The Politics of Poverty Alleviation in Nepal : Structural Analysis of Socioeconomic Development from the Past Five Decades

As Nepal opened her door for international communities, it emerged from a barter system to global economy. During the last five decades (1950/51 - 2000/01) the country has witnessed different motley politico-economic decision making systems. The initial years in 1950s after emancipation from a very autocratic regime of more than 100 years were a political mess. The second half of 1950s was in the process streamlining, but another unfortunate political incident of 1960 pushed the country in different direction. The socioeconomic development of 1961 to 1990 was very sluggish, regionally biased, and unproductive, which forced the increment of mass poverty level in Nepal. The socioeconomic progress after 1990 seems encouraging but the real achievements have been shadowed by the weakness of politico-economical characters of ruling leaders. In last 50 years, Nepal followed the modernization path and experienced lots of developmental patch-ups, which did not sustain and enhance the productivity at the local level. Rather, the country witnessed a persistent poverty in spite of huge national and international expenses. In order to break the spurring poverty level the village economy needs to be enhanced with equal emphasis on human or social and ecological capitals enrichment activities

Heavy metal content of vegetables irrigated with mixtures of wastewater and sewage sludge in Zimbabwe: Implications for human health

There is growing public concern in Zimbabwe over the illegal cultivation of vegetables on soils amended with sewage sludge or irrigated with admixtures of sewage and sewage sludge. Excessive accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural soils may not only result in environmental contamination, but lead to elevated heavy metal uptake by crops, which may affect food quality and safety. The work reported here studied heavy metal concentrations in crops irrigated with sewage sludge and sewage/sewage sludge admixtures at Firle Municipal Farm in Harare. The crops analysed in this study are heavily contaminated with the four regulated elements Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. This contamination is at its highest in two of the staple dietary crops maize and tsunga. Tsunga leaves contained 3.68 mg kg-1 Cd, over 18 times the permissible level by the EU standards (0.2 mg kg-1); Cu concentrations were 111 mg kg-1, 5 times the EU Standard (20 mg kg-1); concentrations of Pb were 6.77 mg kg-1, over 22 times the permissible levels allowed by both EU standards and UK guidelines (0.3 mg kg-1); Zn concentrations were 221 mg kg-1, over 4 times the guideline value (50 mg kg-1). The other plants (beans, maize, peppers and sugarcane) also contained concentrations of heavy metals above the permissible levels. Furthermore the concentrations observed in this study were higher than those reported by other workers who have examined vegetation from other contaminated sites. This study highlights the potential risks involved in the cultivation and consumption of vegetables on plots irrigated with sewage sludge, a practice which may place at risk the health of the urban population who consume these vegetables

Time Trend of the Suicide Incidence in India: a Statistical Modelling

Background: It is estimated that over 100,000 people die by suicide in India every year. India alone contributes to more than 10% of suicides in the world. The suicide rate in India has been increasing steadily and has reached 11.2 (per 100,000 of population) in 2011 registering 78% increase over the value of 1980 (6.3). Objective: Objective of the study was to forecasts the suicide incidence of India up to 2020. Material and Methods: Theoretical statistics was used for the statistical modelling of the retrospective data of suicide incidence data of 1989-2011 years collected from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Results: Using curve fitting method, Linear, Logarithmic, Inverse, Quadratic, Cubic, Compound, Power and Exponential growth models were validated. Cubic Model was the best fitted model with R2>0.90, p<0.01. Suicide incidence of India has an increasing trend. In 2020, it is estimated that the suicide incidence of India will be 109814 with CI [ 86,593, 133,034] for male, 76224 with CI [55,151, 97,297] for female and 186038 with CI [145,605, 226,471] for total [both male and female]. Conclusion: Suicide incidence of India has an increasing trend. India requires the involvement of all governments and other organizations to contribute to the cause of suicide awareness and prevention through activities, events, conferences and campaigns to solve this public health problem

The Politics of Poverty Alleviation in Nepal: Structural Analysis of Socioeconomic Development from the Past Five Decades

As Nepal opened her door for international communities, it emerged from a barter system to global economy. During the last five decades (1950/51 - 2000/01) the country has witnessed different motley politico-economic decision making systems. The initial years in 1950s after emancipation from a very autocratic regime of more than 100 years were a political mess. The second half of 1950s was in the process streamlining, but another unfortunate political incident of 1960 pushed the country in different direction. The socioeconomic development of 1961 to 1990 was very sluggish, regionally biased, and unproductive, which forced the increment of mass poverty level in Nepal. The socioeconomic progress after 1990 seems encouraging but the real achievements have been shadowed by the weakness of politico-economical characters of ruling leaders. In last 50 years, Nepal followed the modernization path and experienced lots of developmental patch-ups, which did not sustain and enhance the productivity at the local level. Rather, the country witnessed a persistent poverty in spite of huge national and international expenses. In order to break the spurring poverty level the village economy needs to be enhanced with equal emphasis on human or social and ecological capitals enrichment activities