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Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Flood In Pokhara ( Caused by Glacier Avalanche )
God please help their soul rest in peace who lost their lives due to this disaster.
Saturday, you can guess how many people were there in river? It's a holiday and obviously there would be lots of people doing laundry. Children, adult, parents, it took everyone.
The disaster has caused no water supply in many part of the city. Many people lost their lives and many got disabled. Still lots of people are missing.
 | |
| Tatopani Area Full Buried |
 | |
| Terrific |
Nature is unstop-able!
Flood In Pokhara (May 6 2012 )
picture source : alchilagyo.com
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Evening At Bhasundhara Park - Pokhara
 |
| Getting Closer to Sunset : ) |
Another day to paradise! 1st Pokhara itself is an "Heaven". If you won't agree, I do not care :p
Every evening I go to this park with my friends and enjoy the environment. Fresh environment will keep you healthy and happier. Life will be more fun to live when friends are around.
These days will never come around. Who knows when life may lead you to the darkest hours and time won't always treat you kind.
Joy Of Life!
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
A Historical Background of Indian Aggression in Nepal
I found this DOC in a Facebook Group and wanted to share this on web.
Nepal is sandwiched between two emerging superpowers India and China. The specific geopolitical character of Nepal and age old social, religious and cultural relation, the open border, passage to the sea through India only and the special treaty of security could not let Nepal escape from the dominance of India in political and economic front. Hence, during the past years from 1950, Nepal’s political issues never drew the attention of international community other than India. Even our northern neighbour China did not bother to give its attention in Nepal’s political development in the period. India enjoyed the sole monopoly in engaging itself in every political development of Nepal. Whenever India felt that Nepal is trying to escape from its security umbrella, it punished Nepal by imposing economic blockade and other sort of restrictions on it. The glaring example of which is the Indian economic blockade of 1989 when Nepal bought some arms from China without consulting India.
Nepal and India are very close neighbours having unique ties governed by religious, cultural and economic inter dependence as well as open border stretched to 1,751 KMs. The issue of open border is as old as the historical relation of these two countries. Although no formal agreements before 1950 maintained that the border between the two countries should remain open, both countries never introduced any provision of travel permits for the people of either country moving across the border.
The open border is always operating at the pleasure of Indian interest. India has time and again used the open border issue to threaten Nepal whenever it feels that Nepal is not responding to its interest. There are incidents of major transit points closed for long duration by India without consulting Nepal as a punishment for dealing with other countries without India’s prior knowledge and consent. However, after the birth of Maoist insurgency in Nepal, and especially in the past few years, India is also feeling the heat of negative implication of the left-wing and anti-Indian coordination in both countries that is linked to its internal security concern. So, it is the time for not only Nepal, but also India to rethink its strategic policy about the open border in the changing context of regional security as well as cross border undesirable activities.
Being a small country, Nepal is suffering more from India in the negative consequences of the unregulated movement of population across the open border. In reality, Nepal has become very poor victim of the negative implication of the open border between the two countries. It is impossible for the security forces of Nepal to guard every inch of the 1,751 KMs long border to control illegal activities. There are severe social, political as well as economic implications of the unregulated transaction of illegal activities across the border. Such incidents can’t be regulated unless India shows a strong commitment to help Nepal. There is a need of India’s direct involvement in regulating such incidents.
Based on the 1950 treaty and letters of exchange, no country is in a position to unilaterally introduce such travel provisions restricting free movement of people across the border. The issue of regulation was never discussed seriously in the past as neither of the governments felt necessary for the Treaty of Peace and Friendship 1950. Political leaders were enjoying the benefit of uninterrupted movement of Nepalese citizen to India for employment and other opportunities whereas India was also enjoying the easy flow of Indian goods and labourers into Nepalese markets. However, the open border and subsequent free movement of people across the border has brought various social, economic and political problems in recent times.
The Maoists also demanded through their Forty Point Demands presented to the then Deuba Government in February 1996, before the peoples war. The demand For the provision of the control of entire Nepal India open border, ban of cars with Indian number plates to ply through the Nepalese roads, closure of the Gorkha Recruitment Centre, making the provision of work permits for the foreigners in Nepal and end of the precedence of foreign technicians over Nepalese technicians at the local jobs and ban of Hindi video cinema, films, videocassettes, magazines, and all other vulgar materials coming from the Indian markets through the unregulated open border (CPN-M 2001) are now feeling more valuable and necessory.
India is always interested to Nepal’s rich water resources with estimated capacity of 83,000 MWs of power generation, is well known in South Asia. Water is one of the major natural resources that could be utilised for the nation’s economic development. In theory, water and water-generated energy commodities could be exported to the huge Indian market in the south. However, there is no single water resource as a joint undertaking that can be claimed as a success story in the past 50 years of water resources development project in Nepal (Chintan 2001). India’s bargaining on water resources sharing with Nepal and its desire for fishing in the troubled water of Nepalese politics is also influenced by its ever increasing demand of water for its large population.
It is obvious that India has never considered Nepal as an equal partner in sharing the huge surplus water resources in Nepal that can be of immense help in fulfilling the unmet demand among huge and starving Indian population. Other experts view that India has an attitude of exploiting the rich resource base of Nepal without returning equal benefit to Nepal. The water dispute between these two countries started as early as 1950s when the Koshi and Gandaki Hydropower projects were started. The treaties on water resources between Nepal and India have always been coloured with political opposition. The treaties caused serious uproar among the Nepalese political circle. Prime Minister B P Koirala was blamed for selling those rivers to India and the issue would be raised in every election in democratic Nepal even after four decades.
Then another most controversial Integrated Treaty on the Development of the Mahakali River (ITDMR) held in 1996 during the time of Nepali Congress Government, which brought economic, social and political consequences in all sectors of society in Nepal. This treaty became major issue of political battle among the ruling and opposition parties in the streets as well as in the parliament. The opposition communist parties organised nationwide protest blaming Nepali Congress once again selling Mahakali River to India.
Those opposing the Mahakali agreement with India argued that the agreement should be ratified by the parliament riding on the article 126 of the 1990 Constitution which stipulates that any agreement on sharing of country’s natural resources needs ratification of the parliament by two-third majority. If such agreement causes long term impact to the nation, it has to be ratified by a two-third majority of joint seating of both the houses of parliament (Constitution of Nepal 1990). The government claimed that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was an understanding between the countries and did not require ratification. The opposition parties and civil society groups dragged the government to the Supreme Court. The apex court ruled that the MoU on Mahakali River was, indeed, an agreement and not merely an understanding.
The four decade long experience of sharing water resources with India shows that Nepal has been a great looser even in terms of narrow economic benefit through irrigation, flood control, electricity, not to mention the disastrous social and environmental cost (Chintan 2001). The discussion on water resources sharing issues has been dominated by political emotions rather than practical research and study (Ajay Dixit 2004). Every water resources development projects involving India raises the eyebrow of Nepalese opposition political parties (including CPN-M) and is viewed as an attempt to surrender.
There is a strong argument on India’s opportunist intention of exploiting Nepal’s political crisis situation and weak/illegitimate/unaccountable government to sign major water resource treaties to its benefit. Various natural resources and foreign experts have raised their voices in these issues time and again with citing the timing of the signing of those treaties.
Nepal is sandwiched between two emerging superpowers India and China. The specific geopolitical character of Nepal and age old social, religious and cultural relation, the open border, passage to the sea through India only and the special treaty of security could not let Nepal escape from the dominance of India in political and economic front. Hence, during the past years from 1950, Nepal’s political issues never drew the attention of international community other than India. Even our northern neighbour China did not bother to give its attention in Nepal’s political development in the period. India enjoyed the sole monopoly in engaging itself in every political development of Nepal. Whenever India felt that Nepal is trying to escape from its security umbrella, it punished Nepal by imposing economic blockade and other sort of restrictions on it. The glaring example of which is the Indian economic blockade of 1989 when Nepal bought some arms from China without consulting India.
Nepal and India are very close neighbours having unique ties governed by religious, cultural and economic inter dependence as well as open border stretched to 1,751 KMs. The issue of open border is as old as the historical relation of these two countries. Although no formal agreements before 1950 maintained that the border between the two countries should remain open, both countries never introduced any provision of travel permits for the people of either country moving across the border.
The open border is always operating at the pleasure of Indian interest. India has time and again used the open border issue to threaten Nepal whenever it feels that Nepal is not responding to its interest. There are incidents of major transit points closed for long duration by India without consulting Nepal as a punishment for dealing with other countries without India’s prior knowledge and consent. However, after the birth of Maoist insurgency in Nepal, and especially in the past few years, India is also feeling the heat of negative implication of the left-wing and anti-Indian coordination in both countries that is linked to its internal security concern. So, it is the time for not only Nepal, but also India to rethink its strategic policy about the open border in the changing context of regional security as well as cross border undesirable activities.
Being a small country, Nepal is suffering more from India in the negative consequences of the unregulated movement of population across the open border. In reality, Nepal has become very poor victim of the negative implication of the open border between the two countries. It is impossible for the security forces of Nepal to guard every inch of the 1,751 KMs long border to control illegal activities. There are severe social, political as well as economic implications of the unregulated transaction of illegal activities across the border. Such incidents can’t be regulated unless India shows a strong commitment to help Nepal. There is a need of India’s direct involvement in regulating such incidents.
Based on the 1950 treaty and letters of exchange, no country is in a position to unilaterally introduce such travel provisions restricting free movement of people across the border. The issue of regulation was never discussed seriously in the past as neither of the governments felt necessary for the Treaty of Peace and Friendship 1950. Political leaders were enjoying the benefit of uninterrupted movement of Nepalese citizen to India for employment and other opportunities whereas India was also enjoying the easy flow of Indian goods and labourers into Nepalese markets. However, the open border and subsequent free movement of people across the border has brought various social, economic and political problems in recent times.
The Maoists also demanded through their Forty Point Demands presented to the then Deuba Government in February 1996, before the peoples war. The demand For the provision of the control of entire Nepal India open border, ban of cars with Indian number plates to ply through the Nepalese roads, closure of the Gorkha Recruitment Centre, making the provision of work permits for the foreigners in Nepal and end of the precedence of foreign technicians over Nepalese technicians at the local jobs and ban of Hindi video cinema, films, videocassettes, magazines, and all other vulgar materials coming from the Indian markets through the unregulated open border (CPN-M 2001) are now feeling more valuable and necessory.
India is always interested to Nepal’s rich water resources with estimated capacity of 83,000 MWs of power generation, is well known in South Asia. Water is one of the major natural resources that could be utilised for the nation’s economic development. In theory, water and water-generated energy commodities could be exported to the huge Indian market in the south. However, there is no single water resource as a joint undertaking that can be claimed as a success story in the past 50 years of water resources development project in Nepal (Chintan 2001). India’s bargaining on water resources sharing with Nepal and its desire for fishing in the troubled water of Nepalese politics is also influenced by its ever increasing demand of water for its large population.
It is obvious that India has never considered Nepal as an equal partner in sharing the huge surplus water resources in Nepal that can be of immense help in fulfilling the unmet demand among huge and starving Indian population. Other experts view that India has an attitude of exploiting the rich resource base of Nepal without returning equal benefit to Nepal. The water dispute between these two countries started as early as 1950s when the Koshi and Gandaki Hydropower projects were started. The treaties on water resources between Nepal and India have always been coloured with political opposition. The treaties caused serious uproar among the Nepalese political circle. Prime Minister B P Koirala was blamed for selling those rivers to India and the issue would be raised in every election in democratic Nepal even after four decades.
Then another most controversial Integrated Treaty on the Development of the Mahakali River (ITDMR) held in 1996 during the time of Nepali Congress Government, which brought economic, social and political consequences in all sectors of society in Nepal. This treaty became major issue of political battle among the ruling and opposition parties in the streets as well as in the parliament. The opposition communist parties organised nationwide protest blaming Nepali Congress once again selling Mahakali River to India.
Those opposing the Mahakali agreement with India argued that the agreement should be ratified by the parliament riding on the article 126 of the 1990 Constitution which stipulates that any agreement on sharing of country’s natural resources needs ratification of the parliament by two-third majority. If such agreement causes long term impact to the nation, it has to be ratified by a two-third majority of joint seating of both the houses of parliament (Constitution of Nepal 1990). The government claimed that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was an understanding between the countries and did not require ratification. The opposition parties and civil society groups dragged the government to the Supreme Court. The apex court ruled that the MoU on Mahakali River was, indeed, an agreement and not merely an understanding.
The four decade long experience of sharing water resources with India shows that Nepal has been a great looser even in terms of narrow economic benefit through irrigation, flood control, electricity, not to mention the disastrous social and environmental cost (Chintan 2001). The discussion on water resources sharing issues has been dominated by political emotions rather than practical research and study (Ajay Dixit 2004). Every water resources development projects involving India raises the eyebrow of Nepalese opposition political parties (including CPN-M) and is viewed as an attempt to surrender.
There is a strong argument on India’s opportunist intention of exploiting Nepal’s political crisis situation and weak/illegitimate/unaccountable government to sign major water resource treaties to its benefit. Various natural resources and foreign experts have raised their voices in these issues time and again with citing the timing of the signing of those treaties.
What you think about this post?
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Visit Lumbini Year targets 500k Buddhist pilgrims
Visit Lumbini Year 2012 (VLY 2012) aims to attract 500,000 Buddhist devotees from around the world to Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha in southern Nepal.Acharya Karma Sangbo Sherpa, vice-chairman of the Lumbini Development Trust and joint coordinator of the national secretariat of VLY 2012, said the national campaign aims to bring one million visitors to Lumbini, half of them domestic and half of them foreign pilgrims. President Ram Baran Yadav is scheduled to inaugurate the campaign at the Central Canal at 2 pm on Jan 14.
Last year, Lumbini received more than 500,000 visitors among whom were 129,000 foreign passport holders. Foreign arrivals recorded a 29 percent growth year on year. Lumbini hosted 82,445 tourists in 2009, 82,075 in 2008 and 71,053 in 2007.
The VLY 2012 national secretariat includes Minister for Culture Gopal Kiranti as a co-coordinator while secretaries from the ministries of Culture, Tourism, Home and Foreign Affairs are members representing the government. Suraj Vaidya, president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), is leading the private sector.
The Nepal Tourism Year 2011 implementation committee and the Nepal Tourism Board are the implementing agencies of the campaign. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai formally announced VLY 2012 from the birthplace of Gautam Buddha on Dec 1, 2011. The cabinet declared 2012 as VLY on Oct 17, 2011 for the promotion and development of the Lumbini area.
“The objective of the campaign is to invite the world to work towards creating a peaceful society through the Buddha’s peace message while the campaign also aims to publicize to the world that Buddha was born in Nepal,” Sherpa said.
In a bid to attract Buddhist pilgrims from around the world, the secretariat has formed a sub-committee in South Korea where it will initiate a “one house, one image of Buddha” campaign, according to him. “We are planning to form such sub-committees in the US and Canada, among other countries,” he added.
China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, India, South Korea and Taiwan have large Buddhist populations.
On the national front, the secretariat plans to place 108 milestones on highways from the Mechi to the Mahakali and other entry points to show the way to Lumbini. Similarly, welcome boards have been planned at Tribhuvan International Airport, Bhairahawa, Solukhumbu and Pokhara, among other tourism spots.
The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) has allocated a budget of over Rs 5 million for the inauguration. The international promotion budget planned for NTY through consumer publicity programmes in China and India that could not take place in 2011 has been reallocated to the VLY campaign.
“After the completion of NTY, we have started VLY to continue and give mileage to the country’s tourism,” said MoTCA secretary Ganesh Raj Joshi. According to him, the government will officially conclude NTY announcing VLY in Lumbini. The government will also launch Vision 20, a tourism perspective plan during the inauguration.
“Lumbini has high influence on both domestic and international communities and Nepal should take advantage by linking religion with the country’s development,” Joshi added.
Considering the infrastructure, according to Sherpa, there are 24 high, middle and budget class hotels in Bhairahawa while four-five new hotels are to be opened soon. The trend of building hotels with modern facilities has intensified in Lumbini encouraged by an increase in arrivals.
“The government’s idea to announce VLY is very good, but it has happened without adequate preparation,” said Bikrum Pandey, managing director of Himalaya Expeditions which also runs Buddhist Circuits.com.
Although, Lumbini has a number of hotels developed within the last few years, it lacks air connectivity, transportation and international marketing.
It is estimated that business for the Buddhist circuit was about 400,000 tourists. Pandey added that the length of stay was nine to 10 days and daily spending amounted to US$ 150-250. “To grab the attention of the world’s Buddhist community, we are organising the Shakyamuni Buddha Lumbini Peace Marathon on Dec 5 in association with the Thai Embassy in Nepal,” Pandey added. According to Pandey, a 2,000 km long Buddhist circuit starts from Lumbini and passes through Kapilvastu, Shravasti, Kushinagar, Sarnath, Bodhgaya, Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda and Patna before returning to Lumbini.
(Source:ekantipur)
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Nepali girls confined by stigma and superstition
DEC 22 -
Saraswati Biswokarma sits in the dark, rearranging the threadbare cotton sheet and straw bed she is forced to sleep on before bringing her knees up to her chest with a shiver.
It is already mid-morning but she has not been allowed out of the airless brick shed where she has spent every night for the past week.
The 13-year-old was effectively banished to the shed -- barely big enough to stand or lie down in -- where she must experience her first period alone in a traumatic ordeal."I've been here eight nights so I have one left," she says with a nervous smile. "It's not nice here, it's scary and I felt very alone on the first night. I was so scared."
Saraswati's isolation is part of a centuries-old Hindu ritual known as chhaupadi that has been blamed for prolonged depression and even deaths in remote, impoverished western Nepal.
Under the practice, women are prohibited from participating in normal family activities during menstruation and after childbirth, and can have no contact with men of the household.
"I'm not allowed to touch any cattle or go inside our house. I have to stay in the shed and when my mother calls I have to wait nearby the house with a plate so she can give me food," Saraswati says.
She is also barred from consuming dairy products or meat or taking a bath. Even looking in the mirror is frowned upon.
The practice stems from the belief that when women have periods they are impure and will bring bad luck on a whole family if they stay in the house and will contaminate anything they touch.
In 2005, the government, in line with a Supreme Court order, enacted a law abolishing chhaupadi but enforcement has been minimal or non-existent.
Saraswati's shelter, known as a chhaupadi goth, looks like a miniature cow shed, with a dirt floor and no windows or running water.
In January last year, two women were found dead in chhaupadi goths in the remote district of Achham after temperatures dropped to 30F (-1C). In another case, a 15-year-old died of diarrhoea contracted while sleeping in a shed.
Chandrakala Nepali, 17, is preparing for her fifth night in her goth.
Her parents went to Mumbai to find work two years ago, leaving her and four younger siblings to live with relatives in a house high up in the hills an hour's walk from Mangalsen, the main town in Achham.
"During the day I'm allowed out but only to work in the jungle, collecting firewood," she says, sweeping the dark, cold hut, which is barely big enough to lie down in.
"I'm not allowed to walk on the same road as the cattle and I'm not allowed to be with my family for seven days. To eat, I sit outside the house and they bring me food on a plate.
"When I'm alone in the shed I feel scared. There are insects and I'm afraid of snakes coming in."
Chandrakala says that if she has daughters she would never force chhaupadi on them.
But few women are prepared to challenge the status quo, and many continue the ritual for fear of community disapproval or out of religious belief.
Pashupati Kuwar, 30, lives with her five children in Budhakot, a small hamlet high in the hills.
Her husband is away, working in the Indian city of Pune, while her in-laws died several years ago, but Kuwar still observes chhaupadi.
"I don't touch any cattle for five days. I sleep on straw. Most of the day I go out but I go back to the shed to sleep," she said.
Pashupati says she will make her six- and 13-year-old daughters take part in the ritual.
"Some people think it's wrong but if I didn't do this my god would be angry."
Pashupati's own mother, Kunta Rawal, 45, has turned her back on chhaupadi.
"Before I thought it was important because of what I was told by elders and society but I have been made to realise that it is wrong," she says.
Nepal's education ministry is hoping to establish a literacy drive in the region, including health education classes dedicated exclusively to reproductive health and menstrual hygiene.
Thanks to campaigns by humanitarian organisations like UNICEF, the sites of confinement are beginning to improve, with women often allowed in separate rooms in the main house rather than banished outside.
Janaki Bohara, 40, president of the Bahagyaswor Paralegal Committee, a women's advocacy group supported by UNICEF, says she will refuse to allow her 14-year-old daughter to take part in the ritual.
"If I see families doing this to their daughters I will say to them 'look at me -- I have nothing to do with chhaupadi but nothing has happened to me'. I'm ready to go to villages and fight people about this issue."
Meanwhile Saraswati's 18-year-old aunt, Radhika Biswokarma, is a rare example of a chhaupadi rebel.
"After the first time I stayed in the chhaupadi goth I decided from then on I would not do it again," she said. "Society said to me 'your god will be angry' but I don't care."
(source : ekantipur)
