Professional guarantee of labourers stressed

Lalitpur, Jan 25 (RSS): Concerned experts have expressed the view that though economic activities carried out domestically have made significant contributions to the country’s economy, these have not been accounted and no one seems worried about the health of those involved in such activities, their professional guarantee and their wages.

This view was expressed at a two-day national seminar on the condition of homebased labourers in Nepal here recently.

A total of 70 persons involved in different homebased works in nepal and laborers from 13 districts are taking part in the seminar organised by the homenet-nepal with the assistance of UNIFEM.

Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, who was inaugurating the seminar, said the unorganised and the private sector have significantly contributed to the national economy, but this sector is always in shadow for lack of a strong social voice.

Dr Mahat spoke of the need to fix minimum wages of labourers to bring them into mainstream of the country’s economy, provide for their health facility and security, and enhance their skills.

Giving assurances that the government is ready to provide utmost cooperation to skilled technical manpower for self-employment, the Finance Minister remarked that the laborers should be skilled since it is only through them that quality goods can be produced.

Minister of State for Labour and Transport Shivraj Joshi, inaugurating a homebased product exhibition on the occasion, said that efforts made by the Homenet to unify the scattered forces that can play an important role in the country’s economy are praiseworthy.

Such home-based production would help curtail the import of similar items from foreign countries, he noted.

Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Transport Devratna Tamrakar, Homenet member Kabita Bhattarai and others also spoke at the function chaired by Homenet Nepal chairman Diwakar Chand. In Hetauda, most of the saving and credit cooperatives here are in a critical condition as they have not been able to refund the savings to the concerned depositors.

The transactions of such cooperatives have come to a virtual halt since September last year when a saving and credit institution was unable to pay back the money in time to one of its customers.

The customers seem to have lost their faith in the cooperatives now. Many people visit the cooperatives everyday to take back their deposits. Now the promoters of some cooperatives do not want their customers to see them. Depositors say that the cooperatives have paid back only some parts of their deposits. They have filed a lawsuit against some cooperatives at the District Administration Office, demanding necessary legal action against them. Officiating cooperatives officer of Makawanpur Cooperatives Office Jyoti Raj Aryal said that the cooperatives are in a pitiable condition because of lack of cooperative-related skills and knowledge of the promoters.

Many promoters are blamed for taking services and facilities from the cooperatives. The depositors are still ignorant about the services and benefits they could get from such institutions.

A total of 150 cooperatives have been registered at Makawanpur District Cooperatives Office. Many of them have yet to be taken approval from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

Consumers still compelled to buy stale, adulterated meat in Biratnagar

By Our Correspondent

Biratnagar, Jan. 25:Despite the directives issued by the Biratnagar Sub-Metropolitan City to manage the sale of meat, consumers are still compelled to buy stale and adulterated meat.

Under the directive issued six months ago, butchers should not slay animals haphazardly. But the meat sellers seem to be cheating the consumers as they not only sell underweight but also meat of she-goats at prices of he-goats.

Meanwhile, an inspection team of Sub-Metropolitan City found two butchers selling stale meat of she-goats. Food technician of the team Tara Nath Niraula informed that the team had seized 22 kilograms of meat of she-goat from the two butchers. They were Kakhi Kutaisi of Ward No. 14 and Mohammed Kattas of Ward No. five.

He also said that the team found another butcher Mohammed Munna selling the meat of a she-goat.

Consumers say that such incidents are taking place due to the lack of effective monitoring activities of the concerned bodies.

Vegetable farming flourishing in Bharatpur

By Our Correspondent

Bharatpur, Jan. 25: Local farmers have started to adopt vegetable farming professionally here for the last few years.

Vegetable farming, which was limited to certain villages of the district in the past, started to flourish in the district after the Agriculture Development Office of the district identified some ‘pocket areas’ and generated awareness among the farmers about its benefits during the last few years.

At present, Mangalpur, Gunjanagar, Bhandara, Ratnanagar, Khairehani and Birendra Nagar areas have been identified as the pocket areas for vegetable farming.

According to the district agriculture office, vegetables are planted in about 1560 hectares of land across the district during the summer every year. Similarly, vegetables are planted in 1282 hectares of land in winter. More than 23,400 metric tons of different species of vegetables was produced this year alone. Out of this, 16,660 metric tons of vegetables was produced in winter.

Potato is a major vegetable produced in the district. Last year, potato was planted in 1730 hectares of land and the total quality of production stood at 25085 metric tons.

The district witnesses the production of a large quantity of cauliflower and cabbage in winter. Last year, cauliflower and cabbage were planted in 225 hectares of land in Mangalpur, Gunjanagar, Ratnanagar and Bhandara alone. Likewise, tomato, chilly and other species of vegetables were planted.

The district agriculture development office has launched four fresh vegetable production projects in the areas of Bhandara, Ratnanagar, Khairehani, Birendra Nagar, Mangalpur and Gunja Nagar. It has aimed at making vegetable farming more professional and market-oriented.

Technical knowledge has been imparted to the farmers so as to encourage them to be involved in the vegetable farming. But farmers complain that they have not been able to get benefits from vegetable farming as per their investment due to lack of market.

"Since most of the farmers plant vegetables simultaneously after harvesting paddy, they can suffer losses once the prices of their products go down," say concerned technicians.

Narayangadh is one of the major vegetable markets not only of Chitwan but also of the entire country. Farmers say that the prices of vegetables in the wholesale market see fluctuations every year. They say that the prices go down every alternate year.