Honour Litterateurs

A COUNTRY, which cannot honour its litterateurs, cannot be called a cultured country. The opinion expressed by litterateur Ratna Shumshere Thapa at a function organised the other day to mark the 35th anniversary of "Madhuparka", the monthly literary magazine published by Gorkhapatra Corporation, deserves much attention when it comes to promoting Nepal’s contemporary literary sojourn. It, indeed, is a fact that the decline of literature is an indication of the decline of a nation. If we do not protect and encourage the literary figures of the country, the literature of the country cannot be promoted. We cannot see ourselves if we forget literature because it is also regarded as the mirror of the society. The very idea of awarding literary personalities recognizing their contribution for the promotion of Nepali literature by Madhuparka, perhaps the largest selling literary magazine of the country, is a welcome step for promoting and preserving literature. With the introduction of Madhuparka Award the literary figures contributing to the magazine are sure to be encouraged to further produce good works of art that best reflect the nation’s contemporary society, culture and tradition.

History has proved that the literary magazines come and go. It is really very difficult for such magazines to survive and make a long journey as did by Madhuparka when there are few readers, few advertisements and the habit of buying on the part of the readers is not well developed. However, Madhuparka always retained and passed 34 years due to its quality and with the love of its readers and well-wishers. There are very few literary magazines in the country which have maintained such a long journey by serving the changing taste of readers with the write ups of well known literary figures of the country. By presenting its first annual awards on poem and prose to writer duos Mohan Koirala and Kamal Mani Dixit, Madhuparka has done an examplery job of paying respect to the country’s literary assets. The Rising Nepal, sister publication of Madhuparka, likes to extends congratulations to awardees Koirala and Dixit.

Anti-Encephalitis Drive

HUNDREDS of people in the Terai districts of the Mid and Far-Western Development Regions, are reported to be affected by an outbreak of a Japanese variety and strain of encephalitis. As such, it behooves upon the concerned health authorities and agencies to speedily come up with necessary initiatives to effectively halt the onward march of this dreaded disease. For, with the monsoon season just round the corner, what is certain is that this dreaded disease’s transmitter—the culex species of mosquito—would be getting optimal climatic and weather conditions for it to proliferate exponentially. This, coupled with the people’s glaring lack of awareness concerning the ways and means to counter the onslaught and ill-effects of this dreaded malady, could further assist this dreaded disease to reach an epidemic proportion all along the Terai belt.

Encephalitis, like many other diseases, is a malady that never fails to manifest itself as and when its transmitter (the culex mosquito) and virus get optimal climatic, weather and sanitation conditions to breed and thrive. However, with the government’s Health for All programme yet to make its beneficial impacts felt throughout the nation, it may take many more years for it to completely stamp out this dreadful disease. Until such times, the health authorities need to chalk out effective anti-encephalitis preventive measures. While the concerned health authorities are at it, it also looks to reason on the part of the people living in the encephalitis-affected districts to come up with their own measures to wipe out, if not halt, this killer disease’s enervating effects.

This should not be that difficult since the symptoms as well as the causes of this killer malady are by now well known to both the medical personnel and the people living in the areas. In this regard, the non-governmental organisations and their local counterparts, the CBOs (community-based organisations), working in the health sector and field at the grassroots-level could, by way of complementing the concerned health authorities’ anti-encephalitis, chip in with their trained manpower, knowledge, skills and expertise. In other words, joint initiatives from the health authorities, the NGOs and the encephalitis-affected people to prevent and control encephalitis outbreaks are the need of the hour.