Bagmati Clean up campaign and its Facebook Stigma

Recently the Bagmati Clean-up Campaign celebrated its 100th week on Saturday. Following the  occasion a human chain was formed along the riverbanks, from its origin at Bagdwar to its outlet at Chobhar covering 28 KM.

The program was launched in 2013, by the Chief Secretary Leela Mani Paudyal, but it grew a-lot of attention when various social media and mobile technology was used to market about the campaign.

On one hand the campaign has been highly appreciated for its continuous operation and social values
where as on the other hand the campaign has also been criticized for its short term solution and facebook gimmick.

People have been arguing the major objective of the campaign, to be just awareness  or something else. As Bagmati flows from the center of the capital and works as one of the major sewage channel, it has transformed itself to a lousy tradition of nasty smell and impurities.

On the 100th week thousands of people turn out to participated in the campaign but most of them were seen posting pictures on social media. The campaign was highly appreciated in social media  where people bombarded their walls with selfies and other pictures.
It seemed as if people were happy to be part of a campaign just for the sake of taking pictures. As everyone coming there knew what was happening and how Bagmati was getting dirty. The major concern was about what to do next or what could be done to stop the pollution.

I think Bagmati is suffering a tragic ignorance of concerned department which can be solved by proper systematic urbanization planning. A simple solution is a sewage  treatment plant which can treat the dirty sewage water and further filter the sewage from the river.

Bagmati cleanup campaign is certainly a credible move in terms of practice and operation but when it comes to practice  things have not changed. It seems that we Nepalese are more happy with certain limitation of change. We are so discouraged by the system and  political leaders that we  need some level of assurance and we just blindly follow anything and everything.

Reality of today is things have not changed in bagmati, the river still stinks and sewerage still flows.
so what' s the use? and  what is the motive?

I think we all know how the Bagmati is getting dirty or how our sewage that flows from our hosuehold is making it dirty?

So what is the solution ?


Just by spreading the awareness is not enough  we need concrete action followed by commitment and cooperation from all side.

Stop being so vulnerable  and let's do some action in regards to save our tradition of Bagmati.

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Discover Thailand 2015

Thailand is an amazing country with high and rich colors of tradition and ethnicity. This country is beautiful because of its food, colors and people. The smiling faces and the richness of the hospitality of the Thai people is simple overwhelming.

The street food culture is simply amazing that takes your taste buds away giving you a wide variety of gastronomical wonders from sea food to the local cuisines. If you are a travelers you will find the beaches of Pattaya and Ko Samat in the blissful picturesque time frame. you just need time and give yourself time to loosen up.

Thailand simply bring out the adventure in you that is more of a pleasing and soothing experience just follow your heart.

It how you can imagine and see Thailand, its a perfect tourist destination that has everything .

Local transport and infrastructure are amazing just need to know the know how and you will be running here and there. Try to use the BTS and subways which are more feasible and less costly amazingly you will find yourself being native standing out next to local people who always try to help despite the language barriers.

Just spend your time understanding the way it work and you will find yourself wondering.

Its a great country for shopper especially clothes and  Pratunam is famous for its easy accessible shopping centers that are more lucrative in ways of shopaholic.

The rich tradition of the kingship to the local infrastructure every things works in coordination where helpful people and smiling face greets you most of the times.

Just be-careful of TUK TUK riders and specially fake duplicate electronic goods especially at Indra square. Even I was robbed once of more than 21000 Bhatt in a unpleasing deal. So try staying away from sweet talking people that offer you great electronic deals.

One thing that really triggered me was the level of empowerment, when you look at the local buses you will see all drivers are men and all conductors are women. It works the way out trying to make the system work in balance.

The only bad thing about Thailand is the tropical humid climate that drains you off your energy but you just need to recharge yourself with plentiful water and juices.

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After 3/3 TIA still is mismanaged and chaotic

After the Turkish Airlines flight TK 726 crash-landed on Nepal's runway in dense fog on 3rd march 2015 things have not changed at Tribhuvan International Airport(TIA). There is what so ever nothing being done at the international terminal and its operation. In fact things have gone out of control resulting congestion  during its operation in the terminals.

There is no management and most of the times people seems to be lost with lack of announcements and coordination. People are seen running around like headless chickens. The announcement are very slow  and   due to lack of proper sitting arrangement people were seen sitting on the floor. There is no person responsible to handle the situation. Most of the times people are  shouted and shown a rude attitude.

The government of Nepal or Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal(CAAN) should seriously look into this as it certainly matter for the tourism industry. Nepal has been trying to establish itself as a tourism service and with such customer service at international terminal there are more chances of it doing bad publicity. 

  

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Lufthansa can be a ticket for NAC towards sucess

Recently the news surfaced that Lufthansa has send a proposal to the Prime Minister(PM) office to become the strategical partner for Nepal Airlines Corporation(NAC) management. The PM office has further forwarded  the proposal to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation for further investigation and research.

As per the proposal the Lufthansa would take over the management and would further help Nepal to open the European destination as well as help it would further help rebuild its position and structure. With limited resources the airlines would be immediately  providing 4 airbuses for its operation.

I think this is a great opportunity for NAC to overcome the current problem of institutional corruption and political manipulation If only it could create a system this national carrier could certainly build its reputation in the national and international market. The current practice of political influences and corruption has diluted the national carrier in retrospect of its development and operation.
Similarly with the orthodox system and ground staff manipulation its even hard to book tickets with NAC.  

 History has it that NAC was established 2 years before Thai Airlines  but due to lack of leadership, management and vision it landed itself in the current situation of corruption and mismanagement.

Recently on January 2015, AirlineRatings.com a global airline safety and product rating website listed Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) as the world´s unsafe airlines. Apart from that NAC has been officially been banned to fly in the European Union skies under the latest changes to a list of unsafe carriers last December in 2013.

Lufthansa is the largest airline in Europe, both in terms of overall passengers carried and fleet size when combined with its subsidiaries. It operates services in 18 domestic destinations and 197 international destinations in 78 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe using a fleet of more than 280 aircraft. 

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Social Media outrage on Lokman singh karki daughters wedding

It seemed as if everyone was posting, commenting and sharing  against the Chief commissioner  of Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority(CIAA)  Lokman Singh Karki daughter's wedding status on their social networking sites. Some were cursing, some were using foul words and some were just following the so called elite intellectual groups in their mission to provoke others in gaining popularity.  It seemed radically unusual and very funny how people were using negative sentiment to provoke others to gain social media popularity.

May be a viral social media strategy but with negative comments and sentiments one should always understand the impact of social media crisis on other person image and credibility.
Frankly speaking people are just going nuts writing negative about others in #socialmedia. They just want attention and negativity always draws attention.

LSK has been allegedly charged by the so called elite fraternity of  journalists and twitter users for using the official residence for his daughters marriage purposes.
In the past various high level officials from government as well as military and police have conducted marriage ceremonies of their spouses from their official residences. Even the  then Prime Minister (PM) Madhav Kumar Nepal married his daughter from PM residence during his terms as PM of Nepal. Nobody had a problem then and now why this outburst of social tweets and comments. It seems as if he was caught red handed.

But I see something different as Lokman Singh Karki being the head of a pristine institution has set new standard following the basic rules and regulation. He followed all his rules  that he had imposed on the public.

I think that is very ideal. In a country where from past 8 years  the CA members are not being responsible towards the public in giving the constitution, LSK has followed the directives of government  rules and regulation is an example. He specifically didn't invited people despite being head of a pristine institution, avoided dowry and limited the number of groom's invitees and even maintained the food code to be very basic what more could we expect ....

The most amazing thing is after the marriage he went back to his office and resumed his work what more can you expect from a government official and you are accusing this man of abusing his authority.

In argument to those so called controversies, I would just like to say I am not a relative of Lokman sign nor I have any hidden benefits but truth and reality is something that cannot be changed.

The government has given him the home for his daily use and personal  purpose. He despite of his wealth and status maintained his simplicity in following the rules and regulation that he acted upon the public and that is credible. Being a public servant he didn't wasted people's money nor did he wasted any other person's time and we accused him of abusing authority. He has set new standards in following what the so caller preachers have forgotten that is follow what you say and stand up to the thing that you ask others to do or else you have no right to speak.

Thank you for reading ....

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Journalism and storytelling is adapting new ways of technology

So what do you understand by the meaning of #journalist or #journalism. To my understanding a Journalist is a person who brings in stories that are happening in the society. The stories can be good or bad depending upon situation and time. Where as journalism means a channel or structured network that helps to bring out the real news in a more organized way.

Now looking at the current past practice and what is happening how do you feel where journalists and journalism is going?

I think no where I mean to say most of the news published by reputed publications have been questioned for relevance and there has been issues and concern about how and what they have been publishing. I guess even big news papers Kantipur Publication has been marked with the controversy of Anju Baniya to  Ashish Luitel which certainly raises the credibility and accountability towards public. Journalism practice  in Nepal is degrading with no role models and icons, its falling prey to big names where news making process is loosing its essence and news makers are fantasized as celebs.

Its a part of the evolution process but with time and modern values the meaning and definition of journalist and journalism is also changing. The public these days do not accept reality that easy they inquire and they validate that is the reason why even at public sector people are very active in social media and investigation process. People want reliable sources and  they do cross check the information. It is very funny to say even for natural events occurring, one of my journalist friend took reference from social networking site indicating how people were feeling at that moment of time.

Journalism or journalist is a prized profession where the state has granted  special rights and responsibility towards this field. They practice and exercise few specific rights which are specially granted to them recognizing their role and responsibility towards society.

No matter what recognition are there but the credibility of Nepali journalists are degrading. May be its because of lack of monitoring or may be due to lack of sense of morale it is not good.
   
From a watcher perspective I have been observing the industry from past 20 years. I have seen the ups and downs of this field.  Just like the option of life you will also find various option of being a journalist optimistic, pessimist and realist. People are also adapting various ways and means in understanding and interpreting journalism in their own way where this field has changed radically . 

In today's context when you talk about commercial news and main stream journalism it generally means something bad that sells as the standard of true journalism has gone down. Journalists have become sales men selling news hiding behind the prospect of business. More often the real journalist who are driven by morale and ethic are either sidelined or they  have to face the path of power, humiliation and manipulation.

Even if you look at the practice any where else  power, money and network has always driven the path of news making. More or less it would be too rude to say journalism of today is a proactive form of  business and news that are more concerned about opportunities than real storytelling process.

Having said that these group of publications have been infiltrated by so called federation and association who were established for the protection and monitoring the values of journalism but on the contrary they have moved away from their objective in creating a better opportunity for themselves. For instance these days in Nepal the Federation of Nepalese Journalist is more politically associated with various parties than the news making elements. Their appointment and even their election is majorly affected by the ruling government.

I think this is a smaller perspective of what is happening especially in Asia pacific but is a more concerning thing where journalism is derailing from its true meaning. Apart from that the politics and favoritism that goes on is something that needs no voice.  The trues face of journalism is dying in mist of lack of right practice.

 However, the new platform of citizen journalism and social media has given people a new inspiration to express their opinions and views of what they want and feel. I am surprised that the coming up generation of bloggers, activists, citizen Journalist and  normal people are more active about social issues.

If you want to know the current status of Nepal's politics then I do not flip over the newspapers as if you look at the various of newspapers they have their own version. Even with fact, figure and events happening things are reported differently. One can argue about the various perspective and mindset but how can fixed things like fact, figures and events happening be differently reported.  In  one or the other ways they are influenced by various  factors in their new making process. Its a sad and bad example but the truth about what is happening and the so called federation and association are supporting and nurturing this.  I think its better to search the tweet or use a has tag to know what is a happening  around.

So tell me if i am crossing the line in redefining the meaning of journalism or may be i am getting influence by social media. no matter I think journalism/ storytelling / news making  all these are process of   reality that cannot be ignored. it needs a certain credibility from the writers side as well as from the readers side to know what is truth and what is not .

Lastly I would say I would not trust a journalist of Nepal but i would trust a social media has tag where i can see and read reality.

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Facebook and instagram offline

Recently on January 28 2015,  Facebook  and instagram went  offline around 5:15pm AEST. Though users were pre informed about the technical maintenance but the black out  rumored of hacking that spread like fire completely stalled the world when it caught everyone's attentions.

Facebook and instagram were both started as a social media platform but  due to their marketing value they have evolved into commercialized business concept that focuses more towards adds and revenue generation.

Growing from understanding the socializing need to a hot burning cake of revenue generation facebook has evolved itself in variation of changing its look and appearance.

Getting into people's lives of creating a habit of understanding user behavior and pattern, the organization  has gone through various marketing strategies. Just like any other business life-cycle of any organization  facebook and instagram has seen its boom. I believe there has always been a replacement for everything.

If you look at the trend then social media  has been changing from  MSN to Yahoo to HI5 to orkut to various other social networking sites. All of them have seen their top level to bottom point. I think its just a process of evolution and humanity where people practice dynamism. People always want something new that excites and enthralls them.    

The commercialization of Facebook has taken its toll and it has evolved so much but now when technology is also growing and people are also getting fed up with all the nonsense and garbage things happening. I think there would be more attacks and securities threats targeted where it needs to face them. I think its people's choice and want that we all need to respect other than that anything rarely matters

One thing that I know is people love their freedom and no-matter what facebook or not I thing the world will exist and it will be better as the future new option of social media are evolving.

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World bank and its Mobile app news in Nepal

Recently the world bank published a tweet  with the message "Smart Phone app helps #Nepal's Farmers Reports -This week in #SouthAsiaDev"  I think this is completely irrelevant as currently if you look at the internet penetration rate in Nepal, it is just 35% that too is limited with in city areas. The use of mobile phone is just limited with in  urban youths as mobile phone are very expensive and most important the prices of internet is also expensive. In such case scenario how can the user a normal farmer who is below poverty line afford internet.

Though the concept of Agricultural app is extraordinary but it is way beyond time but at current time when the internet prices and mobile devices are so high how can it be affordable and usable.

I think the concept of Agricultural app can be concept of future not present and reality.  

   
 



 

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Political leaders of Nepal have diverted their issue

After reaching the second deadline of the Constitutional Assembly the CA members have protested inside the CA vandalizing the property inside. With protest and shutdown program announced by the Maoist led alliance on 20 January the meeting of CA which was scheduled for a day ahead that happened at the middle of the night where the UCPN and its supporter showed violence and protested with violence. Highlighting their 16 years of conflict struggle they have been demanding a ethnic based federal system with cultural identity where the other political parties have been opposing the proposed system.

Though a political instability rules in the country but political leaders showcasing such outrage and chaos before the second dissolution of the CA term certainly means its hard and unfortunate to have no constitution situation. Protest programs outside CA has already been started by general public demanding constitution.

From past 8 years Nepalese have been waiting for their constitution where they have only faced corruption, power politics, manipulation etc

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The new Airbus of Nepal Airlines

The new Airbus 320-200 of Nepal Airlines, its a proud moment for us the citizen to see how NA is trying to survive. Though due to lack management and political manipulation the Airlines is in loss from the pass few decades but the pride of flying a national carrier cannot be compensated with anything else 

I hope and pray that Nepal Airlines grows with proper management and business so that one day it will fly to all over the world and the flag of Nepal would be respected in all countries.


    

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