BP With The Poor Programme For Poverty Alleviation

By Uttam Maharjan

NEPAL being one of the poor countries in the world belongs to the category of least developed countries (LDCs). At present, 42 per cent of the Nepalese people are living below the poverty line, out of which 17.1 per cent are extremely poor.

The extremely poor people are unable to meet their basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, education, health and drinking water, and have no lead or fixed income sources. Even if they have land or some form of income, they can hardly manage one square meal for six months.

The World Bank and UNO define poor people as those earning less than a dollar a day. By this definition, 1.3 billion people are poor all over the world and over 50 per cent of the people in Nepal are poor.

The contributing factors to the incidence of poverty in the country are illiteracy, gender discrimination, poor sanitary and health conditions and lack of access to social amenities.

The government has been emphasising poverty mitigation since the first periodical plan was launched in 2013 BS. In the past, Rural Development, Remote Area Development and Land Reform Programmes were formulated for the sake of reducing poverty.

In the Fourth Plan, Small Area Development and Integration Rural Development Programmes were formulated for balanced regional development and extensive rural development respectively. Similarly, the Seventh Plan envisaged the Basic needs Programme, aiming at fulfilling the basic needs of the people by 2000 AD.

Besides, the Small Farmers Development Project and Back-To-Village National Campaign were also formulated for poverty alleviation. But all these efforts initiated during the Panchayat era could not produce desired tangible results.

After the restoration of multi-party democracy in the country, the people expected that their economic condition would rise. Two years passed without any plan till the Eighth Plan got off the ground in 2048 BS. At the start of the plan, 49 per cent of the people were poor.

The current Ninth Plan has aimed at reducing the poverty rate of 42 per cent to 32.5 per cent. In fact, the plan has a far-sighted goal of reducing poverty to 12 per cent by the end of the Twelfth Plan. In between, the poverty rate is planned to be reduced to 22.5 per cent and 15 per cent by the end of the Tenth and Eleventh Plans respectively.

The government is committed to mitigating poverty by emphasising priority areas—education, health, drinking water, etc. and by understanding microfinance enterprises, especially in the rural areas.

Microfinance enterprises have been in operation in 10 districts in association with the UNDP since 1999. Such enterprises under private sector participation emphasise the development of small-scale industries suitable for the rural areas, thus contributing to income generation and self-employment.

In a similar vein, the rural banks aim at uplifting the standard of living of the rural people by enabling them to participate in economic activities to their benefit. Apart from providing financial help, the rural banks also carry out social activities, such as women’s awakening, women’s literacy and skill development programmes.

However, other fields like hydropower, tourism, forestry and agriculture could also be a vantage point for income generation activities for the poor people. The revolution in agriculture could change the lives of the people for the better as more than 90 per cent of the people are involved in agricultural and allied activities.

The 20-year Agricultural Perspective Plan (APP) being implemented now focuses on raising the economic status of the farmers through an intension agarian system, crop diversification and especialised agricultural business for employment generation.

Nowadays, civil society could be an effective tool for giving momentum to development activities. The role of civil society in poverty alleviation cannot be downplayed. It has a powerful role in strengthening democracy by enhancing public participation in development activities. So a partnership between the government and civil society could be instrumental in producing coherent results. It is worthwhile to note at this juncture that the Nepali Congress governments launched the BP with the Poor Programme in December, 1999. The Programme is to be extended to all 75 districts. It is a superb programme from a socio-economic point of view, as it aims at employment and income generation for the extremely poor people.

For the successful implementation of the programme, there is a central-level programme coordination committee under the Local Development Minister and district-level coordination and follow-up committee under esteemed social workers.

To start with, the programme will encompass 100 families in each constituency or 20,000 families in all and extend its scope to 200,000 families in five years.

By way of special facilities, cards will be distributed to the extremely poor families for education, health care, agricultural services, veterinary services, banking and so on. Local bodies, like municipalities and VDCs, will provide date on the poor families, based on which target groups will be selected. The local bodies have a pivotal role to play in making the programme a success.

A year has passed since the formulation of the programme; nevertheless, target groups have not been identified in all the districts. At present the programme is confined to committee formulation, appointment of social mobilisers and selection of poor families.

Some people have a vague idea that the programme is meant for the Congressites and their hencehmen only. But it is not a programme of a single party. After all, poverty alleviation is a common concern of all the parties, whether Congress, Communist or otherwise. In fact, the programme is based on B.P. Koirala’s committment to improving the economic condition or the general people. The humanitarian ideals of a personality should be adhered to irrespective or his belief of faith. There is no point in opposing the programme simply on the grounds of B.P. Koirala’s association with the Congress Party.

(As a matter of fact when he was Premier in 2016 BS, B.P. Koirala expressed his commitment that he would try his best to raise the general Nepalese to at least middle-class families in 15 years. He was of the view that poor people as an organisation could get rid of poverty themselves).

So the programme is not pro-Congress under any circumstances; rather, it is pro-poor. As such, all should contribute their mite towards making the programme successful so that the scourge of poverty may be mitigated to a great extent.

Battlefield Is Sacred!

By John Biemer

THE FERRY embarked from Asia. A few minutes later it would arrive in Europe. The wind was blustery on the Dardanelles, the dividing point between the two continents, not far from the historic city of Troy. The boat rocked gently on the wine-dark sea.

On a hillside on the approaching bank, a silhouette of a soldier bearing a rifle has been drawn in white in a clearing in the trees. Giant letters bear a message that can be seen for miles (kilometers) around.

"Attention passerbys," our guide, Ali Efe, a retired Turkish Navy captain, translates with reverence. "The Gallipoli Peninsula is sacred ground to some nations."

Indeed, the thin, rugged strip of hilly land in western Turkey is a special place to the descendants of the Turks and ANZACS - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - who fought and died here during World War I, 85 years ago.

"It was a defining moment for Australia, New Zealand and the Turks," Efe says. "The Turks gained Ataturk, who fought the Anzacs. And the Anzacs got the spirit of a new nation."

But, Efe adds, "We are members of the same family today," introducing a theme that was oft-repeated in the daylong tour.

Volunteers from Australia and New Zealand provided the bulk of the manpower for the British-led Army that landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 in an attempt to capture Istanbul, 180 miles (290 kilometers) away. The Allies intended to knock the German-allied Ottoman Empire out of the war and open the Turkish straits as a supply route to Russia. The mission, Efe says, was supposed to take 11 days.

Instead, the Turks held strong for more than 8 months, driving the Allies off their land in a bloody campaign that led to 253,000 Turkish causalities and 281,000 Allied casualties - an average of 2,000 a day. The Allied retreat was Dec. 20, 1915.

The Allies made a fatal mistake, Efe explains: They underestimated the ill-equipped locals, many of whom were drawn from the peninsula itself and fought passionately to protect their homes.

The prevailing opinion among Anzacs - still maintained to this day - was that the British commanders exploited them as cannon fodder on the front lines. That notion helped galvanize an identity for the former colonies, leading them to seek greater autonomy from the British throne.

The Allies, of course, would go on to win the war, but the Turks emerged from the battle with a sense of pride still evident today. Much of the peninsula is preserved as a beautifully maintained national park.

Gallipoli also produced a war hero: Kemal Mustafa, a 35-year-old leader who would later steer Turkey in its transformation into a secularized, Western-leaning modern state, earning the name Ataturk - literally, father of the Turks.

The tour costs 8 million lira (about dlrs 12) and can be arranged at pensions and hotels in Canakkale, including the Yellow Rose, which shows a documentary of the invasion in the evening and the 1981 Peter Weir film "Gallipoli," starring Mel Gibson, over breakfast.

Buses await on the peninsula to shuttle the 43 tourists - mostly Australian backpackers in their twenties and thirties, along with a handful of New Zealanders, Canadians and Americans - along the coastline and up a hill to a museum perched next to a beautiful vista.

Before entering the museum, Efe, a diminutive man of about 60, speaks warmly and welcomingly in accented but fluent English, as he thoroughly describes the battle, pointing to giant maps of the peninsula. His grandfather died fighting there, he says, one month after his father was born.

"Anything I know to be true, I will have to say it," Efe says, promising to be impartial as he tells the story of how the Turks triumphed.

But, he concedes, the Anzacs know their history too. In fact, Australians and New Zealanders celebrate Anzac Day, a national holiday, each year on April 25. About 20,000 of them visit Gallipoli each year, Efe says.

In the museum, there are strikingly primitive horseshoes, canteens and rifles with bayonets, looking like remnants of the American Civil War, presented tastefully with English translations.

Letters written by soldiers to their families demonstrate universal emotions and priorities.

"Dear Mother, I don’t want underwear. I have money. God bless you," writes Hasan Ethem, a Turkish soldier. He was killed two days later.

Ari Burnu Cemetery at Anzac Beach overlooks the Aegean Sea, sparkling in tropical blues. It’s so beautiful and peaceful you wonder why anyone would ever want to fight over it.

A short sandy beach leads to a well-tended grassy plain at the foot of some jagged cliffs. The Australian tourists in jeans and flannel stroll somberly through the gravestones, reading the names and ranks of the fallen soldiers.

A stone monument, dedicated in 1934 by Ataturk, presciently tosses aside enmity, seizing an opportunity to foster more peaceable relations with the former Allies.

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives, you are now living in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore, rest in peace," Ataturk said. "There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours."

The Australian monument to the dead rests atop one of the highest hills on the peninsula. Here, the Turks and the Anzacs dug in and fought a bloody battle from trenches separated by a space the length of two tennis courts.

Today, an obelisk adorned with a cross sits near gravestones marking where Australians were buried in mass graves. Inside, there is an altar, decorated with flowers and cards from school children in Australia.

All Australians feel a need to come here, explains David Crowder, a tourist from Melbourne, because it was such a defining moment in his nation’s history.

"There are very few events or battles (in history) that involve Australians at this degree of concentration," he says.

The last stop is the tallest hill on the peninsula, where two monuments stand, one to Ataturk and the other to the New Zealand war dead. From here, you can see both the Dardanelles and the Aegean, a crucial strategic location, especially in the days well before satellites provided surveillance of enemy positions from the skies.

The wind picks up as the tourists from around the globe scan a view coveted by the Anzacs and Ataturk, and the troops of Alexander the Great and the ancient Trojans before them.

"It’s not just our history, it’s the world’s history," says Irene Delfs of Sydney. "I got the same feeling when I went to the Alamo in the States. You can feel the history."

AP

Keeping Warm In Winter

By Uday Lama

COME winter time and Kathmanduites normally lazy and sleepy-headed sit up and look around—for signs of life. Mufflers, sweaters and jackets usually mothballed and put away are dusted off, given an airing and brought into use. Quits become a hot piece of item to lug around.

Young people in their twenties and thirtees keep on adding layers of clothing in a bid to warm themselves and get the circulation going. The babies and elderly are the most vulnerable to the chilly weather which turns particularly nasty if there is a mist or breeze.

Electric heaters give off radiant energy that can heat up an entire room. With the problem solved for the moment there is nothing to worry about until the end of the month when the meter reader shows up.

Another kind of heater smokes up kerosene and given off a bluish flickering flame to hot things up and make life more lively. There is no danger if the instructions are followed and one is careful with the fuel and fire.

Of course, the most natural way of keeping warm is burning wood which can only be had by foraging. Dry twigs, dead branches and gnarled sticks are useful since they can be collected and lit. Even entire logs chopped up can be used for burning.

There is something hypnotic about a fire that crackles and glows with a life of its own. The sparks fly and the flames reach out only to withdraw.

The cold forces many offices-goers to sip hot scalding tea in quick succession. Or drink boiled, water kept in a flask to meet the liquid intake of the body.

In middle-class homes refrigerators are turned off and food left from the previous night are seldom thrown away. Alcoholic consumption shows an increase since it not only lubracates but heats up the extremities. Hot piping momos and steaming noodles turn out to be favourites although it is no substitute for the daily fare.

For the pavement-dwellers the cold brings a whole set of miseries—sniffers, aches and pains not to speak of the endless shivering. They try to warn themselves by huddling together to share the bodies warmth and keep hopes high. Life becomes a harash reality with no respite from the damp and chill.

The haves have a choice of options and are ready to use them should the need arise. The luxury of the bed tea brought by the maidservant, hot showers to begin the day and a roaring fire in the hearth. Toasting one another’s health goes far into the night to bolster the party spirit and on the right track.

Caught in between is the man-in-the street with expenses to meet and an extra mouth to feed. At least he has enough warmth and energy to sustain himself throughout the day. And even if he feels he bite of a cold wave the thought of warmer days to come will surely cheer him up.