This has reference to “What about them?” (THT, Perspectives, February 24, Page 1) on the post-mortem of the National Pride Projects (NPPs). Other than giving a list of excuses, the experts fail to give any useful or meaningful diagnosis to combat the pathetic state and progress of the NPPs, one of which is at the risk of closure. For this lugubrious state of affairs, the experts repeatedly pin the blame on the government for negligence over lack of a proper administrative mechanism and system, both of which encompass the list of excuses. Change of personnel, as an attempt to regulate everything from the selection of projects to formulation of policy and implementation, is cited as the major reason for the poor performance of infrastructure development.

Happily, for a change, the listicle of reasons do not include corruption, nepotism, procrastination, gross ineptitude, politics, smokescreen, intrigue, deceit, lack of honesty, know-how, managerial knowledge, understanding and mental grasp of huge projects.  We can find answers to all our implementation problems in the Premier League, LA Liga and Serie A, where the major owner, management and financial stakeholders stay behind the curtain. Only the people who matter - manager and players - are seen. They enjoy a hands-off approach. They also take the kick or reward depending on their individual and collective failures or success. Neither the managers nor the players get something called the second chance. That is why even players like Ronaldo, Messi, Pogba bet their lives for a quick amend when they fail to convert a penalty. As for the managers, a few losses and they are sacked unceremoniously irrespective of how many silver wares they got a club.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Big claps 

Big claps and kudos to Japan and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) on their latest mission to Ryugu.  The Hayabusa2 spacecraft has now successfully touched down on the asteroid Ryugu. In fact, the Japanese mission is quite interesting and completely inspiring.  And Hayabusa2 has been engaged on the great mission to get the clues to the origin of the solar system and that of life on Mother Earth. So many interesting things have just started unfolding now, and the media houses are now greatly discussing the whole episode. It is really time to talk about such great scientific things that have been the pillars of strength in the matter of developing the world. Having talked about this experiment, the Asian region has been hit by internal conflict, and terrorism should be put on the front burner in developing scientific activities.  The fact is that science and its advances will not only strengthen the whole international community but will also enable the people to live in a healthy and wealthy manner. Therefore, all the Asian nations like India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka should draw up bigger scientific plans starting right away.  As a result of this, in the process, the whole Asian region and the people will become much stronger on the international stage on the major fronts like education, science, health and economy.

P Senthil Saravana Durai, Mumbai