Women’s rights

Of late, there has been talk among urban Nepali women that they’ve finally succeeded in busting the glass ceiling. In fact, most of them have even established themselves in influential positions. However, a majority of them have not even been able to enjoy the rights granted

to them by the laws of the state. For instance, public vehicles in the Valley have allocated seats for women and the differently-abled keeping in mind the inconvenience it can cause them. Sadly, women have hardly been able to claim their rights. Though men and women are equal before the law, Nepali women have still to go a long way to take full advantage

of the opportunities.

Women should stand up to claim their rights, or else discrimination against them will persist.

Prem Pathak, Bharatpur-10, Chitwan

Misuse

While there are hundreds of INGOs and NGOs that profess to be assisting thousands of landless squatters in the capital and elsewhere in the country, their effect has been negligible. These poor people continue to live under abject poverty. This raises a serious question. Where has all the money gone? There is no denying that absence of government mechanism to monitor and check the activities of NOGs and INGOs have encouraged the office bearers of these organisations to misuse funds. The government should take measures to ensure that the funds received in the name of aid and grants are used properly.

Paul Rai, Balkot, Bhaktapur

Fruitless

Following the postponement of the CA polls, there has been a flurry of meetings between Nepali and foreign political leaders. After each such meeting the public is hopeful that consensus would emerge. However, the meetings, whether among domestic leaders,

or between Nepali leaders and delegates from outside, have failed to come to a conclusion

and find a definite solution to the present political deadlock. There’s always the same excuse of not having done sufficient homework. Now, the question that bothers every Nepali is: When will the political parties take solid steps towards speeding up the transition? Nepalis have shown enough patience with their political leaders.

If they fail to act immediately, there is every likelihood that another mass movement might emerge.

Dwaipayan Regmi, Biratnagar

Consensus

This is in reference to the news report “PM tells Chinese team poll date will be fixed soon” (THT, Dec. 5). It is indeed good news that Prime Minister Koirala has reassured yet another group of foreign delegates that the poll date will be fixed soon. However, there doesn’t seem enough reason to rejoice, as Koirala has made many such commitments in the past and none of them have materialised. Koirala has said that the new election date will be “based on

consensus”. Weren’t the dates fixed earlier based on “consensus” too? It is difficult for the common Nepalis to understand what kind of consensus the political parties need to make the CA polls happen. Even so, let’s hope that the Chinese delegation’s visit will bear fruit.

Swekchya Dahal, via e-mail