Sherpas observe Lhosar in capital

By Tejasuee Rajbhandari

KATHMANDU, March 6 : They may be the famed mountaineers popular among alpinists the world over. Originally hailing from the foot of eastern Himalayas, thousands of Sherpas who have migrated to the Kathmandu Valley today gathered near the Bouddhanath stupa to celebrate Lhosar, or New Year 2130.

Around 7,000 Sherpas coming from 2,500 families residing in different parts of the Valley, gathered at the premises of the Sherpa Sewa Kendra (Sherpa Welfare Centre) at Bouddha for the annual festivities. Children, youth and elderly alike were attired in their colourful traditional costumes as Angi and Chuwa with Shyamung, wished for each other’s happiness to mark the year of ‘Water Sheep’ which, they say, comes after 96 years.

Speaking to The Kathmandu Post, Ang Kaji Sherpa, treasurer of the Sherpa Sewa Kendra said, "The festival holds a great importance for all the Sherpas and it is the best opportunity for the younger ones to take blessings from elders".

"All the Sherpas visit their elders and their relatives to extend their best wishes and take blessings from their elders, from the first day of New Year till Purnima (full moon)", he added.

Sherpas, originally known as ‘Shar-wa’ - meaning person from the east, migrated to Nepal from Kham in eastern Tibet in 1600 AD. And the ‘Shar-wa’ people developed a unique Nyingma (Tibetan) Buddhist culture based on trade, animal herding, and subsistence agriculture.

However, with the passage of time, Sherpas have migrated to different parts of the country – and even abroad. Although Solukhumbu and the adjoining areas are considered to be their real home, about 2,500 families are living in the Kathmandu Valley alone.

Nevertheless, Sherpas all over the world celebrate Lhosar, their main festival which also coincides with the Lhosar of the Tibetans.

Sherpas follow Chinese calendar, and it has a cycle of twelve years, each represented by an animal such as sheep, horse, tiger and so on. At the same time, the cycle of twelve years represent, both the male and the female alternatively. Meanwhile, there are four elements representing each cycle and each cycle has one element as its property.

And Lamas at the Gumba (monastery) did their usual ritual of performing puja for the best wishes of all the people and also hoisted the Lahpsu, flag for happiness and prosperity of the entire world.

The other important festivals of Sherpas apart from Lhosar are Dumji, Mani Rimdu and Sakadawa, popularly known as Buddha Jayanti. Pema Sherpa, a schoolgirl, pointing to the group of foreigners, said that the day not only helps us to expose their culture and tradition to the people of other community but also helps to introduce the rich culture of Nepal to foreigners.

On the occasion, the Lamas also performed a traditional and religious dance Chyam, which attracted the huge crowd. After Chyam, men and women together performed the traditional Sherpa dance, which went on for hours. Nima Lama Sherpa,73, dancing with his old friend said that the programme like this helps all the Sherpas to get together at least once in a year.

The day for the Sherpas started with religious pujas. However, they spent the other half of the day by feasting, eating special delicacies like Khapse and Dehsil, and youths drinking Chyang, an alcoholic drink.

Whatever the manner, the main purpose of the day was to share the joy and happiness and clearing oneself from all evil components and wishing each other a better life. The Sherpa Welfare Centre also organised various other programmes like rally, magazine release and distribution of prizes to mark this special day.

Awareness programme on safe motherhood

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KATHMANDU, March 6 : One woman dies every two hours due to child-birth related causes in Nepal. This figure is one of the highest in the South Asia region. Taking this bleak figure of women’s death during pregnancy period in mind, non-governmental organisations working in the field of safe motherhood are joining hands with the government to launch awareness programme on safe motherhood.

National Health Education, Information and Communication Centre with technical assistance from Maternal Neonatal Health- John Hopkins University Centre for Communication Programme has developed a national safe motherhood multi-media communication initiative, named SUMATA.

The awareness-generating programmes primarily focused on husbands, mother-in-laws and secondarily on women of reproductive age, community leaders, health workers and policy makers will concentrate on birth preparedness and complications relating to child birth, according to a circular distributed at a press meet organised here today.

The SUMATA includes radio spots, radio and street dramas, posters, lampshades, banners and social mobilisation packages providing message on safe motherhood.

Announcing the second phase of SUMATA, which means a good mother in Sanskrit, Dr. Pius Raj Mishra, senior programme officer at Nepal Health Programme, said some programmes on safe motherhood will also be screened on television, which was not in the first phase of SUMATA beginning last year.The whole initiative will be based on education through entertainment approach.

Book on disaster communication launched

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KATHMANDU, March 6 : South Asian media can play a decisive role in disaster mitigation by improving its approach and method towards disaster communication in the region.Journalists must be given a technical and conceptual background on the issue with more coordinated way.This view was expressed by the speakers and participants at an inaugural review session on the book Disaster Communition: A Resource Kit for Media recently published by Duryog Nivaran.The session was organised by PANOS South Asia at its Media Centre in Kathmandu yesterday.

The authors of the book Amjad Bhatti (JRC-Pakistan) and Madhavi Malalgoda Ariyabandu (ITDG-South Asia, Sri Lanka) introduced the background and structure of the book.They said it was observed during the research process that media in South Asia deals with disaster inconsequentially and looks at disaster as a mere event rather than a process."Sudden disaster make flashy news story while slow disasters don’t catch media attention ", authors maintained.

Harka Gurung, former minister and renowned geographer while reading out his review on the book noted that the book-Disaster Communication-commences with the presentation of alternative respective on disaster perception and it is aimed at improving media coverage of natural disaster in South Asia.However, he criticised that hard data and statistics in the book were not derived by the primary source of information.

Man Bahadur Thapa, National Programme Manager, Disaster Management Programme, UNDP, Nepal remarked that authors of the book have indeed given a scientific frame to disaster reporting in the form of process-approach as opposed to event -based approach.

Setting up of disability commission suggested

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KATHMANDU, March 6 : UN Resident Co-ordinator in Nepal Dr. Henning Karcher handed over an Open Letter to Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand today from the UN Special Rapporteur on Disability of the Commission for Social Development, Bengt Lindqvist as part of the follow-up to Lindqvist’s visit to Nepal from 3-7 September 2002, states the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) press release issued here today.

According to the release, the Open Letter, while recognising the important work being undertaken by the government, private and donor agencies in the area of disability in Nepal, requests His Majesty’s Government of Nepal to remove obstacles that prevent persons with disabilities from exercising their rights and freedom.

The Open Letter suggests the government to formulate a national disability policy and "master plan" after close consultations with national disability organisations. Lindqvist further proposes to HMG to establish a National Disability Commission comprising a number of government ministries together with representatives of the organisations of disabled people and agencies of importance for the disabled field, the release states.

Bandits decamp with Rs 450,000 from 19 houses in Bara

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BARA, March 6 : A group of 30 or 35 armed bandits looted 19 houses in Bagaicha and Shanti Farm-tole of Auraha village situated in Simara-6. They plundered cash and other valuables worth around Rs. 450,000.

Four locals whose houses had also been looted have been injured by these dacoits, and are undergoing treatment at the Narayani sub-regional hospital at Birgunj. Among the injured were wife of Chandra Prasad Dhakal Manmaya Nepal, Lakshmi Prasad Sapkota, Rajendra Dhakal, and Chandrakali Sapkota.

These dacoits seemed to be between 18 to 40 years of age, and spoke in Nepali, informed Lakshmi Dutt Sapkota, a victim. These bandits came at around midnight and carried out their looting till around 1:30 in the morning. During the looting some dacoits came inside the house, while their group member locked it from the outside so that they could carry out the looting as well as beat those who tried to retaliate.

The nearest area police station from the site of incident is at a distance of around 4-km east of Simara. The inspector of Police, Sarad Tamang, talking to The Kathmandu Post correspondent, however, says that 15 houses and cash and other valuables amounting to around Rs. 300,000 had been looted. Had the locals reported this incident in time, the bandits would not have escaped easily, Tamang added.

It is learnt that this is the first looting incident that has occurred in this village. For protection against similar incidences that could occur in the future, the locals have called an emergency meeting under the chairmanship of the former ward-chairman and formed a security committee comprising of 32 members.

"After the police failed to provide security to us, we have formed our own security committee which will patrol around the village staring tonight," said the ward-chairman Ramesh Kharel to The Kathmandu Post correspondent.

Muslim clerics to campaign against AIDS

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BANKE, March 6 : Muslim clerics today said that they would severely punish those people of the Muslim community for establishing sexual relations outside marriage. They also vowed that they would soon launch awareness campaigns against HIV/AIDS in all Mosques and Madrasas.

Addressing a meeting organised at Jama Mosque to discuss the consequences of HIV/AIDS, Muslim cleric Maulana Mansur Ahammad said that they would first launch an awareness campaign against the disease among the community and, then severely punish the promiscuous.

More than 35 Muslim clerics were present at the interaction programme jointly organised by Nepalgunj Municipality and Village-Town Partnership Programme to minimise the impact of HIV/AIDS on Muslim communities. They vowed that they would soon start educating people about the disease in all Mosques and Madrasas before they began weekly prayers and religious teachings.

There is around 80,000 Muslims in Banke district alone and the community never uses any kind of contraceptives for birth control. Despite the religious restriction on the use of contraceptives, Maulana Jabbar Manjari, however, agreed that condoms could be allowed for use to be safe from AIDS, which is incurable.

Lack of budget affects maintenance of main highways

By Prabhakar Ghimire

CHITWAN, March 6 : It is already the first week of March yet the budget has not been disbursed out to the Divisional Road Office at Bharatpur, which requires the money for repair and construction work on the highway along this route. This budget impasse has led to a halt of all the repair and maintenance work on this road.

Most parts on the Prithvi and the Mahendra Highway, which connect the Kathmandu Valley with the Terai region, had been dilapidated by landslides and floods last July. It is learnt that due to financial constraint the repair and maintenance of the infrastructure, cleaning and clearing as well as necessary fresh constructions over the 215-km road from Nagdhunga of Kathmandu to Chitwan could not be undertaken.

This Divisional Road Office was not able to clear a debt of Rs. 1.5 million it owes to the petrol pump for fuel because of the allocated budget not being dispatched. It has not even paid the labourers’ wages who were recruited to work on the road since October.

Monsoon is about to begin, but the budget for the road has not been dispatched so far, said the engineer at the Divisional Road Office, Krishna Kumar Shrestha, to The Kathmandu Post correspondent. Due to delay in the repair and maintenance work of this section of the Highway, the condition of the road is becoming worse day by day, he added.

An estimated amount of around Rs. 7 million had been requested to the centre for the removal of pebbles and boulders, mud and debris that has collected on the Lothar section of the road, which has been disrupting the smooth flow of transportation. But nothing has been provided so far, Engineer Shrestha said.

If the repair and maintenance work is not done in time, and if the vehicles keep plying on this road without further repair, the technicians warn that the expenditure would go up.

"A request for the budget to be dispatched for repairs had been placed during the month of August, but it’s already March and we are still awaiting its dispatch," a technician lamented. He further added, " By the time the budget amount is disbursed out the cost of repairs of this road would have increased by three to four times the original amount, and beside, the amount provided would be four times less than what we have requested."

Culverts at more than 40 places, some bridges, walls and edges of the road between Nagdhunga and Lothar had been destroyed due to the landslide and flooding of July. A diversion had to be made at Lothar to let vehicles pass because the road was blocked by debris. Since the debris has not been cleared the diversion still remains.

The budget for the repair and maintenance work had been dispatched last year by the second week of November, but if the repair and construction work are not done immediately, transportation along that route would face more problems during this monsoon, say the technicians associated with this road office.

Three killed in separate road accidents

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PARBAT, March 6 :

At least two people were killed and six others were injured, four of them seriously, when a passenger bus on its way to Baglung from Kusma, the district headquarters, fell about 100 feet off the highway today morning, police said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Govinda Ram Pariyar, said that the bus driver Keshav Bahadur Chhetri and Indra Gautam of Ramja Deurali VDC died instantly when the bus with the registration number Na 2 Kha 5839 met with the accident near Kusma. The seriously injured passengers were rushed to Pokhara for treatment.

Meanwhile, a report from Palpa said that a woman died instantly and the other sustained injuries when a reserved jeep met with an accident at Chirtung Dhap yesterday, police said. The woman has been identified as Kumari Sara, 50, of Jalpa VDC. Police said jeep driver Santosh Thapa is still at large.

Modern agricultural methods popular

BIRGUNJ, March 6(RSS)- The application of modern agriculture technologies in farming has got momentum during the past few years in the area.

Following the government’s policy of boosting up the agricultural products in the country by encouraging local farmers towards sustainable development of the agriculture, modern instruments in agriculture has become popular in the area.

The cultivation of crops in accordance with modern technology helps better production compared to the traditional ways. According to the Chief of Agriculture Instrument Research Centre, Birgunj and senior agro-scientist Ganesh Shah, wheat cultivation done through Chinese seed-drill method has increased production by 38.2 percent compared with the production through traditional methods.

Dalits opt for family planning

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PARBAT, March 6 : The concept of family planning is becoming popular even among the economically backward dalit communities, according to a study recently made public by the District Health Office.

Lal Bahadur Pariyar of Majhfant Village Development Committee is one of the hundreds of dalits who chose to undergo vasectomy operation in mobile camps run by the District Health Office in different parts of the district. Pariyar, 33, decided to carry out permanent sterilisation even though he has three daughters. He did not wait for a son.

Officials at the District Health Office said that 35 per cent of 322 people who underwent permanent sterilisation were from dalit communities and the number of women is remarkably high compared to women of higher castes. Record showed that 40 of 75 women were from dalit communities.

Dr. Krishna Prasad Poudel of the Parbat District Hospital said that the number of people undergoing permanent sterilisation increased by 110 per cent. The District Health Office had planned to perform vasectomy and minilap operation for 300 people during this fiscal year.

"It is impossible to support a big family working as a carpenter," said Pariyar, "Let us stop discriminating between sons and daughters."

Dr. Poudel said it was a good example of social change that even the less educated and backward communities like the dalits have realised the advantage of a small family and the importance of family planning. "Smaller the family, better the opportunity for education and health care," he added.

School children deprived of nutritious food

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SALYAN, March 6 : Around 7,700 children of primary schools in this district have been deprived of nutritious food due to the termination of the transportation contract of food materials. The concerned contractor had stopped the transportation of this food meant for school-going students from mid-January.

The Ministry had published a notice for the tender on February 12 and 13 in the daily Gorkhapatra. But due to some technical problems that surged up the tender could not be submitted even by February 25. As a result of this the children have been deprived of their regular supply of nutritious food, informed the head of the Food Distribution Office, Bedraj Amrit.

The office received the letter late, and due to this they could not even make any internal transportation arrangement, and thus, they had to face such a standoff, reiterated the head Amrit.

He further contended that though they had a target to feed 15,000 children of 255 primary school every month, they were able to feed only 7,200 school children until the end of February due to shortage of food materials after the remaining stock had been completely used up. These children were lucky enough to get this food during February, as this was the remaining stock that had been saved during the month of January.

Just before this transportation stopped, the distribution of the nutritious food had been conducted satisfactorily, and the result was as to their expectations. This food, which they had been providing to 15,000 children every month, had even been fed to a staggering number of 22,000 children from mid-January to mid-February, it is learnt. During that period they had made progress by 152 percent, while now it has come down to 40 percent only, Amrit said.