The country has started moving in the right direction embracing federal structure. The provincial and federal governments have started their functions with much enthusiasm in terms of their longevity, at least, for five years.

Most of the time in the past, major political parties played self-centred politics blaming each other, which caused the nation and people to heavily suffer. All the government, semi-government and security institutions were unnecessarily politicised in the past resulting in poor governance.

The presence of majority leftist government at the centre and provinces has given high hope to common people considering their political manifesto announced during the elections. If they fail to deliver on their promises in the next five years, the chances of seeking alternative forces by the people will remain very high.

For this, the KP Oli government needs to be sincere and committed from the very beginning to fulfill the promises it had made to the people. The white paper highlighting the overall economic situation of the country recently presented by this government received mixed feelings. The Nepali Congress even described this “white paper” as the “red paper”.

Considering government’s recent activities, the NC has expressed its concern and started blaming the Oli-led government for following the authoritarian path “Authoritarianism has begun, says Deuba” (THT, April 17, Page 3). The government is still enjoying its “honeymoon period” which sometimes is also termed the “litmus test” for the government. Nonetheless, time will tell if the Oli government will be able to meet the public aspirations.

Rai Biren Bangdel, Maharajgunj

Dead brand

Kudos to Pramod Nepal for his article “Promoting tourism” (THT, April 11, Page 8)! We completely abide by his notion of Nepal not being able to fetch one million tourists as of now, despite being endowed with diversified products and seasons.

Many of the developed countries have matching tourism products to their targeted market. However, Nepal offers the same products to any categories of the consumer base. Our travel operators have poor knowledge of market identification and segment delivery.

As cited by Nepal, the brand “Naturally Nepal” is turning redundant with the heights of pollution and construction works going on in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and Melamchi water project. Creating brand is a capital-intensive project, which should embrace all essence of Nepal’s tourism flavours. The brand devised more than a decade ago has lost its partial essence, and we all should know that every brand has its life.

Lacuna is not with the brand, but with the brand users who are expecting returns from the dead brand. Building brand is a dynamic process which needs timely calibration and rejuvenation.

Aditya Baral, Kathmandu