LALITPUR: Chairman of the Unified CPN-Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' today said brain drain from Nepal could not be stopped unless the state addressed the concerns of its citizens.

Speaking at a programme organised by the All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary to felicitate two youth engineers – Kalyan Shrestha and Bikash Parajuli – he said, "I will fight till my last breath for a prosperous country full of possibilities as dreamt by millions of Nepali youths."

He emphasised on the need of a political revolution before a technological one. "Those countries that have gone through political revolutions are now technologically advanced," he said, adding that this was an era of science and technology.

Prachanda left for Pokhara today to attend a political training programme for Maoist cadres.

Meanwhile, attending engineering students said the state had denied them opportunities to demonstrate their skills.

Kalyan Shrestha, a Morang resident, had made an aircraft that could fly at a speed of 170 km per hour as an aeronautic engineering student in Chennai University, India.

Bikash Parajuli, a Kaski resident and a mechanical engineering student at Pulchowk Campus, had designed Danfe, the first ultralight aircraft made in Nepal.

"The government has never prioritised the students and their innovations," said Shrestha. "The government should encourage students to demonstrate their ideas." He said he had drawn the Nepali flag and written the names of his parents on the first-ever aircraft made by students in India.

Parajuli said the bureaucratic dilly-dallying had deferred the test flight of Danfe by two years. "Our team began the Danfe project in 2005 but was able to test the aircraft only in 2007," he said. "This is a world of technology, not politics. Nepali students can perform as well as those anywhere else in the world if provided opportunities." Parajuli said the government had failed to tap the potential of the students.

Lekhnath Neupane, president, ANNISU-R, said only technological advancement could present Nepal well in the international arena. "There are no research opportunities in the country, compelling students to go abroad," he added, calling on the government to utilise the skills of the students for the better future of the country.