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Perhaps the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) leaders who had gone to meet Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Oct 8 were well aware that little gets done during the over a month-long holiday sea­son that starts with Dashain and ends with Chhath. That is why when Prime Minister Oli assured the RJPN leaders that their demands would be fulfilled by the end of Dashain the Madhesi leaders said they were happy to give him until the end of Chhath. Who knows, they too might have been in a festive spirit not to make a hard push. Dashain remains the most widely celebrated festival in Nepal, even though not everyone celebrating it is religious. They will go to different Shakti Peeths during the Navaratri, the ‘nine nights’ and 10 days of Dashain (See Sabhyata Jha’s sto­ry, Page 8-9), to imbibe the festive spirit if nothing else. There is also a growing trend of people leaving Nepal to visit other countries during Dashain, as they are unlikely to get another holiday nearly as long. This also signals the dwindling religious importance of Dashain even as its cultural and socio-economic signif­icance remains high.

For meat-eaters, this is the time to gorge on goat, a Dashain delicacy. But interestingly the trend of people becoming vegetarians, nay, even vegans, is rocketing as well, partly because of the violence associated with animal killings (See Main story, Page 7). Another popular pastime this Dashain, at least for those who remain in the country, will be play­ing cards, often with the involve­ment of huge sums, never mind that the government has banned any kind of gambling.

Many bemoan the days when the whole extended family used to get together to celebrate, often by vis­iting their ancestral homes. Now half the family is invariably abroad during Dashain, working there or on vacation. But it would be unreal­istic to expect the country’s biggest festival to remain static in a society that has been in a state of constant flux since the 1990 political change.

Rather than resist the inevita­ble change perhaps it is a better idea to gracefully accept it. Let us celebrate today and look for­ward to a better tomorrow. Happy Dashain, everyone.

The Asian Development Bank is expected to pull out of the Rs 270 million waste management project in Butwal after the sub-metrop­olis failed to make use of the money. The concessional loan was to be used for waste man­agement, a drinking water project and construction of a model village. As Butwal failed to make use of the funds, even after two extensions of the implementation deadline, the Manila-based bank is all set to pull out on December 31.The centerpiece of the pro­posed project was a waste treatment center at Charange. But the sub-metropolis had been unable to start construc­tion due to the opposition of the locals who were deter­mined not to allow anyone to pollute their area.

According to the ADB proj­ect’s Butwal unit manager Sikhar Lama Tamang, even without the opposition from the locals, the sub-metropolis was finding it hard to handle the project. Hence it will now try to explore other private public partnership options.

ADB’s new regulations for waste management are tough. The locals have to be unani­mous in their support for such a project. Even a single objec­tion could potentially sink it.

Ward Chairman of Butwal-7 Kamal Pratap Thapa said that some private organizations have already proposed to establish a waste management center if land was made avail­able to them.

There had been discussions between Charange locals and Butwal sub-metropolis even in the absence of people’s repre­sentatives. After the local elec­tions, in a last-ditch attempt to convince them, the sub-met­ropolitan had even proposed to take the inhabitants of Charange to India where they would inspect a modern water processing center. The pro­posal was rejected.

 The Ministry of Urban Development and the Asian Development Bank are giving final touches to the plan for development of Rs 200-billion urban cor­ridor centered on Lumbini. The two-stage project seeks to boost engagement between the fast-urbanizing areas and the surrounding rural areas. As envisioned, the first stage will be completed by 2030 while the second stage will be completed by 2050. This urban corridor will connect the places that are no more than an hour’s drive from each other. Right now the corridor will link Nawal­parasi’s Ramgram, Rupande­hi’s Butwal, Siddhartha Nagar, Sainamaina, Tilottama and Lumbini Cultural Munici­pality as well as Kapilvastu’s Kapilvastu and Krishna Nagar municipalities.

“The corridor will be built in a way that people from rural areas can return to their homes every day, instead of having to shift to the cities where they work,” says Edward Lemon, the ADB plan leader.

The first phase of the project will cost around Rs 94 billion. There are plans to build roads, agricultural products process­ing centers, shopping centers, bus parks, as well as sewage and drinking-water manage­ment systems.

Moreover, there are pro­posals for Butwal-Tilotta­ma-Siddhartha Nagar and Lumbini-Tilaurakot-Devda­ha-Ramgram road corri­dors, as well as to develop Siddhartha Nagar-Ram­gram-Bhumahi, Krishna Nagar and Lumbini bypass roads into highways.

Crucially, the current plans do not talk about where the money for the ambitious project will come from.

 On April 26, 2018, Ramch­abi Barma of Duduwa rural municipal­ity’s Naya Chauferi lost his 18-month-old daughter Rita Barma. District Public Health Office Banke’s focal person for nutrition Jageshwor Bas­net says Rita died because of severe malnutrition. Accord­ing to the office, Naya Chauferi is the second most malnutri­tion-afflicted area in Banke district. The nearby malnutri­tion outpatient treatment cen­ter (OTC) of Betahani health post is currently treating 44 undernourished kids, includ­ing some from Naya Chauferi.In the past 14 months, seven newborn babies have died in just one ward of Banke’s Janaki rural munic­ipality, the worst-affected area in the district. Gagan Singh Saud, in-charge of the local Indrapur health post, informs that most of these babies were between 28 days to six months old. “Most were born premature and under­weight,” he informs.

Even though the local health posts have given different reasons for infant mortal­ity, most were in one way or another victims of malnutri­tion. According to the District Public Health Office, 92 children are suffering from malnutrition in Janaki rural municipality alone.

In the past one year, 34 women gave birth in their own homes in Indrapur of Janaki rural municipality. The locals lack awareness about nutrition, says Munic­ipality Health Coordinator Gir Bahadur Gurung. “While they sell spinach grown in their farms and milk from their cows they feed their children noodles and biscuits. No wonder they are malnour­ished,” Gurung says.

All local level units of Nepal­gunj sub-metropolitan and Kohalpur municipality have elevated levels of malnutri­tion. District malnutrition focal person Jageshwor Bas­net informs that in the past six months, 279 undernourished children have already been treated for malnutrition in the district.

Public health records show that in the past one year 270 children have died in Banke district, mostly from malnutrition.

It looks like the problem of malnutrition is getting worse. Nepalgunj’s Bheri Zonal Hos­pital has treated 1,358 under­nourished kids in the past one decade after it opened its Nutrition Rehabilitation Cen­ter. Most of the 150 malnour­ished children it treats every year on average are from Banke district.

The District of Public Health Office’s Family Planning Super­visor Basant Gaire reveals that among 12,472 children whose weights were measured last year, 1,011 were found under­weight. Among them, 423 were extremely underweight and could be considered malnourished while 588 had moderate weight. To reduce the problem of malnutrition, Banke district has partnered with various NGOs, including Helen Keller International, for better implementation of its integrated nutrition food program.

Helen Keller Internation­al’s Nutritious Food Program Coordinator Indra Auji says the state of malnutrition in the district is dire.

“Under-5 child mortality from malnutrition is acute among the local Madhesi and Muslim communities,” says Auji. “Parents are not much bothered when their children are underweight or even mal­nourished. Malnourished girls are particularly neglected.”