Urbanisation
Mounting Problems

By Khilendra Basnyat

NEPAL is one of the less urbanised countries of the world. With the exception of the Kathmandu valley, urbanisation in other parts of the country is almost non-existent.

In addition to the natural increase in urban population, population increase through the reclassification of new places as urban centres, migration and the annexation of rural areas into urban territories have contributed to urban population growth.

In fact, the fertility rate, infant mortality rate and crude death rate are all low in our urban areas. If all other variables are held constant, the urban population should increase at a lower rate than the rural population. For estimating the annual urban population growth rates, only the localities that were classified as urban in all of the censuses were considered.

In the 1954 census, there were only ten urban centres and only 2.8 per cent of the total population was residing in urban centres. One of these urban centres, with more than three-quarters of the urban population, was located in the Kathmandu valley.

In 1961, more centres were incorporated into the town panchayats. Thus, the urban population in 1981 doubled the urban population of 1971. The urban population was 6.4 per cent on the total population in 1981.

In 1987, ten more centres were incorporated, thereby increasing the total number of town panchayat to thirty-three.

In the 1991 census, these thirty-three designated urban centres consisted of about 9.2 per cent of Nepal’s population. Although the rate of urban population growth during the past four decades has been faster than the rate of total population growth in the country, the total urban population has still remained low as compared to other South Asian Countries.

In reality, the urban population growth has not been uniform in all cities of Nepal. In the 1950s, the eastern and central tarai had the highest population growth. For example, the population of Biratnagar (eastern tarai) increased its 1952-1954 population more than three times, followed by Nepalgunj and Janakpur.

In the 1960s, Pokhara had the highest increase, followed by Janakpur and Rajbiraj. The overall urban growth in the 1960s was caused largely by the addition of new towns or urban centres during that period.

From 1950 to 1990 the Kathmandu valley gained only modest increase in urban population. It no longer holds the large share of that total urban population of the 1950s. Presently, the valley comprises about thirty-five per cent of the nationally urban population.

Lifetime migrants from all regions to the urban areas comprised about twelve per cent of the total migrants in 1971, and most of them came from the Middle Mountain.

In 1981, lifetime rural to urban migrants comprised about twenty per cent of the total urban population and twenty-seven per cent of the tarai urban population.

The urban centres in the tarai were the destination of most of the total interregional urban migrants, followed by the Kathmandu Valley.

More than fifty per cent of the migrants from all regions went to the tarai urban centres, contributing about twenty per cent of the increase in tarai urban population. Apart from this, rural-urban migration contributed the largest share to the total urban population growth in the tarai and the lowest in the Kathmandu Valley.

More than forty-two per cent of the urban population in the tarai urban centres were lifetime migrants either from other parts of Nepal or from foreign countries, particularly India.

The proportion of foreign-born and native-born migrants constitutes only nine and half per cent of the valley and sixteen per cent of the Middle Mountains.

Although the foreign-born population in the 1981 census showed a decline, a survey conducted by the National Population Commission found that both the internal and external migration in the tarai urban centres were on the rise. According to this study, the foreign-born population in the tarai was increasing at the rate of 4.2 per cent per annum, and the destination of about fifty per cent of these immigrants was the tarai urban centres.

Actually, more than eighty-four per cent of the total foreign-born population living in urban areas is found in the tarai. The proportion of foreign-born and native-born migrants together constitutes only nine and half per cent of the valley and sixteen and half per cent of the Middle Mountains.

Newly incorporated urban centres and the centres located along the foothill such as Dharan, Hetauda and Butwal show a high percentage of migrant population in comparison to other older urban centres.

The reclassification or addition of new urban centers is another significant variable in the urban population growth. This is testified by the fact that the population of reclasified urban centres constituted 8.9, 13.2, 16.8 and 46.9 percentages of the total urban population in 1961, 1971, 1981 and 1991, respectively.

Although many of these urban centres cover large areas, a fraction of their territories are built up as urban areas. This may change the size of the urban population and influence the density of population in some urban centres.

Environmental conditions, especially in urban areas, are a source of serious concern since urban populations are particularly exposed to the combined effect of air and water pollution, lack of water supply, problems of waste disposal and derelict land, noise and congestion. These problems are accompanied by lack of open space and greenery, in certain cases, a decay of the built environment.

Despite the fact that urbanisation is steady in our country, the concerned authorities should make appropriate urban planning so that we may not encounter mounting problems in the years to come.

Human Cloning Sparks Debate

By Pushpa Raj Joshi

WE belong to the most dynamic ear in the history of human civilisation. As we review the past, we find that the changes occurred in a gradual manner, whether it be in the Egyptian civilisation, the Sindhu valley civilisation or in the Greek civilisation. The ancient time was the period of survival and coping with the adversity of Mother Nature. It was a great achievement that the humans learned to light the fire and rear the cattle. One can never understimate these events since they are the basis of human existence. Man is a curious and non-containing creature, he always wants to move ahead. So the human curiosity led the civilisation in the path of ascent. The big brains like Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Edison, Pasteur etc unravelled a lot of mysteries. But whatever the history shows one can never deny the fact that 20th century, is the golden era in the development of science. The scientists have materialised a lot of dreams and the invention like radio, television, aeroplane, telephone, computer etc, which were once beyond human imagination, are now the daily essence. But not always a technology is accepted and appreciated by the society. There are a lot of disputes regarding cloning, the manipulation of genes of yield a delayed identical twin. At the moment, the latest and the purest embodiment of gene manipulation of human biology is "germiline’ engineering, the modification of the genes we pass to our children, i.e. designing offspring according to one’s will.

Germiline engineering is a tideous, expensive and a controversial technology. Two key development are necessary before ‘designed baby’, becomes a real possibility: a safe, reliable way of placing human genes into human chrosomes and genetic constructs worth putting there. Several companies have already incorporated rudimentary artificial chromosomes into human cells. Though their interest has been in drug delivery and gene therapy, the transition to human embroys will not be hard as well. So the technique and technology of germiline engineering is not a big problem, the problem seems to be the social acceptance and the government policy. The parents always desire for extraordinary offspring so they will definitely use the technology but the question is when, where and how openly. Since the attitudes are too diverse and borders too permeable, if one government, for instance, say the US government, ban the technology and a New York couple takes a romantic honeymoon to Pokhara and gives birth to unusually bright baby nine months later, what is the government going to do? Will the government carry out genetic tests and arrest the parents if the genes seem manipulated? Such possibilities are more repunant than the pregnancy could ever be. Moreover, bans will merely drive the technology underground and limit access to those with the resources to circumvent them, hardly a sensible course if we are worried about potential inequalities from the wealthy buying superior talent for their children.

No genetic constructs yet exist to tempt prospective parents, but the human genome project’s completion is a beginning not an end. The blistering pace of genomics, bioinformatic and DNA-chip technology will soon revel many genetic contributions to the essentials of who we are. Most of the technologies will be complex but some will be surprisingly simple. The scientists have succeeded in expanding the life span of fruit fly by genetic manipulation. So one can predict that the day is not that far when the life span of a human would be dramatically expanded. The researches are not the work of mere madness of some of the scientists but in fact it is a challenge against the power of nature. Some might argue against the germiline engineering as well, with the point one should not go against the law of natural powers, since nature is the ultimate truth. But revealing the other side, we have achieved a lot against the so-called natural power, like the use of contraceptives, organ transplantation or putting a satellite in space. Moreover, we have created some detrimental media like nuclear and biological weapons, which pose a meaningful threat to innocent bystanders. So the detrimental technology should be banned, but why should we protest against the procedures like cloning, broad pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and germiline enhancement that could cause no real harm to the mankind. If parents wish to design their offsprings in the manner they like, what is wrong with it? It is always a positive aspect to look for the better. After germiline engineering technology turns into a reality, the new generation will be comparatively bright. If the scientists achieve success in the technology we could be able to design our children in a manner they are peace loving, creating, honest and positive thinkers. Then the world would be in the true sense a perfect place to live in. So the germiline engineering will undoubtedly the most precious gift of the scientists to the mankind, provided the technology becomes easily accessibly to all. Otherwise, once again the border line between the rich and poor will be darkened. Since the methodology has not yet been put into actual practice we can always hope that it will be easier and cheaper in the due course of time as everything is based on technology. The researchers will develop yet another technology to bring down the germiline engineering to even the common man’s access.

For the timebeing, the technology is beyond imagination for the ones belonging to developing and underdeveloped nations. At the moment our chief concern is food, shelter and clothing. The patient is considered lucky if he gets treatment in the district and regional hospitals and the living considered posh if a person owns a few cattle and a piece of land. This is the true picture of the Nepali living standard. So the life style has to cover a long distance for us to merely think of this kind of stuffs. But this is not an execuse. One has to be aware with the day-to-day happenings as far as possible. We can’t skip out our concern on germiline engineering even though it is and will be beyond our reach for a reasonable period of time. But in the developed and wealthy nations the germiline engineering is a hot issue. Whether it should be legalised or not, what will be it’s effect and lot more questions are surfacing.

The society is split into two portions, one for the germiline engineering technology and the other against it. Healthy disputs are being made a lot of talk shows are being held and moreover a big concern is being shown. And why not this should happen after all the scientists have devoted all their toil and the governments have invested millions of dollars on the research works for the betterment of life. This is a sign that the humans will outwit the natural and cosmic powers, one day for sure. Let’s hope whatever happens in the time to come will happen only for the benefit of mankind; no detrimental mediums in the time to come. So the 21st century is the crucial period in the advancement of our civilisation. A few more years will tell us the exact direction of the way we are advancing to the path of beneficial deeds or the passage of detriment. Definitely we are standing at an unprecedented juncture in human history, and our condition is just ‘wait and see’.