Village Development in Nepal

Nepal is a country of vilages. Most of the area of the country is occupied by the villages. There are 3915 VDC's, 53 municipalities, 4 sub-metropolitian cities and one metropolitian city. According to 2058 census, 85.20% of the Nepalese people live in the rural areas. The rest of the people (14.20%) live in the urban regions. In Nepal, the development of the villages is the development of the nation.
Nepal is an agro-based country. Most of the villagers are farmers. Mordern facilities are not available in the villages. The facilities of transport, communication, electricity, entertainment etc have not been proivided to all the villages yet. The farmers need basic facilities such as irrigation, improved seeds, modern fertilizers, provision of market etc. Even these facilities have not been adequately provided yet. Nowadays, the beautiful green villages are being changed into open lands because of deforestation. Many natural disasters like landslides, over-flood etc. terrify the village people. Villagers are found to be honest, co-operative, hard working, trust-worthy and peace-loving. Because of some reasons, villagers are emigrating to cities. If this process goes unchanged, the villages can be vacant.
The development of the nation depends on the development of villages. In order to develop them, all the possible facilities should be provided there. Firstly, the facilities of transportation, communication, electricity, irrigation, improved seeds, fertilizers etc. should be provided to all the people. Similarly, other facilities like education, government serveces, job opportunities, factories etc. should be decentralized. Government should give high priority on agricultural development. If the villages are developed, we can enjoy the flavour of real development. Then the people, who are living in the urban areas wish to go to villages for their permanent settlement. The people living in the villages do not want to emigrate to cities. Then the problem of over population, pollution and unemployment in cities can be reduced.
In order to develop villages, all the facilities should be provided to the villagers. The government and all the other sectors concerned should give high priority on village development. If villages are well developed, they will be better places than town in all aspects.

Afforestation in Nepal

Green forest is the wealth of Nepal. We have a Nepali saying "Hariyo Bana Nepalko Dhana". Because of various activities activities of the people, our jungle is fast being destroyed. Afforestation is the process of planting trees and converting the open lands into forest. In Nepal, afforestation is the most important measure to preserve the forest.
Our forests are being rapidly destroyed. We clear the jungle for various purposes. Mainly, we cut down the trees for firewood, timber and building materials. Our domestic animals can destroy the plants which are newly growing. Wild fire also destroys the jungle. We clear the jungle for cultivation and settlement. Our government has invested more money to preserve the forest and afforestate the barren and open lands. Some NGO's are also working to preserve and increase the forest. The programme of 'Public Forest' is very effective and successful in rural areas. People are compeletely eager to be involved in the afforestation programmes. They plant the trees and preserve the jungle voluntarily. Thus, people are mobilizeed in the preservation of the forest.
We can get many adventages from the jungle. Trees purify the polluted air. The forest provides us with firewood, timber, furniture materials, building materials, grass, herbs and other medicinals plants. Wild animals and birds can be preserved in the jungle. It ceraainly reduces the natural disasters such as landslides, drought, soil erosion and desertification. Afforestation programmes preserve our forests. Therefore afforestation is very important in Nepal.
Afforestation programmes should be made more effective to preserve the forest. All the people concerned should be involved in the programmes of afforestation. The government has to make concrete plans to afforestate and reforestate the barren and open lands to preserve the ecology and environment.

Air Services in Nepal

Nepal is landlocked and mountainous country. Air services are very important here. Air services play the prime role in the field of tourism in Nepal. Development of the country is also based on air facilities in Nepal.

The first airlines in Nepal is R.N.A.C. which stands for Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation. It was established on July 1, 1958. Since then, it has been providing air services reguraly. Nowadays, there are many other private airlines working in Nepal. They were established after the implementation of Multiparty democracy in 2046 B.S. All the airlines are providing air facilities R.N.A.C. has its both national (domestic) and international flights, but all the private airlines have only domestic flights. They are only profit making airlines; but R.N.A.C. prefers providing services to profit making.

Airlines have been playing important roles to carry and people from one place to another quickly and easily. Many remote regions are connected with towns by airlines. These regions totally depend on air services to supply daily needs textbooks, medicines and so on. Most of the tourist sectors are situated in remote regions. Tourists want to visit these places. They go there by planes or helicopters. If we provide adequate air facilities to the tourists, tourism will be promoted. Tourism is one of the main sectors to earn foreign currency. Air services have also made Nepal known to most of the parts of the world. Simarly, air services have strengthened national unity by bringing different parts of country together. They also help us in reducing the problem of unemployment. Many youths have been employed in airlines and other offices belonging to tourism. Because of the abovementioned contributions of the air services, they are of great significance in Nepal.

Despote the facilities and contribution of airlines, the poor of Nepal cannot get benefit from these services. The poor fare of planes and helicopters is really expensive. the poor cannot afford them. The government should give high priority to provide air facilities to all the people of the remote aresas which depend on air facilities.

The Himalayas of Nepal

Nepal is a Himalayan country. The Himalayas are in the north. They extend from the east to the west. About foutry percent of the total land is in the Himalayas. The higher Himalayas are covered with snow. In sanskrit, Himalayas means the abode of snow. That is why they are called Himalayas. Most of the highest peaks in the world are in the Himalayas. Mt. Everest, which is the highest peak in the world, lies in the Himalayas.


There is no human settlement is in the higher Himalayas. People live in the lower Himalayas. These places are thinly populated. These places are forested. There are different kinds of soft trees in this region. Rhododendron, the national flower of Nepal is here. People are mostly farmers. The rare animals like goats, sheeps and yak are found here.

The Himalayas have adverse effect for the development of the country. These places are not suitable for cultivation. That is why, the large part of the country is useless. These places are inaccessible. There is no facility of transport. Life is difficult here.

However the Himalayas have some adventages too. They protect us from enemy. They work as a boarder line between Nepal and China. A huge amount of money is saved which we had to spend for making boarder line if there had been no Himalayas. They also protect us from the cold winds blowing from central Asia. They stop vapour blowing from the bay of Bangal and cause rain. The origin of rivers are the Himalayas. The rivers are full of water all the years round. They are useful for many purposes like irrigation, electricity. The climate is good. Foreigners are attracted with the scene of Himalayas. The tourist trade is developing. We can earn a lot of foreign currency from the tourists. There are mines, trees, medicinal herb in the slopes of the lower Himalayas.

Although the Himalayas are obstacle for development, they has many adventages have Nepal is introduced all over the world because of the presence of the Himalayas. We feel proud of being the brave of Nepal, the land of the Himalayas.

Traveling in Nepal

Until the advent of democracy in 2007 Bikram era Nepal was a very background country. There did not use to be any motorable roads in any part of the country. Neither were there any mechinical modes of travelling except for a few in the Kathmandu va

lley. People in those days, therefore, had to walk from one place to another. It was very tiring and troublesome for them to go on long journeys. Next to legs they used some animals as their means of travelling. Only the rich could use the horse, the elephant and carts for travelling. At that time travelling on foot or on a horseback might mean to be on the verge of danger. Often such a traveller could have been robbed of his valuables while travelling through a dense jungle.
But things have changed now due to the use of the inventions of transport engineering, an applied science which has a practical use. Today horses and carts have lost

their importance in the developed areas of Nepal. Now we can travel even long distances by bus, by car or by plane. The holy town of Janakpur is connected with Jayanagar by a railway of thirty kilometers. We can reach the temple of Manaksmana by cable car today. In a mountainous country like Nepal road building is not only slow but also expensive. So the pony and yak are useful means of transport in the mountainous areas.

The Tihar Festival

Nepal is only Hindu country in the world. We observe several festivals throughout the year. Dashain is the most important of them. Right in a fortnight after Dashain the festival of Tihar or Dipawali takes place. It is celebrated in the month of October.

This festival is knoen as 'Panchak' also as it lasts for five days. Children as well as the youth rejoice with fireworks or firecrackers in the evenings. On Laxmi Puja evening rows of burning candles at every house catch our eyes. Hence, Tihar is called the festivalof light as well. Each day of the 'Panchak' has its own siginificance.

During the festival we worship the 'crow' the animal 'dog' and the 'ox' and the 'coe' for their special service to us. On the
fifth day sisters worship their brothers putting colourful 'Teekas' on their foreheads and floral garlands around their necks. This is called the 'Brother's Day' ot 'Bhai Teeka'. This festival strengthens the holy relationship betwee brothers and sisters.

The Dashain Festival

We celebrate several festivals throughout the year. most of the people in Nepal are Hindus. So the festivals of Hindus are predomiant all over the country. Because of religious harmony, people belonging to other religious beliefs also equally celebrate their festivals here. It is possible only because of the broder outlook of the Hindus and their scriptures. The Dashain festival is the greatest festival of Hindus. It generally takes place in the month of September. This festival is observed for ten days.

We worship many gods and goddesses. One of them is goddess Durga. She is believed to be the goddess of power and justice. During the festival people worship and pray to her for power and prosperity. According to the legend, Durga kikked a wicked and powerful monster called 'Mahisasur'. People sacrifice goats, ducks and buffaloes and offer flowers in her mighty name. The tenth day is the most important day of this festival. It is known as 'Teeka' or 'Vijaya Dashami'. On this day the junier take red 'Teeka' on the forehead as blessings from the senior, Greetings are exchanged. The death of the great demon symbolies the victory of divine power over the devil one.

We should learn from this festival that spiritual devotion alone can cast aside all the evil thoughts within us. In the name of festivals we should not spend so lavishly that we can never pay back our loans.