources.

Over 300 health experts to gather in Dharan

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DHARAN, March 4 : The 24th national convention of the All Nepal Physicians Association (ANPA) is to start here from tomorrow with the slogan ‘Disaster Prevention and Care’. Over 300 health experts from around the country and 16 other countries are expected to participate in the programme, which focuses on various natural and manmade disasters and fatal diseases.

The three-day programme is devoted to explore ways to address the calamities and mitigate tragedy, according to sources.

Dr. Nageshwor Prasad Singha, a member of the Nepal Medical Association is to inaugurate the programme, which shall have Dr. Upendra Devkota, the Minister for Health as its chief guest.

Health experts from Nepal and from other countries including India, Bangladesh, Israel, America, Canada shall present working papers on natural and manmade disasters and on diseases like TB, Kal-azar, AIDS and others.

During the programme, Prof. Mick Alkan from Israel is to make a special presentation on community and family health. Prof. Ramesh Kanta Adhikari from Nepal, the Dean of Medicine faculty, shall present a working paper.

"Conclusions drawn after an intense discussion in the programme shall be fruitful in better addressing and tackling various types of disasters," said Dr. Parash Pokhrel, the Public Relation chief of the convention.

242 TB patients reported in Bara in just over four months

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BARA, March 4 : The number of tuberculosis patients, according to the census taken in the first four-monthly phase of the current fiscal year in Bara, has added 242 more inflicted people.

This data was revealed in an interaction programme organised in Kalaiya by the Nepal Tuberculosis Eradication Society today. According to the data provided, of the 701 TB patients registered in this Society in the fiscal year 2002/2003, all are being treated by the DOTS procedure.

In Bara, though the incidences of complete cure from this disease by resorting to treatment stands at 81 percent, yet the chances of being infected again has been just as high. This has been a matter of anxiety for many health conscious people there, was also informed at this function.

Majority of the participants of this function expressed the view that poverty exists as a burning problem, and only the eradication of poverty would wipe away this malady.

Present at this interaction programme were people from various walks of life. The head of the Nepal Tuberculosis Eradication Society of Bara, Basant Nepal, the head of the district health office, Dr. Satish Chandra Chaudhary, various political leaders of different parties, media persons, social workers, and many others were present at the function.

Whereabouts of innocent children sought

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KAILALI, March 4 : Over a dozen complaints have been filed at the District Administration Office (DAO) by civilians demanding the administration of the whereabouts of their kin who were allegedly abducted by security personnel during the insurgency. Most of those abducted are innocent children, according to Jyoti Lal Ban of GRINSO Nepal, an NGO.

Security personnel had abducted Kusum Chaudhari, an eighth grade student of Mohonyal Secondary School. Chaudhari was abducted from Joshipur Lakkad area, according to his family. Many human rights organisations have also been demanding the whereabouts of Chaudhari; however, the security personnel have failed to expose his whereabouts.

Similarly, Gagane Damai and Padma Damai also filed a complaint at the DAO demanding the whereabouts of their daughter, Kumari Damai. The security personnel as alleged by the Damai couple also abducted Kumari.

Similar complaints have been filed at the DAO of the abduction of Narayan Prasad Chaudhari, a grade nine student of local Sita Kunga Secondary School, Ramehwor Kathariyua, a resident of Lalbojhi VDC, Mancha Ram Dagauriya of Sadepani VDC-2 and many others.

Fishermen clear water pollutants

By Kulchandra Neupane

KHAPAUDI, Pokhara, March 4 : The economically backward families of Khapaudi who have been in the fishery business for many generations are now busy removing water weeds that have been growing around the pond where they have been fishing since the last four years. A fisherman, Shanta Bahadur, has been chosen as the head of this weed clearing committee.

Under the leadership of Shanta Bahadur, 53 fishermen’s families have been engaged in this weed clearing work and are thus helping check pollution. Generally the pond cleaning work starts from the month of September and continues to mid April.

The chairman of the fishermen committee, Shanta Bahadur says, "The families contributed 6 hours of their time per week for almost three months but this contribution alone is not sufficient, and it would be an immense help if we got assistance from other sectors as well."

This fishermen community of Khapaudi is very grateful to the Bhattarai Trust, which was founded by the Bhattarai family in memory of late Yogendra Bhattarai who died in a ship wreck in 1999, for making some arrangement so that the fishermen was paid for weeding out the pond. It is learnt that this trust has been providing these fishermen a daily wage of Rs 125 per person.

This fishermen community has been involved in fish farming at the estuary region of this pond for many generations, and for the last 23 years they have been raising fish inside cages in the pond. These fishermen have been making a yearly income of around Rs. 5,000 from each cage. Each of this family has been keeping 3 to 17 cages. They are not permitted to keep more than 20 cages of fish by the fisherman committee.

These fishermen had also undergone training provided by the Fishery Research Centre regarding making of fishing nets and various procedures employed in fish farming. Even the females have formed their own group and have been managing cages of their own.

Not only is this fishermen community benefiting from this pond, but also equal beneficiaries are those involved in the hotel and tourism industries. Hundreds of hotels have been doing good business due to attraction of the Phewa taal, it is learnt. The chairman Santa Bahadur is of the view that it is not possible for their community alone to keep the pond clean, and the lake side hotel entrepreneurs should assist them in their endeavours.

Dr. Karcher promises help in development plans

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DOLAKHA, March 4 ; Dr. Henning Karcher, the UNDP representative for Nepal promised help in formulating plans for ‘Millenium Development Goal’ in Dolakha, during a recent visit to the district.

The beneficiaries of UNDP projects warmly received Dr. Karcher, who was in the district to inspect development projects under UNDP.

Karcher also visited some remote villages of the district on foot, interacting with target groups of the UNDP programme and also others expecting programmes after the cease-fire.

Gauri Thami, the chairperson of Women Upliftment Community Institution (WUCI) of Suspa Kshemawati VDC stated that the WUCI was facing difficulty in regulating its activities ever since the rebels destroyed most of its records.

During his tour of the district, the officials of the District Development Committee (DDC) briefed Dr. Karcher on the overall situation of villages. Dr. Karcher is the first diplomat to visit an outlying district of the capital city, since the cessation of hostilities.

Students deprived of education due to teachers’ absence

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KUTSINGH, Makwanpur, March 4 : The students of a flood-affected school have been deprived of education since last three months after the teachers stopped coming regularly to the school to teach.

Such is the plight of Lokpriya Secondary School, which is situated in Rakshirang VDC-8 of Kutsingh, where the teachers have been present for 15 days only, that too intermittently since mid December till to date, it is learnt. The two teachers who were appointed to this school are residents of the Terai region. According to a local, Som Bahadur, both the teachers have been coming to teach for five days in a month at most.

This school is situated at a distance of one and a half-hour walk from Manhari Bazaar and 115 students are enrolled in the school presently. Ever since the teachers stopped coming to the school, the number of students wanting admission in the school has gone down to 50 or even less. It has become a sort of routine for these students to come to the school everyday, wait for the teachers till 11 a.m. in the morning, and when the teachers do not show up they leave for home.

Most of the students in this school are from the Chepang community. Even the students who are in standard 5 cannot recite and write the English alphabets properly, it is learnt.

The floods and landslides of last July had swept away the school building after which a make shift classroom with a roof of corrugated sheets and open on all sides had been built. Students of class one and two are seated on floors, while only students from class three onwards have been lucky enough to get benches.

The locals around the school region lament that the state of the classrooms are representative of the state of the teachers and the education imparted. They say that they have not seen classes being conducted until 4p.m. so far and regular classes which exceed 15 days.

The chairman of the District Education Committee (DEC) as well as the Local Development Officer (LDO), Ramesh Kanta Paudel, while on their rounds of this village happened to visit this school on Monday, and was astonished to find some outsider trying to teach the students instead. When a class five Chepang student was inquired about the teachers, he answered that the teachers seldom come to teach them. When the District Education Officer, Sadananda Jha, was inquired about this matter, he said that the education office had received a complaint letter from the locals informing the office about the situation in the school. The necessary procedures are underway to take action against these teachers who have remained absent most of the time and are thereby playing with the future of the students here, he added.