HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 8 August 2014 Lessons to learn This is with reference to the news item “On Nepal visit, Modi says ”felt as though I had come home” (THT, 6 August, Page 5). The official visit of an Indian prime minister to Nepal after a gap of 17 years proved to be significantly successful and productive in terms of boosting bilateral relations between the two republics. Therefore, it can be expected that Modi’s recent visit has laid a solid foundation for furthering the age old political, social, cultural and economic ties between the two countries in the days ahead. In fact, during the last one decade under the Congress rule in India , New Delhi used to deal with Nepal through bureaucracy and security agencies. Nepal should not let the opportunities for development and cooperation provided by Modi’s visit to slip, mainly in water resource, trade, investment and infrastructure. But Nepal ’s bureaucratic machinery has often failed to utilize most of such o...

The Himalayan Times 1 August 2014 Empowerment The word “Empowerment” used to be the development jargon of I/NGO and other development organizations in their working documents, However, empowering women “digitally” must have been a catchy word for the women activists as reported in “Empowering her digitally” (THT, 28 July, Page 14). The two week long training program focusing on increasing the knowledge and skills of young women participants in using computers and internet was organized by Code of Nepal, a US based initiative working to increase open data and digital skills in Nepal especially for women.   The training must be extremely fruitful and productive to digitally empower the young women participants in terms of its importance in the 21 st century requirement. This sort of training should be organized on a wider scale so that more young women can be trained to face challenges such as gender-based violence. Rai Biren Bangdel Kathmandu ...

The Himalayan Times 29 July 2014 Remarkable agreement Apropos of the news story “ Nepal high on India ’s priority: Swaraj” (THT, 26 July, Page 1). After long time, it seems that India has realised Nepal ’s strategic importance in the regional peace and stability.   It is, indeed, a welcome statement made by the visiting Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. However, there are a number of issues that India has to come forward with open heart to amicably resolve as a good and sincere neighbour. She has shown some indication that India seems serious about what it says. There are a number of age-old bilateral agreements that may need detailed review and to revisit by both countries in order to meet the demands of the 21 st century. The importance given by the India ’s new government on these issues seems praiseworthy. Nepal should grasp this opportunity to sort out the weaknesses included in these bilateral agreements and amend to suit presen...

The Himalayan Times 22 July 2014 Monsoon havoc The monsoon has started creating havoc in different parts of the country as reported in “Two killed, hundreds displaced in far-west floods”. Two people lost their lives and two have gone missing and hundred of families were displaced due to the incessant rainfall in Dadeldhura alone. Nepal Army barracks was forced to relocate to Jagbudha based Area Forest Office. Other parts of Dadeldhura has been severely affected by the floods. These kinds of havoc may continue to take place during this monsoon in the hilly areas of Nepal . No body can control the natural calamity and no body can also forecast where the disasters will take place. However, the concerned authorities need to be prepared to minimize the loss of property and the lives of innocent people from such natural disasters. For that, timely preparation of evacuation plan, effective management of logistics and resettlement of effected people should be in place. ...

It was another hot day in Delhi and completely occupied with the orientation program at WLC college. My mind was completely overloaded with the information disseminated during the whole day session. Another three days still to go with the similar program. I hope I can bear it and spend these three days just like this.

It was a good and fruitful second day having meetings with different department heads of  WLC college and knowing more about it.  Lunch was really good. All the resource persons were helpful and friendly

I landed at Delhi airport at 1515 on 10 July 2014 on an official assignment and will probably stay here until 16th July. It is so hot you cannot even imagine. I feel like burning from inside. However, afternoon time remained fruitful in terms of knowing about Wigan & Leigh college ) WLC and it operation. I am looking forward for other orientation program which may be helpful in motivating me to fully take up the assignment.

The Himalayan Times 8 July 2014 Vigilance necessary The government should have formed long ago a high level committee to study the status of I/NGO funded activities and brought them under its purview in one way or the other. The absence of regular and affective control mechanism in the government system has made difficult to assess the real situation of I/NGO funded development programs. The existing Social Welfare Centre (SWC) does not seem to have developed such mechanism making itself merely a non functioning organization. This situation has made I/NGOs easier to channel their development funds in their own ways. However, it was good to know that the government has now realized about this burning issues and formed a high level committee under the leadership of National Vigilance Centre to investigate the impacts and consequences of I/NGO activities in Nepal and identify the problems with SWC as well in “Strong regulation of INGO/s sought” (THT, 6 July, Page 1). ...