Land reforms

As regards the news “No end in sight to Maoist land-grabbing” (THT, Nov. 6), the Maoist-led

government must adopt appropriate measures for land distribution. Sher Bahadur Hamal’s 14 bighas of land being arbitrarily distributed among a few landless people poses several serious questions for the government. There are tens of thousands of landless people across the country. Surprisingly, the land was distributed only among a select few. I believe that the Maoists must bring an end to the practice of land-grabbing and instead introduce a scientific

land-reform programme.

Neeraj C Roy, India

Dog’s life

I visit Kathmandu each year. This October I was delighted to see that the city was abuzz with more activity. Moreover, the stray dogs that were a ubiquitous sight in the capital’s streets seemed to have disappeared. The few stray dogs that I saw looked healthier. I was told that a non-profit organisation Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (KAT) ran spaying and neutering campaigns for the street dogs frequently. If the disappearance of scrawny street dogs in the capital is the result of KAT’s efforts, I thank them.

Jenny Fearns, Hong Kong

Emulate

Finance Minister Dr Babu Ram Bhattarai has opined that skill and knowledge of the youth must be recognised as academic degrees (“Earn degrees for stint in people’s war”, THT, Nov. 7). He further suggested the medium of open university for applying this recognition concept. I would like to agree fully with Bhattarai, and would also like to say that open universities must introduce such programmes soon. The proposed open universities should introduce

new syllabuses that meet the needs of the times. Also, the quality of education must meet international standards so that the degrees that students earn from these universities are recognised by universities abroad. Australia has many job-oriented academic programmes, and it might be helpful to emulate from the Australian education system. As a matter of fact, many billions of rupees that is being spent by the government should be channelled into the

establishment of vocational institutes that offer job-oriented short-term courses.

V P Sayami, Kathmandu

Mistake

Apropos of the news report “Lady Ban asks kids not to lose hope” (THT, Nov. 2), UNICEF would like to thank THT for highlighting the visit of Ban Soon-taek to the street children supported by Voice of Children (VOC). We appreciate the interest THT has shown in highlighting the plight of street children in Nepal.

However, the report mentioned that VOC is a UNICEF-funded centre, which is false. Instead, UNICEF supports the National Alliance of Organisations Working for Street Children (NAOSC-Nepal), of which VOC is a member .

NAOSC - Nepal focuses on the capacity building of its member organisations and on the establishment of standards of practices and child protection policy. It also functions as the bridge between the policy level, donor agencies and member organisations.

John Brittain, Chief, Communication Section, UNICEF Nepal