HELLO NEPAL

The Kathmandu Post 25 December 2016 URBAN HEALTH HAZARDS This is a welcome decision of Ministry of Health (MOH) to set up 10 urban centres in different parts of Kathmandu under the direct supervision and monitoring of District Health Office (“MoH to set up 10 urban health promotion centres” 22 December, Page 02). The health situation of people in urban areas does not seem to be satisfactory. There could be many factors behind this, which need to be addressed simultaneously and quickly by the concerned authorities. The urban people are found to be suffering from various kinds of diseases due to unhealthy living conditions and unavailability of quality foods and safe drinking water.. The main function of these centres will be to promote healthy lifestyle and inspect quality of food and water. The MoH has to put its effort to monitor the quality control of the private clinics, pathology test centres, private hospitals and abortion centres. We have heard news that many of suc...

The Himalayan Times 23 December 2016 Punish them It was not surprising to read the news “Illegal health centres apply for registration” ( THT, 21 Dec. Page 2) at such a time when the doctors have been found saying that the reports of many such health centres are not reliable. Finally, the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) seems to have realized this situation where thousands of patients and people have been badly cheated by these illegally opened and operated health service centres in the three districts of the valley and in other parties of the country. I have had a bad experience while I was asked to check my blood sugar level. I found two different readings of blood sugar from two different lab tests within two days of interval. It was directly a human rights violence related to getting reliable health test results for the appropriate treatment. It was really encouraging to know that the MOHP has given a strict warning to all the illegally running health centres...

The Himalayan Times 8 December 2016 Waste of resources Among others, education has been one of the priority sectors of the government of Nepal. Every year, educationalists argue about the amount of budget allocated by the government in this sector. Several educational reform programs were tried investing billions of rupees received from bilateral or multilateral international funding agencies. One of the most ambitious programs is the School Sector Development Plan (SSDP) with an investment of one trillion of rupees “School sector development” (THT, 6 Dec. Page 8). Its main is to make the education from one to eight grades completely free and compulsory. Strengthening access to education of all the school going children thus bridging the dropout rate to zero is one of the ambitious plan of SSDP. However, there has not been any significant and satisfactory progress in this effort. The main reason behind that seemed to be lack of political commitment, appropriate and reli...

The Kathmandu Post 4 December 2016 LOOMING POLITICAL POLARIZATION The country’s impending political situation does not seem encouraging  (“Who is going to relent” 30 Nov, Page 06). The constitution amendment process is in full swing without taking the Federal Alliance (FA) into confidence. And the main opposition, the UML does not seem to be in favour of changing the federal demarcation which is one of the main demands of FA. It is indeed worrisome and scary. The country and its people will surely suffer if the political polarisation among the parties widens. This is definitely not the time for them to politically confront each other. The FA and UML, at two ends of the spectrum, and the Nepali Congress (NC), the CPN (Maoist Centre) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) in the middle make reaching consensus on key political and constitutional issues difficult. If we look back, the first constitution assembly (CA) that failed to promulgate a constitution was not the fai...

The Himalayan Times 1 December 2016 Empowerment It is said that educating a mother is to educate the whole family which is applicable to any society, be it in Asian countries or western countries. However, this saying is more relevant to our society where the women literacy rate is comparatively lower than men literacy rate. Making a woman literate is ultimately to empower her for facing the challenges in her life. The government has done some remarkable job in this area albeit it has a long way to go “Govt committed to empowering women, says DPM Nidhi” (THT, 29 Nov.Page 2). Free education to girl up-to school leaving certificate level, 33 % of women representatives in the legislative parliament and at-least one women leader in each ward of a VDC are some of the provisions the government has made to empower women. The new constitution has also ensured women rights all the levels. While I contemplate my past 25 years of working in bilateral development projects, I feel pro...

The Himalayan Times 25 November 2016 Saying and doing Saying and doing are two different things. It used to be and is still heard from the senior leaders of major political parties that until all the forces unite together, implementation of constitution will remain incomplete. This is not new to hear from PM Dahal “All forces must unite for constitution implementation” (THT, 23 Nov. Page 5). The government he has left already completed 100 days in the office. No concrete measures have been taken in order to win the hearts of disgruntled parties. It was read in the paper a few days ago that the government will move forward in amending the constitution even if the there were no consensus with the agitating parties. On the other hand, Upendra Yadav, convener of the Federal Alliance, has threatened the government saying that if the statute is not amended soon, government has to face another agitation “Yadav warns of agitation for statute repeal if it’s not amended” (THT, 23...

The Himalayan Times 10 November 2016 Give them justice The Maoists who fought people’s war against the state had joined mainstream politics a decade ago and is now one of the major political parties who are now leading the coalition government for the last three months. This party had also got the opportunity of running the country at the onset of republic government in Nepal. However, it had completely failed to address its internal party issues related to its combatants who were disqualified for joining the Nepal Army due to being either underage or late entry into PLA. These disqualified PLA fighters were not properly rehabilitated by both the mother party and the state. So, it is not surprising to read the news “Disqualified PLA fighters padlock CPN-MC HQ” (THT, 8 November, page 1) when their mother party is again at the political helm. They have even threatened the state saying that if their concerns are not properly addressed, country may have to grapple with anothe...

The Kathmandu Post 30 October 2016 ACT SENSIBLY The last time the major parties were singing in chorus was in aftermath of the devastating earthquake last year when they were in a rush to promulgate the constitution (“Top leaders decide to work in unison” 27 October, Page 1).  It is not uncommon for the major political parties to come together when they foresee a common problem (or a threat) that could sully their political image or hurt their interests. It has happened during the abolition of monarchy, the promulgation of the new constitution, the devastating earthquake and now the impeachment of Lokman Singh Karki. It is praiseworthy to see them working together for the common cause of the nation and the people. However, they should also be sincere about moving ahead while making such promises as many of such promises have not been kept in the past. Many earthquake victims are still living in make-shift camps. And it has been reported that the top leaders have agree...