Different perspective:

I am a regular reader of THT and I am particularly fond of Rakesh Wadhwa’s column that comes every Monday. From his write-ups, I believe Wadhwa is an ardent supporter of

privatisation, competition, open market and liberal economic policy.

I have only passed Intermediate level and I am yet uncertain as to what career to pursue. In Nepal the trend is that good students take up either medicine or engineering courses. But students still lack proper guidance on these courses and personal growth is not given importance. Though business is important, it is time the country gave adequate

attention to developing a set of technocrats too. It would be nice if Wadhwa wrote on this subject too.

Amit Acharya, Kathmandu

Traffic woes:

The vehicular traffic situation in Nepal is bad even by South Asian standards. Traffic

accidents are on the rise and never-ending traffic jams have made life of the common

people difficult. What is more, the traffic comes to a virtual standstill even if two people start a commotion on the street. Recently, I was stuck in a jam when thousands of students had to go for their exam. The reason: A man, engaged in a heated debate with a traffic policeman, was defending his stand in the middle of the road and bringing the whole traffic to a grinding halt. The man could have made his point conveniently on the pavement. Such instances are not unusual in Kathmandu. Blocking the traffic for whatever reason is bad and unjustifiable.

Moti Lal Phullel, Nayabazar

Culture:

Nepal possesses many monuments of archaeological importance, exotic wildlife, breathtaking scenery, and diverse culture and tradition. The Nepali culture and art have also earned international reputation.

However, today, Nepal’s social and moral values are on the decline. Over time, Nepal has been exposed to an overdose of foreign cultures. The Nepali youth have ventured abroad and brought in fresh ideas. Instead of copying what is good, we tend to imitate those social habits that are considered unwelcome and immoral even by Western standards. No wonder, this has led to the erosion of our culture.

Therefore, in order to preserve the rich Nepali culture, people should only embrace those useful habits which would help us lead a better life rather than merely aping the West in its entirety.

Richa Adhikari

Write off loans:

The G7 nations have locked horns over whether or not to write off their loans to the poor countries. The G7 summit, a conclave of the leaders of the world’s seven wealthiest

nations, can virtually change the economic course of the heavily indebted poor countries if they agree to write off such loans.

The idea to call a moratorium on such loans was first floated by the British chancellor Gordon Brown when he suggested that those countries hit hard by the devastating tsunamis must be spared the debt burden. It was a move that was promptly supported by Japan.

The poor countries have been a victim of natural disasters as much as man-made ones. But wilful malgovernance and financial irregularities have also been responsible to some extent for their present condition despite so much of outside support. But writing off loans is not to be mistaken as being given a clean chit by the benefactors to the least developed countries to use the money for unproductive purposes.

Pratibha Pandey, Kirtipur