Full Coverage: Nepal

31.05.2006 Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) Child Health Division released a five-year action plan aimed at checking the incidence of anaemia among women and children.

31.05.2006 Every year, 15,000 Nepalis die due to tobacco consumption and smoking.

30.05.2006 Nepal's Hindu majority is denouncing the recent move to end the country's long-time status as the world's only Hindu state, says Bikash Sangraula.

30.05.2006 In the village of Methinkot in Nepal, para-legal committees have been able to raise awareness on a wide range of women's issues. "Women are coming to us for solutions," says 34-year-old Chandra Khanel, one of 15 PLC members here.

27.05.2006 Most government programmes fail despite heavy investment, thanks to the hasty decisions made in introducing new programmes. Similar is the case of Inclusive Education (IE) classes in Dadeldhura district meant to provide education to the disadvantaged groups and disabled children.

26.05.2006 Breaking the cycle of hunger and poverty in Nepal and meeting the goal of halving the number of chronically under-nourished by 2015 seems an elusive task, said Jean Pierre de Margerie, representative of the World Food Programme Nepal (WFPN), at a press meet organised in Lalitpur today.

25.05.2006 “Of the 125,000 in the original Nepal program, the number of women who can read and write has tripled, their savings have more than doubled, the number of women with businesses has quadrupled, and their total business revenues have increased eightfold.” said Malcolm (Mac) Odell as he recounted his experience with a micro-finance program in Asia and Africa called WORTH. Frances Moore Lappé reports.

24.05.2006 MPs in Nepal have unanimously approved a landmark plan to drastically curtail the powers of King Gyanendra, including stripping him of control of the army.

24.05.2006 A project that is bringing clean, efficient energy to rural communities in Nepal received a major boost this month in the form of a deal that rewards it for reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

23.05.2006 Ten of Nepal's 75 districts are affected by the drought, which is following the driest winter on record in the region, among the poorest parts of this badly impoverished country. The United Nations World Food Programme is planning its first ever emergency food operation in Nepal to counter this.

23.05.2006 The three-month plan, likely to be approved at the Rome headquarters of the U.N. agency this week, envisions 3,800 tonnes of rice and flour being delivered to the region by trucks, mules and porters, WFP deputy country director Jean-Pierre de Margerie told IPS.

23.05.2006 Nepal's new government and the Maoists - who have been waging an armed rebellion against the state for the past decade - are preparing to hold peace talks soon, senior government officials said in Kathmandu on May 22, 2006.

22.05.2006 Many human rights' failings in South Asia stem from the failure to create modern police forces capable of carrying out investigations into crimes without relying on forced confessions, an Asian rights group said in a statement welcoming Nepal's "historic victory" in the struggle to create a democratic state.
* OneWorld UK Guide to Nepal

19.05.2006 Thursday may have marked the end for the world's only Hindu kingdom as Nepal's parliament passed a sweeping resolution to strip the palace of its powers, wrest control of the Army, and declare Nepal a secular nation.

16.05.2006 A Nepali recently summed up the role of women in the country. “There are three factions in the Nepali political system – the King, the political parties and the Maoists. Women in the royal ministry are mere figureheads along with ethnics and minorities; in the Maoist groups they are fighters and informers; in political parties, women are workers, and they participate in demonstrations and rallies.” In an effort to reflect the voice of women in Nepal in this historic time, Geetha N Bhardwaj of OneWorld South Asia conducted an online interview with Shoba Gautam, Director of the Institute of Human Rights Communication, Nepal (IHRICON).

11.05.2006 Small rural communities in Nepal will reap the benefits of the carbon market as the World Bank promotes the use of biogas as a commercially viable industry. This is the first greenhouse gas emission (GHG) reductions project in Nepal under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol.

10.05.2006 All five members of the National Women’s Commission (NWC) working committee and the commission’s secretary stepped down from their posts on May 4 2006, after only 49 days in the job.

10.05.2006 Nepalin uusi monipuoluehallitus pyyhki tiistaina yli useita kuninkaallisia määräyksiä. Poistettuihin säännöstöihin kuuluivat muun muassa kuninkaan vaatimukset median vapauden rajoittamiseksi. Kuningas Gyanedran kausi Nepalin itsevaltiaana päättyi huhtikuussa.

10.05.2006 Meet Bhagwati, the child of a day laborer in rural Nepal. A new program to train health workers on neonatal health problems probably saved her life.

09.05.2006 A senior UN official has begun talks with senior Nepalese officials to explore a possible UN role in the country's proposed peace process.