Broadcasting Service in Nepal

Information is fundamental rights of citizen. In the olden days information to public was given in the public places using like plaza, temples  to name a few. But after the scientific innovation of different pioneers like Tesla, Marconi and so on it has been a different story.

                  When we take case of Nepal it was only after 1951 that Nepal has Radio service. Previously, it was used by revolutionary group during the armed struggle against autocratic Rana regime. After the successful revolution of 1950 the same radio service was used for the national purpose and called Radio Nepal. Formal date of establishment is  on 1st April 1951. Initially, the transmission covered duration of 4 hours and 30 minutes (through a 250 Watt SW transmitter). Now it operates from 5 am to 11 pm daily using different bandwidths (am, shortwave). It was only in 1995 that FM radio service started in Nepal. 

              Regarding Television service, only in 1985 that Nepal operated its own television (Nepal Television) service and its credit basically goes to noted personality Nir Shah. 

               With the liberalization of communication services country has witnessed a dramatic increase in media. Radio Nepal and Nepal Television are the state owned radio and TV services and others are privately or community operated services. Private TV channels include Kantipur Television, Image Channel, Channel Nepal, Avenues TV, Nepal 1 Television and Sagarmatha Television. Sagarmatha Television is the first news television in Nepal. Nepal 1 Television is broadcasted from India. 
                  As of 2011 followings are the official details regarding electronic services obtained from Government of Nepal (2011). 

Cable TV operators: 701

FM Radio: 380  licensed(319 operating)

Down link approval:91 foreign TV(including NHK of Japan)

TV service: 28 approved and more than dozen operating.

Nepal : Good things to Share-1

According to International Campaign to Ban Landmine definition landmine is an ammunition  placed under or on the ground, antipersonnel mines explode from the contact or presence of a person. When triggered, they kill or cause injuries like blindness, burns, destroyed limbs and shrapnel wounds.

Nepal has become the second country in Asia (First is China) to be land mine free nation. The United Nations declared Nepal free of land mine fields on Tuesday 14 June 2011. It was declared in the presence of Prime Minister Jhalananth Khanal  and other  dignitaries.   Land mines were extensively used in the time of insurgency 1996-2006 during which more than 473 landmine casualties occurred taking lives of  78. It is to be noted that during insurgency more than 15,000 people lost their lives and estimated 300,000 people were forced to left their home to avoid the casualty. 

Worst thing of land mine is that once the armed conflicts are over, if the  land mines are not cleared it will cause more casualty than in the conflict time as more people return to their left places. More than 300 people lost their lives after the post conflict period (2006 -2010 A.D) which is about 5 times  than in the 10 years conflict.  Horrible stories of land mine victims in Cambodia and Afghanistan are frequently appeared in media . Many people have lost their lives and their livelihood due to landmines explosion.

Nepal has not yet approve the  Ottawa Convention which urge the ban of landmine legally. With the improve of security situation, the days are near when it is possible for Nepal government  to accept it formally.More than 140 countries including Japan, Canada  have already ratified the convention 

International Students in Japan

Japan has become the one of the leading destinations for international students due to the strong economic background as well as the highly sophisticated educational system. Number of students have increased each year  and government is also supporting this trend to foster the people to people contact as well as to promote the  better understanding of Japanese culture. There were just 10,482 foreign students in 1983 and within the next 27 years it rose to 141,774 in 2010 (Source: JASSO 2010). This is about the 14 times than the early one. 

Figure 1: International  students in Japan as of 2010

           Figure 1 shows the number of foreign students in Japan by origin. Chinese students are overwhelmingly high (60.80%) followed by  Koreans (South Koreans) and Taiwanese. This may due to the long  cultural and historical affinities between these counties. Another advantage for three above mentioned students is the ease of understanding the Japanese language compared to other international students as Khanjis are basically originated in China and Japanese language uses lots of Khanji in study and day to day life. Though Koreans use Hangul script now, it  is also derived from Khanji like Hiragana and Katakana scripts in Japanese. Life is  easier who understands the Japanese language. By number of students Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, USA, Indonesia, Nepal and Bangladesh ranks 4th to 10th respectively. These 10 countries account the 90% volume of all international students. It is interesting to note that Nepal ranks 9th in this rank. As of 2010 A.D. 1829 Nepali students are currently studying in Japan in different language school, universities and technical institutes. The number has increased from 1628 in 2009 (0.1% increase). This positive change may be  increasing  number of students enrolling in the language school as Japanese language and culture  has become a popular in Nepal.
             Formally Japan was the first overseas country where Nepali government sent its 8 students for higher studies 100 years ago. When they returned home they not only brought new wealth of knowledge but also the new species to Nepal like persimmon.  With the diplomatic  relation in 1950's, Japan Nepal relationship have crossed a very high niche in the last 50 years. It can be hoped that with more people to people contact the relationship is expected to foster in new height. Nepali students studying in Japan will be the best ambassadors of Japan in this regard.