Artha Beed's column on graft ("Words come easily", #85) raised some interesting points. Nepalis are confused about graft and corruption. A lot of what goes by the name of corruption describes taking a shortcut, or giving tea-money-not actual graft. Like a decomposing fish, corruption rots the head, and that is where one must begin to tackle graft. Unfortunately, the newly set up judicial commission is not clear in its function. Possessing assets is not illegal. One has to prove it that it was bought with ill-gotten wealth. If the allegations cannot stand up in court, we have made a mockery of the rule of law, and the ensuing chaos would do more harm than good. It is time to be cool-headed and calculating about genuinely curbing corruption, not just playing to the galleries and chasing shadows.

Govinda Sharma
Thapathali