Result-Oriented Schemes

THERE is no doubt that peace is a prerequisite for development and all efforts to bring the fruits of progress to the people will amount to nothing in the absence of security for the common man. The prevailing violence perpetuated by the so called Maoists in the country since about five years back has had serious consequences and all the efforts made to foster development could amount to nothing unless measures were taken to counter the negative aspects that such violent acts have brought about apart from the loss of precious lives. One aspect of the strife is that certain areas are more prone to the act of the so called Maoists which are mostly from the backward region of the nation where poverty prevails and which are in sore need of development activities. By bringing about an improvement in the quality of life of the people in these areas the Maoist activities could be arrested, and development can be considered to be an important component in combating the violence that is currently affecting many parts of the nation.

Keeping this in mind, development is considered essential as is the all party consensus in bringing the violence to the halt. Thus, as noted by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Development and Home Ramchandra Paudel while chairing the meeting of the Central Integrated Fund Coordination Committee the other day, there is an urgent need for all those involved to be committed to take effective and result-oriented programmes to the sensitive areas on the basis of all party consensus. The security initiatives and development activities should go hand in hand through coordination. In this direction, it is fitting that the meeting decided to make money available to the fund for the district out of the integrated fund that has been set by all ministries at the centre. The amount of fund to be made available from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to the district basket fund is said to be considerable. Time frames have been set for the achievement of the various development targets through the mobilisation of such bodies as the users' committees, the peace corps and the Royal Nepal Army. Therefore, there is a need now to decide on the objectives and the working policies of the integrated development project without any delay as well as to form the committees of the fund at the central and district level. Equally important is deciding on the means and resources under the integrated development fund. These steps should serve as means to deal with the Maoist problems presently besetting the country, at the same time laying stress on achieving peace which is the major objective of the exercise.

Rich Heritage

IN THE blind race to lap up all advances in science, we have been ignoring our own heritage of ancient sciences that have been left to us as a legacy by our sages and rishis. Ayurveda, a branch of the Atharvaveda, is one such area which has been neglected in our part of the world while its effectiveness has been timetested since thousands of years. Minister for Health Dr. Ram Baran Yadav said that it is necessary to identify the herbal plants and generate skilled manpower to make the Ayurveda medical system more competitive not only within the country but also in the extending world’s market. Minister Yadav made this remark while inaugurating the sixth anniversary of Singha Durbar Baidhyakhana Development Committee and Dhanwantari Day the other day. Minister Yadav also pointed out the lack of coordination among the concerned authorities and allied agencies to promote the Ayurveda, the traditional medical system of the country and urged the Singha Durbar Bhaidhyakhana to produce skilled manpower and mobilise the natural resources. Certainly with the increasing popularity of modern allopathic medical system, the Ayurvedic or homeopathic medical system seemed to have remained in the shadow in the last few years. But in the recent years it is increasingly becoming popular, especially in the West. In the South Asian Countries it never had lost its significance in healing a large number of population who could not afford expensive modern medicine.

However, Nepal despite being one of the richest countries in unique herbal plants in the world is unable to promote Ayurveda even within the country. This is why the herbs available across the country either remain unutilised or are smuggled for a paltry sum of money. Moreover, some of the priceless herbs of the country seems to be in the verge of extinction due to the increasing incidents of smuggling and unscientific way of harvesting. For example Yarchagumba, a herbal plant that stimulates the sexual desire and is a popular aphrodisiacs said to be on the verge of extinction. It is high time we invested proper resources and energy in scientific exploration of our herbal treasure, established their compositions and patented them. It would be a shame if we do not prove to be worthy of our own heritage and cannot make use of it in the modern context.