HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 8 August 2014 Lessons to learn This is with reference to the news item “On Nepal visit, Modi says ”felt as though I had come home” (THT, 6 August, Page 5). The official visit of an Indian prime minister to Nepal after a gap of 17 years proved to be significantly successful and productive in terms of boosting bilateral relations between the two republics. Therefore, it can be expected that Modi’s recent visit has laid a solid foundation for furthering the age old political, social, cultural and economic ties between the two countries in the days ahead. In fact, during the last one decade under the Congress rule in India , New Delhi used to deal with Nepal through bureaucracy and security agencies. Nepal should not let the opportunities for development and cooperation provided by Modi’s visit to slip, mainly in water resource, trade, investment and infrastructure. But Nepal ’s bureaucratic machinery has often failed to utilize most of such o

The Himalayan Times 1 August 2014 Empowerment The word “Empowerment” used to be the development jargon of I/NGO and other development organizations in their working documents, However, empowering women “digitally” must have been a catchy word for the women activists as reported in “Empowering her digitally” (THT, 28 July, Page 14). The two week long training program focusing on increasing the knowledge and skills of young women participants in using computers and internet was organized by Code of Nepal, a US based initiative working to increase open data and digital skills in Nepal especially for women.   The training must be extremely fruitful and productive to digitally empower the young women participants in terms of its importance in the 21 st century requirement. This sort of training should be organized on a wider scale so that more young women can be trained to face challenges such as gender-based violence. Rai Biren Bangdel Kathmandu

The Himalayan Times 29 July 2014 Remarkable agreement Apropos of the news story “ Nepal high on India ’s priority: Swaraj” (THT, 26 July, Page 1). After long time, it seems that India has realised Nepal ’s strategic importance in the regional peace and stability.   It is, indeed, a welcome statement made by the visiting Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. However, there are a number of issues that India has to come forward with open heart to amicably resolve as a good and sincere neighbour. She has shown some indication that India seems serious about what it says. There are a number of age-old bilateral agreements that may need detailed review and to revisit by both countries in order to meet the demands of the 21 st century. The importance given by the India ’s new government on these issues seems praiseworthy. Nepal should grasp this opportunity to sort out the weaknesses included in these bilateral agreements and amend to suit present-da