Cruelty against Animal

Nepal has been hit by the epidermic of  H5N1 (Bird flu), technically looking at the problem, the virus has been spread due to the use of anti bird flu vaccination (made in US) where the government of Nepal has already banned the use of such vaccine . Nepal has been a testing ground for countries like US where they send their primary level vaccine to study the effect and implication but who cares our politicians and bureaucrats are more busy in their corruption and power games, they are least bothered till the time it takes form of a public chaos.

Places in and around Bhaktapur have been listed as a Red Alert Zone where different security measures are being taken. The public living in the red alert zone have been summoned to  kill all their domestic birds and pets. If they refuse to do so then they would have to face a public law suit against them. Every day the government officials mike the message in a loud speaker, threatening and intimidating the public, which is more of a precautionary measure. My question to you is, is it a scientific measure of dealing with such a problem creating panic and hitting public sentiment.

One of my friend who lives in Mulpani says, "My pet pigeons have just taken out babies  from their shells, everyday the officials come and  have been publicly  announcing the message. I don't know what  to do, neither I can I kill them nor can I throw them out of my house. It's a dharma sankat for me."

Killing  birds and pets like this in the name of a epidermic, is it a good move? Should we not be more HUMAN towards our pets? Where is our HUMANITY what have we left behind............................

Since July 16  the government has culled over 1.2 million fowls in around one and half months, basically in four districts 871,000 fowls have been culled alone in Bhaktapur district. The remaining fowls were destroyed in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Kavre district.The Department has further destroyed 1.3 million eggs along with a large amount of feed and excreta.Till now the government has  distributed compensation worth Rs 58.5 million.



WAKE UP NEPAL

WE NEED TO DO  BETTER THAN THIS ...............................................

Bird flu virus was first detected in Jhapa district in 2009, officials say that avian influenza (virus) has changed its nature and has evolved in new form H5N1. From July 17 Kathmandu has seen a terror of bird flu where poultry product were ban in the country for a week highlighting public safety.

Read More

Mahindra e2o and its prospects in Nepal

Mahindra has recently launched its new version in the new concept car  in Nepal. Mahindra e2o is an urban electric car hatchback manufactured by Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles. The e2o is the REVA G-Wiz successor and was developed using REVA's technology, and has a range of 100 km (62 mi). The electric car was launched in India in March 2013 at a price between Rs 6.5 lakh (US$11,900) to Rs 8.5 lakh (US$15,670) depending on the city and before any subsidy.

Priced at Rs 2.2 million, the hatchback will go on sale at Agni Energy - the exclusive showroom of Mahindra Reva in Kathmandu.

The company claims Mahindra e2o  to be  perfect amalgam of the dramatic advancements in automotive technology. This car is powered by next generation lithium-ion batteries and a three-phase induction electric motor. This means the vehicle needs no changing of gears in bumper-to-bumper traffic. With a small turning radius, it makes every sharp turn a delight. The Mahindra e2o comes with a 6.2-inch touchscreen, factory fitted GPS navigation system, radio, DVD, Bluetooth and iPod connectivity. The full digital cluster, electrically operated wing mirrors, keyless entry and start/stop button, projector head lamps, LED tail lamps, reverse camera, four JBL speakers and two tweeters make the features of the Mahindra e2o comparable to most high end cars.

Argument
1.Weight: The e2o weight is 830 KG which is very heavy for a car this range, the weight certainly puts alot of pressure in the operation.
2.Space management: The e2o is very constricted and limited and has optimum use in regards to space management. Though it has 4 seats but in terms of comfort its a okay drive for short period. If you are thinking of a long drive then its not a solution.
3.Price: In context of Nepal the prices are very high. If the Government initiates no 200% custom duty, may be then it can attract people's attention or else its just a concept car in terms of high gadgetary and technology  
4.Battery: The car runs for 100 KM per charge that takes 5 hrs of full charging. It's limitation is its battery that makes it a city car that can't explore.

Crux 

If the Nepal Government initiates a policy in regards to use and import of this electric vehicle and cuts the 200% custom duty and sets the price up to 1 million then this car will certainly have a prospect. And in long term it will also promote the use of electric vehicles or else its against the public policy for the the Nepal government to pressure the public to pay more taxes in promoting petrol vehicle ............

Past Story of Electric Vehicle in Nepal In 2001, REVA Electric Car Company renewed the distributorship for Nepal with Eco-Visions Pvt. Ltd.  In 2002 (Feb), the first five REVA cars were imported into Nepal via Birgunj Customs under the promised 10 per cent Duty. In 2002 (Mar), Birgunj Customs refused to release the cars at the gazetted10% Duty, requested clarification from Kathmandu Customs Department. In 2002 (Apr), customs requested Ministry of Population and Environment (MOPE) if these five cars were really electric cars and if they required the conformity of production (COP).

The MOPE reply positively confirming that they are electric cars and did not require COP as they have zero pollution. Still, Finance Ministry refused to release the cars and held the file for no apparent reason.
In 2002 (Jul), in New Budget released the electric car tax was increased to 100 per cent from the existing 10 per cent. Eco-Visions applied to release at the original gazette percent but the Finance Ministry refused.  Eco-Visions then refused to pay the high tax and the five cars were left in Birgunj Customs Yard.  In 2005 (Dec), after 4 years of many attempts, the 5 REVA cars were finally released from Birganj Customs via auction to Eco-Visions and brought to Kathmandu for restoration, registration and sale. All the cars were in very bad condition.

In 2006 (Apr), those cars were fully restored and applied to be registered in Bagmati Zone.  While awaiting the number plates, the 5 cars were driven “ON TEST” in the Kathmandu Valley. In 2006 (Jun), the Minister of Science and Technology ordered the Department of Transport to register the cars as they are non-polluting.

In 2006 (Jun), the Dept of Transport ordered Ekantakuna to register the cars but they refused the order demand a Cabinet decision to register them. In 2007 (May), after getting unanimous approval from Department of Transport, the KMC and the Valley Traffic Police in support of registering the cars in Bagmati, the new Minister of Science and Technology were requested to get the Cabinet signature to register the cars in Bagmati Zone.

Due to the raise in tax on electric vehicle from 10 percent to 100, the rate of REVA is raised from Rs. 867,105 to Rs. 1,545,093. At 0% Duty and VAT free, it is only Rs. 698,177. REVA was waiting for cabinet’s decision to register it long time ago and cabinet is busy discussing in other important issues.
Finally REVA got permission from cabinet for its registration on 4th July 2007. We Nepalese hope that Nepal Government will be serious on environment issues and reduce the tax on electric vehicles in future because it is important to realize the problem of worsening environment of the city.

Read More

Chaudhary Group bargaining with the public for a national Award

Chaudhary Group, the international Organization which recently buzzed the news  for its Chiarman Binod Chaudhary being enlisted as the first Nepali billionaire in Forbes has been bargaining the public for a National Award. The FNCCI National Excellence Awards 2070 brings in cut throat competition in the business fraternity that seems to contradict the morale and ethic of business. Even international organization like Chaudhary Group is tempting public to vote in their favor with the bate of Prize award to be used for CSR

What a Joke?

They have advertise that They will be  donating Rs.5 for Social cause for each vote they receive. Instead, if they had donated money without any corporate motive, they would have bagged the national Award  and many other achievements.

On morale grounds directly intimidating the public saying if we win, we will use the prize money for CSR is something that is unexpected and un-ethical from an international organization like Chaudhary Group. If the Organization has such level of thinking then its hard to say how its surviving the market........

Chaudhary Group (CG), is a conglomerate that consists of nearly 80 companies. Chaudhary also worked as a member of constituent assembly and parliament of Nepal from April 2008 to May 2012 that could not bring the constitution. In the past Mr Chaudhary Grop have been related with big controversies of tax embezzlement. 

Read More

Farmers Blame US vaccination for the outbreak of Bird flu in Nepal

Farmers of Bhaktapur and Kathmandu have blamed the current plague of bird flu to be occurred due to  faulty vaccines meant to fight bird flu.  The farmers have accused the vaccination made in USA that may have triggered bird flu outbreak in Bhaktapur.

Bird flu virus  was first detected in Jhapa district in 2009, officials say that avian influenza (virus) has  changed its nature  and has evolved in new form H5N1. From July 17 Kathmandu has seen a terror of bird flu where poultry product were ban in the country for a week highlighting public safety.

According to  a report published in the Himalayan times, Tulsiram Dhukkhwa, chairman of the Poultry Farmers’ Association (Bhaktapur), said "Many poultry farmers in the district have complained that bird flu broke out in the district because of unauthorised use of vaccines. Unauthorised vaccines are responsible for the bird flu outbreak in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur. The vaccines must have caused outbreak of bird flu in many places all at once.

Dhukkhwa added, "Powerful countries have been using poor countries like Nepal as a laboratory. If Nepal has been used to test vaccine developed against bird flu in the USA, it is a misfortune, He claimed that samples of dead birds have already reached America. He further cautioned the government to test vaccine and medicines used in the poultry to prevent the outbreak of other diseases."

Meanwhile, The Directorate of Animal Health (DoAH) under Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD)informed that the  vet technicians have culled 2,06,986 bird flu infected chickens in 59 separate poultry farms of capital in the last three weeks. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the virus that causes bird flu has been found in 60 countries while only 633 persons of different 15 countries were found infected by the virus. 

WHO stated that worldwide as many as 377 persons lost their lives and they are from China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Nigeria, Turkey, and Vietnam.

The argument 

1. How can we resolve this issue where if the allegations are correct then isn't it a monopoly of the US in such matters?
2. How can we safe guard the public health in presence of such disease ?
3. what should we expect from a Government that lack to monitor the use of such vaccines ?
4. Polutary business is related with public health shouldn't it be more cautiously monitored ?

Read More

Nepal's political leaders fail to recognize the medical services in Nepal

Recently Nepal's President went to Japan for medical check up of a disease which never existed, Prachanda the so called political went to Singapore to treat his wife's illness. Similarly, Sushil Koirala was seen visiting US for medical purpose.  If you look at Nepal's Scenario there are more than 10 dozens of hospitals available ranging from services and technology available in the city area where as on contrary to that
due to extreme rural life, city doctors often do not visit rural areas. In fact Nepal's 90% of the doctors operate only in the cities and yet Nepal's nearly 90% of the population lives in rural areas.

Nepal Health Facts :

• Population per doctor in Nepal is about 18,000
• One hospital bed for every 5000 people
• Nearly 90% of the women in Nepal give birth at home and most of them suffer pregnancy complications
• Probability of children dying before the age of 5 : 83%
• Half the health workers in Nepal have abandoned their health posts due to food supplies run out
• Nepal's annual population growth rate is about 2.3%
• 92 children die every day from treatable diarrhea
• Life expectancy at birth is 61%
• About 35% use family planning
• Among the illnesses affecting humanity, lack of safe water stands out as the most important factor responsible. Nepal's most cities don't have safe drinking water.

At a point when political leaders and head states are going abroad for medical check up  what can we ascertain from the current medical service available in the country.

It is a disgrace to have leaders like these who don't believe in their own country's medical development. How can we trust people like these who don't trust others.
Leadership is not just about ruling and power, its about being role model and showing people a way of life. If a leader adapts a lavish life in a state where his own country lack to recognize basic health facilities then its a disgrace to the political scenario.................



where should a normal Nepali  go Mr President and Mr leader............... 

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

  

Read More

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 ..................

Read More

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 .

Read More

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."

  

Read More