A social evil of our society- Child labor

 The wealth of a nation is not so much in its of economical and natural resources but it lies more decidedly in the kind and quality of the wealth of its children and youth. It is they who will be the creators and shapers of a nations tomorrow. Nevertheless, millions of children between the ages of 5 and 17 in Nepal are deprived of their right to quality education , food and health services.

In many rural areas of Nepal, many children especially from indigenous communities , leave school to work. They are a cheap source of manpower. Some of them are being trafficked to India to employ them in circus and restaurants. Families living below the poverty line are forced to do the dangerous work to their children to maintain their homes. Many of them suffer from exploitation . Children’s are compelled to work to add a few more rupees to the meager income of the family. 

Illiteracy is another reason of child labor .Uneducated parents do not know the necessity of education and do not send their children to school regularly. There are other various reason for child labor they are Superstition, caste discrimination, inadequate education, and lack of awareness of society and parents , etc.

There were some of the news articles that were published on newspapers they are:

1. Published on April 30, 2021( The Himalayan Times)

1.1 million child laborers in the country. 3.3 percent of child laborers in urban areas involved in hazardous work. 

Despite gradual progress in reducing child labor, more than 15 percent of children in the country are still engaged in labor activities.

2. Published on  Feb 20, 2022 ( Republica )

Child labor rampant in the brick industry in Tulsipur.

Brick kilns in Tulsipur Sub-metropolis of Dang are found employing child labor .It has been found that there are around 350 child laborers working in the brick industries within the sub metropolis.

To sum up, child labor is a heinous crime. It hinders holistic development of the children. To eliminate child labor in the country mainly two things are required which are education and ample opportunities of employment. 

 

25 Inspirational quotes about life

 " Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to other, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can."

                                                                                            - Dalai Lama

 1. "If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavour."  - Eleanor Roosevelt

2. "Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced." -Soren Kierkegaard 

 3."I like criticism . It makes you strong."  - LeBron James

4. " Life for each second without hesitation." -Elton John

5. " Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated." -Confucius 

6. " Keep smiling, because life is a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about." 

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　- Marilyn Monroe

7. "Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be."  

                                                            -Grandma Moses

8. “Life is short it is up to you to make sweet”.  

                                                  Sarah louise

9. “Life is short spend it with people who make you laugh and feel loved.”

10. “There is nothing impossible to they who will try”

                                            Alexender the Great

11. “You define your own life . Don’t let other people write your script.”

                            -Oprah Winfrey

12. “What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.”

                                 -  Gabriel Garcia Marquez

13. “Hold fast to dreams, for it dreams die, life is broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”

                                        -langston Hughes

14. “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for strength to endure a difficult one.”

                                         -Bruce Lee

15. “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” 

                                            - George Bernard Shaw

16. “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

                                                 - Buddha 

17. “You are only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”

                                                 - Walter Hagen

18. “Three things cannot be long hidden: The Sun, The moon and the truth.”

                                                  - Buddha 

19. “Life is full of beauty. Notice it, notice the bumble bee, the small child and the smiling faces. Smell the rain and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential and fight for your dreams.”

                                                  - Ashley Smith 

20. “Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching and live like heaven on earth."

21. "Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience, this is the ideal life." 

                                                                                                                -Mark Twain

22. "Do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as you can." 

                                                                                                    -Hillary Clinton 

23. "Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in and eventually it'll pay off. it could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off." 

                                                                                                        -     Kevin Hart

24. "Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.”  

                     -Anonymous 

25. “When one door closes, another opens but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we did not see the one that has opened for us.”  

           

       -Alexander Graham Bell 

Nara deer park

Nara park is a unique park where deers and humans can freely interact without barriers of any sort. It covers a big landscape for the deers to roam freely and for humans to enjoy a peaceful and uninterrupted bonding time with nature.

 

A social evil of our society - Domestic violence

     

 It is the violence performed or abuse done on anyone nearby. It is absolutely unacceptable in the society, especially in this day and age, where people are educated and aware about the harm it causes to the society. Domestic violence is one of the social practices which act as an obstacle for peace and development in the society and the world.

       Nepal is a country where a lot of social practices take places. May it be good or bad. Domestic violence still prevails in the some households. Mostly, the cases aren't registered of domestic violence. And most registered cases aren't properly investigated. The victims are left with scars for life. They deal with social anxiety, depression, disfigurement, insomnia, etc. They also suffer from many other things that interrupt them from accomplishing anything. It is a life changing experience for those who suffered. They can become socially awkward for life. 

       The victims are mostly women, especially in remote areas where people ignore it to avoid being involved in other's private matters when actually needed. The victims aren't always women though. Most of the times when the men are the victims, the people tend to not believe in them. Every one should be treated equally. Neither the women nor the men should be superior in the society. We shouldn't use be giving priority to just women during such cases. 

       Most domestic violence is the cause of dowry, disputes, arguments,  superstitions, resentment,  mental issues, phsycopathic symptoms, etc. Out of most cases, women or the wives are the victims and their husbands are the culprits. A lot of children also suffer due to witnessing domestic violence on their mothers. They suffer many problems while growing up, it differs on how they take it in. If a children witnesses severe domestic violence, they might suffer from social anxiety and mental illnesses. If a child interferes the fight, it can cause risk of injury and death. It can cause even a bigger problem if the children do not interfere and regret it later. It causes self resentment and develops to depression. 

 Some known cases in Nepal are:

•A 15 year old girl was forced into child marriage. Later, she had 2 children. Her husband was very violent. He abused her verbally and physically. Her case was reported when she was found fainted by her neighbours. The report says, her husband was angry for unreasonable topics so he poured boiling water on her head. The neighbours called 'The Woman's Foundation Nepal ' (WFN). Her husband was put into custody and now the girl has grown up. She is living a happy and safe life with her children.

(Sources:www.womennepal.org)

    

•Another 15 year old girl was married to a man who was 28 years old. He would torment her physically and verbally gave her mental torture. Her husband had affairs with many ladies half his age. He would even abuse his children if they tried to meddle in the fight. Till this day her husband comes and abuses her and her children. According to the article its still not sure if he got punishment or not. The article is quite old so it's not very sure.

(Sources:www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org)

       A survey was held in Madhesh, Tarai to find the number of wives suffering from domestic violence. Out of 350 women, 137 confessed to have been tortured. The wonen were tormented for various invalid reasons. 11.4% of women were punished for improper care of children. 58% faced torture for going out without telling their husbands. 17% were tortured for arguing their husband and 6.3% faced for burning food. 24.9% faced for not bringing dowry. 4% faced for the above all condition. 3.1% didn't face any form of torture. 

(Sources:www.nepjol.info)

       Many victims suffer not being able to see the face of justice. A lot of cases are unheard of and ignored. We should make the society more aware about it. We can make people aware and spread enlightenment about such matters. We should work forward for the development of human civilization and making the world a better place. 

written by: Shishan Thapa Magar

A social evil of our society- witch hunts

          Our country Nepal had reduced many social evils as it transformed into a democratic country. But still quite a few evils are prevailing in our societies. One of them is witch hunts. 

Witch hunts have been practiced in our society for a very long time. It is the practice of accusing someone as a witch in our society then causing torture to them in form of getting the evil spirit out of their bodies. The witch doctor (priests or shamans) take money from the people that accuse the victim of being a witch, then they do many things to give them pain. The victims are mainly weak, poor, helpless, free-spirited, lower caste,etc. types of women. The victims are beaten, paraded naked, force-fed on human excretion, forced to inhale fumes of burning chillies,etc. The victims can also get killed in the process, burned alive or even beaten to death. The people that accuse someone are mainly after their property or they are blaming them to reduce the pain of losing someone or somebody being sick. The worst treatment is given to widows cause they are suspected to kill their own husbands. They are mainly accused so the other house members can prevent the widow from getting her husband's money. 

         There are hundreds of cases about witch hunts occurring in the neighborhood or somewhere else but, a very few have been investigated and given punishment to the culprits. There are at least a few people among a thousand that believe in witch hunts. Their have been cases reported where high positioned people or a political members were involved in. Those types of cases mainly are closed due to their power. 

         Some cases that we know about are: 

2009- A woman in far western tarai was accused of being a witch. She was dragged from her house then fed on human waste then paraded naked. The news reported was about this case but the police refused to register it and suggested the problem should be solved within the community. 

2010-A dalit 47 years old woman was accused of being a witch and making a school teacher sick. The women was forced to admit that she was a witch. She was fed on human waste and tortured for two days without food in a cowshed. 

2012-A 40 year old widow was burned by a shaman in front of her 9 year old daughter. 8 people were charged of murder of the 40 year old woman, after accusing her of being a  witch and using her powers to keep her relatives sick. 

2013-A 45 year old woman was beaten to death by her neighbors after being accused of being a witch and keeping a girl sick. The police didn't register the case cause it was Saturday. The other day all the culprits fled from the place never to be caught again. 

          There have been many cases till now where the culprits fled from Nepal or the cases are not registered. Our country can be freed from such social evils if we all are educated and taught about the harm it does to us. We can prevent such things to happen in the future if we do the following things:

• Provide education to to people and built a free-public school for poor people.

• Hold meetings and arrange programmes for spreading awareness. 

• Create strict rules for the culprits that commit such crimes. 

          I hope social evils like witch hunts and others don't ever occur in Nepal or any other place.                                                        

Written by:-Shisan Thapa Magar

Tihar

          Tihar is a festival celebrated by mainly hindus. It is also known as deepavali in India. It is mainly celebrated for five days of Mid-november of every year. It's also known as festival of lights. It's celebrated to worship Goddess Laxmi ( godess of wealth ) and animals like crow, dog, cow, etc. It's a very enjoyable festival to create bonds and re-fresh.

          This festival symbolises the victory of good deeds over the evil deeds. As beliefs, the festival is celebrated to remark  Lord Rama ( King of Ayodhya ) defeating the ill mannered King Rawana. The people of the kingdom Ayodhya then lit up all the places in the kingdom with earthen lamps and made beautiful patterns of colours to celebrate victory. Like the grand welcoming done by the then citizens, we as well celebrate it in a similar way in the modern days. We still make rangolis (colourful patterns),  lit up houses with decorative lights. We also use flower garlands, fireworks, diya and other home decors.

The first day of Tihar-

It's known as kaag tihar. It is the day when we worship crows.

The second day of Tihar-

It's known as kukur tihar. It is the day when we worship dogs.

The third day of Tihar-

It's known as Laxmi puja. This day we we worship Goddess Laxmi and cows. We also make rangolis (colorful patterns) on the ground. Some people like to form groups and perform dances known as dheusi bhailo( performed by men ) and  bhailini(performed by women) at evening time at someone else's place. 

The fourth day of Tihar- 

The fourth day is known as goverdhan puja. It is the day when we worship bulls.

The fifth day of Tihar-

The fifth day is also the last day of Tihar. It is known as Bhai tika. This day siblings or cousins exchange blessings and gifts. They also put multicoloured tika which symbolises love, health and wealth. 

          Even after hundreds of years we still celebrate the victory of Lord Rama. We all still celebrate the festival to keep light within our society and darkness away from us. Tihar has it's own significance in the society as it not only focuses on the Victory of good over evil. It also shows us the importance of animals like: dog, crow, bull, etc. in our life. It helps in socialisation and bonding with friends and families. It is also a great way to clear our minds from our monotonous life.

          Tihar is my favourite festival among all. I really like making rangolis and performing at other places. It is very fun to go around with my friends and families performing, it is cheerful to pass blessings and gifts. The food and fun really makes me happy.

Teej

 Nepal is a multi cultural, multi lingual, multi ethnic and multi religious country. People from different groups and races unite together. People celebrate many festivals here. Teej is one of them.

Teej is a festival celebrated by Hindus mostly. It is celebrated in the month of Bhadra. During this festival, people like to create programs. Some people celebrate at homes and some go to the programs.The festival brings people from different places, castes and religions to have fun, dance and share feelings without differentiating.The festival brings family members closer, strengthens the bonds, etc during this festival. In Teej , a lot of songs especially traditional lok dohoris are omade. Most women’s even like to keep fasts to pray for the well-being and happiness is them and their family members.They most likely are to go temples after fasts. Pashupatinath is a famous temple in Nepal. Teej brings lots of visitors to the temples, especially Pashupatinath. People like to wear nice clothes, have family gathering, eat good food ,talk to each other about wellbeing, dance, etc. During the festival. It brings fun and happiness for everyone. 

This year 2020 the corona virus break out has caused lots of harm.It has kept us locked in our houses. The festival is right around the corner but, no one is allowed to walk around freely.The songs have somehow been released and are still getting released. The programs are all canceled.The women won’t be able to go to the temples after their fasts. Family members away from houses will cause a bit of difference for the family gathering .This years Teej might not be the best one but we have to be happy. We have to respect our god for keeping us healthy, wealthy and happy. We should pray for everyone’s well being.                  

   By-STM