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Carter to Hashimoto, int’l observers put Nepal in global focus
BY KIRAN CHAPAGAIN
KATHMANDU, April 8 - With the arrival of former US President Jimmy Carter and his spouse Rosalynn Carter on Monday, Nepal’s April 10 Constituent Assembly election has come in for global attention. Along with President Carter, Japan’s parliamentarian Gaku Hashimoto, son of former prime minister Riyutaro Hashimoto, has also come to observe Nepal’s election. Hashimoto senior was a close friend of Nepal. Another Japanese parliamentarian, Tadahiko Ito, is also an observer. In addition to these high-profile observers are 12 members from the European parliament, namely Josep Borrell Fontelles, Csaba Ory, Filip Kaczmarek, Neena Gill, Magor Imre Csibi, Gintaras Didziokas, Luisa Morgantini, Irene Phuong Apker, Patrick NVM Dupont, Pietro Ducci, Xavier Nuttin and Claudine Staub. Besides, two parliamentarians from Australia — Mark Butler and Dr Andrew Laming— and British members of parliament David Edwards Lea and Dennis Robert Rogan are also election observers. Election commissioners from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are likewise joining the pool of international election observers. Nepal-based ambassadors, parliamentarians from different European countries and head of international non-government organizations have likewise assumed the responsibility of observing the CA polls. According to the Election Commission (EC), US Ambassador Nancy J. Powell, British Ambassador Dr. Andrew Rotely Hall, Malaysian Ambassador Ilankovan Kolandavelu, Thai Ambassador Vanvisa Thamrongnavasawat, Bangladeshi Ambassador Imtiaz Ahmed, Deputy Canadian Ambassador Kenneth McCartney and Sri Lankan Ambassador Amaralal Sumith Nakandala have been accredited as poll observers also. Diplomats from the embassies of Finland, France and Norway are also in the list of election observers. The Carter couple is leading a group of observers under the banner of the US-based Carter Center to monitor the “fairness” of the unprecedented election to the Constituent Assembly. Former President Carter called on Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala immediately after he landed in Kathmandu Monday afternoon, before formally leading the Center’s observation mission. Toshiyuki Niwa, a former deputy executive director of UNICEF and former Resident Coordinator of UNDP in Nepal, is leading a Japanese election observation mission. According to Dhurba Dhakal, under-secretary at the EC, observer accreditation cards have already been issued to almost all the international dignitary-cum-observers. Altogether 826 international observers representing 28 international organizations are going to monitor the election, according to the EC. source: http://www.ekantipur.com/
Beyond the digital divide Mahabir Pun proves that there is life after a Magsaysay WONG SHU YUN in MYAGDI
After he won the Magsaysay Award for his pioneering work to bridge the digital divide in Nepal’s remote mountains last year, Pun has thrown himself with renewed vigour to enlarge the scope and spread of his effort to raise the livelihood of his native region. “We have been trying to scale up income-generation,” says the soft-spoken 53-year-old, “we want to expand IT services so it helps agriculture, education, health and tourism in even more remote villages.” Pun’s village of Nangi is located on a forested mountainside at 2,250m and requires a seven-hour vertical climb on foot from Beni. A computer engineer in the United States, he did something unusual for a Nepali: he came back to Nepal after graduation. And even more unusual, he returned to his home village. (‘Web pioneer’, #360) Pun set up the Nepal Wireless Networking Project in Nangi in 1997, where there was no electricity, no telephone lines, no roads, no health posts and few schools. Pun believed that by leapfrogging technology with computers, solar power and wireless connectivity, he could help lift his village out of poverty. It worked. The literacy rate shot up as children used computers and the internet to broaden their horizons. The health post used telemedicine to treat patients. Families in the surrounding villages who have relatives working abroad used email and chat, saving money on international phone calls. Now managed by Nangi’s Himanchal Higher Secondary School, the venture pulled Nangi out of its seclusion. Nangi’s network is connected to Pokhara through a line-of-sight microwave antenna fixed on an oak tree four hours up the mountain. Pun is now working on wireless telephony, e-libraries and online markets to help connect even more remote villages and help people find jobs.
Healthcare services, eco-farming and small handicraft industries have all started to contribute to income generation. All are collaborative ventures involving the whole community. The Nangi Clinic and Women’s Centre now has three rooms for patients and a dental treatment area. "The government doesn’t have a health clinic here, so we decided to start one ourselves,” says nurse Lila Pun. The clinic receives online medical advice from doctors at Om Hospital in Pokhara. The villagers have also started to harvest local medicinal herbs. Caretaker Moti Purja looks after 21,000 seedlings of medicinal herbs in greenhouses and fruits on steep terraces. The 70-year-old ex-British Army officer is also busy with an organic farm that raises fish, ducks, chicken and rabbits. All this is expected to tap into the resurgent tourism industry. With new highways being built, trekkers will be venturing out to more remote parts of the district and Nangi wants to promote itself as an eco-friendly destination close to the trekking hub of Ghorepani. Nangi and the neighbouring village of Paudwar are working together to promote tourism online. Camping grounds are being built and new trails cleared. Pun is a modest man, but he has ambitious long-term goals. One of them is to set up a university here by 2015. “The activities we’re engaged in now will help create jobs and raise income, but at the end of the day, it is education that will help sustain it,” he told Nepali Times. At a school board meeting last month, the village committee was busy planning scholarships for students and brainstorming on how to fundraise for the university. Adds Pun: “We want to encourage local talent to explore sustainable eco-programs, creative people who can think out of the box.” http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue/392/Nation/14607
Colorfull Holi !!!
YouTube makes video sharing easier By Steve Johnson In a move likely to broaden its reach globally, YouTube today unveiled an easier way for people to share with the world the videos they create. youtube.com
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Many others who have won major international awards rest on their laurels, bask in celebrityhood, or go into early retirement. Not Mahabir Pun.
name for Holi where Phagu means the sacred red powder and Pune is the full moon day, on which the festival ends. People can be seen wandering through the streets either on foot or on some vehicle, with a variety of colours smeared over them. Families and friends get together and celebrate the occasion with a lot of merry making. This spring time celebration is also an outburst of youthful exuberance in which throwing colours and water bolloons (lolas) on passer- by is acceptable. But, the Indian community, that is, the Marwari class who have settled down in Nepal for centuries and the people of Terai celebrate it a day 
later with more pomp and ceremony. The days prior to the last don't have a lot happening except, the inst
allation of the ceremonial pole called "chir', on the first day. It's a bamboo pole, fringed with strips of cloth representing good luck charms. It is said to symbolize the tree on which lord Krishna hung the milkmaids' garments while they were bathing, unseen as they thought, in the Jamuna river of northern India. As the pole is put up in the street at Basantapur, the festivities and worship commences for the week. At the end of which its taken to a bonfire. The myth following Holi, reveals that a fiend named Holika together with her brother, an atheist king by the name of Hiranyakasyapu conspired ways to kill his son Pralhad because Pralhad was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. But their attempts always failed for Lord Vishnu protects those who love him. Finally, Holika who having received a blessing from Lord Bramha to be immune to fire, jumped in with Pralhad. But Brahma's blessing could only be used for good purposes and so Holika was consumed by the fire where as Pralhad was saved by the grace of the Gods. Thus, Holi is said to be celebrated to rejoice Holika's extermination and the traditional bonfires are believed to commemorate her death. According to another story, from the Puranas and the Bhagvat, Kansa sent a female demon named Putna to kill his nephew Lord Krishna. Taking the form of a nurse Putna went to Brindaban where the child Lord Krishna was growing up and tried to feed Him her poisonous milk but the attempt backfired and she was killed. Her body was burnt on the night of Holi. So some consider Holi, the festival of fire also. Holi for everyone is a time for fun and frolic. A day when one forgets the worldly anxieties and just enjoys the finer things in life. Written by Padmakshi Rana Photographs collected from Min Bajracharya and Madhav Mangal. 
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