Gathemangle a festival to celebrate

Gathemangle is a traditional festival of the newars. On the day a special dish – Samaya- of garlic, onion, flattened, meat, and beans is served at homes. Dummies of the demons are erected at street crossroads. People place pots of cooked rice at such intersections for him. A man wearing black and blue paint all over his body goes about begging for money. At the end of the day, the dummy is dragged to the nearby river bank for disposal with the painted man sitting on it. !" People offer the dummy food and meat.
On this day, houses are cleaned and dirt is dumped outside in the night, symbolic of throwing evils away from the residences. After cleaning the houses, Bou, a special set of food, is offered to the spirits, followed by hammering three-legged iron nails at the main entrance of the houses to keep evil spirits away.
People wear iron rings to prevent them from the devil Ghanta Karna who devours humans, especially children.

This festival celebrates the exorcism of the mythical demon Ghantakarna that haunted the villages and city. According to a local legend  Ghantakarna was a Demon that terrorized  the public by stealing their children and womenfolk. The demon was marked with  painted body in red, blue, and black and had bells on his ears. due to these bells, he was called Ghanta (bell) Karna (ears).

The festival is celebrated by acting out the legendary drama in the streets. To begin with, children from every neighborhood collect money from passerby, which is then used to make an effigy of the demon. While this effigy remains in the center of a rough tent-like structure erected from bamboo poles, one man impersonates Ghantakarna by smearing himself with paint and roaming the streets with a begging bowl asking for donations. At the end of the day, the person imitating Ghantakarna is placed on the bamboo poles, now taken down, and is dragged to a nearby river. This colorful festival, though celebrated mostly only in the Newar community, is especially fun-filled for children. They run around the effigy laughing gaily and enjoying them thoroughly.

During this festival people worship and offer sacrifices to demons, serpents and other supernatural and natural elements like wind, water and fire since time of inceptions to get rid of evil powers and the legendary demons.

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Bird flu alert in Nepal

From the past few days Nepal is on high Alert mode of Bird Flu, the newspaper are publishing articles with symptoms of bird flu the media is covering news of thousand of birds being culled by authorities and the Nepal government has banned the commercial sale and services of chicken related items and its import and export.

Kathmandu District Animal Health Office said the government has announced a week-long ban on the supply of poultry products in order to control the H5N1 virus from spreading to humans.

Bird flu (Avian influenza) has been confirmed in several poultry farms in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur. Some 5,500 infected chickens have died while 4,500 chicken at farm in Sipadol of Bhaktapur were culled recently.

Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi has instructed the ministries and authorities concerned to do all the control the bird flu epidemic in the country on Sunday.

  

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Political Culture of Nepal

What an irony, the political leaders of Nepal who proved to be incapable of bringing out the constitution in past are again in the bid to participate in the same league. With bad reputation and negligible attitude of not being responsible this is one of the most amazing thing that after wasting so much of money (15 Billion approximate) and resources, they still are willing to stand up for the election. It is pity that Nepal's political leaders seriously lack a political culture.

Photo Courtesy: FACTS-Research and Analytics  

Constituent Assembly was established without preparation and in lack of proper political culture Nepal’s political leaders pushed it towards the edge of uncertainty and chaos.  

Now getting back to the topic, what will be the difference, if the same people participate? At least they should have the courage to forward new names for the new constituent assembly. 
But we all know this is not going to happen because power and hierarchy rules Nepal’s politics. If there is an opportunity probably the same leaders will be nominated and there will be no difference.

In this election if there is a possibility there is a possibility for the King supporter to win as till date we have seen the revolutionary force, the so call democratic forces and other agitating power but sadly none of them could perform. They all limited themselves to power politics, corruption, manipulation and other aspect of externalities which degraded the political presence and status.

Federalism was adopted by forces and still today people are in confusion of the definition and what they want for themselves and the country at large. In this confusion people has liberated themselves of any pressure and annotation. This year only the Nepal government 2,96,01,14,00,000.00 this will probably amaze you but this is true, we all pay taxes that exceeds any other country in the world and still we have nothing. This is the currently political status of country that is trying to emerge its way out…………..

Isn't it a perfect example of Bad political culture ..................

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Young girls at risk of managing their sexuality

Young girls from around the world are in a crisis of managing their SEXUALITY, the current open environment of internet and the psychology of care free attitude has proven to be one of the biggest hindrance for young girls.

From US to Australia, girls of less age group are getting pregnant in different parts of the world. Most of them are seen being students of high school who have the knowledge of sex but still the percentage of young girls are getting pregnant around the globe is in high trend.
 
Some group of people reason it due to lack of awareness, some due to lack of use of contraceptives but there is a group of people who have been blaming it to the Fashion industry. The local fashion industry has been targeting young girls as their target which has established themselves to be vulnerable group in relation to their sexuality. The industry promotes and sells clothes and style  attracting girls to replicate their style.  The adolescent girls fall prey to the care free attitude of modernity where unknowingly they start to promote sexuality through what they wear where they become vulnerable to weak sexuality.

"After puberty girls are in a state of  exploring their sexuality, its human nature to  attract but when the young girls wear less clothes and are very loud make up then it attracts the attention of their counterpart which then results in unwanted sex. Wearing less clothes highlighting their  curves and  wearing high makeups certainly makes these girls think and get perky about their sexuality," Sam Rays a psychologist adds, "These young girls are in the process of exploring their sexuality, when they see  the model and  fashion industry promote nudity and less clothes, they, in their interest of looking good  adapted that but on the other side they also prepare themselves unknowingly. They adapt and focus more towards spending more time in thinking as well as learning about the freedom of Human behavior. Humans have evolved with the  laws of sexuality, our race has grown this old become of the attraction and sex which cannot be undermined. our minds are very active in everything we do we are result oriented. Nature has made our mind body and soul with first intention of mating and reproducing which makes us more vulnerable, specially with the nudity and makeup."

On one hand blaming the fashion industry is not just a ways out, the Feminist group or women activists have been terming this as a domination of the male society, where the Father or man leads the life of a girl and when she grows her husband leads her life . To some extent this statement is justifiable but  giving full rights to a teenage girls and having her pregnant at 13 is not an option. It is not justifiable in any case scenario.

Highlighting this especially in US most of the community churches have been practicing the purity oath that pledges a girl to stay virgin till the times she gets married. It is right or wrong but it certainly saves a girl from being pregnant which to some extent is  justifiable.

Pregnancy rate world wide 

In USATeen Pregnancy Prevention 2010–2015 has been launched . As part of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI), CDC is partnering with the federal Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) to reduce teenage pregnancy and address disparities in teen pregnancy and birth rates. The OASH Office of Adolescent HealthExternal Web Site Icon (OAH) is supporting public and private entities to fund medically accurate and age appropriate evidence-based or innovative program models to reduce teen pregnancy. The purpose of this program is to demonstrate the effectiveness of innovative, multicomponent, community wide initiatives in reducing rates of teen pregnancy and births in communities with the highest rates, with a focus on reaching African American and Latino/Hispanic youth aged 15–19 years. A community wide model is an intervention implemented in defined communities (specified geographic area) applying a common approach with different strategies. Communitywide approaches will be tailored to the specified community, and will include broad-based strategies that reach a majority of youth in the community (i.e., through communication strategies and media campaigns); and intensive strategies reaching youth most in need of prevention programming (i.e., through implementation of evidence-based programs and improved links to services).


CRUX
I believe no matter what  men and women both have equal rights, but with the unnecessary freedom of getting a young girl pregnant is not an excuse. I believe today's fashion industry is all about creating a buzz they will and do everything to make a woman nude and get the attention. Their role and impact is just limited with in  their popularity where the alternative affect of it is seen as young girls exploring their sexuality which cannot be overlooked. Fashion is about looking good and comfortable, its not about making your self nude and faking its to get fake attraction.  

A girl should be educated and given every rights but she should be protested from every vulnerabilities till the time she can think and understand for herself .

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Facts about Bhoomika Kochhar's Case

Bhoomika Kochhar who recently committed suicide on June 15, 2013 is a clear case of Women Exploitation and Domestic Violence. Especially looking at it from the angle of  women exploitation then its a case that can teach us so much about the role of domestic violence and abuse.

Bhoomika Kochhar and Akaash Jatia fell in love with each other at Boston University where they both studied for four years under the college's undergrad programme in 2006. With family disagreement and hesitation, they got married on January 2011. After the marriage, Bhoomika, a resident of Muttontown in New York, shifted to Nepal to live with her in-laws. Their marriage was going through rough edges where Bhoomika was unhappy and depressed.

Domestic Violence (Crime and Punishment) Act, 2066 (2009) of Nepal says, ""Domestic Violence means any form of physical, mental, sexual and economic harm perpetrated by person to a person with whom he/she has a family relationship and this word also includes any acts of reprimand or emotional harm."

Similarly, the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063 (2007) prohibits physical, mental or any other form of Violence against Women (VAW) and declares that such acts shall be punishable by law [Article 20(3)]. It also incorporates a separate article recognizing that women’s rights, including reproductive rights, are fundamental. The Interim Constitution recognizes the right to equality as a fundamental right. It provides that all citizens are equal before law [Article 13(1)].

According to the Kochhars, “They claim to spend over $2 million in dowry till date. Bhoomika was physical and mental tortured despite this. She was willing to end her relationship and come back to the US,"

Section 3 (1) of Social Behaviour (Improvement) Act of Nepal states that noone will take or give dowry. Dowry is illegal but its practice is very common in Nepal, especially in Madhesh where marriage is a pompous affair and dowry an integral part of the wedding ceremony.

"Bhoomika was a well educated and sensible person who under such domestic circumstances committed suicide. She left her family  and opportunity for her husband and became a Nepali citizen. She was mentally and psychologically pressured with high notion of intention where she landed herself to depression in absence of support and love. Her emails clearly state that she was ignored and suppressed by her mother in-laws expectation and needs, where overcoming the verbal abuses and ignorance was a torture for her. One cannot imagine her psychological state in regards to the happenings and her state of mind.Though her act doesn't justifies the wrong that was happening to her but it highlights the current trend of dowry and psychological pressure that a woman goes through in a family after marriage," said Sajina Karki a Lawyer.

According to the Police, " Due to the complication of the case there are many hurdles where the we have not been able to intervene in the case for instance  bhoomika's suicide was reported after the body was taken to the Hospital, so the we are not sure about the position and posture of the suicide. We have to completely  rely on the autopsy  report. Police have confirmed that they have received three copies of the FIR that Bhoomika’s father had lodged on different dates. In absence of the bhoomika's Father the police is not able to further investigate properly in the case."

  

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we keep our mouths shut

 Everyday we think about the change and do nothing. We just think change is something that ought to happen instantly without any effort. we just lay our efforts with in the comforts of  our vision where we think but we don't act. In reality we just accuse or throw words or blame others, but we forget that when we point one finger at others four fingers point at us.
It’s said that “don’t hate the game hate the players;” likewise, Nepal’s politics today has turned into a garbage; a garbage full with pollutants of selfishness, corruption, and Hypocrites.
Whether it’s Nepali Congress or UML or the Maoist party, there is not a single politician or leader who could be respected or worth getting the respect. All of them, they are so limited and bounded by their selfish motives and games that they forget they are the servants of public. More or less, they indulge themselves to luxury of cars and securities with the hard earned money of tax payers and citizens disgracing their oath of serving public.

In fact reality is Politician is such a respectable image where we confine our believes and aspirations,  we trusts the leaders to play a crucial role in overall development of the country but till date we have just seen them engaging themselves in corruption, power politics, commission rackets, favoritism, social discrimination, lobbing selfish motives, accumulating people money in foreign banks etc .
I bet there is no politician who would be respected from heart by any one. They disgrace the societal values of socialism where they take the oath of serving the nation but alternately support their individual party in strengthening their forces and power.
The problem here is not with the leaders, the problem here is with us the normal people, we select these leaders and when they get to power, they play and manipulate us in their desired ways but we keep our mouths shut. We just move to their rhythm where they treat us like nobody.

I say and believe every Nepali has the bloody right to ask each of these leaders about what they did and what they are planning to do coz it’s our Nation and we are the tax payers.  As we pay taxes in everything from buying a chocolate to sewage to cold drinks, everything but still we are least bothered group.  Moreover, the hard earned money completely goes in vain paying hefty salaries and comforting their luxury. It’s our responsibility to remind them of their mistakes where we lack.
We ignore e the fact that we pay taxes and it’s our RESPONSIBILTY to see what is happening and to validate their actions but we don’t have time.  Likewise, we blame everything upon them which is completely erratic and irresponsible, as they are selected by us. We do protests; do blockades, Chaka Jam, Bandhas etc on useless things but regarding our politicians and their acts we keep silence making it limited within the voices of an unknown tables and chairs.

The fascinating part is we say politics is a dirty game, but it’s our garbage. Just by saying it’s bad or disgracing it, things won’t change. We have two choices either we keep our mouths shut and let the things that’s happening go on or do something about it in any way possible.  It’s upon our efforts and we need to dig our hands into the garbage and clean it, because it our garbage and nobody else is coming to clean it we have to do it by ourselves.

We the young blood the so called generation-X needs a wake up call and say that yes we are determined not just to blame but to take charge. We have to take responsibilities in every possible way of being a good citizen and work our way in the system. It might take days or years, but change is supposed to happen and it will happen no matter what. We have the skills and courage and let’s unite to bring change.

This is not just a call for me, you or anyone, it’s a call for every Nepali who feels pride to say he or she is Nepali and if you care about it spread the awareness and save our nation. Let’s take the promise to bring change not just by words but by social awareness and by social change where our small effort counts and each individual matter to say that he or she is a part of this society and we can play a crucial role for the development of our country. Let’s make Nepal a better Nepal for the coming generation to be proud of where we can hold our heads high to say we brought the change.

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/142136850475/

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Online journalists arrested for defamatory case in Nepal

Three journalist Santosh Bhattarai, operator of the news portal www.nepaliheadlines.com, Puskar Kandel and correspondent of the portal Sushil Panta, were arrested for publishing an online report that brinjal  being used by girls as sex toy to satisfy their sexual emotions in the government college.They were  charged with defaming the Dillibazaar Kanya Multiple Campus by writing indecent and defaming content in the news portal.

According to the Electronic Transaction Act 2008, any person, who commits cyber crime, is liable to punishment with fine of up to Rs 100,00 or maximum jail term of five years or both.

Shree Rai, "This is major case of negligence, the journalists of Nepal need  to abide by their code of conduct. They should consider the role, impact and effectiveness of the content before publishing anything that is related to the pride and prestige of any organization. Personally,I feel its a case of Defamation and the Journalists should be brought by the book. Padma Kanya is a prestigious organization which has its image and with such news the impact upon the prestige of organization can be well thought."

FNJ and Press Council infiltrating and protecting such journalists shows a weak practice of protecting its members.   Such journalist should be banned from the field, added she

In recent development, on Sunday Press Council Nepal (PCN), Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) and Dllibazaar Kanya Campus have agreed upon a  five-points agreement to release the online journalists. The agreement highlights to take immediate action against the accused after an investigation and the campus to withdraw the charges against them.

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An answer for Sufyan bin Uzayr

Mr Sufyan bin Uzayr in his article his article  Nepal: The View from The Top Is Not Pretty writes, "Nepalese economy is marred more by the disparity in income and poverty, as well as cultural issues.Nepal is situated right below where Tibet used to be (and while we are at it, also slightly near to the Kashmir region), and I hate to sound so pessimistic, but you have another historical contentious issue in the making between India and China.Sadly, the majority of the Nepalese people do not understand or grasp this fact; as a result, environment-damaging practices continue unaffected and unhindered."

What Mr. Sufyan bin Uzayr has written to some extent is a limited edition of what is available in the websites. I would probably say it as a immature writing. I think his research needs to be more refined in aspect of reality and what's really happening?

Nepal is an under developed country and for every good reason, it is trying its best in managing its economy where tourism and foreign revenue are a huge boost to its support.
Due to its geographical location and diplomatic relations, it is bound to limit its opportunities and other endeavors. The reach of Internet and telecommunication is growing, similarly education rates have gone up, various awareness programs are breaking the orthodox tradition of women related issues,
local villages are transforming into business centers, this is not just an example of where Nepal is leading but one can visualize the efforts.  One thing what Mr Uzayr needs to understand is Nepal is not an ordinary terrain like India, Nepal has a vivid wide terrain which makes it beautiful as well as challenging from all sides.

Looking at its Natural resource capacity, its water resources is its strength where especially if you look at the current scenario, Indian state is exploiting the broader treaty by making dams on its borders and taping the water resources drowning and causing unwanted flooding in Nepal's Region.

Apart from that technically looking at Nepal, Nepal has been a play ground for various super powers like the US, European union, Indian state, China etc not just to counter each other but moreover the vested interest prolongs with the regional diplomacy to business exploitation to other strategies and other issues of concern.

Likewise, if you look at the political scenario, the so called Maoist Revolution( people's war) that took the country to a new phase has been an important part of learning for Nepal's Politically upfront. Corruption, favoritism, Nepotism, etc has gone up but on contrary the country is moving in the path of no discrimination which counts. Moreover, Nepal has been declared as a secular country.

Nepal's leaders have been hugely influenced by the India strategy where the out-casting of the monarch was a conspired plan to make Nepal vulnerable.
Time and again the interference of the regional diplomats in the territorial strategy and other issues have topped newspapers which can be researched online.

Regarding climate change, UK funded projects like Xtreme Everest are being carried out in the Everest region for the sake of Humanity. May be Nepal has not been able to grow and show its power but it has been facilitating many countries in proving their economies and consolidating their pride of being powerful.

Nepal certainly is the youngest republican country which deserves its share of presence and independence. If only the regional and diplomatic concern could stop interrupting and its leaders could understand the values of its sovereignty then Nepal can stand proud with its new image...

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US Hypocrisy with PRISM

Today’s world war is not about how many fighter planes, tanks and nuclear missiles you have, today’s war is about  how you can control your enemy’s strategy entering or hacking your opponents system and making them obsolete knowing their strategy.

The US PRISM program under the national security is the loudest example of United States's HYPOCRISY infiltrating and monitoring  the world. United states being one of the top most superpower  monitoring and hacking the world wide web in the name of national security is just unjustifiable. The US National Security Agency (NSA) has been continuously monitoring each and every content with the help of super computers in tracking and tracing your audio, video, photographs, emails, documents, and connection logs.

The surveillance is done in association of major leading webs portals like Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple. The organization have been compelled to disclose all the information with regards to the national security.

Right to privacy is not just a question of human right but its an objective of ethics.

 In fact its high time to take stand for what has been going on. Compromising privacy in the name of security is not just a malpractice but is a concern that can bring inevitable consequences. From National security to personal data to frauds anything and everything is possible, which cannot be imagined, the consequences depend upon the intentions of the US and the objective of why this surveillance has been set up. Lapse of right of privacy not only make us weak and vulnerable but it is a weak practice of  internet governance that showcases weak moral values...............

with such rooted actions US capabilities are just limited within the values of what US stands for. Power stands with the weakness of what being laid down upon what it stands........................


CYBER WARFARE IS THE next level game of super power and diplomacy......................      

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what will happen in this country..........

Recently I read a news that said the Passport Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has collected Rs. 17.6 million from passport fee during a month's period since mid April.

During the period, the Department has distributed 48,816 ordinary passports, 154 special passports, and 52 diplomatic passports, said Deputy Spokesperson at the Ministry, Dr. Durga Bahadur Subedi.

As many as 39,000 youths have taken labour permit for foreign employment in the same period. Similarly, the Ministry has taken initiatives for promoting economic diplomacy, according to Subedi. 

After reading this news, I was seriously bound to think why so much of brain drain is happening and why the Nepal government is doing nothing. It is a serious issue of Human migration that needs to be tackled or else the country will be emptied.

A majority of this work group try for work opportunities in the middle east and other go abroad in search of better future. No matter what  my question to all is why are we lacking to understand reality of searching better future abroad when we all know that working abroad or life is not easy. I will not say its worth it but why to waste the most valuable time of your life abroad when you can make changes and do something for your own country. May be I  am being unpractical in this aspect in regards to the ideology of people trying abroad, but when you know life abroad is tough and hard then why go through it?

Can you imagine in just a month 39,000 passport have been issued that means a huge number of the productive youths are trying to go out of the country. If this youth force goes out then who and what will run the country. The question again hinders, there is no answer to it. Understanding the theme to the meaning of saying "this country has been run by pasupatinathi" proves to fit perfectly in this scenario.

Reality is with limited job opportunities, worst government practices and a hypocritical trend of going abroad  the youth of Nepal are bound to search for better options.There is no security, no future prospect, the country's system is fully corrupted and politics is ruling all field, then what to expect, is what they say.
   

Young people  have skills, education and capacity but they don't have opportunity is reality but understanding the fact opportunities has to be created. The saying where there is a will there is a way is the answer to the solution to all questions and allegations.

It's your right to go any where int he world but you have no right to accuse or blame once you leave the country..............................

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