| Username |
Post |
| mabi |
Posted
on 08-Dec-00 09:27 AM
Help Nepal extends support
KOL Report
KATHMANDU, Dec. 8 - An Organisation representing Nepalese expatriates from different parts
of the world, Help Nepal Network, has extended financial assistance of about 350,000 which will be used for providing Hepatitis B vaccination and reconstruction of school building in Phyuthan.
Out of the total amount, Rs 125 thousand will be used for renovation of school building. Equal
amount will be collected from the local people, according to the headmaster of the school, Jeev
Raj Neupane, who was handed over the amount by Minister of State for Health Tirtha Ram Dangol.
In the second phase of the programme, Help Nepal will give Rs. 120,000, which will be used to
immunized 125 school children against Hepatitis B.
Addressing the programme, State Minister Dangol said, “Education and health are very
important for the overall development of our country.”
Help Nepal Network, brings together Nepalis living in several different countries, including Britain,
the United States , Former Soviet Republics, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Finland Belgium and Austria. (rk)
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 08-Dec-00 02:26 PM
>>..who was handed over the amount by Minister of State for Health Tirtha Ram Dangol.
Wherever they go,however noble their motive may be,it is so sad
they couldn't resist the temptation of inviting a political lackey
to officiate their program.
No wonder a lot of foreign based Nepali organizations and their
chairs are charged of being too much 'chamcha' towards the
political leaders of Nepal in vain hope of becoming ambassador
or something like that in the future..
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| rajendra |
Posted
on 08-Dec-00 03:47 PM
mabiji, thanks for sharing the news. No matter what someone says, it's perfectly okay to share interesting and r-e-l-e-v-a-n-t news pieces from Nepal. Just don't make it too looooong, if possible, please!! :)
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| mabi |
Posted
on 08-Dec-00 04:50 PM
>Wherever they go,however noble their motive
>may be,it is so sad
>they couldn't resist the temptation of
>inviting a political lackey
>to officiate their program.
>
>No wonder a lot of foreign based Nepali
>organizations and their
>chairs are charged of being too much '
>chamcha' towards the
>political leaders of Nepal in vain hope of
>becoming ambassador
>or something like that in the future..
Point to be noted and I will forward your views to the concerned.
Lets hear what they have to say and hope we will be able change the trend.
Regards
Mabi
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 09-Dec-00 04:01 AM
Hi Mabi:
Good to hear that you will forward this complaint to them.Btw,
please forward with this grievance my sincere appreciation of
the good work they are doing,giving money to save kid is a great
thing.
Generally,what happens is money is raised with several bighearted
people, and some people in leadership want to manipulate that for
personal benefit.I am not talking about embezzlement here, I am
talking about the temptation to hobnob with some bigwigs of
Nepalese politics,and as you will concur there are several Nepali
in US,Europe who are just waiting to get benefit from Nepalese
establishment in any form.
Just think,what happens if a smart people living in USA goes
back to his hometown and courts a local politicians whom almost
everybody detest from heart ,but can't beard publicly, it just
accrue the aura of redoubtableness of the politician in the area.
(People think that everybody is afraid of him,even the smart guy
from US who used to be boardfirst in the local school while there before..)
To give confidence to local people,what good people need to do
now is spearhead the campaign of popular awareness,but the way
they go back and still engage in lionizing those figures make
me feel so sick..
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| rajendra |
Posted
on 10-Dec-00 12:53 AM
Biswoji, not to sound bashful, there are also a number of low-profile, low-publicity social service programs going on right now. By the very fact of their nature however, they remain unknown!
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 10-Dec-00 01:06 AM
Yes,Rajendraji,the benefit that comes with inviting public leaders
in such ceremony is publicity and in the highly partisan private
press and shamelessly pro-government government media,it is
unlikely to have reported any incident that are not chaired by
the political leaders.
Essentially,the challenge is in changing such trends,isn't it?
Something courageous and educated people can at least try!!After
all there is nothing to lose..
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| Rabindra Mishra |
Posted
on 10-Dec-00 01:10 PM
I share the concern of all of you. To be brief let me go straight to the point. There is only one reason, publicity - which is vital to our campagin - for inviting a minister to do the job which could certainly have been done without his presence. It is unfortunate that without a minister's presence in a programme like this, it becomes difficult to get publicity in Nepal. And without publicity we can't reach our target audinece who live in different parts of the world and whome we are trying to encourage to "sacrifice a can of beer or a cartoon of juice in a month and donate the savings to the fund". Though we welcome donations from other communities, we focus on Nepalese because we feel that it is time Nepalese themselves do for Nepal as much as they can. In Nepal, our co-ordination team, which was formed by us to work especially with us, is encouraging local people to "have one plate of Momo less in a month and donate the savings to the fund." This message obviously can't be spread without publicity. Let me also mention here that we don't take out a single penny from the donation to meet our administrative costs. It is borne by the committee members themselves.
In a year's time HELP NEPAL Network (HeNN) (www.helpnepal.co.uk) has generated about £7,000 from mainly expatraiate Nepalese, we have already completed two project in remote parts of Nepal and some others are underway. It is solely because of our dedication, positive attitude, and RIGHT publicity that we have been able to achieve all this. this was the reason why the HeNN's co-ordination team in Kathmandu invited the minsiter. They also wanted local people in the areas that we support to know about the money coming in to thier area so that they would be able to enquire if things were not happening. Please, please visit our web site to get a clearer picture of our working.
Having said this, I strongly believe that there is a need to change the media trend in Nepal where most of the time only politics and politicians make news.
Rabindra Mishra
HELP NEPAL Network
UK
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 10-Dec-00 04:23 PM
Rabindraji:
It is nice to see you here,and even concurring to our points.
First of all,please understand that my concern is not on
embezzlement,as I clearly wrote in my previous posting,and I
am highly appreciative of whatever the organization has done,and
am looking forward to anyway by which I can prove my usefulness
to your organization.
But clearly,there are some questions.One of the questions is
whether you organization is providing a chance of association to
some undeserving politician.Remember it is not HNN which is tainted
and unbelieved,it is the politicans back in Nepal who are loathed
in public.A question that is being raised is certainly this:
In the temptation of celebrity,whether you will next
invite people like Gobinda Raj Joshi or Tarini Datta Chataut
or Bal Bahadur KC.My concern is there should be a kind of
limit/criteria/selection process of who should 'be' or who should
'not be' invited.
And as I can see,there are some individuals in Nepal whose
financial elevation is very dubiously realised in a short span
of time,and if a highly commendable organization like HNN which
also seeks to be umbrella organization of all Nepali would-be-
philanthropists accepts donation from such individuals without
any misgivings,probably it will do more disservice to your
organization.Just for example,if a smuggler of Sino-Nepalese
border gives you fifty thousand rupees and advertise it in
national press(or you advertise it in national press!_There is
an instance ,isn't there?) how much justifiable it will be?
I want to write it again and again that I support your
organization and I understand the financial constraints it may
be facing,given the fact that there are not any expat billionaire
Nepalese ,unlike Indians or Chinese who have a handful of,it is
all the more daunting to raise even a decent amount.But rest
assured,a significant progress will be realised with the good name
and spirit,not with compulsive precipitation into publicity!
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| Rabindra Mishra |
Posted
on 12-Dec-00 05:29 AM
Dear Biswo Jee,
Thanks a lot for your positive approach towards our campaign and the constructive suggestions that you have made. We should be careful in not inviting/involving negative people. However, we should also note the fact that there are too many negativities in our society and uless we try to inspire the negative people towards positive activities it will be difficult to bring about real change. The people who have positive approach are already doing good things in one way or the other, so we should build up such a pressure on negative minded people that it will be difficult for them to continue with their anti-social activities. We should try to make them feel that doing good things will bring them greater respect. Thank you once again for your concern and for your suggestion.
Rabindra Mishra
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| ashu |
Posted
on 12-Dec-00 12:52 PM
Dear Rabindra and Biswo,
It's perfectly all right to seek publicity for
good causes like The Help Nepal Network.
When you invite a Minister over to inaugurate
something in Nepal, that does NOT ipso facto
mean that you are endorsing that Minister's
person-hood and particular traits and history
in total.
In a democracy, it's possible to have respect
for a Ministry WITHOUT having the same respect
for Ministers who come and go.
That is why, when you invite a Minister, what you
are endorsing is ONLY and ONLY his Ministerial post.
And you endorse that because the press also
endorses that post by covering what the person
heading that Ministry does.
That's all there is to it. After all, if
the Minister were not in that post, you wouldn't
invite him in the first place, would you?
So, let's draw this distinction beween having respect
for the institutions of democracy (such as a Ministry)
and having respect for a particular Minister. Respect
for one need NOT mean respect for another.
oohi
ashu
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 12-Dec-00 01:28 PM
On the contrary,Ashu, I will not put my kids in the school that
invites minister Bal Bahadur KC in parents day to distribute
prize,even when he is minister(or he was!,who knows future).
Why?
He is elected,he is democrat,isn't he?
As a father,I will always pore over those photos published in
Kantipur where Bal Bahadur KC was shown fleeing from the house
after shattering the glasspanes and entering without permission
to intimidate the residents of the house.
Institutions and person holding the posts are different.Personal
judgements should be consistent all the time,probably!
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| ashu |
Posted
on 12-Dec-00 09:59 PM
Biswo,
I disagree with you, and here are my reasons.
Whether you choose to invite BBKC to a function or not
is your choice. Your choice, or for that matter,
my choice or anyone else's personal choices and
preferences, need NOT be a rule for all to
follow under these circumstances.
That is to say, just because you do not like
BBKC is hardly a persuasive reason for you
to urge others NOT to invite him as a chief guest.
If invited to the same function as BBKC, the
Minister, sure, you can refuse to go -- citing
your own reasons. And that's fine and good.
But your potentially stopping others from going
--because BBKC is a khattam character -- is
unduly forcing your beliefs on others. And
I am no fan of BBKC myself.
So, my point is simple: As long as BBKC is a
Minister, he is entitled to the privileges (i.e.
press coverage) accompanying his Ministry. And,
institutions like Help Nepal are free to take
advantage of those Ministerial privileges to
get favorable press coverage for themslves
WITHOUT kneeling in front of BBKC.
Again, respect for an institution (i.e. a Ministry)
is DIFFEReNT from a respect for a person (i.e.
Minister.)
If you disagree, well, so be it.
oohi
ashu
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 12-Dec-00 11:01 PM
Well,Ashu.
To me your contention is not only pregnant with moral flaws,but
is also full of loopholes to provide justification to
fete anybody who is incumbent!
I can't think of attending Vienna Philharmonic with Haider as
chief guest,or Haiders' ministers in Austrian Government as chief
guest, nor do I think it appropriate that Ford subsidiaries in
Germany once feted Hitler,the elected chief of Germany,in their
corporation!!
But that is that.That is my opinion,and as you wrote,I am free
to feel my way.With total disagreement:
Biswo
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