The performance of NAR and the present government will be shown in how effectively the reconstruction and rehabilitation works are executed

The country is now into its tenth month since the major earthquake struck a number of districts of the country, causing a heavy loss of lives and property and other things. And now, the newly constituted National Authority for Reconstruction (NAR) has proposed organizing a second international conference of donors ‘to raise additional funds for reconstruction and rehabilitation works’. The government held an international conference of bilateral and multilateral donors in Kathmandu in June 2015, two months after the devastating earthquake. The donors in all made aid commitments, in loans and grants, amounting to over four billions US dollars for rehabilitation and reconstruction, and the amount of donors’ commitments was reported to go well beyond the government’s expectations. To win donors’ support, the then coalition government had hurriedly issued an ordinance to form NAR. Then, for the major political parties and the government of the day, other things seemed to assume more importance than the need to give NAR a concrete shape to start the reconstruction and rehabilitation works.

Very recently, after a lot of tug of war between the two biggest political parties as to the appointment of CEO of NAR, the post was filled, and it was expected that, though belatedly, the reconstruction work would be taken up with a renewed vigour. But NAR, indeed the government, seems inclined to spend its time rather on the currently meaningless task of holding another international conference. According to NAR acting Secretary Madhu Sudan Adhikari, the idea has been put forward after ministries started demanding more funds than those estimated by the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment after the earthquake. But the idea of seeking more money when NAR has not been able to make projects and programmes for utilising the US$4.11 billion pledged by development partners is not only ill-timed but ill-conceived too. What are required urgently are the concrete plans and effective follow-up with the donors about getting the pledged money. If at a later phase, when the donors’ funds fell short of the needs and when the government had something concrete to show that its request for more money was quite justified, then it could request more, and for that too, probably, another conference would not be needed.

It is strange how this idea occurred to some NAR and government officials. It is surprising how they have come to think that donors will come to their conference with a further bagful of aid commitments while virtually not much has been done, or achieved, on the earlier commitments which account for 61 percent of the country’s total estimated budget — US$6.7 billion — for the earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation. The performance of NAR and the present government will be shown in how effectively the reconstruction and rehabilitation works are executed, not in holding another international jamboree. NAR now has to work at a fast pace to make up for the lost time, as the beginning of the work has been unduly delayed, and this has made the general public as well as the donors unhappy, causing the earthquake victims to continue to live in makeshifts under miserable conditions.

Dreaded cancer

Cancer is one of the leading causes of deaths worldwide. The major causes of the disease are the use of tobacco, alcohol and partaking of unhealthy foodstuffs. Regular exercise and adopting a healthy lifestyle can also help reduce cases of cancer. It is also caused by air pollution which increases the risk of being afflicted by this dreaded disease. Diseases such as HPV and hepatitis B and C viruses are found to be important diseases causing cancer which are preventable. Most forms of cancer can be treated and preventeda if detected early. It is very difficult to cure the disease in the terminal stages.

The World Cancer Day (2016-2018) was observed in Nepal too the other day. Two-thirds of the cancer cases occur in the low and middle income countries. The advanced countries have seen a reduction of cancer cases. Moreover, 50 per cent of the deaths from cancer are preventable. Workers exposed to cancer-causing chemicals should also exercise extra precautions. It is essential to go for regular checkups to detect cancers in the early stages when most of them can be cured.