Poverty Alleviation Scheme

DEPUTY Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel said that BP With the Poor scheme launched by His Majesty’s Government needs to be expanded nationwide to eliminate massive poverty that has afflicted the Nepalese society and to raise social and economic condition of the people and expedite development activities. Deputy Prime Minister Poudel said this while giving directives to the BP With the Poor Scheme Coordination and Follow Up Committee the other day. It is true that massive poverty has been the major impediment for development in Nepal as more than 45 per cent people of the country live below the poverty line. These people are deprived of the most basic human needs. The Government has, thus, accorded high priority to poverty alleviation in order to uplift the social and economic condition of the people. Poverty alleviation is such a subject that cannot be accomplished over night and requires patience, careful planning, an honest implementation of the programmes, and, of course a longer time frame to achieve the goal. Several donor countries and agencies have also extended support to Nepal’s bid for poverty alleviation. As poverty is associated with several other social and economic factors, the government has launched programmes to address these issues in order to achieve its ultimate goal of freeing people from the clutches of poverty and backwardness.

Employment and income generation could be some of the fundamental issues that can improve the economic conditions of the people. In view of this, Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya incorporated the BP With the Poor Scheme in the government’s national budget as a part of poverty alleviation programme. This scheme aims at identifying the absolute poverty-stricken families to launch income and employment generating activities to rescue them out of poverty. Since the majority of the people live in the rural areas the state needs to mobilise local human and material resources for creating employment opportunities, ideally, at the local level. If employment opportunities are created and productivity raised especially in the rural areas, the life of poor people would be definitely better and improved. This would ultimately lead to the elimination of poverty in the country. Thus, as said by the Deputy Prime Minister, BP with the Poor Scheme, which has been implemented in 205 village development committees so far, needs to be expanded to all other villages effectively and honestly. Then only may we see the level of poverty declining.

Give Children Justice

THERE is no doubt as to Nepal’s commitment to uphold children’s rights. The very fact that Nepal has endorsed the decisions of the United Nations in the past and has even made it known that the two optional protocols signed in the UN Millennium Summit and let them be ratified. It is heartening to note that the government has taken up a campaign like activity to see to it that the rights of the child receive due attention. Though it is not commendable that we lag behind when it comes to see that the children are given priority on their rights. The plight of many a Nepalese children is quite known to all but the necessity is that they must be given the right protection and for this the first step would be to eliminate child labour. As Nepal is a developing country and there are many constraints that make child labour inevitable. For this the right environment must be created with more stress on generating awareness among the people regarding the evils of child labour. There is no doubt that the children of today, if they are deprived of their rights, will not grow to become responsible citizens of the country. For this, there is every need to look for their all round development.

When it comes to legal suits concerning child rights, there is a very negligible number of them filed in the different courts of the country. This was highlighted at a two-day workshop entitled "The Existing Legal System and Laws related to Child Labour, Exploitation and Sexual Abuse of Children", organised by the Legal Aid and Consultancy Centre (LACC) in collaboration of the International Labour Organisation(ILO). Speaking at the inauguration of the workshop, Chief Justice Keshab Prasad Upadhyaya said that despite the establishment of juvenile bench in all the district courts, the number of lawsuits on violations of child rights are virtually non-existent. This is more a case of the lack of awareness among the mass together with limited number of legal experts. If only the people knew that such benches existed then the situation would have been different. Moreover, poverty is another factor that invites child labour. The violation of child rights is top at the agenda of the government and the necessary policies have to be formulated as per the various conventions and protocols signed by Nepal. Concerted efforts backed by strong commitments are necessary so that there is no violation of child rights and child labour can be eliminated.