Apropos of the tragic news story “Three killed, 25 injured in police firing” (THT, Nov. 23, Page 1), this is reminiscent of the final 19 days during the second Jan Andolan that finally nailed the royal coffin. What next for the liberal federal

democratic republic now?

Politicians have idled away too much time and opportunities. The country wedges back precariously on the Hillary steps below Mt. Everest and a minuscule mistake would send it crashing down the crevices. The politicians should be fully responsible if that happens.

J. Talchabhadell, Bhaktapur

Avifauna

Recently I had the opportunity to review several reports, research articles and maps about the unimaginable diversity of avifauna (birds) of Nepal. I wonder how little we know about the tremendous diversity of birds in the

landlocked, Himalayan nation with spectacular diversity of topography, ecosystems, biomes and eco-biogeographic variations from the wet eastern Nepal to the comparatively drier areas of the west. Many of these surveys were conducted between 1960-1966 by a South Asian zoologist, Dr. Bisomoy Biswas, a renowned ornithologist of his time. It was exciting to note that this dedicated individual almost single-handedly travelled to every remote corner of Nepal to study and record the local birds and surveyed the rich bird population of the Himalayan nation in the form of a series of seminal works entitled, The Birds of Nepal published in 12 volumes. The same individual is also credited for describing the avifauna of Bhutan in another seminal work entitled The Birds of Bhutan. These are the first authentic bird surveys for the regions till date. Nepal has undergone much eco-sociological transformation since the days of these early surveys. It is important that the nation takes up a new comprehensive survey of her rich biodiversity including birds and mammals, particularly important after the massive earthquake that shook the entire Nepal Himalayas. It will be interesting to note how the avifauna and other wildlife in Nepal have changed in the new millennium since the surveys.

Saikat Kumar Basu, Canada

Electricity

The word ‘hunger’ has exceeded its popularity more ridiculously. Already, around 7 lakh people were facing poverty because of the devastating earthquake. And now, the economic blockade added 15 lakh more people below the poverty line. The number of hungry stomachs is easily recognized by the nerves in their face. Those people neither have the energy to rebuild, nor have any means to survive further. The longer the blockade remains the larger the number of people will become poor. No doubt, that we’re the next to be added to the list of poor. What we can do at this moment of crisis is to maximize our resources so that the country becomes self-reliant on energy, food and medicine, the three areas the government has to make heavy investment. Let us produce enough electricity that will replace the imported cooking gas and other petroleum products that consumes our foreign earnings.

Sabu Kuinkel, Via e-mail