Whither Nepali youth!

At a Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies sponsored seminar on Nepali Youths, Nepali scholars debated whether the Nepali youths were a problem for the country or vice versa. The national level seminar also discussed in depth the issues confronting the Nepali youths and the dimension of the consequences that it might catapult into if their real issues and concerns were not dealt with on time by the State. Naturally scholars opined that the Nepali youths have already become helpless, hopeless and felt alienated due to the gross negligence shown towards their plight by the fragile governments formed after the restoration even of the democratic order.

Noted scholar, Dev Raj Dahal, who concurrently is the Nepal representative of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, a German social foundation which supported the event, maintained that the need of the hour was to attract the attention of the confused Nepali youths towards the societal issues confronting the nation. Mr. Dahal’s appeal to the intellectuals and the national leaders had been not to use the youths only for their political purposes but to impart on them the positive values which ultimately will make them not only a disciplined citizens of the country but would also transform them into a completely competent and energetic youths who could later serve the societal and the country’s needs.

Scholars also shed light on the real issues that have beset the youths of late. Today’s Nepali youth could be seen in the streets supporting the agitation; a part of the same youth is found in the schools or for that matter in the colleges; some youths were in the jungles; a considerable chunk of the youths were either ragpickers or have already left the country for good as migrant worker in order to earn money. The rest, as academician Prof. S.L.Amatya revealed, have entered into the Indian territories either out of fear of the Maoists or to manage two meals a day.

If one goes deep into what the scholars have said, what comes to the fore is that the real villain of the Nepali youths is none other than the State itself. What the hell the youths will do if they are denied employment; what they will do other than to become a drug-addict if the state fails to cater to their demands that are indeed genuine ones. That the problems of the Nepali youths have already acquired a frightening dimension which gets reflected from their joining the insurgencies or migrating abroad. The fact is that if the society or for that matter the nation does not take care of their concerns, why should they in turn care those who grossly neglect them and their causes?

It is not for nothing that the paper presenter, Professor Prem Raman Uprety said that youths were an energetic group in transitional phase who desire a safe, clean and healthy environment for their mental and healthy development. It is this period of the youths which demands a sort of parental care both from the society and the State. If denied this care, chances remain high that the youths could deviate from their normal path which later could become a permanent headache both for those who neglected their concerns.

What is the structural condition of the Nepalese society? What are the possibilities for them to fulfill duties towards the society as citizens and as human beings? How to promote skill and will power among Nepali youth to fulfill their citizenship rights and duties and resist those defects that prevent them in fulfilling the national obligations ascribed to them? What are the incentives for Nepali youth to be integrated into the boundaries of national culture and inspire them to be committed to the constitutional goal of creating an open and just society? These were the questions whose appropriate answers will be explored during the discourse of the seminar hoped Prof. Anand Shrestha, the executive director of the NEFAS.

Nepali Press under attack

The already partisan Nepali media is in a sort of severe attack these days. Conforming to its undemocratic character the Surya Bahadur Thaps’s government is coming heavily down against the freedom of the press and been terrorizing the media men on duty through the ruthless use of its police force. The idea could be that such terror might bring about a substantial change in the given political context. However, the government is simply mistaken. Media men are made up of a different stuff that could not be so easily tamed and terrorized. The government attack on the Nepali media has come at a time when the country’s record on the HR situation is at an all time low. The Thapa government by attacking the press in an inhumane manner has exhibited its desire to gag the universally accepted fourth pillar of the State that is the media. This is unacceptable. We express our total and unconditional solidarity with the call of the Federation of the Nepalese Journalists which demands the immediate dismissal of the Home Minister, Mr. Kamal Thapa. He must go.

It is high time that Nepali media men united for the common cause and fight against the government’s frenzied acation.

Definitely Nepali press has been enjoying unprecedented freedom since the restoration of the democratic order the constitution of which provides ample safeguards to the Nepali media. However, the government’s intention appears to squeeze the press so that the press in turn out of fear favored its vague and dubious policies and programs. This will however, not happen. Rest assured Mr. Prime Minister! The press is united as and when such miseries befall on our brethren immaterial of the fact that we might have our own political preferences. When we are attacked, we are one. The message should be clear to the government.

We appreciate FNJ’s President, Mr. Dahal’s sensitivities who understood the gravity of the situation and initiated actions that ultimately will go a long way in favor of the Nepali journalists.

Headline | Opinion | Dateline | National |  5 Question  | Letter | 2nd Impression | Views | International | Past