Curb human trafficking:

Human trafficking is one of the primary issues of concern in Nepal. Appreciable efforts have been made by the government along with various groups but trafficking continues to thrive. One must acknowledge that this social evil is of our own making. The male dominated society often gives secondary treatment to girls. It is us who are reluctant to send girls to schools, without which, the consciousness to fight all kinds of social malpractices does not come. If girls were to get the preferences and facilities like the boys right from the beginning, much of the problems would never arise. If we are to get rid of this problem the first step we ought to take is to eradicate male dominance in our society. That can only happen when we ensure gender equality.

Pravesh Joshi, NIST

Unfortunate:

I am deeply saddened to hear about the tragic death of Robin Needham, the country director, CARE Nepal, who became a victim of the tsunami on December 26. I knew him since a long time. He was a truly remarkable person who gave so much of his life to work for the needy. His work is the finest example of what we can do for others and he will be remembered for his good work in Nepal.

Stella Dickinson, via e-mail

Copy cats:

For the past few decades we have been copying, copying and just copying. We have tried to copy the Western culture, technology of Japan and India and the economy of China. We the Nepalis have been trying to copy these countries and import their development models.

But besides copying the Western culture, we made only a limited advances in the field of science technology and economy by being copy cats. Instead, it would be very much rewarding to engage in original ideas that are relevant to the country. Very few countries have become successful by copying others. It is one thing to import technology and quite another to copy the way it is being implemented. There are plenty of scientific fields which could do very well by importing technology and applying them in our own ways, as per our needs. That would be a novel way to rely on outside technology.

Tabish Q Hashmi, Bhadrapur

Rash driving:

Five members of a family were killed when a bus ran over a taxi in Kusunti, Lalitpur, on Tuesday. It is a loss that is difficult for the relatives of the deceased to come to terms with.

Thanks to reckless driving, accidents like this one occur almost everyday in Nepal. Although it is very difficult to blame anyone, rash driving has been the primary cause of major accidents on Nepal’s roads. Most of the accidents including those buses tumbling off the highway to Trishuli or trucks ramming into passenger buses are caused because of human errors, avoidable if all drivers did not forget for once that lives of several passengers rest in their hands and reckless driving will not take anyone very far. Accidents occur in Nepal’s roads at an unprecedented rate. But despite all these, the government has done very little although the Valley Traffic Police organised a traffic week few months back. Given that accidents occur as much in rural roads as in the capital city, awareness campaigns need to be extended to rural areas too. But unless drivers themselves remain vigilant and take their responsibilities more seriously, our rate of road accidents is unlikely to beat a retreat. The police cannot always be blamed for the mishaps.

Indra Khadka, Kathmandu