A MODEL TOO EMACIATED (Surokshya Manandhar)

IN TODAY'S WORLD,WITH VAST COMPETITION AT EVERY STEP IN LIFE IT IS IMPORTANT TO DEVELOP THE EDUCATIONAL STATUS OF EACH INDIVIDUAL OF TALKU
Talku Dandechaur is a small but wonderful VDC which despite many problems has enormous potential. It is because of this that the District Development Committee (DDC) has listed it as a "Model VDC".
Talkhu Dandechaur mainly com- prises the mountainous land with a total area of 11882 sq me- tres and a population of 2,736 of which 1353 are men and 1383 are women. The settlement pattern at the vdc is mainly at the north- ern slopy side. The VDC is sur- rounded in the north by Shes- narayan VDC, south by Chaimale VDC, east by Dakshinkali VDC and in the west by Makawanpur district.VDC secretary Sekharnidhi Poudel complained that though the government has listed Talku as a model VDC, nit has not cared to promote the VDC on any front.
The most disturbing factor is the relatively small amount of inter- nal income of the VDC because of which it is unable to provide modern facilities to locals. The VDC's internal income is Rs 215,000 only whereas the fund from the government is Rs 1.95 million. Of this Rs 500,000 is uti- lized as the VDC employees' salary while Rs 170,000 is donat- ed to government schools in the VDC. Since education is a priority sector, much effort has been made by the VDC to enhance the educational status of govern- ment schools at Talku. "In today's world, with vast competition at every step in life it is important to develop the educational status of each individual of Talku," said Poudel.
According to Poudel the major reason for the thin settlement of people at Talku VDC is also due to lack of physical infrastructure.
The income generated depends much on revenue collected from Buddhist monasteries located within the VDC and very little from locals while building houses or map-passing procedures. The VDC has Buddhist monasteries and some Hindu temples.
People in the VDC belong to various ethnic caste groups like Chhetri, Brahmin, Balami ,Gu- rung and Tamang, etc. However, the majority of locals are Chettri and Brahmin. The has some reli- gious destinations like Kali tem- ple, Bhairab temple and Krishna temple. The forest areas of the VDC are mainly deciduous with mostly pine trees. There are com- munity forests that are operated by locals and most of the monas- teries are also located in these forests. "There are many open spaces in the VDC that must be preserved so as to protect these land areas from encroachment," said Poudel. He added that in this context VDC officials are seeking the government' help to bring suitable policies to utilize these land areas for promoting Talku as a tourism destination.
The vdc has a 2-km black- topped road, 10-km gravel road and 7-km dirt track. Locals said the roads need to be widened and blacktopped. Only then will the number of public vehicles in- crease and the movement of peo- ple be facilitated. "Roadways are one of the most important ele- ments of development infra- structure and also important for linking various places for trade and other activities. Roadways construction is a prime necessity of the VDC," said Poudel. Com- munications in the VDC are de- veloped, with telephone -PSTN, CDMA, GSM /CDMA mobile, Inter- net, and post office facilities available. The VDC has four schools, one of which is sec- ondary level, two lower sec- ondary and the fourth a prima- ry level school known as In- drayani primary school. This school is located at Talku Dundechaur VDC-2 near Shree Krishna and Mahadev tem- ples. It was established 17 years ago as the home of social worker Lalit Singh Gurung. Now it has four buildings with a playground.
"There are very few scools at Talku VDC. There are no any pri- vate schools, let alone colleges," said Poudel. "Another immediate need of the VDC is new scools and colleges to provide quality educations to students."

"The VDC has set aside Rs 300,000 for raising living stan- dards of under-privileged peo- ple," said Poudel. He added that although land transactions are very low, with the growth in infra- stucture of the VDC the number of people immigrating will also increase. Dandikhel and Hu- mane are some interesting tourist destinations that have also attracted internal as well as foreign tourists to Talku.
"The main occupation of locals is agriculture," said Poudel. Most- ly, they grow maize, rice, wheat, vegetables, millets and fruits. He added that there is a need of mar- ket to facilitate the farmers. Most of the farmers follow traditional methods of farming. To increase agricultural productivity modern and scientific methods of farm- ing should be applied, said Poudel. "The government should also focus on enhancing the irrigation system," he said. The mar- ket is recently based at Pharping Bazar. In the days ahead, some more market hubs should be ini- tiated, said Poudel adding that drinking water is not a problem here. Hitidol, Kharpa are the sources of water. The VDC has in- stalled public taps as well.
Despite the relative lack of in- frastructure, Poudel claimed that environmental conditions are very favourable. Were the govern- ment to focus on developing in- frastructures here, there would be no looking back for this VDC.