LETTERS: Make visit businesslike

Apropos of the news story “Jumbo delegation to accompany PM to Delhi” (THT, Feb. 17, Page1), this is the same tradition Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been following with a jumbo delegation to India during his official visit to India on February 19. Instead of taking a jumbo team he should focus more on enhancing bilateral relations seeking India’s commitment to expedite the projects signed in the past. Many deals reached earlier have not been executed due to lack of follow up. PM Oli can push for the early commencement of the Panchaeshwor Project for which Indian PM Narendra Modi has also given top priority. This project can generate a fair amount of energy that can help drive the economies of both the countries and provide enough water for irrigation and drinking purposes. During his visit to Mumbai PM Oli should invite Indian businessmen to invest in hydro power, tourism and other areas of employment generating projects.

Saroj Wagle, Bara

Objectionable

The report of a local mob manhandling a Tanzanian female student in the southern Indian state of Karnataka is shocking. The incidence is highly objectionable and does not portray a positive image of India at the global platform. There has been some gross misunderstanding and miscommunication between Indian and African communities as well as stereotyping at the backdrop of this unfortunate incidence. There is no doubt that the Karnataka state administration has shown signs of weakness with respect to the maintenance of law and order from the perspective of increasing incidences of mobbing of students and workers from other parts of India and abroad. It is also important for the local public to be respectful to other cultures and ethnicities and not to take the law in their own hands; and the security vigil by the local administration needs to be beefed up. At the same time Indian institutes hosting foreign students must provide compulsory orientation regarding the Indian society, sensitivity and cultural norms to better empower foreign students in understanding the country and society better as done by most universities overseas. However, one interesting observation has been that India’s infamous Intolerance Brigade, who never leave any stone unturned in bad mouthing about the nation have been found to be completely silent on this issue! One wonders if this is because there is no election close by and because the state is ruled by the opposition Indian National Congress party? The greatest strength and weakness of the subcontinent nations has been their politics; and it is unfortunate every incident in this heavily populated part is played down with political games. Other than working and coming together to take care of a highly objectionable event that has denuded human integrity; political parties across the red line has been only throwing stones and mud at each other.

Saikat Kumar Basu, Canada