Planned Development Process
Development Priorities Of The Tenth Plan

By Shiva Ram Neupane

THE country is now in the last year of the ninth five-year plan and is busy preparing the tenth plan. The history of planned development process began in 2013 B. S. with the launch of the first five-year plan. The total budget for this plan amounted to Rs. 3,300 million. The tenth plan will start from mid-July 2002 with the sole objective of poverty alleviation. Poverty alleviation has been the major objective since the seventh five-year plan. However, the problem of unemployment and underemployment has posed a great challenge to the country’s effort of poverty alleviation. In this context, the country needs to put in more effort to develop agriculture, tourism and other industries.

People’s participation will be the main tool for development in the tenth plan and the main target will be to bring down the percentage of population living below poverty line to 30 per cent. To fulfill this target, the plan will give a special emphasis on agriculture development, manpower development, development of tourism, communication technology, financial service and industry, generation of electricity and fuel, and infrastructure development will be the main development priorities in the tenth plan. The management of natural resources, village development, the development role of private sector in tourism, management of social service and population, consolidation of local organizations and communities, and good governance have been set aside as other areas of importance. These priorities are similar to those of the ninth plan but the tenth plan aims at adopting a new policy and implementation strategy.

Poverty and unemployment have remained as big challenges for the last ten years. The tenth plan targets to bring down the number of people living below the poverty line to 32 per cent from 42 per cent in the beginning of the ninth five-year plan. This figure is estimated to stand at 38 per cent at present. The major causes of poverty are unemployment, unproductive agriculture system, obsolete technology, lack of investment opportunity, lack of proper and safe market for national production, lack of direct and easy transportation to establish a link with the productive area and market, absence of trained and skilled manpower etc. To gain the expected achievement from efforts to reduce poverty, all kinds of development activities should be linked with issues of poverty alleviation and also effective programmes should be launched in the areas where the real poor people live.

Nepal as a landlocked agricultural country, agriculture remains the backbone of economic development in which the majority of country’s population is dependent. Still now this is the main employment sector in the rural areas and also major source of production to livelihood and income generation. Despite this, the development of this sector has not been as envisioned in the past plans and programmes. For sustainable economic change and employment generation agriculture development and its professional enhancement is very important in every region of the country. Mainly agriculture can play a significant role to improve the lives of the poor and uneducated families in the rural areas, so the plan should give top priority to modernise agriculture and increase productivity. Difficult geographical setting, dependence on monsoon, traditional farming, use of old and less productive tools, seeds, medicine and fertilizer, insufficient irrigation, lack of proper market, lack of easy and cheap transportation facility have been the main problems for the sustainable development of this sector. For modern and beneficial development of agriculture, the tenth plan should come up with solutions to these problems.

Tourism is next major sector for country’s economic and social development. Various kinds of natural scenes, high Himalayas, old and attractive temples, different kinds of living styles and interesting culture etc. are the factors for high probabilities of tourism development in the country. Also agriculture and cottage industry are benefiting from tourism. In view of income of foreign currency tourism industry has been playing a significant role for the last three decades. But the country could not achieve the expected targets, so the plan needs to explore ways to attract more tourists to the country every year and also lengthen their stay in Nepal. Different kinds of additional attractive cultural and recreational programmes are necessary and also new and village tourist destinations have to be developed. It is necessary to enhance transportation facility to other potential destinations. Pollution, lack of advertisement in the international market, lack of security, strikes, political and social crises, lack of sufficient and reliable air service for international tourists are the present challenges facing tourism development. The plan should look for ways to overcome these problems.

Nowadays the cottage and small industries are in a poor state, many of them have shut down. For employment and income generation cottage and small industries have been playing a significant role. But for the last few years, they have been facing a host of problems in production and marketing. It is a daunting task to prevent these industries from being closed. Favourable government policy, easy import of raw materials and proper and safe market for production is a good way for smoothly running industries. Our national policy should be concerned to protect new industries. Furthermore it is necessary to promote industrial develop-ment of the country by producing quality goods, production of raw materials in domestic market, raising industrial productivity and enhancing competiti-veness in the global market. Besides this, to attract private and foreign investment the industrual policy should be made more flexible.

The road transport is an important infrastructure for the overall development of the country. For the development of agriculture, tourism, industry, easy and cheap transport facilities should go together. So for the development of transport facilities it should be a main component of every development programmes and activities. Also transport, mainly road transport, must be extended to all the districts. It is very crucial to develop road transport to achieve the national objective of poverty alleviation.

Pollution Stalks Bishnumati River

By Umesh Silwal

BISNUMATI is a holy river of Kathmandu Valley that originates from Shivapuri in the northwest corner and confluence join with Bagmati at Teku. The river completes its about four kilometers course before joining forces with Bagmati. In its journey it traverses through the core areas of Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

The river has its own religious significance as that of Bagmati river which flows through the eastern part of the city. The holy rivers have many famous temples on their banks and were used for bathing purposes since the early days of settlement in the valley. The practice still continues on specific ceremonies despite the high level of pollution.

The rivers are used on washing clothes, cleaning vegetables, bathing animals etc. However, the quality of water flowing in the Bishnumati has degraded during the past decade. The quality of water at the source and in Budanilkantha region is fine but downstream the pollution parameter levels become alarming.

The main cause for the pollution of this river in downstream is the rapid urbanisation, overnight expansion of squatter settlement and increasing carpet industries along the banks. The principal causes of deteriorating water quality in Bishnumati are mainly the free and direct discharges of household and industrial wastes into the river and excessive mining of sand from the river bed.

The major industrial effluents are untreated water from carpet dyeing and direct disposal of wastes from poultry farms.

The haphazard growth of squatter settlements along the river also has led to increasing pollution of this holy river. Furthermore, at the city core area, unorganised and unhygienic slaughtering of animals is another reason for river pollution. The pollution problem is aggravated during the dry season, when the volume of water in the rivers is very low and the pollutant load is high due to inadequate water supply.

The poor water quality of the river has numerous detrimental effects from the ecological, social, cultural and health aspects. A decade or so back, the population of nearby region was quite low than it is today so that the production of wastes was also significantly less. Now the population has increased enormously and the generation of the wastes is also high resulting in a greater pollution of the surrounding environment.

In the past, the direct disposal of sewage into the river was not a serious problem because it was less in quantity and was naturally purified. So the related agencies did not pay attention to the problem. Now the situation has changed for the worse. This is due to the increased population, industries and squatter settlements on the river bank. This has resulted in the failure of natural purification of the sewage in the river because of inadequate water level.

The problem has different characteristics downstream. Gongabu Bus Park is situated on the bank of the Bishnumati River. A sudden increase in its pollution level is noticeable from this area. In Gongabu area there are more service centres like hotels, restaurants, bus stops so the waste generation is significantly high. The ultimate site for the disposal of such generated wastes is Bishnumati. The direct disposal of the lubricants and other wastes of vehicles is one of the serious agonies that the river is facing. Some distance downstream, there’s a cold store where a huge number of chicken are slaughtered and cleaned. The wastes generated here is also dumped directly into the river. This is the second crucial point where the river pollution increases suddenly. However, the action of direct discharge of sewage can be seen everywhere upstream as well as downstream.

Shova Bhagwati, whilch lies on the bank of Bishnumati, is one of the holy sites. This is also a place where the last rites are conducted especially for those from the Newar community. While cremating, some of the major rituals have to be conducted using the river water but this is not possible now because of the highly polluted water quality.

The problem is also compounded by open slaughter of animals along the Bishnumati corridor. Hyumat (near Kalimati) area is the main point for the disposal of blood, excreta and other animal wastes directly into the river. This not only increases river pollution but also poses health hazards as the animal flesh is washed by the polluted water of Bishnumati.

Bishnumati has been badly degraded from the environmental, religious and aesthetic point of view. The water
sample test results show that no aquatic life can survive in it especially downstream from Gongabu. It was found that the content of oxygen in the stream has been reduced to a negligible quantity downstream and the self-purification of the water is negligible. Solid waste has become a major problem in the valley during the last decade.

Due to high population growth rate and lack of accessible landfill sites, solid waste management has become a challenge for urban planners and environmentalists in the capital. In the past, river bank was "considered" by the then Municipality as the proper site for the disposal of solid waste.

If the pollution of Bishnumati is continued unabated, instead of water in the wet season, it will be filled with the blood, feathers of dead animals, human and animal excreta and toxic chemicals. This calls for strong initiatives to preserve the river from the environmental, religious and aesthetic perspectives.

Vitamin A Vital For Public Health

By Balaram Chaulagain

IT is the time the country is putting into action the global pledge to bring all under five children under Vitamin a campaign. As a part of the nation-wide programme to eliminate Vitamin A deficiency related ailments, Nepal administered Vitamin A capsules to an estimated 3.2 million Neapli children this year on Oct 18 and 19. Children between six months and 5 years of age were target group of the programme. Nepal’s infant mortality rate (IMR) is regarded to be one of the highest in the world. One of the main causes of IMR in Nepal has been identified as none other than Vitamin A deficiency which is widespread . As per the world health summit’s call in 1990 for launching nation-wide Vitamin A drive the government of Nepal administered Vitamin A capsules in 73 districts of the country. Two districts Rukum and Jajarkote had been excluded in the drive against Vitamin A deficiencies. Children residing across the these districts have to face the challenges posed by Vitamin A deficiencies. Vitamin A distribution campaign is purely a public health programme which has been launched by Nepal since 1993. The government with the help of some other line agencies like UNICEF, USAID &
AUAID etc. started the campaign.

Deficiency of Vitamin A is an attributing factor for different kinds of child ailments like that of night blindness. Bigot’s sport, immune suppression and such others. In Nepalese context Vitamin A deficiency is believed to be major predisposing factor for post measles syndrome (acute respiratory infection) and chronic diarrhoea both of which are considered to be a leading cause of IMR. Besides, one of the major causes for maternal mortality rate ( MMR) in the country is also Vitamin A deficiency. Different studies have shown that Vitamin A deficiency can also cause illness such as anaemia, exrothalmia, immune suppression and birth defect in pregnant mothers. Figures still continue to show that out of every 100 thousand live births, more than 500 mothers die due to complications arising during pregnancy and delivery. As such, to correct the situation changes in the dietary behaviour through nutritional education is highly essential. Nepal has a country with basically an agricultural base does not lack fruits and vegetables rich in Vitamin A to tackle the Vitamin A deficiency problem. Yellow fruits and leafy vegetables which are full of beta-Caroline are believed to be a sole basis of Vitamin A and must be promoted as the best alternative to Vitamin A capsules.

Vatamin A campaign is purely a upblic health programme which has been launched in 73 districts of the kingdom and planned to expand all over the country in near future. As per a set programme, Vitamin A capsules are freely given to all children below five years of age twice a year in Kartik and Baishakh months. To accomplish a gigantic task of feeding Vitamin. A capsules to more than 3 million children in different districts of the country collective efforts from all sectors of life should be sought. To make the programme a resounding success, more than 40,000 female community health volunteers (FCHV) and other health personnel are being mobilised.

Nepalese women and children face far greater risks than their counterparts residing in developed countries in terms of being victims of different kinds of complications relating to gestation, child birth and other ailments. Therefore, Nepalese health authorities including other line UN agencies as well as donor groups should also think seriously about the bleak picture of Nepalese health services. As many Nepalese have suffered serious ailments due to Vitamin A deficiency, the National Vitamin A campaign would go a long way in the field of primary health care delivery system. In the same way, it is a matter of great satisfaction to us that Nepal’s past performance with regard to the Vitamin A programme has been found to be the best among the countries of world where such programmes were launched.

Lastly, it goes without saying that the campaign against Vitamin A deficiency is public health programme. As such, Nepal should not lag behind in strengthening public health activities. First and fore-mort, the rural people need to be made aware of the impact of the Vitamin A deficiencies. For this, a multipronged awareness campaign regarding Vitamin A and its bad conseqences is a must. Then only we will be able to ensure that everyone turns up on the days of distributing Vitamin A. The government’s endeavour is appreciated, it should be noted that results of the drive can be more effective, only if result oriented mass awareness method is followed. For this, we should not lag behind to adopt information, education and communication method regarding the importance of campaign in intensified way.