Once again, the Big III repeated their power hunger politics pulling down one another’s government citing this and that reasons. Nepal will see another new PM on Wednesday “Election for new prime minister tomorrow” (THT, August 2, Page 1) after PM Oli resigned a few days ago due to pulling out of CPN MC from his coalition government.

It is not surprising to see such political drama in Nepal. It’s has been going on for the last 25 years and seems that it will continue in the future

as well. Otherwise, none of the so called representatives of the people have so far demonstrated any

statesmanship and really served the nation and its people.

CPN MC Chairman Prachanda became new prime minister with the backing of NC and other fringe parties. This will be his second inning. He has already served nine months as the first PM of Republic Nepal but had to unfortunately resign after he tried to oust the then CNC of Nepal Army.

It is yet to be seen as to how he will prove to be better than Oli. His performance will be closely watched by the people who have suffered a lot due to irresponsible acts of the political leaders and the previous governments.

In fact, the remaining 18 months of this transitional phase is full of challenges for the new coalition government. Solving political and constitutional crisis with Madhesi and Janajati groups, holding three tiers of elections, speeding up reconstruction programme and implementation of new constitution during the next 18 months are the major works to be carried out.

If CPN-MC and NC led coalition government failed to perform, Nepal will enter into another political chaos.

Rai Biren Bangdel, Maharajgunj

Leopard

Apropos to the news story “Common leopard count in limbo” (THT, Aug 2, page 6), it is important to mention that leopard sub species across

African and Asian continents are considered vulnerable according to latest evaluations of IUCN.

The conditions of different Asiatic sub species are either seriously data deficient or more serious compared to their African cousins.

The South Asian leopard, widely distributed across various ecosystems of South Asia (Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh) is the last and largest existing population among all the Asiatic sub species.

True population dynamics and census data of this South Asian sub species is largely absent and has never been considered as a species with conservation priority compared to other major cats from the region like tigers, lions and snow leopards. Fairly recently, India is the only

country in the region that has initiated census work on fragmented leopard sub populations.

The census of leopards in Nepal will provide new insights into the population dynamics of the species and help in future conservation programs.

Joint Conservation Initiatives (JCI) between SAARC members with leopard population could greatly help in dissemination of technology, ecological information and species status.

Saikat Kumar Basu, Canada