Beauty isn’t skin deep

It’s almost customary for contestants of Miss Nepal, the biggest annual beauty pageant in the country, to visit orphanages and old-age homes as a part of their training. This practice has been incorporated to make contestants aware of social disparities and encourage them to become role models for the rest of the society. However, none of the

winners of Miss Nepal have ever demonstrated interest in doing their bit to serve the society. Instead, most are seen in commercials or involved in other lucrative commercial ventures. The contestents should not forget that the title of Miss Nepal not only glamorises beauty and intelligence but also calls for the use of these twin attributes for the betterment of the society.

Bibha Dahal, Jorpati, Kathmandu

Disturbing

It is extremely disturbing to learn that globally reputed media such as the BBC should deceive its audience by faking winners of television and radio competitive shows “BBC fined after new phone-in scandals” (THT, July 31). The BBC was fined £400,000 by the media regulator, Ofcom, after a string of top British television and radio shows faked the winners of their competitions, which has become a matter of serious concern for all.

I suggest broadcasters in developing countries like Nepal not emulate broadcasting gimmicks just for the sake of a few bucks. They must not take the audience’s trust for granted. I suggest that a monitoring body like Press Council Nepal seriously consider incorporating a Code of Conduct for Journalists, which would restrain malpractices in media.

Lal D Rai, Kathmandu

Bewildering

The entire set of events taking place on the sidelines of SAARC summit was aired through all Nepali news channels, though only the state-owned Nepal Television was allowed to cover it directly from Colombo. However, private news channels aired the news courtesy PTV. May I ask: When our own NTV was airing live from Colombo, why did the private channels have to rely on PTV? Was the news aired by NTV different from that aired by foreign channels or was it that NTV couldn’t be relied upon?

Manoj Thapa, via e-mail

Fix it

It’s almost been a week since the telephone service in certain areas of Jawalakhel was disrupted following the theft of telephone wires. However, despite regular visits and complaints to Nepal Telecom officials, the NT has not taken any steps to fix the glitch. Meanwhile, life has become difficult for the people living in Jawalakhel. The NTC

officials should fix the problem at the earliest.

Samon Shrestha, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur

Punish them

The CA is supposed to lay the foundation of a new Nepal which is free of corruption and exploitation. The leaders of new Nepal should have zero-tolerance for corruption and the government should formulate stringent legal provisions to punish the corrupt. In this connection, the youth leaders in the CA would be expected to press the government to take

necessary action. To begin with, CA members should be forced to make statements of their wealth public.

Ramesh Shrestha,

via e-mail