Nepal: world’s best child welfare story

Found this encouraging story: copied it from yahoo to paste here! :)

Despite a devastating 10-year civil war, Nepal has scripted the best child welfare story in the world, slashing child mortality by over 65 percent and magically improving child healthcare.

‘Nepal is one of the seven countries in the world that has been successful in cutting child mortality by two-thirds,’ said Gillian Mellsop, Unicef’s Nepal representative, releasing the report ‘State of the world’s children’ in Kathmandu Thursday.

‘What is commendable for Nepal is that we were able to make this progress despite the conflict the country has experienced in the last decade.’

In 2001 in Nepal – one of the world’s poorest countries where remote villages lack healthcare, safe drinking water, electricity and sanitation – 91 children under the age of five died in every 1,000 children, according to the health ministry.

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The octopus who loves his Mr Potato Head

A touching story of the love between an octopus and a plastic tuber-based child’s toy made news when the 1.8m-wide (6ft) creature wouldn’t let the aquarium staff to remove it from his tank.
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Teacher gets promoted… but after death

The Chandrapur zilla parishad’s school education department issued an order on January 1, 2008, regarding promotion and appointment of an official as block education officer (BEO) in Nagbhid panchayat samiti.

The incident proved the lapse in administrative functioning in India as the former education extension officer Natthu Dashrath Gaikwad had already passed away about six months ago.

Chandrapur zilla parishad education department forwarded Gaikwad’s name for promotion as per seniority list to the state school education department nearly four years ago. In 1975, Gaikwad was appointed as a teacher in Chandrapur ZP school. Later, he was promoted as head master and then as EEO.

“He, however, died on July 15, 2007, while his promotion was still under consideration. But some negligent Chandrapur education department officials did not inform about his death to the higher officials. This resulted in the issuance of promotion and appointment order of Gaikwad as the BEO of Nagbhid panchayat samiti earlier this month,” zilla parishad sources said.

The order of promotion and appointment of Gaikwad along with 103 other officers was issued by P R Dharkar, education director, secondary and higher secondary education department, Pune, (vide letter dated January 1, 2008). The letter was received by Chandrapur secondary education department officials on January 14 and it was subsequently delivered to Nagbhid panchayat samiti. (news)

A scholarly Delhi monkey catching up on the latest news

I’m not dead yet!

A grandmother has been forced to tell her gas supplier: ‘I’m not dead yet.’

Frances Tootell received a letter from British Gas informing her it would be her final bill and any further bills would be sent to her executor.

‘It was like reading your own obituary. I checked my pulse and I was alive and well,’ said the 75-year-old, from Preston.

British Gas apologised for the mistake, blaming ‘human error’. (source)

True mouse

story of girls and apples

More Fun

First breeding centre to save vultures in Nepal

After the Vulture Restaurant, conservation effort in Nepal continues by opening its first vulture breeding centre to try to save the birds from extinction.

Of the eight species of vultures found in Nepal, the white-rumped and slender-billed vultures are categorized as critically endangered.

The numbers of both species have plunged in Nepal and India and scientists say the decline is largely due to farmers dosing their cattle with diclofenac, a drug used to treat inflammation, poisoning the scavenging birds.

The plan is to capture at least 10 breeding pairs of vultures for each of the critically endangered species and keep them initially in two aviaries at Kasara in Chitwan National Park, said Dev Ghimire, an official with Bird Conservation Nepal.

“This is just a beginning and more pairs will be subsequently trapped and released,” Ghimire said. “It is a very important project and needs long-term commitment.” (Reuters)

Stop Bush !

World’s Cheapest Car by Tata

India’s Tata Motors on Thursday unveiled its much anticipated $2,500 car, an ultra-cheap price tag that brings car ownership into the reach of tens of millions of people. But critics worry the car could overwhelm the country’s roads and create an environmental nightmare.

Company Chairman Ratan Tata, introducing the Nano during India’s main auto show, drove onto a stage in a white version of the tiny four-door subcompact, his head nearly touching the roof.With a snub nose and a sloping roof, the world’s cheapest car can fit five people — if they squeeze. And the basic version is really basic: there’s no radio, no passenger-side mirror and only one windshield wiper. If you want air conditioning to cope with India’s brutal summers, you need to get the deluxe version.

While the price has created a buzz, critics say the Nano could lead to possibly millions more automobiles hitting already clogged Indian roads, adding to mounting air and noise pollution problems. Others have said Tata will have to sacrifice quality and safety standards to meet the target price.

The chairman, though, insists the car will meet safety standards and pollute even less than motorcycles, passing domestic and European emission standards and averaging about 50 miles per gallon (20 kilometers per liter).

The basic model will sell for for 100,000 rupees — $2,500 — but analysts estimate that customers could pay 20-30 percent more than that to cover taxes, delivery and other charges.

Tata has long promised that he’d create a 100,000-rupee car, a vow that was much-derided in the global industry but created a frenzy of attention in India. On Thursday, nearly every news station covered the unveiling live. (source)

First Everest Conqueror Edmund Hillary Died Aged 88

The greatest adventurer of the century Sir Edmund P. Hillary of New Zealand was 88 when he died Friday, January 11, 2008. May his soul rest in peace. Here are some of the photos of Hillary in differnt stages of his life. Further information about him can be found in Wikipediatoo.

He devoted all of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan trust, which he founded and to which he had given much of his time and energy. Through his efforts he had succeeded in building many schools and hospitals in this remote region of the Himalayas. He was the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, a United States non-profit body that helps improve the ecology and living conditions in the Himalayas.

The photo in right shows Sir Edmund Hillary after he was decorated by with a Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw in 2004. (Photo AFP)

In the photo below, Tenzing Norgay Sherpa of Nepal and Edmund P. Hillary of New Zealand, show the kit they wore when conquering the world’s highest peak, the Mount Everest, on May 29, at the British Embassy in Katmandu, capital of Nepal, in this June 26, 1953 file photo. Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century’s greatest adventurers, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday.(Photo AP)
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Well well well …….

50 Best Websites of 2007 – TIME

TIME magazine has compiled the best websites of 2007.

They have tried to present new and exciting websites with exceptional style, sites that offer new ways to access and share content, and the ones that can enrich your online experience.

You can visit the TIME 50 Best Websites 2007 to see what they think and if you can agree with them. It’s too bad I haven’t heard about many of them. May be I should start visiting them.

They have also compiled the sites under various categories and here is the complete list of best websites.

Well the list continues with 25 Sites We Can’t Live Without and the 5 Worst Websites too. Well, it is another story that I have never bought anything in Amazon (the first site that I can’t live without according to TIME) although I have done ample amount of online shopping.

Going Banana with Art

Posted by to winer in this forum post