Kathmandu, June 29
It’s Dhan Divas (Paddy Day) in Nepal and farmers are busy transplanting paddy, hoping the yield will go up this time around, thanks to abundant rainfall. As in previous years, while farmers are working, others are having fun in the fields on the day of Ropain Jatra, splashing muddy water on each other, taking pictures, et al.
But a vital part of the Day’s celebration is missing this time. Last year, then Agriculture Minister Hari Parajuli came under fire and had to lose his job for resorting to indecent behaviour in paddy fields, on this day.
This year, however, his successor, Agriculture Development Minister Hari Bol Gajurel, chose not to visit the fields. He observed the day by transplating paddy in a flower pot at a formal programme that his minषstry had organised.
Gajurel performed this act while inaugurating an event to award the best farmer of the year, in Khumaltar. An employee was in tow to water the paddy crop.
Onlinekhabar asked Kashi Raj Dahal, joint-secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture Development, whether planting paddy in flower pots will end Nepal’s food insecurity.
Dahal clarified: It’s just the inauguration of the big day.
Here’s hoping that Minister Gajurel’s crop gives a good yield, here’s hoping that farmers’ hard work in paddy fields pays off.
