Part of the blame

The day he was sworn in as Prime Minister, Prachanda met the contestants of Miss Nepal 2008, former Miss Nepals, the event organisers and sponsors, and on receiving the protest note, said that he was ‘positive’ about the issue and that the pageant would not be stopped. More than 100 days on, Prachanda has been on record for being positive on many of the

issues. However, many of them, including the holding of Miss Nepal 2008 pageant, remain unresolved. For the Maoist-led government it has been 100 days of unimpressive performance.

The Young Communist League (YCL) still behaves in an unruly manner from time to time, the Maoists’ trade unions have increased industrial unrest, hurting the country’s industries, and their women’s associations have forcefully padlocked the offices of Miss Nepal

organisers and sponsors. Such activities have partly contributed to the Maoists’ unsatisfactory performance in government and people’s growing mistrust over Maoist commitments.

Prachanda by now should be able to read the writing on the wall. He should learn lessons and rein in the party’s sister organisations. It is necessary for the CPN-Maoist to retain public support for its leadership of the government.

Subin Chhetri, Sitapaila, Kathmandu

Monitor them

Despite the government’s oft-repeated rhetoric on educational reforms, especially in the private sector, not much seems to have been done so far. One just needs to look at the

exorbitant fees charged by the private schools to conclude that they are being extremely unfair to students and parents.

Not only are their fee structures non-transparent, schools also do not hesitate to revise fee structures once the students are admitted. A reputed school in the capital even mentions in its brochure that parents will not be allowed to form any organisation to question any of its activities. The government needs to devise a strong mechanism in order to monitor the activities of such schools and discipline them.

Gayatri Pradhan, Naxal, Kathmandu

Take heart

CPN-Maoist leader C P Gajurel, during a recent radio interview, stated that the government’s

programme of controlling traffic in the Kathmandu metropolis and its several other programmes have been unsuccessful because of the lethargic and insincere fashion in which Nepal’s bureaucracy functions. He has also opined that there does not seem to be any

alternative to the CPN-Maoist-led government.

I think the Maoist leaders need not be too saddened by their first failures. The enactment of stringent laws that define corruption as crime against the state would revolutionise the functioning of the state machinery.

Rabi Manandhar,

Kathmandu

Sad

It is very distressing to hear Prime Minister Prachanda candidly accept that he failed to deliver as per people’s expectations. He can learn much from Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister Moinuddin

Qureshi who had put in place sweeping and irreversible reforms in governance during his three months in office.

Ramesh Shrestha, Lalitpur