This has reference to the article by Carl Bildt “Benefits of globalization: Bright indicators” (THT, March 21, Page 6). I totally agree with his opinion while he writes about globalization and its impacts.

Developing countries like Nepal have witnessed many changes at a time when they are heading towards a democracy. In the name of democracy political parties are always playing nasty politics which will take the county nowhere.

More importantly, the country is not adopting new, innovative, technological tools in different areas such as education, hospitals, public transport, banking and aviation sector. Similarly, with the passage of time, Nepalese citizens’ investment perceptions in the share market has been increasing significantly.

Likewise, the Middle East countries like Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Cyprus countries are the major source of remittances to Nepal, which is undoubtedly a substantive source of income. But it is bad for the country in the long-run as it is not a sustainable way of making a country prosperous.

Recently, we heard the news about the US based-social site Sagoon where a Nepalese national has issued his company’s initial public offering (IPO) to invest in his company. I think this gives a positive message for the international community from the young mindset of the Nepali citizen.

However, the cyber crime rate is alarming and difficult for the government to tackle.

Saroj Wagle, Bara

Begging bowl

This is with reference to the news story “EC seeks Indian, Chinese assistance” (THT, March 22, Page 1). It is quite frustrating to hear that the government and the Election Commission looks for foreign assistance even for simple items such as indelible ink to be used during election time.

Did the EC not know before that indelible ink should be arranged in advance? What sorts of preparations the EC and the government are making when they have just started “follow ups” with the neighbouring countries to bring the indelible ink and other required stationery?

The government has already allocated billions of rupees for election purposes. It is the responsibility of the EC to keep everything ready so that those goods can be dispatched in all districts on time. What will the EC do if these countries fail to provide assistance – in the form of grant – to Nepal?

It shows that the EC is preparing for the election in an ad hoc basis. It is also learnt that the EC is still looking for assistance for ballot boxes which needs a lot of time to ferry in the country and dispatch them to all the polling stations across the country.

It is our democracy and we need to be fully prepared for the same even without supports from outside. The logistics supports should have been in place at least six months before the election.

The begging bowl mentality that is prevalent at government level must be brought to an end to make our democracy sustainable.

Anita Biswas, Lahan