Muktinath (Mustang), March 9, 2006

Across the Himalayan ridge a temple that attracts both Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims is still carrying on a unique tradition of offering girl children to the god. Some 25 women of different age groups are living in the solitary mountainous shrine, committed to serve the shrine for the rest of their lives. The 500-ropani area of the sacred Muktianth, also known as “Chhemighyarcha”, is situated at the height of 3,750 metres, which is at around seven hours’ walking distance from the nearest Jomsom Airport. The hill is unusually green with trees and grasses, though it lies in the middle of a desertlike high altitude topography. The Muktinath temple and surrounding three nunneries are taken care of by the Jhumas, or the Buddhist nuns, offered by the local ethnic communities from surrounding villages of Jharkot, Khingar and Purangm, to serve the temple for the whole of their lives. The age-old tradition of offering Jhuma to the temple has been misunderstood by city-dwellers, according to the locals, who refused to tell anything about the tradition. A 14-year-old girl, Chhunjum, joined the clan of Jhuma three years ago from the neighbouring village of Jharkot and now lives in Sangdo nunnery. “Generally, parents send their second daughters to the temple for learning about Buddhists and also having opportunity of further studies,” she said. She assists elder nuns in daily prayers while the rest of the time she studies about religion.

Employment scheme gets stuck

Kathmandu, March 9, 2006

The foreign employment scheme, initiated by the government targeting the ‘disadvantaged group’ especially youths a year back, has got stuck due to lack of budget and low recovery of loans from job holders. Loans without collaterals were made available by the government to job seekers going to foreign lands under the Youth Self-Employment and Employment Training Programme (YSEETP) through the Ministry of Labour and Transport (MLT). A total of 705 people have gone abroad for jobs in Malaysia and Gulf countries under this scheme. 118 people from conflict-hit section, 251 from Dalit community and 335 from Janjatis and one woman have gone abroad to work, said ministry sources. The lead banker for this foreign employment scheme, as per the understanding with the government, was the Bank of Kathmandu (BoK). BoK and other financial institutions have invested on 555 people from the Dalits, conflict-hit people and Janajatis, said ministry sources. Nabil Bank has given loans to 150 people under the government’s guarantee of Rs 65,000 per person. Under the leadership of BoK, other financial institutions invested their money on foreign employment hoping that foreign job holders will repay the loans along with a good interest which stands at five per cent for a year.