English poetry festival

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 11: The Society of Nepali Writers in English is organising the 1st English poetry festival this November 30.

Some 50 poets are expected to recite their poems composed either in English or translated into English from other vernaculars in Nepal on the occasion.

At the programme 2 different work reports will be presented and lectures on concerned subjects delivered, it is said.

The festival with a slogan 'Poetry For All' will be held in the open lawn inside Patan Multiple Campus.
The organisation founded with an objective of encouraging creative writings in English and bringing Nepali literary creations to light to international scenario has been organising different literary programmes monthly.

The organisation is publishing 'of Nepalese Clay', a half-yearly literary journal in English.

Fee revision

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KATHMANDU, Nov. 11: The provisions for free registration and treatment services to the helpless and poor patients visiting Bir Hospital have been retained but the service charge in case of other patients has been revised with effect from November 17, the National Health Education, Information and Communications Centre has stated.

Accordingly, the new fee for registration in the Out Patient Department has been raised from Rs 5 to Rs 10 and an eight page OPD ticket will be provided.

As there is no need to buy new forms for every follow up visit, the patients will benefit from this provision, it is stated.

The fee for super-specialty services such as neurosurgery and neurology has been raised from Rs 50 to Rs 75. A fee of Rs 25 has been maintained for treatment like cardiology, cardiotherasic (related to heart and chest), burn and plastic surgery.

The fee for urology and nephrology (related to kidney), the treatment for which most of the patients come, has been reduced from Rs 50 to Rs 10.

The provision of free registration and treatment for poor and helpless patients who come for such treatment but cannot pay for it has been retained.

Train service continued

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JANAKPURDHAM, Nov. 11: The Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway Service today remained uninterrupted despite the so-called 3-day Nepal Bandh called by Maoists.

Janakpur Railway office informed that the train departed this morning as before accurately at 7 am.

ISKCON's mid-day food benefits Banglore's 15,000 children

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BANGLORE, INDIA Nov. 11: How religious organisations contribute in the eradication of hunger and education in the society? A religious organisation in the Indian city of Banglore, popularly known as cyber city, has made remarkable contribution in education by providing mid day meal to the school children.

International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has provide mid day meal to over 45,000 children in the Banglore city and surrounding areas for the last two years.

The ISKCON established an Akshya Patra (unlimited food for life) foundation to provide the basic of the basic needs of the children. "We started the programme with just a limited donation provided by the people with heart but now we are providing mid day meal to over 45,000 children every day with the mercy of the Lord," said Ratnagada Govinda Dasa, of the ISKCON temple of Banglore.

The foundation started to feed 1,500 children in July 2000 and gradually expanded the food to the children of the poor people in and around the state capital city of Banglore. "Our goal is to scale the programme to serve over 250,000 children per day by 2005. We believe success on that scale will offer a model for replication by other developmental organizations and state governments across India," Dasa said.

It costs over Rs. 250,000 every day Rs. 7,500,000 to provide mid day meal to the children of poverty stricken population of Banglore, the cyber city of India.

The name of the foundation is Akshya Patra, which means in Sanskrit language a pot from which one can draw unlimited food. This is based on famous epic the Mahabharat, in which the generous Queen Draupadi possessed the pot from which she could unceasingly serve people with food.

"This name embodies the aspirations and passions of the trustees to serve unlimited food to hungry children," said Madhu Pandit Dasa, president, ISKCON - Banglore.

The foundation has provided meal to the students of 210 government schools in the state of Karnatak. This is the biggest programme launched by a religious institution, which is commended by the UNICEF and the Government of India. The programme has made remarkable contributions in education and hunger in India and shown a good example in the field of humanitarian sector.

With the start of the mid day meal programme, about 92 per cent of the teachers of the programme implemented schools felt that the attention of the students in the class has improved, over 99 per cent of the students felt that they could pay better attention in the study, about 94 per cent of the teachers felt that there was overall academic improvement in the students and in the new academic year, 16 schools have reported an increase in enrollment by 15 per cent.

According to the study conducted by M.S. Ramaiah College Hospital, anemia reduced from 40 to less than 5 per cent of the children receiving mid day meal, children below optimal nutrition level reduced from 60 per cent to 0 per cent, children developed better resistance to diseases, skin infections in the children decreased from 80 per cent to almost 0 per cent and children showed significant improvement in height and weight after the implementation of the mid day nutritious food.

"We have not received any cooperation from international organizations like the UNICEF and the Save The Children Fund and other organizations working for the welfare of the children," said Dasa. " With the mercy of the God we have been able to provide food to the children and want to expand the programme," he added.

The Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee appreciates the programme.

The programme is " truly impressive. Lack of adequate and nutritious food for children of poor families has a direct negative impact on their school attendance, their health condition and their subsequent life as they grow up," Vajpayee is reported to have said.

The food is cooked at the facility of the ISKCON Temple and transported to the Banglore and surrounding areas as far as 70 kilometer and distributed to the poor children every day.

"If we can extend the Akshya Patra programme to other parts of our great country, we can eradicate hunger," said PT Usha a famous sportswoman of India.

According to the World Bank's development report 2001, 44. 2 per cent of the people in India earn less than a dollar per day.

About nine million people die every year due to hunger and 840 million are severely affected in the world. Hunger kills 24,000 people every day and 18,000 among them are children. South Asia is the home for over 40 per cent of the poor of the world.

Established in 1966 in the United States of America by an Indian sage Prabhupada, the ISKCON has branches in more than 100 countries of the world.

This is an exemplary work of the Hindu religious organization which is preaching for peace and involved in humanitarian activities at a time when some religious organizations are involved in the terrorist activities terrorizing the human being of the world in the name of religion.

"This is religion not the one that incites people of some religious sect to make attack like the one of September 11 in the US cities," said a saint in Banglore. "People with soul involve in the work like that of Akshya Patra and with no soul involve in the activities like that of September 11 of last year," said the saint clearly mentioning the division between religion and terrorism.

The donations provided by the devotees is used for the welfare of the poor people and all the donations and activities of the ISKCON are transparent.

The temple is neat and clean and the resources are used in an effective and transparent manner, which can be an example for the Nepalese authorities and the religious institutions to make the institutions more transparent.