HELLO NEPAL

THE HIMALAYAN TIMES 21 April 2015 It was so sad to read the news story “Yawning gap between promises and delivery” (THT, April 18, Page 1) with regard to the fulfillment of promises made by the government while signing an agreement with the Mountaineering Association of Nepal last year after the death of 16 mountaineering support staff and guides in the deadliest avalanche on Mt. Everest. It is really disturbing to know that the government has little done so far to address their major concerns.   In fact, this is not the new case of such irresponsible acts of the government and the concerned authorities, who sign such agreements in order to calm the agitating groups, but, such promises have been only partially or never materialized. Providing regular weather updates to the mountaineers, building the necessary infrastructures in Khumbu region and formulating a long term mountaineering development policy were the major promises made by the government. Among them,...

The Kathmandu Post 17 th April 2015 ABSENT STATE The death toll in Jajarkot district has reached 16 due to unknown disease that broke out in VDCs in the last two weeks (“Deaths linked to swine flu” 15 April, Page 1). After tests, this disease has now been linked to be swine flu.   It took two weeks for the concerned health officials to find out the causes of the illness. It is really sad to see people dying of diseases out in remote VDCs where health facilities are reportedly nil. The government owned health service outlets in the VDCs are poorly equipped and lack trained health staff and medical facilities. The government supplied medicines hardly last for six months and most are substandard. Most of these service outlets lack adequate number of health workers and proper infrastructures. Organizationally, the health delivery system at the local level is one of the best systems in the South Asian countries. Nonetheless, every year, many rural peop...

The Kathmandu Post 10th April 2015 TAKE HEED The three-day banda starting April 7, called by the 30-party opposition alliance, demanding that the new constitution be written on the basis of consensus among key stakeholders of the peace process had to be withdrawn after a day’s enforcement due to widespread pressure from all walks of life (‘Oppn bows to public pressure,’ April 8, Page 1). In some places in and outside the Kathmandu Valley, banda enforcers torched vehicles and motorcycles and clashed with security personnel, despite the organisers’ claim that the banda would be peaceful.  The general public in some districts even openly defied the banda, expressing their dissatisfaction over the unwanted crippling of their normal lives. This indicates that calling a banda in the name of protest by any group in the coming days could see opposition from the public. In my opinion, the time has come for organisers to seek alternative means to express their dissatisfac...