People’s mandate :

The hopes kindled by Jana Andolan II are fading fast because of the dirty power politics of the political actors. The Prime Minister has been insisting that the institution of monarchy be preserved. The Maoists, for their part, suspect the parties who are not yet united on the issue. The big danger is that the Maoists may grow restless and resort to arms again. Was this what the people had asked for during the April revolution? The parties should act as stalwarts of democracy rather than be seen to be dancing to the tunes of the palace.

Shreedhar Prasad Panday, via e-mail

Misleading :

Dipesh Parajuli’s Midway piece “Pluto’s plight” (THT, Sept. 8) was misleading. Firstly, Pluto was not stripped of its planetary status because its orbit overlaps that of Neptune. In fact, the puny planet has no clear orbit.

As far as its name is concerned, an amateur astronomer did not give it, nor some religious buff, but it was given by scientists after Pluto’s discovery in 1930. So there is no reason why the IAU decision should “send shockwaves through religiously-minded people”.

The writer does not have a basic grasp of the pseudo-science of astrology. Otherwise he would have known that the nawagrahas do not contain the Earth. They rather comprise the Sun, the Moon, the five planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — that are visible to the naked eye, plus Rahu and Ketu.

Astrologers believe that the Earth is at the centre with other planetary bodies moving around it. In their lexicon, the real meaning of the term ‘planet’ is a ‘wanderer’ as it moves in the fixed background of other stars.

Hence, we can barely rely on them to predict our future. I suggest the writer does some research before deciding to write on an issue he doesn’t know much about.

Pradipta Shrestha,

President, Kosmandu

Astronomical Society

Wrong :

This refers to your editorial “The price of frame” (THT, Sept. 8). It mentions that “Japan... doesn’t permit citizenship to even the children born in Japan to Japanese women married to foreigners.” Japan, in fact, offers citizenship to children born to a Japanese woman married to a non-Japanese. A responsible newspaper like THT should be extra careful in ensuring factual accuracy in its reports and editorials.

Manoj Shahi, via e-mail

Rank them :

Browse through the prospectus of any college in the Valley and chances are that you’ll come across cheap efforts at luring students.

The government should not allow these institutions to confuse the people by making baseless claims. It should rather rank colleges on the basis of certain criteria. If any college makes empty promises, it should be punished.

Shiva Neupane, Golphutar

Unfair :

Nepalis are being forced to pay taxes to two different centres of power — the government and the Maoists. Clearly, the Maoists don’t have enough to feed their cadres. People have no option but to succumb to the rebels’ demands for fear of reprisal.

Deepak Gurung, via e-mail