Whether it’s young & energetic Gaurika Singh or left-arm spin bowler Sandeep Lamichhane, we know why Nepal is known for what it is!

And with strong backbones like the Nepal Sports Council (NSC) and the respective sports bodies toiling hard to promote various sports in Nepal and produce the rarest of the rare, Nepal is slowly becoming Asia’s pride.

Here is a list of sports that set the Nepali hearts racing with passion and determination:

Handball: With indulgence for both men and women, the engaging sport is picking up popularity in Nepal. The Nepal Handball Association (NHA) has been striving to promote the sport in the country since its membership with the International Handball Federation in 1984. The country has made some exceptional performances in the field of handball. Nepal Women’s Handball team were runners-up for the 5^th South Asian Handball Championship 2018. Read More

Cricket: If anything is loved more passionately after football in Nepal, it is cricket! And with the country winning their recent ODI status, the game is a truly loved and looked-up to sport.If the team didn’t surprise you enough, watch closely to see how effortlessly Sandeep Lamichhane beats his opponents, how under Paras Khadka’s able leadership, the country makes its ambush against the enemy and how Dipendra Singh Airee stuns the opposite team with strikingly both batting and bowling skills. Read More

Football: For Nepalis, football is much more than just a sport. The country’s recent achievements at the SAFF U18 and U15, among other championships speak of Nepalese passion and growing enthusiasm for football.

Moreover, All Nepal Football Association’s (ANFA) push for skilled footballers right from the grassroot level is offering an additional boost. With increased awareness on the sport from ANFA’S Education program, the country is sure to produce more and more skilled players. No doubt! Nepal has a promising future for football sport. Read More

The Abode of Talents and Skills
Nepal never ceases to surprise the world with its gifts and talents. Even though it is just one country among the hundreds of nations, it constantly reminds us from time-to-time about its existence and its uniqueness!

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“Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of.” – Bethany Hamilton

On October 11, 2018, the world observed the 6^th International Day of the Girl Child. It is well-known that in many countries across the world, girls are still trying to make their voice heard. Many young girls are not aware of their rights and the potential future they have. They are suppressed by superstition, abused and violence, victims of human trafficking, war victims and so many other ill practices.

An example of such an environment is Nepal. Despite Nepal’s rapid economic progress, Government’s efforts and right activists relentless fight, the country is witness to some inhuman practices conducted against its daughters.

Following are the challenges faced by girls in Nepal:

1) Chaupadi
Chaupadi is an inhuman practice of excluding girls during their menstrual cycles. Girls are refrained from living inside their houses and are supposed to live in huts far away from their home, as they are considered unclean. They are not allowed to take part in family activity or come in contact with any household items, cattle or crops. The practice has been followed since centuries rising from religious belief.

2) Child Marriage
Sad but true, girls are married off at a very young age in Nepal. Despite the ban on the act in 1963, the practice continues to breed in Nepal. Although the number of instances have considerably declined through NGO projects, awareness programs, governmental intervention, societal assistance and individual initiatives, a considerable number of girls are still being forced to marry at a young age. Education and early growth are majorly affected because of this cruel practice. As part of its initiative, the Nepal Government has decided to get completely get rid of the practice by 2030.

3) Violence
As cliché as the term sounds, it is as real as any other crime against young girls. Young girls are illtreated at their homes, schools and other setups they are part of, either because of unrest between parents, gender indifferences, physical, emotional & mental abuse and many other reasons. This leaves a scar on the lives of the victims and hinders their physical and psychological growth.

4) Child Labor
As a matter of fact, child labor is illegal in Nepal. But what is more shocking is that about 1.6 million child laborers are children between the ages of 5-17 years. About three-quarters of them under 14 years and most of them being girls. Acute poverty and natural disasters are what drive these children to look for jobs and be a part of them at such a tender age. These children are mostly involved in carpet, brick and garment works.

5) Human Trafficking
Considered as one of the most gruesome acts, human trafficking sends some chills down victims spines when they come to recollect the harsh memories of their experience. Young girls are trafficked across the border of Nepal to neighboring countries and beyond. The lure of jobs, better living conditions, promise of marriage and several other factors trick these girls into being sold for the wrong reasons. It is saddening to see their lives ruined as sex slaves and forced laborers. Every year, around 1-2 lakh Nepali women or girls are trafficked to Indian brothels at an average selling price of INR 50,000-70,000. Fortunately, vigilante groups have become more strict and are successful in retrieving some of these unfortunate girls.

6) Lack of Education
Gender-inequality and caste discrimination seep through the layers of the Nepali society, making it difficult to remove this social evil in a short period of time. Moreover, illiteracy doesn’t let parents see the prospects of educating their girl child rather get them married and teach them household chores. Some sections of the society are excluded which makes children from these sections unable to pursue educations. But times are changing and NGOs, girl child initiatives and government efforts are bringing education in the reach of all Nepali children.

Many institutes and change initiators are identifying ‘education’ as key factor in creating a developed ecosystem.

These are a few challenges among many others that the girl children of Nepal face.

Nepal For a Girl Child-Friendly Nation
At some point, they were also girls and know how difficult it was to survive in a superstitious and unfriendly environment. But here they are today; well-to-do women initiating change in Nepal and making it a girl-child and women friendly community. Nepal salutes them!

Sangita B K: She is the voice for girls against child marriages. Sangita advocates for them and has managed to win local government support for her cause. She encourages parents to educate and empower their girl children. Her story is one of inspiration and courage.

Sajana Badal: Sajana and her team are using creative ways to empower girl children and one such initiative is Girls Empowered through Travel-Nepal  (GET Nepal). Moreover, the initiative seeks to bridge the gap between rural and urban Nepal.

Nilam Karki Niharika: They say a pen is mightier than a sword and this is the just the case of Nilam Karki Niharika chooses words to move the masses to encourage and empower young women and girls. Her works are proof of this.

Anuradha Koirala: Maiti Nepal is no ordinary institution in Nepal and so is the organization’s head Anuradha Koirala. The defender and champion of human trafficking victims, Aama (as she is fondly called) works to rescue and prevent girls from being taken beyond the borders for sex slavery and other inhuman practices.

With Her: A Skilled GirlForce – A Girl-Empowered World
The UNICEF has dedicated 2018 for the theme With Her: A Skilled GirlForce. The theme seeks to bring together partners & stakeholders to highlight, advocate for investments in girls’ most pressing needs and opportunities to attain skills for employability.

600 million adolescent girls will enter the workforce in the next decade! However, 90 percent of those living in developing countries will work in the informal sector, where jobs are not regulated or protected and where low or no pay, abuse and exploitation are common. Moreover, girls from rural areas and with disabilities have a lesser chance for decent work. The solution?

UNICEF has come up with some guidelines that the global community should adopt to develop 

A Skilled GirlForce:

• Rapidly expand access to inclusive education and training
• Improve the quality and gender-responsiveness of teaching and learning to enable girls to develop foundational, transferable and job-specific skills for life and work
• Create inclusive and accessible schools, training and learning opportunities to empower girls with disabilities
• Change gender stereotypes, social norms and unconscious bias to provide girls with the same learning and career opportunities as boys
• Increase girls’ participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education
• Create initiatives to support girls’ school-to-work transition, such as career guidance, apprenticeships, internships and entrepreneurship
• Deliver large-scale public and private sector programming for girls’ skills and market-adapted training
• Enable access to finance and enterprise development for female entrepreneurs
• Form strategic partnerships with governments and private companies which can act as thought leaders and financiers, helping to train girls and bring them into the workforce
   
  

  Source:NepalInData

 
Conclusion:
Progress is evident, change is happening, but the destination is still far away. Collaborative Initiatives and shared knowledge are key to improving conditions for girl children in Nepal. Let’s make the difference!

Also Read;

• Nepal Ready to Amend Constitution for Girl Child Protection

The post International Day of the Girl Child 2018: A Glance at Nepal appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Durbarmarg’s Naulo restaurant becomes the first restaurant to employ Nepal’s first ‘robot workforce’!

This fine restaurant services its customers with five robots and a digitized menu stationed at every table.

Other than delivering orders, robots like Ginger and Freddy can talk to customers in English. And once the service is taken care of, they return to their charging stations.

What is even more interesting is that the robo technology is a brainchild of Pulchowk-based engineering students and a product of Nepali firm, Paaila Technology.

“Naulo has been open for two weeks but we had been working on creating a prototype for the past two years,” said Binay Raut, CEO, Paaila Technology.

Raut says that Paaila’s team travelled to other countries to research service robots, study their functioning and catch any loopholes, only to create upgraded versions of what already existed.

Talking about the installations at Naulo, Paaila Co-founder Niraj Basnet says, “At the restaurant, we have been able to digitize all customer-facing services, as a everything is more systematic and quick. You can expect food to be on your table within 15 minutes of being seated.”

He also reveals that the robots have been a big hit with diners, especially children.

What’s Next?
Talking about the company’s future plans Basnet says, the company plans to expand its services to the other restaurants in the valley and set up a branch in China, in the future.

We hope that Nepal establishes itself as a leader in technology and creates a league of its own in the competition of world tech giants!

The post Made in Nepal: Now, Robots Serve Food in Nepali Restaurant! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.