BP With The Poor Scheme
Programme needs expansion: DPM

Kathmandu , Dec. 16 (RSS): Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development Ram Chandra Poudel has said that the Bisheshwar with the Poor programme should be expanded in line with the co-operative concept in a bid wipe out poverty, raise the economic, social and academic level of the poor and expedite developmental activities.

Deputy Prime Minister Poudel was speaking at a review seminar for district chairpersons of the Bisheshwar with the Poor programme co-ordination and follow-up committees held at Lalitpur today.

If poverty-stricken families are chosen with impartiality, income generating schemes introduced, funds collected and mobilised effectively and human resources development programmes carried out successfully to enhance the level of productivity, poverty can be reduced considerably, he said and called for a show of competence and vigour to fight poverty through Bisheshwar with the Poor.

Though poverty eradication from the 205 VDCs selected for the programme this year is a formidable task, it will be a matter of pride if we are able to wipe out poverty from the targeting area through the mobilisation of limited means and resources available before the country and with innovative ideas, he added.

He further said though this programme has been introduced by the Nepali Congress Party, it must be considered as a common programme by all political parties since its mission is to eradicate poverty, which is a curse for the nation, by integrating all people into the development effort. There exists no confusion over the execution of the programme, he added.

The Deputy Prime Minister also called on one and all not to constrain the effectiveness of this programme designed to further the onerous task of nation building.

Secretary at the Ministry of Local Development Uday Raj Soti noted that His Majesty's Government has introduced Bisheshwar with the Poor in consonance with poverty alleviation, the main thrust of the Ninth Plan, so that backward people can be brought into the mainstream of development and improvements in their economic and social condition as well as their empowerment brought about.

Member secretary of the programme Dr. Ram Prasad Sharma and Dr. Yagya Adhikari threw light on the objectives of the programme at the seminar presided over by chairman of the BP Chintan Pratisthan Haribol Bhattarai.

Chairpersons of district level co-ordination and follow up committees under the programme and representatives from organisations associated with the programme are taking part in the seminar.

Rupandehi farmers eager to adopt new tools

Bhairahawa, Dec. 16 (RSS): Local villagers who tend to follow subsistence farming techniques under which they laboriously plough the fields at least 5 or 6 times, scoffed at the way 68 year old Ram Moorti Misra of Hattivan Gai VDC-8 in the Rupendehi district and his son scattered wheat seeds after just digging on the surface as per a new ploughing technique.

The locals were later puzzled at seeing the Misras harvest a good yield.

This year, the father and son have succeeded in growing more wheat from the three hectares they use for the purpose than in previous years.

Bhuleswar Yadav, 48, of the same VDC is also determined to adopt this new technique in wheat cultivation on his 8 Kattha of land. Not only Ram Moorti and Bhuleswar but almost all farmers in the VDC are now curious and excited about a zero till drill machine which has been made available under the national wheat crop research programme.

The new machine was introduced by the South Asian Bureau of the Centre for International Maize and Wheat Research Programme in Mexico.

The technique known as "Surface seeding" has proved amply effective compared to what villagers have been following since the past several years.

Ram Shankar Misra, another local farmer, says the scattering of seeds for the wheat crop on about 5-6 Kattha of land can be accomplished within one hour. It used to take at least 4-5 days to plough the same land for cultivation. Since cultivation can be carried with the new technique without loosing much time, it has helps grow much more.

He adds that scattering wheat seeds on one hectare of land used to incur around Rs. 2,000/- in the past, but now it only costs Rs. 400/-. That is the difference the new method makes.

Convenor of the National Wheat Crop Research Programme, Bhairahawa, Thaneswar Prasad Pokharel maintains that with this technique, wheat can be grown on fields left barren due to the greater damp in winter. It also saves considerably in the cost involved. All this helps raise the living standard of poor farmers.

"Wheat seeding needs to be carried out within the first to second week of Mansir. If one fails to do so, the yield will drop by 40 to 50 kilogram per hectare" said he. "Wheat cultivation these days is carried out on about 667,120 hectares 50 per cent of which is left barren due the damp in the soil during this season."

"We want to expand this technique at any cost but we lack the equipment required for bringing the zero till seed drill into use. That's why we have asked the government to make available to the farmers Chinese seed drill hand tractors or zero reeler seed drill machines in a simple and smooth manner." He elaborates.

The Chinese seed drill machine can be used in ploughing, scattering the seeds and crushing the hard earth and can help reduce the expense for water by 50 per cent.

Farmers used to face shortage of farm labour in winter and were compelled to work hard at ploughing the land at least 5-6 times, Janmajeya Tripathi, a crop expert at the national wheat crop research programme says.

In addition, according to him, lentils and mustard seeds can be sown easily through the use of such machines. The Chinese seed drill hand tractor made available by the centre is in huge demand among the local farmers of Jamuniya VDC-2, Nawalparasi because of its applicability in wheat farming. The user can take advantage of low cost and maximum output.

"I used to leave some 5 out of 9 Bigah of land barren after harvesting paddy because of waterlogging. But I am now happy at being able to grow wheat on the same land which cannot be used in winter due to the damp" he said. "As the tractor which is currently at my disposal has been received through the centre, I intend to buy a new one through earnings accumulated by letting it out on hire."

Advanced mechanisation has great significance in an agrarian country like Nepal for deriving maximum agricultural output so that high economic grow rates can be attained.

An American citizen who have been associated with the centre since the last 5 years is of the opinion that once local farmers are convinced of the multiple uses of the Chinese hand tractor, it will help reduce production cost, enhancing competitiveness of produce in the local market.

Regional Manager of National Trading Ltd Bhairahawa Branch Punya Chitrakar says that a total of 15 Chinese seed drill tractors have, so far, been sold and there is a demand of another 50.

According to him, 8 power reelers have been brought and 24 others are yet to be procured.

"We intend to procure another lot immediately after the sale of all the machines we have received to date." He adds.

Infotech helps to bridge social divide

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec. 16: With a view to informing the media people about Information Technology (IT) and review National IT Policy released by the government the previous week, Computer Association Nepal (CAN) organised an orientation programme here today.

The one-day orientation was conducted with an objective of strengthening awareness of IT in general by bringing media closer to the IT sector. During the function the media were also informed about the IT problems and achievements in the country.

Speaking on the occasion National Planning Commission member Dr. Rameshananda Baidya said that the IT sector was one of the most applicable industries for the overall development of the country.

"At a time when the whole world is busy bridging the digital divide between the rich and poor countries with the help of IT, Nepalese IT sector should also try its best in narrowing the gap between the haves and have-nots by creating digital opportunities to the people," he said adding that the Ninth Plan has also given a due importance for its development.

Citing an alarming difference of average income of people of different parts of the country as hinted by the Human Development Report he said that if the IT is boosted people can improve their living standard.

Various speakers at the function pointed out that apart from informing, educating and entertaining people, IT sector can also help people become active in income generating activities.

Hailing the importance of media in creating awareness among people regarding various aspects of life they said that the media should now also focus on how IT could be a partner in their activities of various kinds.

Presenting papers on the occasion secretary general of CAN, Rajiv Subba, CEO of the College of Software Engineering Yogesh Mishra, executive member of CAN Atmaram Ghimire, former GM of Nepal Telecommunication G. S. Bohra and Prateek Pradhan of the Kantipur Publications shed light on the problems, prospects and challenges of the IT sector in the country along with the role of media in IT development.

During the function the organisers also highlighted the benefits of Internet facilities for media.

Enhance juvenile justice: CJ

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec 16: Inadequate number of legal experts and lack of awareness relating to the provisions enshrined in the national and international laws have been attributed as the major causes for the negligible number of lawsuits on child rights filed in different courts in Nepal.

"Though juvenile benches have been established in all the district courts, the number of lawsuits on violation of child rights are virtually non-existent," Chief Justice Keshab Prasad Upadhyaya said.

Upadhyaya inaugurated the workshop entitled "The Existing Legal System and Laws related to Child Labour, Exploitation and Sexual Abuses of Children" organised by the Legal Aid and Consultancy Center (LACC) with the collaboration of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) here today.

"It is indispensable for a country to attain a high level of social and economic development to do away with the violation of child rights," he said.

Upadhaya said unless people have the awareness that violation of child rights and rape of innocent girls is a 'heinous crime', the situation is not going to improve.

"We have no dearth of laws, what we need to do is step up the campaign of sensitisation on child rights in the nooks and corners of the country," he said.

Minister of State for Women, Children and Social Welfare Kamala Panta said laws alone would not help curb the violation of child rights, people need to be more serious and acknowledge that rape of small children is the extreme form of social crime.

She said the government's commitment to safeguard and promote the rights of the children had been well revealed from the fact that Prime Minister Koirala ratified two optional protocols on the rights of children during the UN Millennium Summit.

Panta said that the government was formulating the policies to implement the two optional protocols signed in the UN Millennium Summit.

Casper N. Edmund, ILO/IPEC representative said ILO had over the years launched several programmes in Nepal to abolish child labour. "We have been working in collaboration with LACC and other non-governmental organisations to address the issue of child labour and violation of child rights," Edmund said.

He said that it was heartening news that the government of Nepal was looking forward to ratify the ILO Convention-182 on the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labour in the forthcoming session of the Parliament.

Director of the Maternity Hospital, Dr. Sarswoti Padhya said the record from the last fifteen years show that there have been 314 cases of rape and physical assault on women registered at the hospital.

Thirty-six of the 314 cases of rape registered were related with children aged six and below. Rape cases related with individuals in the age group 10-19 is seen to be 53 per cent and of the total cases, 69 per cent cases were related with rape, Padhya said.

She said that problems were being faced in reporting the rape cases as they were brought to the notice of the hospital very late and new forms of crime like raping girls using contraceptives to remain on the safe side was being practised, Dr. Padhya said.

Chairman of LACC, Dr. Shanta Thapaliya said that the workshop participated in by doctors, police officers, legal experts and government officials aimed to address the shortcomings in the legal provisions and other hurdles witnessed while going about with the task of protecting the rights of children.

Other speakers said despite the passage of a whole decade since Nepal ratified the International Child Rights Convention the exploitation of children was going on in an unabated manner.

The Child Act 2048 B.S. and the formation of Children's Welfare Trust in all the districts are some of the positive works carried out as regards safeguarding the rights and future of the children.

Children's Welfare Trusts in the districts however are facing resource crunch and are inactive while a major chunk of the population is still unaware about the legal provisions on the rights of the children, the participants said.

Prakash Kafley Award to Dr. Tiruchelvam posthumously

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Dec.16 The Second Prakash Kaphley International Solidarity Award (PKISA) has been given posthumously to Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam for his contributions on human rights in Sri Lanka.

Late Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam is well-known both in Sri Lanka and in South Asia, especially among the human rights community, as a dedicated human rights activist, lawyer, politician and academician. He was assassinated in July 1999, for his dedication to the constitutional protection of minority rights of the Tamils in the island nation.

Dr. Keshar Jung Rayamajhi, Chairman of the Rajsabha Standing Committee, handed over the award to Mrs. Sithie Tiruchelvam, wife of late Dr. Tiruchelvam, at a function organised in Kathmandu today.

The award is given to those who have contributed in fighting for human rights in South Asia, and the award is worth US$ 2000. The award is given every two years and the first recipient was the Bhutanese democratic leader Tek Nath Rijal.

The Prakash Kaphley International Solidarity Award (PKISA) was established at the South Asian Peoples' Conference held in New Delhi, India, in 1997. This award was instituted in memory of human right activist Prakash Kaphley, who died in an air crash in 1992.

Speaking at the function, Nihal Rodrigo, General Secretary of SAARC, said the good that man do must be served in the practical life where human rights must be strengthened and peace is the costly commodity.

Dr. Clarence J. Dias, President of ICLD, USA, said the Prakash Kaphley Award is given to Dr. Neelan because he was like Prakash - belonging to a select group of human rights elite, both in ability and meritocracy. He said, Dr. Neelan was also a connoisseur of excellence that has contributed a lot to human rights in South Asia. Fr. R. W. Timm, a human rights activist of Bangladesh, had chaired the ceremony.

Disabled remain neglected

BY B. M. DAHAL

Kathmandu, Dec. 16: Tara Khatri (name changed), 13, who lost the use of one of her legs due to polio when she was four, wants to be a nurse in future to serve the disabled.

The six-grade student studying at the Khagendra Nava Jivan Kendra in Jorpati feels harassed when her neighbours address her as 'lame girl'.

"If I get the opportunity, I will continue my studies and become a nurse. I want to show the society that even the disabled can do something important in life," she says with a firm determination.

She came to Kathmandu to study from Nepalgunj some years back. She used to go to school in her locality. After passing class three, she was brought to Kathmandu on her mother's initiative.

"I had to leave my home as my neighbours and peers used to hate me due to my disability."

Similar is the story of a 15-year-old Kamal Tamang (name changed) who comes from Makawanpur. At present, Tamang is studying in class eight at the same school. He aims to join the government service after completing diploma level education.

"Villagers and some of my family members used to look down upon me in the village. Due to their negative attitude towards me, I didn't like to stay in the village and I came here," he says.

He says that he has made up his mind to work hard achieve better education. "I believe that the way I'm struggling hard at present will help me stand on my own feet in the future."

Reports of the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that there are about 500 million disabled globally. Out of them, over 300 million disabled people are in the developing countries. The number of female disabled is about 160 million and the number of disabled children stands at 140 million worldwide.

Due to the lack of extensive studies and surveys, there is no reliable data of the disabled persons in Nepal. However, according to a WHO report, there are more than two million disabled people in Nepal and around 93 per cent of them live in the rural areas. Disability is mainly classified into four categories that include physically disabled, mentally retarded, blind and deaf.

Some efforts seem to have been made to extend necessary help to the disabled both at the government and non-governmental levels. Nepal has ratified some international conventions on the rights of the disabled and devised laws for their welfare. But they are not found to be implemented properly.

As an important effort to help the disabled, last year alone the government formed a national disabled service committee with the Prime Minister as the chairman. The committee includes representatives from the government, the disabled associations and NGOs.

"The major objective of the committee is to bring the disabled to the decision making body so as to frame effective policies and programmes for them," says Govind Adhikari, member of the committee.

Adhikari further says that the committee has started devising plans and programmes to extend necessary support to the disabled. "Now the committee has no authority to monitor and supervise the activities launched for the disabled. Now it is doing homework on how to conduct programmes in an integrated and coordinated manner."

He says that the major problem of the disabled is accessibility. "Even the government offices are not easily accessible for the physically disabled," he says.

He says that despite the commitment of the political parties to do something for the wellbeing of the disabled, bureaucrats lack not only vision and commitment but also enthusiasm.

Prof. Kapil Shrestha, member of the National Human Rights Commission, is also of the opinion that priority has not been given for the benefit of the disabled.

Prof. Shrestha accepts that even the National Human Rights Commission has not given serious thought to the disabled. "Due to lack of necessary commitment, the disabled have been victimized. They are deprived of their human rights."

He says that the condition of the disabled will not improve unless the existing mentality as a whole is changed.

Pashupati Parajuli, headmaster of Khagendra Nava Jivan Kendra, blames the government for not expressing a sincere commitment to help the disabled.

"The government, community and family have to work together to effectively launch activities to rehabilitate the disabled."

Dr. Tika Pokhrel, Member-Secretary of the Social Welfare Council (SWC), informed that the SWC has started providing Rs. 20,000 through the Agricultural Development Bank to the disabled who are eager to involve in income generating activities. The loan is given to them without any surety.

"This programme has been initiated to make the disabled self-reliant in making a livelihood."

Last year, SWC made available the loan to 300 disabled who are now involved in various income generating activities. "But loans have not been given to the mentally retarded persons considering less possibility of its proper utilisation," Dr. Pokhrel said.

He is of the opinion that the disabled need skill-oriented training and necessary equipment to aid them.

"When the disabled are able to engage in livelihood on their own, they will not have to be humiliated by the society and even by their own family."

He said that the SWC has been consulting with the donors to launch training programmes for the disabled.

"But the donors do not involve themselves in distributing artificial limbs, hearing aid, wheel chairs, etc. The task of developing such equipment need to be started by the national institutions," he says.