Anti-poverty Campaign
LDCs Fail To Reap Benefits

By Laxmi Bahadur Vaidya

THE last decade of 20th century was a period of major disappointment for the least developed countries as a while due to enormous economic disparity, unfair trade, debt and other socio-economic problems. In addition, the global population increased rapidly, while health and education standards declined and environment depleted seriously causing natural calamities such as droughts, floods and cyclones, and other economic hardships. Consequently the plight for the least developed countries aggravated enormously and marginalised even further within the World economy.

The United Nations has classified 49 poorest among the poor countries of the world with a total population of 630 million as officially "least developed". The present criteria of the least developed countries include a per capita income of less than $ 900 a year and scarce investment in health, nutrition and education including economic vulnerability. More than half of the 630 million people of these poorest countries are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia but also caribbean and pacific island nations. They live on less than a dollar a day. In these countries rapid population growth rates have contributed significantly in increasing the number of people living below the poverty-line. It is estimated that over a fifth of the World’s population, that is, 1.3 billion people are living in poverty.

The United Nations Third Conference on least developed countries that was concluded in Brussels, Belgium recently in which leaders from the Worlds 49 least developed countries as well as leaders from the developed world were present. In that conference the representatives of donor nations and top business leaders, governmental organisations had participated. The conference was the most important world jamborce of the least developed countries. The first and second conference and taken place in 1981 and 1990 respectively, both at Paris in the French Capital.

The Third conference has reached an agreement to reduce poverty and to enhance the economic growth rate of least developed countries, in addition to bridging the gap of inequality between the least developed countries and the developed world.

When the least developed country was first defined in 1971, in this group, there were only 25 nations. Now, it is a bloated club of 49 members with a new member senegal.

Most of the least developed countries’ economic structure is extermely weak and poverty is very grave. The fragile economic structure of the least developed countries creates major problems for the design of structural development programmes. So one of the most important necessities of the least developed countries is the considerable adjustment and reshaping of the economic structure to ensure growth-oriented and to accelerate long-term development. Thus the structural development programmes should be supportive of the least developed countries’ long-term endeavours. These countries are unable to fulfill such aims, objectives and plans due to the paucity of resources which is a great constraint on development of least developed countries.

Resource constraint and the problems arising from the rapid growth in population, degradation in natural environment and the massive build-up of debt as a tremendous burden, that have had their negative impact on savings, investment and development activities in all sectors of the least developed countries. But the crux of the matter is that least developed countries by themselves are not capable to escape out of poverty without an adequate aid and healthy support from the rich countries of the World. During the 1990s international asistance and support has been inadequate. As a result it has affected infrastructural development of the least developed countries because they depend primarily on external resources to finance such investment.

The financial flows to least developed countries have fallen in real terms since 1980s. The second UN-LDC Conference was concluded in 1990 in Paris. In that conference the developed countries had made commitment to channel at least 0.15 per cent of their GNP to the least developed countries in the form of Official Development Assistance (ODA). But most of the developed countries have failed to fulfill that commitment. That is why the ODA target of 0.15 per cent of GNP was not achieved. And the donors have contributed only 0.15 per cent of their GNP in 1997 which is lower than 0.09 per cent of GNP in 1990. At the same time least developed countries resource needs grew substantially as their export earnings and purchasing power declined. But debt repayment obligations ex-acerbated and additional financial requirements for the performance of development activities immensely grew up. The total external debt stock of least developed countries went up from $121.2 billion in 1990 to $ 150.4 billion in 1998, registering a corresponding increase in debt stock to GNP ratio from 92 per cent to 101 per cent.

A Week-long Third United Nations global conference on least developed countries ended recently in Brussels. The conference came to the conclusion that traditional development plans and past experiences have suggested that the developed countries have failed to uplift poorer economies from poverty, but actually led to further deterioration. And the income gap between least developed countries and the developed World is widening.

The conference adopted a decade-long programme of Action for the least developed countries beginning from 2001, aimed to integrate trade into the poverty alleviation strategies of least developed countries with high aims of accelerating the development process in the third World, which so far has remained marginalised in the global context. The meet, among others, also intended to help to facilitate entry of non-member least developed countries into the World Trade Organisation. Now stress has shifted from direct aid in the past to more favourable trade as means by which poverty alleviation, strategies, could be made more sustainable, and by which it could help in lifting the economic status of the poor people living in the least developed countries. Large amount of aid have only encouraged aid dependency just like Nepal.

Prominent economists, development planners and policy-makers are of the view that unless the debt of Highly Indebted poor countries are not cancelled and special as well as preferential treatment upon them will not be provided, which is recognised by even the Murrakesh Declaration, poverty alleviation targets can never be achieved. In this context the conference has acknowledged on the need to expand the Highly-Indebted poor countries. The political declaration that was adopted in Brussels says, "We believe that the financing and implementation of the enhanced HIPC initiative is essentially for freeing domestic budgetary resources for poverty reduction".

Though Nepal suffers a crushing burden of debt servicing which wipes away one-third of its internal revenue mobilisation, the Brussels Declaration has rejected the benefits of the cologne debt relief initiatives and landlockedness which are the two of its unique problems.

Buddhism As Seen In Literature

By Mahendra Jib Tuladhar

AFTER browsing through various books on Buddhism and interpretations put forward by different writers, one could be confounded by a variety of theories presented by different schools of thought.

One should be very careful not to criticise any school of thought. Each school may have its own method and logic for attaining enlightenment. Buddha had emphasised that you are your own teacher. Buddha was only a guide, not an authority, and that ‘all proposition must be tested, including his own.’ Gautam Buddha showed that we should not accept gullibility, and accept what is spoken by any sage, written in any book or practiced by tradition, unless one can see logic in it. It is scientific and may be comparable to Bertrand Russel’s views about philosophy and education in the last century.

It is not necessary to elaborate on the life of Siddhartha, and his attainment of enlightenment. His followers called him ‘the Buddha’ (Awakened or Enlightened One). Gautam was his family name, and he belonged to the Shakya clan. He refered to himself as ‘Tatha-gata’ implying ‘thus gone’ i.e. predecessors.

People comprehend it as ‘the Perfect One.’ Buddhism as such is named after the Buddha, but he himself never called it Buddhism. In fact, he preached the dhamma, and it could be called Dhammaism instead of Buddhism.

Some even don’t consider it as a religion at all, but a set of moral precepts or a way of life. Anyway Buddhism, as we know it, has prevailed for over 2500 years.

Some would like to divide its history into four periods. The first period was that of old Buddhism and the preaching of the Buddha was carried on by word of mouth (unwritten and unrecorded). This came to be known as Hinayana or Theravada or the orthodox sect. The first period was confined mostly to the Indian soil. The second period was marked by the rise of the Mahayana or ‘the Bigger Vehicle’ to encompass a large section of followers of diverse culture and nations. In the first period, the ideal achievement of a person was to attain the stage of an Arhat (a Saint with no attachment, cravings and free from the cycle of rebirth or reincarnation).

In the second period, the ideal saint was a Bodhisattwa (a person, who strives to help the whole of mankind to achieve salvation, and also hopes to become an omniscient Buddha). Finally in the third period, there were so many additions to Buddhism that the ideal saint was a Siddha (a person in harmony with the cosmos, a free agent, who is able to manipulate the cosmic forces both inside and outside himself).

The first split in Buddhism occurred about 340/B.C. Buddhism does not have a central authority like the Pope or the Khalif. Different sects appeared with the general assent that the goal may be reached through different paths. One such sect was the Mahasanghikas (the predecessors of the Mahayana). They questioned the Sthavira sect about the status of an Arhat. The Arhats were lacking in something in the god-like stature. They could still have seminal emissions in their sleep, demons could appear in their dreams, they had doubts and were ignorant in many things, and they needed others to guide them towards Salvation.

Around 280B.C (?) a sect called the Pudgalavadins split with the Sthaviras on the philosophy of the Pudgala or person. They were also called Personalists with the dogma that "Personality" is a token of falsehood. There was no place for "the self" in the conception of reality. Besides their impersonal dharmas, they believed that there was one person born for the weal of many i.e. the Tathagata.

Another split took place around 244 B.C. between the sects called Sarvastivadins and Vibhajyavadins with the emergence of the pan-realistic theory of the Sarvastivadins. The Abdhidharma books were composed after the third split. The Abhidharma books of the Sarvastivadins differed from the books of Theravadins, which was a branch of Vibhajyavadins. It would be impossible to enumerate the different sects here because Indian Buddhist tradition speaks of eighteen to thirty sects and sub-sects.

The third period gave rise to the inclusion of Tantra and Zen Buddhism. Many new mantras, mandalas mudra, and different symbolic deities were added onto Buddhism. Mandalas were diagrams of the cosmos with the essential principles rotating around the central axis, Mount Sumeru. Such dagrams were represented in ritual Vases, royal palaces, stupas, temples, thankas etc.

In this period, the Vajrayana tried to unite various confusions about the assumptions regarding cosmic and spritual forces. The Vajrayana tried to be a binding thread to all previous teachings along with a group five Tathagatas Pancha Buddhas) naming Varirochana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi. The Vajrayana tried to show the way to Salvation by co-ordinating the proper use of the body, speech, and elusive pictures as the philosophy resorted to symbolism. For instance, when we see a Buddhist painting or an idol depicting the union of the male and female in a spiritual embrace, it becomes very difficult to comprehend the meaning of the sexual imagery. Enlightenment, the combination of wisdom and skill has been represented by the union of male and female to signify ecstasy or highest joy, which tries to describe the pleasure of the greatest Happiness attained after enlightenment. Vajrayana is still prevalent among the Newar Buddhists and Tibetan Lamaism, and is a deep subject of interest to many outsiders.

Dealing With Stray Dogs

By Uday Lama

IT is evident to the discerning eye that there is a sizeable canine population roaming the streets of Kathmandu. And about this time of the year they couple themselves in a most unbecoming manner. Each bitch is expected to produce a litter of pups which after a brief period of weaning is left to fend for themslves

The stray dogs live off the garbage on the streets feeding on anything and everything - scraps, leftovers and offal; without any regard to its rancid taste or foul smell. The contents being devoured as fast as its teeth can take hold of and gulped down. But there is not enough to go around and so only the strong and quick get to eat a morsel or two.

Of all sizes and every hue and colour they often fall prey to disease of the skin which leaves them mottled. The fur falling off to reveal the dry, naked skin full of sores. There is no kind hearted soul to take the creatures to the veterinarian and have them treated. Because it is not only expensive but also no follow-up can be conducted to ensure a complete cure.

These strays do not roam around in packs but forage on their own; if they do then it turns into a free-for-all with snarlings and teeth baring. All in a bid to fend off the other. Rarely to they attack humans and only if provoked - their bites can be lethal if infected with rabies.

Keeping their numbers down to a manageable level is the foremost concern of the authorities. Some of the methods resorted to are poisoning, shooting and forcible sterilisation. Of these the first two are the most widely used and results in a painful death. The last referred to is limited by the lack of funds and manpower even though it could be a scientific way of control. And so the poor creatures continue to suffer needlessly through no fault of theirs.

Animal rights activists become vocal and generate an outcry to rouse awareness in the public. Some also take action to censure the violence against these creatures considered necessary to safeguard the health and safety of the locals. But there are only a handful of citizens doing anything about it such as writing letters and drawing official attention.

Household pets are another thing and come under a different category and enjoy the luxury of being cared for even though freedom to roam about at will is denied to them - being kept under a leash or chained to a post. Most often these pets are of a high pedigree and no cross breeding is allowed.

The rest of the doggie population live a miserable existence hounded from one end of the town to the other to the hoots and cries of kids bent on mischief. Stones, sticks and whatever comes to hand are used to beat the whining dogs. All in a fit of anger. The injuries inflicted are at times serious enough to draw blood. There being to defence save to slink away lest there be further damage.