Wrong allegation

This is with reference to the news report “Surya Nepal workers hold officials captive” (THT, Nov. 11). In the last line of the report, you mention: “The Royals have a big share in SNPL”. This is factually incorrect as we have made clear several times in the past as well.

The majority of SNPL shares are owned by foreign investors. Surya Nepal Pvt Ltd is a subsidiary of ITC Ltd, India, which holds a 59 per cent share in SNPL while British Tobacco holds another 2 per cent. The remainder is held by 21 individuals and corporate investors in Nepal.

Samindra Roy, Vice-president, Marketing, SNPL

Stay united

The Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM), a small armed outfit operating in a some districts in the Terai, is among the few organisations which have not hailed the Nov 8 peace understanding between the CPA and the Maoists. The JTMM should also be persuaded to lay down arms. This is necessary because the group has the potential to make free and fair polls difficult.

No matter who heads the interim government, the eight parties should make sure that there is no split in the alliance before the CA polls. Regressive elements must not be allowed to rear their ugly heads.

Ramesh Neupane, Mahankal

Errors

Apropos of the news report “Nepal gets 138th rank in UN report” (THT, Nov. 11), the HDI value for Nepal in 2005 was 0.526, not 0.504 as mentioned in the report.

In your box item, you also wrongly put Norway with the HDI value of 0.965 at the top of the index, while Iceland, with the HDI value of 0.969 has been placed second. Such errors would not do credit to a daily that claims to be Number One, besides raising doubts about the credibility of the report itself.

Shabda A Sharma, Buddhanagar

New calendar

With the heralding of peace in the country, we should now engage in its socio-economic

development. For this to happen, we need more domestic savings and investment as well as

technology transfers and capital inflows from abroad.

In this modern age, no country can prosper without harmonising its domestic practices with international ones. The need to adopt the Gregorian calendar and Roman numerals in place of Vikaram Sambat and Devanagari numerals is a case in point. However, we can continue using our existing system for religious and cultural purposes.

January 1, 2007, could be chosen for the switchover.

Tara Bhattarai, via e-mail

Update

Some of THT’s services leave a lot to be desired. For instance, the “Appointments” column on the THT website has not been updated for nearly a year. Update it or delete it altogether.

Raj Joshi, via e-mail

No need

I don’t understand why the students willing to study in English-speaking countries like the US, the UK, Canada and Australia need to appear for IELTS or TOEFL tests.

As most students applying for admission hail from English-language schools, the requirement should be waived.

Shiva Neupane, Golphutar