Activities -> Rukum and Thakurdwara Programme By CIT-Nepal

Rukum

On May 5, 2008 [Baisakh 23, 2065], a programme was held at Bal Mandir Hall, Musikot Khalanga, Rukum district. The first half of the programme was opening ceremony of five events namely, Rural Telecenter, Rukum [Gramin Suchana Kendra, Rukum(RTC, Rukum)], Website named www.hatiyamela.citnepal.org, Operation of  First Rural ISP in Nepal, Formation of CAN-Rukum and ICT Conference.

The programme was organized primarily by CIT-Nepal in collaboration with Rukum Rural Telecenter Users Committee [RRTCUC]. The programme was chaired by Mr. Bimal Kumar Sharma, Chairperson, CIT-Nepal and Founder President of CAN. The Chief Guest was Dr. Madan Pariyar, Member Secretary, High Level Commission for Information Technology [HLCIT], Government of Nepal. The special guests were Mr. Manohar Bhattarai, Full Time Member, HLCIT, Mr. Biplav Man Singh, Member, HLCIT and President, Computer Association of  Nepal [CAN], Mr. Ananda Raj Khanal, Director, Nepal Telecom Authority [NTA] and Mr. Ravi R. Kafle, CDO, Rukum District and the LDO. The other guests invited were Mr. Narayan Neupane, Executive Committee Member, CAN, Mr. Siddhi Bickram Shah, DSP, Rukum and Representatives of 5 political parties.

The Rural Telecenter was established by RRTCUC supported primarily by CIT-Nepal jointly with HLCIT and ICTGDA Winrock International. Rural ISP, Rukum is being operated in joint collaboration with ICTGDA Winrock International and CIT-Nepal.

This is the first Rural ISP in operation after the Nepal Government’s announcement of concept of Rural ISP. The preliminary meeting to form ad-hoc commitee of CAN-Rukum was initiated and coordinated by Mr. Bimal K. Sharma and Mr. Bhim Dhoj Shrestha of CIT-Nepal. Formally, CAN-Rukum ad-hoc committee was formed by Mr. Biplav Man Singh, President, CAN with help of Mr. Narayan Neupane, Founder President, ITS and CAN Exe. Com Member as well as ITS-Nepal Rukum Chapter and Mrs. Khima Subedi, Member Secretary, RRTCUC. On this occasion ICT Conference was also conducted at Rukum jointly organized by CAN, CIT-Nepal, ITS Nepal, HLCIT, NTA and Softech Pvt. Ltd.

Rukum Telecenter was inaugurated by Dr. Madan Pariyar and website was inaugurated jointly by Dr. Pariyar and Mr. Ravi R.. Kafle, CDO, Rukum at the Telecenter’s premises. The overall opening ceremony of all 5 events was done jointly by Dr. Madan Pariyar, Mr. Manohar Bhattarai, Mr. Biplav Man Singh, Mr. Ananda Raj Khanal, and Mr. Ravi R. Kafle, CDO, Rukum District and the Act. LDO and Mr. Min Bahadur Pun, Chairman, RRTCUC at a plenary function by lighting a traditional oil lamp.

The master of ceremony was Mr. Chintamani Dahal, Member, RRTCUC.

Mr. Bhim Dhoj Shrestha, General Secretary, CIT-Nepal and Former General Secretary, CAN welcomed the guests and spoken about the initiation of Rukum Rural telecenter with the help of Softech Company. Mr. Shrestha also spoke about the telecenter and requested all people of Khalanga, Rukum to use Telecenter and make optimum use of newly inaugurated website www.hatiyamela.citnepal.org for registering, buying and selling their products online.

The speakers were representatives of 5 political parties of Rukum along with Mr. Bishwa Nath Gyawali, Campus Chief, Khalanga Musikot Multiple Campus and Mr. Ravi Raj Kafle, CDO both from Rukum district. Both of them emphasized the importance of Telecenter in the remote district like Rukum and thanked CIT-Nepal for initiation. Mr. Ananda Raj Khanal, Director, NTA spoke about the need of investment in infrastructural development by the government. Mr. Khanal mentioned about the permission to a telephone company named NSTPL to fulfil government’s targeted programme to give telephone connectivity to 398 most remote VDC’s to be completed within 15 months. Mr. Biplav Man Singh, CAN President spoke about presence of CAN at Rukum especially for formation of CAN-Rukum Chapter and conduncting ICT Conference. He emphasized about the need of change of mind-set of people for the proper use of ICT in the country. Mr. Manohar Bhattarai spoke about the need and importance of telecenter and emphasized about sustainability. Dr. Madan Pariyar, Chief Guest reiterated about the importance of telecenter in remote place like Rukum. This is one of the telecenter as per the policy of the government about establishing Telecenter. Mr. Min Bahadur Pun gave vote of thanks on behalf of organizing committee. Mr. Bimal K. Sharma, from chair, spoke about the difficulty of establishing Telecenter in remote place like Rukum and challenges for the sustainability. Establishing telecenter in Khalanga, Rukum is just founding stone and we have planned to expand to other places of Rukum district as well as other districts.

The programme was attended by over 100 persons, which includes all government offices, students, CBOs, NGOs, INGOs, local press at Khalanga, Rukum as well as out side the district headquarters. The local users, farmers, women, poor, disables and scheduled castes were also attended the programme.

After the inaugural programme, the questions were asked from the floor and respective speakers answered about the queries. Among many questions, notable questions are about telecenter, benefit of telecenter, possibility of maximum use by local people, particulary to make accessible to poor people.
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The second half of the programme was ICT Conference, jointly organized by CAN, ITS Nepal and CIT-Nepal in collaboration with RTC, Rukum, HLCIT, NTA and Softech. The programme was chaired by Mr. Biplav Man Singh, President, CAN and Member, HLCIT. The Chief Guest was Dr. Madan Pariyar, Member-Secretary, HLCIT. The Special Guests were Mr. Manohar Bhattarai, Full Time Member, HLCIT; Mr. Bimal Kumar Sharma, President, CIT-Nepal and Founder President, CAN; Mr. Ananda Raj Khanal, Director, NTA; Mr. Ravi Raj Kafle, CDO, Rukum and Mr. Bhim Dhoj Shrestha, General Secretary, CIT-Nepal and Former General Secretary, CAN. The guests were representatives from 5 political parties of Rukum, Mr. Siddhi Bickram Shah, DSP, Rukum, Mr. Min Bahadur Pun, Chairman, RRCTUC and Principal, Tribhuvan Janata HSS, Mr. Bishwa Nath Gyawali, Campus Chief, Khalanga Musikot Multiple Campus and Vice-chairman, TTCTUC..

Mr. Narayan Neupane, Execom Member, CAN and Founder President ITS, Nepal gave welcome speech and highlighted about the conference and mentioned that it is historic and 1st conference in the region.

Mr. Bhim Dhoj Shrestha gave presentations on “Sustainability of Rural Telecenter”. Mr. Shrestha mentioned about the main objective of telecenter and mentioned the difference between a cyber café and telecenter.  For sustainability, the telecenter should be able to provide services as per its objectives and users should have strong will and able to use services provided by the telecenter.

Mr. Ananda Raj Khanal, gave presentations on “Rural Connectivity”. Mr. Khanal mentioned about the government’s responsibility of providing communication infrastructure at rural areas despite the less income of rural people. He has mentioned about the government’s policy to provide tele-accesibility to 534 remote VDCs of mid-western development region and 398 most remote VDCs of the nation.

Mr. Bimal Kumar Sharma, gave presentations on “Education and IT”. Mr. Sharma mentioned about two facets, 1. IT Education, academically and different levels of training and 2. Use of IT in education. Use of IT in education can enhance quality of teaching-learning, vis-à-vis quality of education.

Mr. Manohar Bhattarai, gave presentations on “E-Governance”. Mr. Bhattarai talked about use of ICT in government offices and providing services to citizens timely, efficiently and effectively is e-governance. Use of ICT in government will increase access to rural people in government. For implementation of e-governance, change/reform in internal process of working procedures in government offices are required. There should be change in mindset of government servants as well as general public is also required.

Dr. Madan Pariyar, gave presentations on “Government Vision on IT”. Dr. Pariyar has pointed out about the available government policies on ICT, which included IT Policy, E-Transaction Act, Information Policy, establishment of certifying authority, etc. The motive of these policies being proverty alleviation and employment generation using ICT. So government has put ICT as priority sector. The present 3-year interim plan envisages establishment of 300 telecenters during the period.

At the end of the scheduled presentations, Mr. Biplav Man Singh presented about the CAN’s Vision, i.e., e-Nepal. The vision states that use of ICT should be taken as development tool. Use of ICT should make life easier for the public, e.g., e-Rupee, e-commerce, e-education, e-learning, virtual learning vis-à-vis open university, video conferencing, OLPC, e-medicine, wellness valley, e-tourism, e-agriculture, etc. Also the vision is about smart – city, school and card.

A lively session of question-answer was conducted at the end of all 5 presentations mentioned above. A press reporter asked question about the usefulness of conference at Rukum. A lecturer enquired about the CAN and its objectives. Another participant queried about the possibilities of implementation of e-governance activities in the remote district like Rukum. Most of the persons, who put question welcomed the ict-activities in Rukum. But some showed doubt about the successful of implemention of use of ICT in remote disctrict like Rukum.

The programme was attended in by over 100 persons, which includes government offices, CBOs, NGOs, INGOs, local press at Khalanga, Rukum as well as out side the district headquarters. The local users, farmers, women, poor, disables and scheduled castes were also attended the programme. Among attendees, students were in considerable numbers.

Thakurdwara Telecenter

On May 7, 2008 [Baisakh 25, 2065], an interaction programme on Thakurdwara Telecenter and the use of ICT for conservation of flora and fauna of Bardiya National Park and livelihood development of the local people. The interaction program was held at Buffer Zone Hall at Bardiya National Park. The Program was chaired by Mr. Bimal Kumar Sharma, President, CIT-Nepal and Founder President, CAN; and organized by CIT-Nepal, Kisan Jagaran Sangh, HLCIT, CAN, NTA and Nepal Telecom, Nepalgunj. The Chief Guest of the Interaction Program was Dr. Madan Pariyar, Member-Secretary, HLCIT. The Special Guests were Mr. Manohar Bhattarai, Full Time Member, HLCIT; Mr. Biplav Man Singh, President, CAN and Member, HLCIT; Mr. Ananda Raj Khanal, Director, NTA; Mr. Bhim Dhoj Shrestha, General Secretary, CIT-Nepal and Former General Secretary, CAN, Mr. Dev Narayan Yadav, Regional Director, Mid-western Region, Nepal Telecom, Nepalgunj and Mr. Narayan Neupane, Execom Member, CAN and Founder President ITS, Nepal.

The Secretary of Kisan Jagaran Sangh Mr. Nilkanth Kandel presented report of Thakurdwara telecenter. The report includes the services provided by the telecenter, the problems faced and possible solutions for the smooth operation and sustainability of the telecenter. The report also included the income-expenditure statement.

Mr. Bhim Dhoj Shrestha mentioned about the e-commerce website developed by CIT-Nepal and inaugurated at Rukum named www.hatiyamela.citnepal.org for registering, buying and selling their products online. CIT-Nepal has developed the website to be used primarily by Rukum and Thakurdwara Telecenters and popularly utilized by all related users.

Mr. Ananda Raj Khanal presented about the government policy on rural communication connectivity – telephone connectivity. He has mentioned particularly about the government policy for granting permission to new telecom operators, namely, STM and NSTPL to be operated solely in rural as well as remote rural areas.

Mr. Dev Narayan Yadav primarily requested to present about the status of existing telecom connectivity at Thakurdwara and its surrounding area and Bardiya National Park area at Thakurdwara. He has mentioned that the existing few marts telephone lines are not in good position as the spare parts for the same is very difficult to acquire. The existing CDMA services is also very lean as the CDMA towers are far and hence signals are very weak. He revealed the plan of expanding capacity of CDMA reception by doubling the height of pole currently present at Bardiya National Park. A few sets of post paid CDMA will also be distributed and GSM signals will also be make available very soon. He has also mentioned about the connection of PSTN line within two years in the area.

 Mr. Manohar Bhattarai mentioned about the sustainability of telecenter can be achieved with a view of using telecenter/ICT for development. One should see the potentiality of local people, resources based upon need based assessment.

Mr. Biplav Man Singh expressed about the concern on sustainability of telecenters. He opined that the way telecenter movement has been supported by the government has to be changed as almost all the telecenter in Nepal has problem of sustainability. Rather than providing meager computer and related accessories for telecenters, the time has come to support holistically rather than scatterly. The funding could be make available from RTDF and alike sources.

Dr. Madan Pariyar stated about the importance of telecenter. As Thakurdwara Telecenter is not supported by HLCIT, Dr. Pariyar promised to provide support in kind and trainings as much as possible. He reiterated that the telecenter should operate as per the demands of the local people/users. The website of the telecenter, once made will be linked to RIC website of Nepal managed by HLCIT.

Mr. Dil Bahadur Pandey, President of Kisan Jagaran Sangh, gave vote of thanks and requested to provide further support in kind and trainings for the smooth operation of the Thakurdwara Telecenter.

Mr. Bimal Sharma, from the chair, mentioned about the supports provided by CIT-Nepal to Thakurdwara Telecenter and possible support to be provided in the future. He also requested HLCIT to include the teleenter in the list of HLCIT telecenter and requested to provide more computers [for training purposes], digital camera, fax, scanner and photocopy machine.

The program was attended by about 40 participants, which include 7 guests, Kisan Jagaran Sangh, representatives from Bardiya National Park and associated institutions, local school teachers, students, local press, members of different forest users groups, tourism entrepreneurs, members of buffer zone committees, VDCs, etc.
 
Prepared by
Bhim Dhoj Shrestha
General Secretary, CIT-Nepal
Mobile: 9851059075
bhim@citnepal.org
info@citnepal.org
www.citnepal.org

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