Apropos of the news story “Are SEZs losing appeal among domestic investors?” (THT, February 13, Page 11), like government, like traders. There is a simple panacea for traders’ frustration. Just opt out of the SEZ.

Before occupying the plots to establish their export industries, not just any industry, they should have asked the government to first complete the infrastructure including electricity distribution.

As for the government, if the current traders have lost their interest, replace them with new ones. It is suspicious as to why the SEZ authorities and the government are pandering to the 19 traders that seem to have issues with electricity, facilities, water, tax, infrastructure without even starting their own “houses”, let alone production of exportable goods. Have they given their individual business plan on what, when, where, how they will export 75 percent of their production? They ought to be given a minimum export revenue target preferably in billions. There is no point in using expensive SEZ facilities at heavily subsidized rates to export goods worth few million Nepali rupees.

As informed sympathetically by the SEZ executive director (ED), why do the traders want more land without even making use of the land that they already occupy? Most of us know the reason why. And why is the ED speaking like the traders’ spokesperson? As the highest authority, isn’t it his duty to coordinate with various government agencies to “ensure quality infrastructure inside Bhairahawa SEZ” for the traders use? Why is he even talking about the government when he has been delegated as executive director of SEZ? The government should fulfil the traders’ infrastructure and electricity wish list instantly and start demanding that traders fulfil their part of the deal—75 percent export in billions.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Tribal identity

Tribals or aboriginals are an integral part of human society and represent valuable community members for any nation located either in northern or southern hemisphere.

As fellow members of the society, we do not share enough community feelings and admiration for the various tribal societies and aboriginal communities sharing this planet with us.

Most of the times they are either left unnoticed or uncared for since they do not always constitute a major voting share in popular democracies. Often, they are members of marginal communities pushed out of their traditional land holdings and deprived of their age old traditional life style in the name of infrastructure development and so called modernization.

Various tribal cultures, literature, traditional livelihood, ancestral practices as well as socio-cultural and socio-economic traditions are, that broadly encompass the study of ethnography, dying a slow death across the planet.

They are part of the global society and their heritage and cultures need to be preserved and protected under law at

all cost.

Saikat Kumar Basu, Canada