LETTERS

Round-table conference:

The reinstatement of the dissolved House of Representatives is illogical and unlawful. Demand for House restoration is just the self-cleansing grand design of the same leaders who made a mockery of parliamentary democracy in Nepal and their blatant indifference to the sacrifices made by scores of the martyrs for establishing democracy in the country. The leaders have shamelessly betrayed the sovereign voters’ aspiration and ruined the new generation’s future prospects by way of their misrule, naked nepotism and favouritism, and limitless corruption. Besides, House reinstatement will forfeit the constitutionally guaranteed democratic rights of the people to vote, including of the sizable number of the youth who have attained voters’ age after the last election. Hence the best outlet to the present quagmire would be to convene a round-table conference of all the stakeholders that include the King, the political parties, the Maoists and the civil society’s representatives, and subsequent formation of a consensus government that would conduct a fair referendum to let the people express their choice whether to amend the present constituent or go for the constitutional assembly for rewriting a new one.

Ramesh B Shrestha, Lalitpur

Fiscal policy:

Fiscal policy will become expansionary when there is an increase in government expenditure or a decrease in taxes. Increasing taxes to finance government expenditure, therefore, does imply a neutral, not expansionary, stance of the fiscal policy. Hence, Prof. Bishwambher Pyakuryal’s comment that the government is pursuing an expansionary fiscal policy (Ailing economy, THT, January 20) is not totally correct. His earlier observation (in the news titled Debt blues: Nepal slipping fast into red, THT, January 18) that the government created excess liquidity and expansionary fiscal policy by increasing tax rate and revenue mobilisation is similarly incorrect. Also, instead of attempting to put forward some solutions for Nepal’s economic problems, Prof. Sri Ram Poudyal in the article “Governor row and NRB’s challenges” published in THT on January 21, listed challenges and put questions about monetary policy in a manner similar to that of asking students in exams. These observations from such reputed professors are contrary to our expectations.

Deepak Adhikari,

Kamalpokhari

Superstition:

This is in reference to the news published in THT on January 22. Anyone who read the news on the front page had to read it twice to believe it. The news “A girl getting canine groom to ward off evil eye” was about a girl married to a dog to defend against some evil, in India. This is not something that we get to read everyday. It is indeed pathetic that the people still have such beliefs that are blindly superstitious. How can the parents of this girl marry their daughter to a dog? This is definitely a crime. And the people behind the episode should be punished. In Nepal, the on-going conflict has suppressed equally ludicrous proceedings. Many such superstitious practices are still prevalent in different villages that we are not aware of. There are thousands of people who fall victim to these age-old beliefs. It is for the child rights’ activists and agencies to root out superstitious practices from Nepal. They should divert their attention to the rural areas where their presence is much needed. Shriyam Dhakal, St Xavier’s College, Kathmandu