24 October 2017

Traffic Police of Kathmandu

Traffic police in Kathmandu are continuously exposed to air pollution and are at an increased health risk. More than 90% of the traffic police mentioned that difficulty in breathing was a major sign and symptom when they get respiratory problems. Among the ways, the use of mask and regular health checkup can prevent the effects of air pollution. The majority of the traffic police used masks during duty hours and had rotation in duty areas in order to prevent respiratory problems.
The level of knowledge among the traffic police is adequate, but the level of practice on prevention of respiratory health problems is not satisfactory. Association of level of practice was observed with working experience but not with education of the traffic police in Kathmandu. It is the responsibility of the government and concerned authorities to deal with the issues and derive effective and sustainable solutions to ensure better health of traffic police in the city. (Source:https://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2015/716257)


17 July 2017

Clear conscience wards off social evils

 July 11, 2017 08:56 AM Pramod Bhattarai In Republica 
One of the major social problems in Nepal is domestic violence. The main reasons for domestic violence are the use of alcohol and drugs. Intoxicants as such distort our feelings, conscience and activities. They make our nerves weaker, resulting in diseases like high blood pressure and tuberculosis. Substance abuse also results in family conflict and animosity among friends. To prevent this, guardians should be psychologically attentive towards their kids from an early age.  
Girl trafficking has been another pertaining problem in our society. Many girls in rural areas are sold by their own family for economic prosperity. This happens mostly in families with poor financial status and due to lack of awareness. In order to discourage such activities, campaigns against girls trafficking should be intensified. For this, guardian’s supervision, formal and informal education as well as employment-based education should be promoted.
Another problem in our society is that people tend to become extravagant during occasions such as marriage and threading ceremony just for show-off. Attending fairs, picnic and festivals is also an unnecessary show of wealth. Such tendencies should be discouraged. There should be a policy for spending within the limits of one’s earnings.
Similarly, the existence of discrimination against women in today’s world is a pitiful condition. Despite the fact that more than half of the world population is women, they are unfortunately suffering from various types of torture and suppression. Philosopher Aristotle said, “The progress of a nation virtually depends on the progress of women.” Education should be taken as the main resource to solve gender biasness.

24 May 2017

Sustainable Tourism Challenges

In 2017, the theme is "Cultural Heritage & Sustainable Tourism", chosen in relation to the United Nations International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.


Tourism definitions place cultural tourism with q boarder frame work of tourism and tourism management theory. Cultural tourism, for example, is recognized as a form of special interest tourism, where culture forms the basis of either attracting tourists or motivating people to travel.

On April 25th 2015 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal. Many of the Kathmandu Valley's historic monuments, buildings and temples were either completely destroyed. Many of the temples destroyed or badly damaged in Kathmandu city were located in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan Durbar Square.

The government has developed a plan of action for reconstruction of all archaeological and cultural heritage site, including the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Kathmandu Valley, across the country.

Few weeks before we remembered second anniversary of that tragic day. But there are not any changes (reconstruction and restoration) of these heritage. The damage to cultural heritage in Nepal as a result of the earthquake shows how important it is to build inventories and document historic buildings and their contents.  Many donor agencies, archaeologists, engineers and other organizations are contributed their financial and physical resources for re-construction and restoration of damaged heritage but nothing change.

The Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report has urged the government to announce 2017 and 2018 as Visit Nepal Year to assure visitors that reconstruction and rehabilitation will be completed by then. The report said that initially there was a need to re-build and re-brand the image of tourism, and significant efforts and resources would be required to do this.

Heritage and tourism sectors are challenges that are likely to arise during the rebuilding of communities including the inherent dichotomy in balancing the requirements prescribed by heritage legislation for the rebuilding of homes, gentrification caused by tourism, lack of basic infrastructure and safety, and the increasing commercialization/commodification of these areas due to tourism. Like in other parts of the world, tourism has been a driver for increased economic activity.

The contribution of foreign tourism sector in the national development of Nepal has been quite significant. However Nepalese tourism sector has not been developed as expected. In the scenario of low productive in agriculture sector, the condition of having no abundant resources for industrial development, tourism can be a high productive sector to compensate the unemployment and disguised unemployment prevailing in the country.

In 2017 we are celebrating World Heritage Day with the theme of "Cultural Heritage & Sustainable Tourism". The heritage are the major attraction for development tourism. In the current situation what type of feeling and impression for tourists that is challenging for Nepal to meet sustainable development goal of tourism sector.

 (A version of this article appears in print on June 10, 2017 of My Republica by Pramod Bhattarai)
  

02 May 2017

24 April 2017

13 April 2017

Behind the White Cane

41 years old Maya Khadka of Doti who is “Blind Single-Women” doing hard labor to collect money for the treatment of her 14 years old son with the support of 6 years old younger daughter.

12 April 2017

Human Right and Bridge

Human rights are moral principles or norms, which describe certain standards of human behavior, and are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and law.
There are many components of rights among them infrastructure development is also the basic right of people. Roads and bridges are directly related with the entire human beings. Like other rights these infrastructure also play essential and vital role in daily life. These two major component of infrastructure belongs to access. So, we can say access is also the fundamental right of human being.
Access; the way, the medium to connect two and more places via vehicles or walking. Roads and bridges help people easy access to reach major utilities.  Basically, bridge connects two places and support to increase mobility.

11 April 2017

Gender, Economic Activity and Equality

The relationship between economic empowerment, often discussed in relation to employment and income, and gender equality is not straightforward. Increased access to employment and income for women does not readily translate into an improved status or bargaining power for women. Although involvement in economic activity is a necessary condition for the attainment of gender equality in the economic sphere, it is in itself not sufficient, partly because not all economic activity is empowering, and partly because additional measures are required to promote gender equality in other spheres (legal, political etc.).
The pursuit of gender equality is bound to be a complex process since inequality is multi-causal phenomenon, linked to the intra-household decision-making processes and influenced by both market signals and institutional norms. Whilst access to economic activity is important in this pursuit, the key concern which drives this review is to identify what forms of economic activity most enhance women's position and under what terms and conditions.
Gender equality is a multi-faceted concept which implies equality of opportunities in the legal, political, social and economic dimensions as well as equality in personal relationships between men and women. More precisely, economic equality will exist only when employment opportunities and outcomes, earnings and returns to labour are equal by gender, whether in the formal or informal sector and all across types of economic activity. Gender equality in an economic sense requires equal access to resources (credit, market opportunities, education etc.) and equal engagement in all aspects of the economic activity. It is only when the conditions and terms of the economic activity are the same for both men and women that the returns generated are equal.
The economic dimension is central to achieving gender equality overall. Without economic equality women will always have an incentive to buy into the 'patriarchal bargain'. As long as women are relatively disadvantaged in economic terms they will continue to be drawn into partnerships with men who earn more and have more resources in exchange for the provision of services within the household.
As a result, women are often perceived as secondary members of the household with consequences for women's bargaining power in wider political and legal contexts. Patriarchal partnerships also limit women's opportunities to secure employment and a livelihood in the short and long term, creating a vicious circle. There are repercussions in terms of the investments made for boys and girls which carry through into social ranking and political participation in later life and determine the life chances of individuals, particularly in terms of earning capacities and access to resources. For instance, families often prefer to invest in education for boys because the perceived returns from their market activity are higher than those for girls.

 (A version of this article appears in print on June 17, 2017 of My Republica by Pramod Bhattarai)

06 April 2017

You and Me

How I started to talk with you?
It’s a question itself
I don’t need answer now,
Because you are with me

You are with me when I’m in depress mood,
And when I feel alone
You’re with me, when I want to drink coffee
And eat veg-items though
So, I don’t need answer
Because you are with me

You’re with me when you feel depress,
And feel lonely and
You’re with me when you want to share
Everything you desire
Therefore, I don’t need answer
Because you are with me

Iced Americano and Espresso,
Are the best choice
Like the taste of coffee
We have a deep relation of friendship
With the positive thinking
We trust blindly
Yes, I don’t need answer
Because you are with me

You are my best and yours too,
We always have fun time
With the hope of forever and
Superlative relation in entire life,
Finally, I don’t need any answer
Because you are with me

11 February 2017

01 February 2017

Invest in education

The incidence of child labour in Nepal is high compared with other countries in South Asia. According to data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and other national surveys, Nepal has 34% of its children between the ages of 5 and 14 who are involved in child labour, compared with 12% in the South Asia region as a whole.
Nepal’s poor economic status contributes to the high rate of child labor and poverty. When families are faced with monetary hardships, they are often forced to send their children to work, sometimes in extremely hazardous conditions.
One of the most effective ways to combat child labor is to change misunderstanding from within. This can only be done through education. Education acts not only as a way develop the minds of children, but also as a foundation for social change.
Education can transform a child’s life. Going to school opens up new avenues and opportunities with child learning to think, explore, discover, question and acquire knowledge.
Only if all working children are in school can equity and justice be ensured, further deepening the foundation of our democracy. We must create a social trust and faith in the poor, to stand by them, and celebrate their victories for having taken the right decision to send their children to schools instead of work.
The education of a child should not be hindered by a family’s income. Moreover, schools should be tailored to accommodate the needs of all the children. Various types of schooling, such as formal, informal, non-formal, vocational, semi-vocational or pre-vocational education could be introduced.
Child workers are not the only ones who need to be educated. Parents must also be aware of the dangers of child labor, the devastating effects working may have on their children and on the larger society, and most importantly, their feasible options (education, government programs, etc.).
There is no better investment for a society than education. Educating children today has a lifelong impact on their health, nutrition, employment and growth. Most fundamentally, education is a basic human right to be addressed.
Every census shows staggering figures of children engaged in labour across the country. In fact, we see this being directly proportional to the increasing poverty in the country.
(A version of this article appears in print on February 01, 2017 of The Himalayan Times by Pramod Bhattarai)

30 January 2017

28 January 2017

TYPES OF TOURISM

Anyone who spends at least one night away from home (normal place of living) is regarded as a tourist, no matter what the purpose of visit is. In other words tourists are temporary visitors who do the act of tour and the purpose of travel is leisure and pleasure. The origin of the word tourist is dated back to the year 1292 A.D., which was derived from the Latin word ‘tornus’ which means a tools for describing the circle.

According to the oxford dictionary, the word tourist was used as early as 1800 A.D. The most widely accepted and technical definition of a tourist was proposed by international union of official travel organization (IUOTO). In 1963 A.D. and approved by world tourism organization (WTO) in 1968 A.D. , it states that tourists are temporary visitors staying at least for 24 hours in the country visited and the purpose of visit can be classified under one of the following headings:

1)      By product
-          Mass tourism
-          Alternative

2)      By the nature of activity
-          Active
-          Passive

3)      By the nature of activity
-          Rural
-          City
-          Mountains
-          Lakes

4)   Duration of trip
      -     Day trip-Local
      -     Weekend break-National
      -     Annual holiday-International

5)   By age/ socio economic
      -      Backpackers (FIT- free independent tourist)
      -      DINKS (Double income no kids)
      -      SINKS (Single income no kids)

Stanley Plog’s (1972) psychographic research applied to the tourism industry has identified two diametrically opposite groups i.e. the Allocentric traveler and Psycocentric traveler based on the ground personality type. The Allocentric discovers new destination by word of mouth from other Allocentric and usually technical sources. The Allocentric group does not constitute a significant or profitable market segment. Although an Allocentric will devote considerable time and money to discretionary travel, the majority of his expenditures are for transportation to and from the destination.
The near Allocentric represents the first market segment capable of being attracted to a planned tourism development. The near Allocentric region will have a culture and a climate different from those of the visitor’s home. The built environment in near Allocentric destination should contain accommodation and food service facilities of excellent quality. Mid centric are far more conservative than near Allocentric contemporaries. They have a high need for security and approved and will not visit any new destination until it is fully accepted by the near Allocentric market. A mid centric tourist selects a destination with a markedly different climate and some minor cultural differences but in all other aspects quite similar to his own.

1.      Allocentric:

-          Willing to explore new society, culture, climate
-          Bear high risk and heavily avoid the highly developed area
-          Covers small part so don’t contribute for market
-          Involve in adventurous activities and adopt change situation
-          Open to itenary (routine) and don’t extend their duration

2.      Psycocentric:

-          Never bear risk by themselves
-          Bear risk on the activities only after done by Allocentric tourist
-          Open and extend their duration
-          Don’t contribute for the market development
-          Explore developed destination
-          Show common activities
-          Plan focused, flexible travel duration
-          Believe on chain market (e.g. Mc Donald)

3.      Midcentric:

-          Possess the characteristics of both Allocentric and Psycocentric
-          Sometimes avoid risk and sometimes not
-          Covers high part and contribute for market development
-          Fixed travel plan

Other types of tourist:

Ø  Cultural tourist: interested about culture and explore them
Ø  Leisure tourist: recreational, holiday, health, study, religion, sports etc.
Ø  Business tourist: special mission, meetings, seminars, conference, workshops etc.
Ø  Elite tourist: interested in history and explore historical heritages
Ø  Ecological tourist: interested in nature and explore natural heritages
Ø  Farm based tourist: rural tourist and explore rural area
Ø  Family visit: local tourist and visit families

            There are no definite rules for the division of tourists. Different scholars’ has divided tourists under different headings. There are not any hard and fast rules regarding the classification of tourist. Researchers had categorize according to the age group, tour type, size of a group, economic purpose of visit and the duration of stay etc. Different authors, scholars or tourism experts have expressed their views and opinions very differently regarding the tourism typology. Instead of this the world tourism organization (WTO) has divided tourist into the following categories:

1.      Leisure tourist: tourist traveling for utilizing their leisure time on pleasure
2.      Recreational tourist: tourist traveling for recreational or pleasure and entertainment
3.      Holiday tourist: tourist traveling for utilizing holidays.
4.      Study tourist: educational tours, traveling for study purpose
5.      Special mission tourist: tourist traveling to the special missions likes shopping, meetings, seminars, workshops etc.
6.      Pilgrimage tourist: tourists traveling for religious purpose.
7.      VFR tourist: tourist traveling for visiting friends and relatives.

            Tourist typology can be grouped into general categories i.e. interactional type and cognitive normative model. The first one emphasizes the manner of interaction between visitors and destination areas where as the cognitive normative models stress the motivation behind travel. On the other hand Valene Smith in 1989 has identified 7 types of tourists which can be listed as below:
1.      Explorer: They travel in a limited number looking for discoveries of new places and involvement with the local people. They easily accommodate to local norms in housing, food and lifestyle of the local people.

2.      Elite: These types of tourist usually travel for pleasure and entertainment. They are individually motivated tourist. They are consul with the culture of natives and their interest is to see their life style of the local people.

3.      Off beat: They desire to go away from the crowds and heighten the excitement of their vacation by doing something beyond the norms. These types of tourists include those who currently visit Toraja regency to see the funerals, trek on Nepal to go alone in point hope as part of an Alaskan tour.

4.      Unusual: They do not want to follow the recognized destinations. Their objectives of making tour are to make more risks. They are more adventurous. They visit with peculiar objectives such as physical danger or isolation. These groups tend to be interested in the primitive culture but are much happier with the safe box lunch and bottled soda rather than a native feast.

5.      Incipient mass: These are the individuals from a small organized group and make tour using some share services. Such types of tourists prefer going together and paying separate.

6.      Mass tourist: They are individuals from a big group which may include a package tour to overseas. Economically they are categorizing as middle class tourists. There is a continuous influx of visitors who inundate Hawaii most of the year, and other areas at least seasonally including European resorts and northern hemisphere winter vacation land such as coastal Mexico and the Caribbean.
7.      Chattered mass: This type of tourist comprises a mass travel to relocation destination, which incorporate many standardized western facilities as far as possible.  These types of tourists arrive on mass as in Waikiki and for every 747 planeload, there is a fleet of at least ten big buses waiting to transfer them from the airport to the designated hotel in the lobby of which is a special tour desk to provide itineraries cared other group services.

            According to V.L. Smith, tourism typology may be as follows:
1.      Ethnic tourism:
            In this type of tourism, tourists mostly take interest to visit the independent ethnic groups of different parts of the world. The purpose of visit is to learn particular way of living or lifestyle of primitive people. The nature of visit is learning. The tourist will stay in native houses and take their food. There is a frequent interaction between the tourist and local community.

2.      Cultural tourism:
            In this type of tourism, tourists see day to day behavior of the local community. Tourists are not encouraged to interact with locals and interpreter or guide is used so that host behavior might not be changed. Accommodation units are built outside the village as cultural group.

3.      Historical tourism:
            The purpose of visit in this type of tourism is to know and study about the glories of past. So tourists do visit to various archaeological sites and historical sites museums etc. like Kathmandu durbar square, Patan durbar square, pyramid in Egypt.

4.      Environmental tourism:
            In this type of tourism, tourists are motivated to visit or travel exotic/ exciting places so that they can see appreciate, enjoy man land relationship. It may also include some negative impacts. So prior due consideration and proper management need to be carried out.

5.      Recreational tourism:
                        In this type of tourism, tourists specially visit to those places where they can enjoy casinos, sea beaches and other places for pleasure and entertainment. Such tourists usually prefer their own cuisine or national food. The purpose of visit is to get more relaxation and recreation rather than adventure. E.g. casino of Las Vegas, Esselworld etc.

27 January 2017

NATURE OF TOURISM

Tourist generating areas are the homes of tourists where journey begin and end. The key issues to examine in tourist – generation areas are the features which stimulate demand for tourism and will include the geographical location of an area as well as its socio economic and demographic characteristics.

            According to Jina (1994), there are three important resources which attract the tourists in the destination country. The resources are as follows:
1.      Resources of hydrosphere
2.      Resources of lithosphere
3.      Resources of anthrop sphere

1.      Resources of hydrosphere:
            It constitutes all those attractions which are related to water or different forms of water such as snow and ice, minerals or thermal water. Apart from this, it also includes lakes, rivers, and those sites which are connected with water or its surrounding flora and fauna. Today resources of hydrosphere are considerably affected by tourism.

2.      Resources of lithosphere:
            It constitutes those attractions which are found on surface, whether they are prominently visible valleys, mountains, rivers etc. or leas visible dark covers, picturesque gorges etc.
3.      Resources of anthrop sphere:
            It represents present and past civilization. Under the past civilization, it may constitute monuments, ruins etc. They may speak of people and their activities such as folklore, handicrafts, festivals, customs, music etc. In case of modern activity these may represents technological innovation.

            Gilbert (1990) provides a classification of the main types of activities which the tourist may demand of a destination area which is given below communing with nature demand for open areas, party, commons, ramblings walking etc:
Attractions: visiting zoos, safari parks, wax work, theme parks etc.

Heritage: visiting castles stately homes, museums, ancient monuments, religious                           sites, galleries and battlefields.

Sport activity: taking part in or watching various forms of indoor or outdoor sport including those of a specifically rural or urban nature. These would include ten pin bowling, fishing, sailing, golf, shooting, swimming.

Entertainments: other than sport, this would include visits to the cinema, theatre, bass, concerts, discos, restaurants etc.

Relaxation: sunbathing, resting, reading etc.

Health: taking health care treatment, saunas, massage, and therapy includes moral health such as religion and pilgrimage etc.

Shopping: browsing souvenir or antique hunting, special purchase trips for new outfits, gifts, new high cost equipment etc.

Business activities: meeting, conferences, exhibition etc.

            Tourism is now one of the world’s major industries and continuous to expand. It can be viewed in terms of demands and supply – demand by the tourists and supply of the attraction, facilities and services, transportation, promotion and information. Tourism development brings benefits i.e. new business and jobs, additional income, new technologies, greater environmental and cultural awareness and protection, improved infrastructure and if carefully planned and controlled improved land use patterns.

            Tourism is not necessarily desirable or feasible for every place. Each community should examine whether there are potentials, tourist markets can be attracted to the community, whether it needs tourism to search economic development objectives. Tourist destination areas for tourists to stay temporarily will have features which may not be found in the generating areas. The tourist industry located in this area will comprise the accommodation retailing and service function, entertainment, recreation etc. Tourist flows are a form of spatial interaction between two areas with the destination area.


# NATURE OF TOURISM:
            The tourism product and the market basically depend upon the following features and natures:
1.      Intangibility:
Tourism product is a non material product and it is intangible in nature. Unlike other tangible material or products, tourism products and services cannot be seen and touched. We can just feel the tourism products only. Guest cannot touch and see the hospitality experiences before taking the benefit of it. E.g. the level of services provided by the waiter in a restaurant to the customer cannot be seen or measure. They can just be felt.

2.      Instability:
The market and the demand of tourism product are highly unstable and are easily influenced by person, seasons, weather, economic and political conditions and social factors.

3.      Perishability:
            Unlike the other goods, tourism products and services has no self life span. It cannot be stockpiled to sell later due to its perishable nature. For e.g. unused guestroom in a hotel, empty restaurant seats, empty airlines seats etc. represents the business loss forever.

4.      Insecurability:
            The production and consumption of tourism products should be done at a time. Basically tourist needs to go to desired place or destination to consume the actual tourist product which cannot be transferable and separable.

5.      Inconsistency:
            The services, amenities, attractions provided to the tourists will be different from person to person and place to place. There is much variability on maintaining a consistence level of service which is really challenging.

6.      Composite product:
            Tourism products are resembled by many products. These services and products are however merging to make a final tourism product by the joined efforts of many organizations. Therefore it is an amalgam of many components produced or offered by various enterprises.

7.      Intermediaries dominance:
            There is a dominant role of middleman tourism in tourism industry. Tourism market is dominated or influenced by travel agency, tours operators who often influence the guest in determining choices also.

8.      Heterogeneous motivation:
            Identifying the exact motivational factor of a tourist is really changing and quiet impossible. They do have different desire, motivations and willingness created by different factors, products and services of tourism.
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