By Shashi P.B.B. Malla
The Balen government has indeed made an auspicious beginning by announcing an ambitious 100-point work plan.
It is a signal of a decisive break from the slow pace of past administrations.
The road map sets out time-bound reforms with indicators, responsible officials and regular reporting to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Fake Rescue Scams
In this regard, we hope that the new government also has the time and energy to confront the various scams connected to fake rescue operations in the trekking and mountaineering sectors.
This has given a terrible image to the Tourism & Hospitality industry.
For the sake of Nepal’s international image, it is necessary for accountability.
All the persons and institutions involved in the scams must face stern action.
These are the various trekking and mountaineering offices and the individuals involved – including medical doctors and some hospitals.
They should be fined heavily and barred from working in the sector for at least 10 years.
This should convey the message that ‘one should earn an honest penny’.
Dire Straits of the Chepang People
The condition of the Chepang people is like an open wound in Nepalese society.
They have a very challenged existence.
It may seem a small matter, but the ethnic group of the Chepangs do live in miserable conditions not fir for human beings.
It may seem like a living museum for observers, but for the Chepangs themselves, in this modern age they are still living as hunters and gatherers.
We must restore a sense of decency for them and integrate them in the Nepalese society of today.
The need proper clothes and permanent housing, continuous health care and education for their children.
Integration also means that they should be trained in useful areas such as agriculture and the forest economy and earn enough to sustain themselves.
They could for example made part and parcel of community forests under the guidance of ‘village mothers’ and with time have a major stake.
Nepali society would not have neglected some of their own.
The writer can be reached at:
shashimalla125@gmail.com
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