President Chure Conservation Program
The Chure range consists of youngest hills formed by the deposit of the river debris around forty million years ago. The range, which extends from the Indus in Pakistan in the West to the Bharamaputra of India in the East, is also in places called the Shivalik. The Chure covers nearly 13% of the total land area of Nepal. The range is rich in flora and fauna. It also acts as a green buffer and water catchment for the adjacent southern plains of Nepal, the Tarai-Madhes, with heavy density of population. Altogether, about five million citizens of Nepal are dependent on natural resources of the Chure for their livelihood.
Because the Chure range is made up of rocks and debris, it is not very stable and therefore sensitive to natural and manmade dislocations. Considering this vulnerability, the Government of Nepal announced the President’s Chure Conservation Project, to be implemented through the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, in the Fiscal year 2010/11. On 16 June 2014, the Cabinet further declared the Chure region as an ‘Ecological Conservation Area’ under the Environment Protection Act 1997. It formed the President Chure Tarai-Madhes Conservation Development Board for the protection, conservation and development of the region. The Board has already developed a master plan for the conservation of Chure range. The programme covers the following 36 districts- Illam, Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Siraha, Dhankutta, Bhojpur, Udayapur, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Sindhuli, Kavreplanchowk, Lalitpur, Routahat, Bara, Parsa, Makwanpur, Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Palpa, Kapilvastu, Argakhachi, Tanahu, Salyan, Pyuthan, Dang, Banke, Surkhet, Bardiya, Kailali, Doti, Kanchanpur and Dadheldhura.
Link to the President Chure Tarai-Madhes Conservation Development Board http://chureboard.gov.np/en/?cat=2
The President Women Advancement Programme
Women and girls constitute more than half of the population of Nepal. They contribute actively to economic, social and political advancement of the country, as farmers, entrepreneurs, social workers, politicians and so on. Nepal’s women also play a pivotal role in nurturing, nourishing and bringing up the future generation, and thereby assist in the development of human resource required for sustainable development of Nepalese society. Despite such important contributions, Nepalese women and girls lag far behind men in enjoying the benefits of development.
Though there are communities where women traditionally enjoy better gender, status, on the whole Nepal faces challenges of gender-based discrimination against women and girls. While there has been significant progress in the Government’s focus on improving the condition of women and girls, especially in the rural areas, they still lack proper access to quality education, health services, employment and income earning opportunities. A large number of women and girls still suffer from direct and indirect familial and societal violence. In recent years, the out-migration of a large number of men has meant that women are also burdened with additional challenges of household work as well as of livelihoods. As advancement of women and girls is the pre-requisite for the country’s sustainable economic and social development, Government of Nepal has announced President’s Women Advancement Programme (Rastrapati Mahila Utthan Karyakram) starting in the year 2016. The objectives of the programme are to support women for equal participation in all stages of nation-building and to promote equal opportunity and social dignity of Nepali women. The programme focuses on economic empowerment of women, increasing access to education, health and social services and ending gender based violence including trafficking and social stigmatization. In the first fiscal year, 2016-17, the Government of Nepal has allocated nearly 100 Million Rupees to the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare in order to launch the Programme. The detail implementation mechanism of the Programme is being formulated by the Ministry in consultation with all stakeholders.
For details related to the work of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, visit http://www.mowcsw.gov.np/en/