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THE FIRST YEAR STUDY TRIP TO
MAKWANPUR
Getting Hot Ideas in Cool
Place
By
Ujjwal Upadhyay
After a prolonged wait,
finally first year students
(Both BDevS and BDFin) went
for the field trip on May 5,
2009. The one-night, two-day
field was scheduled to be
back to Kathmandu in the
evening of May 6. The 36
hours long study although
suffered from time
constraints but did come out
with lots of information
nevertheless. The huge
number of students with
their interest, enthusiasm
and energy made this
ambitious research possible.
The study suggested that the
central hill of Makwanpur is
heading towards development
in very calm and steady
manner. If the things (human
development, living standard
and other statistical data
of year 2003/04) are
compared with what students
got this time, certainly the
area is heading to touch the
sky of development.
“National College students
are very curious and smart
enough to understand issues.
Although most of them seem
to belong to content family
of Kathmandu Valley, their
way to approach the local
people and villagers to get
information for the study is
remarkable”. Mr Gokul Dhakal,
Manager, Agricultural
Development Bank, Palung
Branch said. He also very
much liked the way students
performed their research.
“So far many study tours
have been taken place in
this part of the country by
many organizations ranging
from schools to INGO’s. But
this number is the largest.
Mr Dhakal added. He also
appreciated the way students
caught issues in no time. He
was astonished to see how
well the study was planned;
students went to local
households not only to
gather information but also
established very good
harmony.
“Tapaika bidyarthi haru
sarhai mijasila, ramaila,
rahechhan. Ke iniharu sabai
Kathmandu ka nai hun? Yaha
ke garna aayeka?” (The
Students are very humble and
polite as they behaved quite
well with locals, do they
all belong to Kathmandu? Why
are they here?), one of the
locals asked. This gave lots
of
confidence to the staffs
members of the college who
were responsible to take
students to this study trip.
After the departure from the
college at 7:15 AM, the bus
reached Palung, exactly at
10:30 AM as planned. The
place was cooler than
Kathmandu and Bista Jee’s
restaurant was waiting with
Nepali Daal, Bhat, Tarkari
and Masu. All the students
and teachers very much
enjoyed with what was
cooked.
Mr Gokul Dhakal took the
team to Bajrabarahi VDC,
where the VDC chairman and
chief of the Small Farmer
Development Program (SFDP)
were waiting to provide
information. After a short
orientation program on the
lush green open field nearby
village, the Mr Neupane
started delivering the
history of development of
the area. He could impress
everyone present there
through his speech. He gave
lots of information in such
small time through his
charismatic ability. His
focus was mainly on how the
village developed in spite
of lots of constraints.
According to him, the local
farmers are not allowed to
dam the rivers to irrigate
their farms as the area lies
under the catchment area of
the Kulekhani Hydel Dam (the
only reservoir type
hydroelectric plant in the
country). Damming of such
rivulets may prevent water
getting accumulated to the
Khulekhani Dam resulting
less production of
electricity.
The area seemed lot
developed as all the basic
infrastructures were
available. Roads, bridges,
cooperatives, schools,
health post all were running
well. The most vital aspects
of the area were the
entrepreneurship. The study
could find only 13 percent
of the local people were
dependent on services. Where
as the most of the people
were involved in trade and
business and or cash crops
farming. This kind of
thinking could give the
economic condition and
living standard of the
people a new height.
“Tapai ka vidyarthi le ta
aaja hamro gaun nai ramailao
bho feri kahile aaunu
hunchha?”(Your students made
our village look quite good
today, when will you come
again?) This sort of feed
back from the local
community makes people think
about academic tourism. Not
only the visitors
(students), but local people
enjoyed equally. Not only
the visitors but locals got
lots of information about
visitors. Yes, this is the
bottom line of the academic
tourism. Experience new
things and get information
from it and make good
academic reports and advise
concerned organizations to
go for better alternatives.
The site was ideal for the
study, as the students who
have just stepped in the
field of development, could
learn the understand
theories through practical
experience. Mr Sumit Poudel
(Bachelor in Dvelopmet
Studies) while asked about
what he got there. He
replied, “Harrod-Domar
Theory seems to have worked
quite well here. Certainly,
lots of credit and
cooperatives were there in
the site. No matter how
small the issue is, if
students become able to
convert theories into
practical knowledge that
gives the maximum
satisfaction to the
teachers. And this becomes
possible only when they are
allowed to take part in
field study, interacting
with local community.
It was 3 PM and all study
team members got together to
have
tea. After acknowledging the
villagers of Bajrabarahi,
the study team members
headed for Hetauda as their
next destination. The bus
driver preferred to stop
over at Shimbhanjyang
(located at the height of
2488 m above sea level) and
I did not think it was bad
idea. Everybody got off the
bus and started taking
pictures. The height of joy
the study team experienced
there can not be explained
in words. The place, located
far away from urban center,
being kissed by nice and
cool breeze blowing mildly,
could show the majestic
views of natural beauty.
Shuvam Poudel, Bachelor in
Development Finance (BDFin)
interrogated, “Why can’t we
develop this area as tourist
destination? I never had an
idea that such a fabulous
place also exists in my
country”. Well, we did not
have much time, we rode on
bus again and the driver
started blowing horn loud to
ask students to get in. But
students were not tired to
take photographs. After
crossing the serpentine
slope of “Saat Ghumti” we
reached Hetauda.
Motel Avocado was the
destination, where everyone
checked-in and the dinner
was ready at 8 PM. After
having dinner the students
were prepared for the
reporting of the day’s
study. Two students from
each group (12 groups in
total) had to make
presentation. Presentation
was carried out in giant
Mayur Hall. The presentation
went on till 11 PM.
Interactions and questions
were the beauty of the
session. The students
finally got the free time
just before midnight. They
did not have too much
option. Boys, especially,
thanked for the English
Premier League’s Semi Final
between Manchester United
and Arsenal that started as
soon as the presentation got
completed.
The day after i.e.
Wednesday’s hot stuff was
the last night’s game, some
were still cheering up fro
Man U whereas Arsenal fans
were disappointed. It was
time to leave Hetadua and
the same route was taken to
get back to Daman. Bista Jee,
as day before, was
desperately waiting for us
to be there. This time the
food was even delicious.
This time Palung was the
focus area to undertake
study. Students took
information from all sectors
that have contribution in
local development. Banks,
cooperatives, schools,
health centers, health posts
etc and also households were
accessed by students to get
the vital information. Many
thanks to social and
physical environment of
Palung, that in spite of
such hard work a day before
and little time for the
rest, there was no tiredness
observed through body
language of the students.
They were looking charming
as if they have just started
the journey.
It was
time to leave Palung. Some
students purchased high
quality fresh Cauliflower at
just Nepali Rupee 18 per
Kilogram. No body can get
such good Cauliflower in
Kathmandu even at price of
NPR 50. The clear problem
was being seen as the price
was three times higher in
Kathmandu for even bad
quality cauliflower which is
just 4 hour ride far way
from the production site.
“The local farmers are being
exploited sir, something
need to be done to ensure
the good benefits to the
farmers.” One of the
students said. Perhaps he
was right.
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