HELLO NEPAL

The Kathmandu Post 29 November 2011 At a time when the when the coalition government has been under attack from various circles for the jumbo-sized cabinet and its inclusion of persons who have been accused in grave crimes, it is frustrating to know that yet another person in the cabinet is under CIAA scanner (“Yadav under CIAA, PMO scanner” Nov.28, Page 1) . It is yet to be seen whether Yadav will really be punished for his immoral and irresponsible acts if found guilty. In fact, he should have been immediately suspended from his position and kept under surveillance until the scanning process is completed. The PMO’s and CIAA deserve appreciation for taking initiatives to probe Yadav’s case. But the time has come for the PM to show his guts by lawfully punishing Yadav, if necessary, once the probe is complete. Rai Biren Bangdel Maharjgunj, Kathmandu

  The Kathmandu Post 24 November 2009 It was encouraging to read you news report on the political parties coming together (“Taskforce to amend resolution motion” Nov.19, Page 1). Unless the   at political parties realize the core values of core values of the consensus politics in the present context of transitional phase, their political existence in the days ahead will be questionable. It is very urgent for the new task force as one without biasness and come up with an acceptable resolution motion in the House. Otherwise, the political deadlock will continue, in due course tarnishing the image of the Constitution Assembly (CA) and Parliamentary system. Both the ruling and opposition parties, as responsible people’s representatives, should not miss this golden opportunity to strengthen the CA and the House. Time has come for them to seek a “win-win” formula to end for the current political crisis. They should not cause people loose hope and belief in the parliamentary system. Ra

  The Kathmandu Post 14 May 2009 As soon as the PM Dahal resigned from his position, it was obvious that there would be a vicious circle that goes around the major political parties to form the new government since none of the parties have majority seats in the CA (“Political polarisation leads to constitutional crisis” 13 May, Page 1). It seemed like a pretty smart and calculative move on the Maoist part. However, if this political polarization continues to persist, the resulting constitutional crisis could invite politically disaster. None of the political parties will gain from it. In the name of peoples’ supremacy, the so-called manor political parties are creating a chaotic environment by instigating their sister organizations to come out in the streets and flex their muscles. Why do we engage in unnecessary and counterproductive confrontations? Can’t our political leaders be sensitive enough and resolve their political indifferences through the productive dialogue and mutual

The Kathmandu Post 28 August 2008 With Puspa Kamal Dahal becoming the new Prime Minister of federal republic Nepal we notice one remarkable change: his visit to China despite the opposition from India, braking the practice of visiting India right after holding PM’s chair. Besides, the child rights champions have appreciated Dahal for not engaging Panch-kanya at the airport. For the Maoist now, there are some pressing issues to be addressed immediately. The returning of the confiscated land to the rightful owners and allowing the internally displaced safe return to their home are topics of hot discussions. As it has always been, there are high expectations from all walks of life. Visibly, there are three different burning issues: first, people’s high hopes of lasting peace, second, integration of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into Neal Army and third, the proper integration of YCL into society. In this connection how the new government functions will be closely watched by all.

The Kathmandu Post Tuesday, June 17, 2008 The roles of self proclaimed Civil Society that evolved just a month before the beginning of Jana Andolan 2 has been quite confusing. No doubt, they played a crucial role during the April Movement by propping up the political parties in their fight against the autocratic regime. But of late, the civil society has been very indifferent toward the negligence of responsible political parties. It is visible that the major political parties are squabbling for the last two months for chairs thus spending valuable time for their own petty interests. This is a precious time when they are supposed to work day and night to give shape to the new constitution. The parties have been ignoring the implication of failing to implement the past agreements and act as per the schedule. The twelve point agreement that was signed between the then SPA and the Maoist has not been fully implemented. They have failed to unite for the common cause. As a result, ther

The Himalayan Times 8 September 2010 The UML associated youth wing deserves appreciation for their plan to launch anti-corruption drive from September 17 to October 1 “UML youth to launch anti-corruption drive” (September 6, Page 2). Do they go after the political leaders and bureaucrats who have managed to earn huge amount of money through one or the other kinds of illegal acts? Are they bold enough to launch their campaign against big black marketers and vendors who have monopolized the market prices taking the advantage of artificial shortages and adulterations? People seem extremely frustrated and overburdened with the ongoing uncontrolled and haphazardly increased market prices of consumable goods. There is no any government mechanism that can regularly and effectively monitors the quality of and market prices of commodities. The members of the People’s Consumers Forum do not seem too much bothered with the common peoples’ plight of excessiveness of the corrupt vendors. and cor

The Himalayan Times 19 April 2011   It was encouraging to read the news report “Bhattarai suggests NC inclusion in government” (THT, Apr.17, Page 6). However , i s it possible for them to come together at a time when the Nepali Congress has been continuously blaming the seven point deal that was made between Jhla Nath Khanal and Pushpa Kamal Dahal and repeatedly asking Maoists to fulfil all the promises and commitments they had made in the previous agreements? Why don’t they immediately sit together, thrash out all the political differences and start concentrating on statute drafting and peace process if they are sincere and trust each other? The deadline for drafting new statute and concluding peace process is approaching fast. Some of the senior leaders have even started publicly saying that the new statute will not be drafted by the dead line. Intra and inter- party friction is taking the toll. The PM has put himself in a hot soup by signing the 7-point deal with Maoist Chairm

The Himalayan Times 10 Mar.2011 It was indeed heart-breaking and painful day to bid adieu, as reported “Thousands bid adieu to democracy icon” (THT, 7 Mar, Page 1) to Krishna P. Bhattarai (KPB), one of the founding member of Nepali Congress. He always remained uncompromised to his value-based politics and committed to the betterment of Nepal and its people. He will always be remembered for his altruism, disciplined and productive politics. He was indeed a true statesman that Nepal ever had and may never have in the days to come and had made priceless contribution towards the democratization of Nepal ’s political system and always stood firmly for Nepal ’s sovereignty.   His own party had ignored and betrayed him for his firm statement, even after post II Jana Andolan, towards the need of constitutional monarchy and multiparty system in Nepal . He had once mentioned that Nepal had now slipped its political system out from its hand soon after CA had announced Nepal as a Republic st

The Himalayan Times 22 November 2011 It is now common to hear and read news about the Constituent Assembly (CA) term extension when the lawmakers turned out to be total failures in completing the peoples’ mandated twin tasks within the stipulated time. This time also, it is not surprising to read the news report “CA extension vote set for Thursday (THT, Nov.21, Page 30) with regard to the third extension of CA’s tenure. It was also not surprising to know that they had extended the previous terms by making some lame excuses. I think the people were not and do not seem against its extension if the lawmakers had made sincere effort to complete the prime jobs. However, the way CA’s term was and gets extended without any committing any firm determination and planned time table remained to be everybody’s concern. The responsible political leaders and parties were not seem sensible and sincere in the past towards completion of the peoples’ mandated prime tasks during the extended period. Se

The Kathmandu Post 22 November 2011 SIMPLY tabling another term extension proposal and issuing whip to make lawmakers vote for the CA extension do not seem convincing (“NC asks lawmakers to vote for CA term extension” Nov.21, Page 3) . The way CA term gets extended without a firm time table remained is a serious concern to all Nepalis. Several deals signed among the major political parties to extend CA’s term. Those deals were not properly implemented due to blame games and power politics. This time, they need to bring out a detailed plan of action for completing the twin tasks within the stipulated time and make public their commitment to resign in mass if they failed to do so. Merely extending CA’s term seems nothing but an excuse for pocketing people’s tax money. Rai Biren Bangdel Maharajgunj, Kathmandu

The Kathmandu Post 18 August 2010 Bhawana Upadhyay’s heart touching article reminded me of my 10 years working with Swiss funded rural health development project in Dolakha and Ramechhap districts where thousands of rural women were leading miserable lives due to Uterine Prolapse (UP) syndrome (“Fallen womb”, Aug.17, Page 7). Many of them showed up at the health camps only at the urging of project field staff. Otherwise, as Upadhyay mentions, women suffering from UP do not reveal their troubles due to social stigma attached to the problem. In Nepal, experienced human resources for the UP treatment are available. However, owing to an absence of a proper health policy, many rural women continue to spend miserable lives and even die silent deaths from this curable problem.  Rai Biren Bangdel Maharjgunj, Kathmandu

The Kathmandu Post 15 February 2011 IT’s an unusual time for a diarrhoea outbreak and surprising that 50 people have fallen ill in the past two weeks in Rukum district (“Diarrhoea in Rukum VDCs” Feb.14 Page 4). The government owned health posts in each VDC need to play a greater role in addressing such easily preventable diseases and reducing deaths. The District Health Office (DHO) responsible for managing the government health delivery system needs to be more proactive and should mobilise its VDCs based health staffs to conduct awareness raising campaign focusing on the importance of safe drinking water, personal hygiene and environmental sanitation. Organizing regular sessions on these three topics in local schools would help to generate a baseline, who in turn, disseminate relevant messages to their parents. Rai Biren Bangdel Maharjgunj, Kathmandu

The Kathmandu Post  12 July 2008 Medical doctors’ ongoing strike supposedly to ensure their “security” looks somewhat embarrassing. Their strike has affected so many innocent patients; some of them have probably died of doctor’s negligence. How justifiable is it to violate people’s fundamental right to life just because of some doctor’s gross negligence? Do these doctors have the right to play with the lives of innocent? The doctors are indeed blackmailing and are going against their own professional oaths. The doctors cannot take the serious jobs of delivering medical services so lightly, some mechanism must intervene right away. Why not to suspend the concerned doctor(s) until the truth is known and made known to the relatives of the victims who died while undergoing treatment at the Everest Nursing Home? Is not it possible for the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) to do so and continue delivering services to the visiting patients rather than safeguarding their member d

Lessons from the Rural Health Development Project in Nepal Conceptually, the existing Nepalese health delivery system at the local level is excellent in terms of its institutional set up. The establishment of Sub-Health Posts in every Village Development Committee (VDC) and Health Posts in every Ilaka level – a cluster of 3 to 5 Sub-Health Posts - in order to provide health services to the rural people has been a commendable job of the government. In every Sub-Health Post, a team of one Auxiliary Health Worker, one Village Health Worker and one Mother Child Health Worker is a very good combination of health staff responsible for day to day health delivery services. Likewise, the Health Post’s staff consists of one Health Assistant, one Auxiliary Health Worker, one Auxiliary Nurse Midwife and one Village Health Worker. But most commonly, only the curative services are handled by these periphery level health institutions, and there is still a long way to go in order to im

The Himalayan Times 25 January 2010 Women’s group of Haleshi VDC of Khotang district deserves appreciation for showing their courage to lock up government offices in protest against the deaf ears turned towards their demand of budget allocation for women in line with the government directives, “Haleshi women lock up govt offices in protest” (THT, Jan 20). Likewise, recent decision made by Annapurna Mothers’ Group of Baidam of Pokhara to retaliate any kinds of bandh in their areas, as portrayed in the photo bearing the caption “Participants at a programme organized by Annapurna Mothers’ Group at Baidam in Pokhara on Monday (THT, Jan19), was another example of women’s courage for self empowerment. Unless women cohesively acting as the group show such courage to express their dissatisfactions over the issues and concerns related to their rights and privileges, they would continue to be suppressed in a patriarchal society. Both these cases could be good examples for other

The Himalayan Times 03 December 2008  T his is in reference to the news article “Projects for better reproductive health launched” ( THT, Dec 2). Besides other common reproductive health problems many women, especially those in the rural areas, suffer from uterus prolapse. Development partner organizations that organize health camps in the district headquarters for the treatment of such patients deserve appreciation. However, unless the treatment of uterine prolapsed is regularised through health posts, primary health care centres and hospitals, the untimely death of women would continue affecting the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR). The targets of Millennium Development Goals set by the government to reduce MMR would remain a pipedream unless partner organizations exerted pressure on the government to make available effective emergency obstetric care, family planning services and regular treatment of uterine prolapsed throughout the country. Rai Biren Bangdel Maharajgunj

08 December 2008 The Himalayan Times This is in reference to the edit page article “Local Governance, Donor tinkering is the menace” (THT, Dec.4, 2008). While reflecting my working experiences with the donor organizations, I must agree with the writer that they still function using the power of the purse rather than designing and implementing the development programmes consistent with the ground reality. Unless the management and accountability of any rural level projects lies with the local level beneficiaries, the outcome of such projects is bound to be questionable. The concept and application of “user group” in rural level projects have been extremely successful in terms of empowering the local communities and improving management capabilities. Giving the local stakeholders a sense of ownerships and making them accountable directly or indirectly ensures sustainability of projects. When these realities are overlooked, projects are bound to deliver unsatisfactory resu

The Himalayan times March 9, 2009 This is in reference to the news article “CA member plays dual role with aplomb” (THT, 04 Feb). The photo of CA member Durga BK with her baby was so touching, I would like to express my thoughts and congratulate THT for its wonderful news article on its cover page. Please keep up the good work. I am sure she must be and has been the inspiration to many women of New Nepal to come forward courageously and prove that they can do the challenging jobs. Thanks to the Maoist leadership for nominating her to the CA. I sincerely salute her with all my heart for her dedication and exemplary work. Some of the male CA members have not even reached their assigned places. One was found highly objectionable conduct elsewhere. The Constituent Assembly should formulate a guideline (if they do not have now) that should have the provision of striping such culprits of CA membership rather than shielding them. Rai Biren Bangdel Maharajgunj, Kathmandu

The Himalayan Times 6 May 2010 Undermining child rights Witnessing school and non-school going children participating in the politically motivated strikes and rallies and seeing disruption of ongoing examination of plus two students is very sad and quite distressing. Many thanks to National Coalition for Children as Zones of Peace (CZOP) for raising concerns over this issue as reported in the news article “Children in rallies concern CZOP” (THT, May 3, Page 3). However, simply expressing concern over such issues seems not enough to ensure children’s non-involvement in such activities in the days ahead. Why do the political parties, who claim themselves as the nation builder, completely ignore the children’s fundamental rights to education? Who takes the lead to force the political parties to fully abide by the Convention on the rights of the Child, 1989 and its Optional Protocol, 2000? Why don’t they respect the Nepal’s Interim Constitution, 2007 that clearly spells

The Himalayan Times 9 April 2010 Faulty programming I found your news report “Plan formulation concept goes topsy-turvy” (THT, Apr 7, Page 1) praiseworthy and it deserves appreciation. It has given good picture of how the development programs are formulated and implemented at the local level. Thanks to Ministry of Local Development (MoLD) for carrying out monitoring of the implementation of development programs in ten districts and bringing out the findings. It is not only surprising but very sad to know that the plans and policies were found completely in contrast to the Local Self-Governance (LSG) Act-2055/56. It is very discouraging to know that the government and the National Planning Commission (NPC) responsible for enforcing the LSG act are undermining it by applying “top down planning and implementation approach”. This is completely against the good spirit of “bottom up” planning approach where the beneficiaries of development programs are involved in identify

The Himalayan Times 12 August 2010 Crucial role of FCHVs It is obvious that the role of Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) does not seem as popular in semi urban areas as reported in news item “Female health volunteers less popular in suburbs” (THT, 10 August, Page 2), because of easy accessibility of health services, as those of the rural areas. However, in my opinion, the concerned Health Posts (HPs) in the semi urban VDCs should encourage them to carry out their volunteer functions as effectively as their colleagues in the remote rural areas. They, in each ward of each VDCs all over the country, act as the change agents in raising villagers‘ awareness in several health related issues from mother and child health cares to family planning, immunizations, Vitamin A program, de-worming programs, etc. Their contributions on these programs including reducing maternal and child mortality rates are commendable. They used to be and are the member secretary of Mo

The Himalayan Times 23 September 2010 MDG award encouraging The Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of Nepal was among the highest in the world in 1980/90’s. The 1996 Nepal Family Health Survey, which is still considered to be the most reliable estimate available so far, had revealed a MMR of 539 per 100,000 live births. It was encouraging and satisfying to read the news item “Nepal gets MDG award for reducing MMR” (Sept.21, Page 2) in terms of Nepal heading towards the right direction to achieve Goal No 5 “Improve maternal health” among the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “Reduce MMR by three quarters until 2015” is one of the target indicators of this goal. The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) and its staff through out the nation deserves appreciation for their hard work. Until 1990’s, approximately 80-90% of births used to take place at home especially in the rural areas. However, the government’s program of providing easy access to delivery services thr

The Kathmandu Post 23 June 2010 Achieving MDGs Though it is good to see the government has made progress towards meeting effort towards meeting the health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there are a number of health-related problems left to be addressed in rural Nepal (“MDG trail right on track” June 23, Page3). The decision of providing free health services through all the Village Development Committees (VDCs) based health service outlets has only been partially implemented leaving the rural people’s lives in the mercy of god. The existing centralized drug supply system needs to be improved in order to ensure that health institutions in remote VDCs can provide adequate and timely medicine to patients. Currently, the supply of medicines from the centre  lasts only a few months. If the government puts sincere effort in mobilizing VDC-based Village Health Workers and ward based Female Community Health Volunteers by imparting them with training on preven

The Kathmandu Post 14 July 2009 Diarrhoea pandemic  The diarrhoea pandemic in the Mid Western districts of Jajarkot and Rukum, which has claimed over 120 lives and rendered thousands severely ill, could easily have been controlled with timely preventive measures in place (“PM to directly supervise,” July 13, Page 1). But the sad fact is that most health workers deputed at the VDC-level health institutions have failed miserably in their duty of educating locals on health-related issues on a regular basis. I have witnessed firsthand while working with a Swiss-funded bilateral health project in Dolakha and Ramechhap districts how untimely deaths due to water-borne diseases can be avoided by raising people's awareness. This was possible with the implementation of health education programme in close collaboration with VDC-level health workers. Why don't the district health offices organise simple health education training programmes for VDC-level health worker

The Kathmandu Post 29 June 2011 EPIDEMIC FEARS THE untimely and tragic death of many innocent people due to diarrhoea outbreak in Jajarkot and Kalikot districts in 2009 and dengue outbreak in Bharatpur in 2010IT was devastating (“Health ministry puts its staff on hand” June 27, Page 3). But, the Epidemiology and Diseases Control Division (EDCD) deserves appreciation for timely making the necessary arrangement to tackle the outbreaks, which commonly occurred due to water borne diseases. However, it is yet to be seen how effectively the trained health personnel and logistics will be mobilized when the real need is felt. It was not known whether the government and I/NGOs involved in health programmes launched any preventive measures in those heavily effected areas in the last two years. The training of health personnel and preventive measure related program should be simultaneously launched for chasing away such outbreaks. Rai Biren Bangdel Maharajgunj, Kathmandu

The Kathmandu Post (22 January 2010) ] Fighting diseases I t was very encouraging to know that The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has timely decided to set up community rapid response teams (CRRT) to fight with outbreaks of diseases (“Teams to fight cholera” Jan.21, Page4). Let us hope that people out in the remote villages now won’t have to face untimely death as happened last year in Jajarkot, Dailekh and Rukum districts where over 300 lives were lost. However, CRRT alone won’t suffice. Polluted water, eating rotten foods, poor hygiene and sanitation are the main causes for outbreak of diseases in the rural areas. Unless the level of awareness on these issues among the community people is raised, there is chance of water-borne diseases spreading. To remedy the situation, the MoHP has to train its Sub Health Post and Health Post based health workers on awareness drives and preventive measures. Also, the MoHP needs to improve its medicines supply system to h

The Kathmandu Post November 17, 2008 Free Health Care This is in reference to the news article” Free health care to be expanded” (15 November 2008). The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) deserves appreciation for this positive, thoughtful and encouraging decision. However, the mechanism and affectivity of its implementation is yet to be seen. The ministry completely failed to implement its decision of last December to provide free health care services in Health Posts (HP) and Sub Health Posts (SHP) due to lack of human and financial resources. It was poorly implemented and raised unnecessarily high expectations among the people. The government supplied free medicines to HPs and SHPs for a year last merely for few months. Now MoHP is talking about expanding the program to Primary Health Care Centres (PHC) and district hospitals (DH). According to records at the Family Health Divisions, there are 90 DHs, 180 PHCs, 699 HPs and 3,131 SHPs. Would it be feasible and

The Kathmandu Post 20 September 2010 MMR control It was encouraging to read that Nepal, which until recently had among the highest Maternal Mortality Rates (MMR) in the world, is on course to meet its MDG on MMR (“Nepal makes great strides towards MMR reduction” Sept.20, Page 4). The government’s easy access to delivery services through its health institutions, an increasing number of skilled birth attendants, more awareness on reproductive health through mass media, new incentives to women and health staffs, who deliver babies at the health institutions, legalization of abortions- all have played their part in bringing down MMR. However, VDC level health service outlets still lack proper obstetric unit, the required number of skilled birth attendants and health staff in addition to the perennial shortages of medicine and delivery equipments.. Rai Biren Bangdel Maharajgunj, Kathmandu

The Kathmandu Post 16 July 2008 Neglected Mental Health In reference to the report on “Mental health neglected in Nepal” (14 July), I have a very painful experience as a voluntary working in mental healthcare sector. I came to terms with the realities during my voluntary involvement in a mental health program called “Chhahari Nepal” where availability of program funds became an extremely frustrating factor in spite of its tremendous effort of convincing national and international funding agencies for the implementation of its mental health program. None of the funding agencies were found interested in addressing this acute problem that has affected more than 20 percent of the population. The number of mentally distressed people affected by the ten long years of socio-political conflict and sever poverty has alarmingly increased in the streets of Kathmandu and other major cities. Due to lack of proper policy in the government’s health sector, they have been deprived of

The Himalayan Times 10 November 2011 Be reasonable It is frequently read and heard that the NC President Sushul Koirala has been claiming that the next government should be led by Nepali Congress since both the UML and UCPN(M) have already run the government as reported in “Sushil for NC-led govt” (THT, Nov.8, Page 1). Now, the other NC leaders have joined him in claiming for this as reported in “Congress leaders claim for next unity government” (THT, Nov.8, Page 1). It does not seem wise to publicly claim for putting forward such dull reasons at such a time when he even has not been able to hold his party cohesively together. Time and again, he has created confusions and failed to democratically run his party. All the signatories of the seven-point deal should sincerely be serious in effectively implementing it rather than starting wrongly interpreting the deal. Has this been difficult for NC to see that Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai (BRB) led government gets all the credit for doing goo

The Kathmandu Post 9 November 2011 HELLO SARKAR Finally, public grievances have been heard by the Prime Minister’s Office and solution has surfaced after a flood of complaints troubled government ( “Sea of complaints inundate ‘Hello Sarakr’ Nov.7, Page 3) . Hello Sarkar is an innovative idea to tackle the frustrations of the general public and to ensure their complaints are heard. Furthermore, it acts as an immediate check to wrongdoers. If this system is properly handled and implemented as reported by the media, the government could provide great relief to the common people’s plights. Rai Biren Bangdel Maharjgunj, Kathmandu

I am getting nervous with the way the major political parties have signed seven point deal recently. This deal came to the floor when the deadline for CA's third time extension is approaching fast.Would they be able to implement the deal by 31 August 2011? If they failed to act by the time, what would happen to the CA? Are they planning to extend it ignoring Supreme Court's recent verdict that says that the CA's term could not be extended beyond two year in accordance with the Interim Constitution? If there were any emergencies in place in the country due to unavoidable circumstances, the CA's term could be extended for another six months.However, they have already extended it for one and half years.That is why, I am nervous what are they going to do beyond 31 August 2011.