I feel compelled to write after reading Artha Beed's very pertinent Economic Sense column ('The aid haemorrhage', #242). There is a need for serious rethinking about our dependence on aid. How much of it does really trickle down to the needy? What are the measures that need to be in place to make sure that it is indeed used in the larger interest of the people? Because of economies of scale, larger projects are approved even though smaller, more cost efficient projects, are shelved. Some recipient countries themselves have started dictating the terms of aid. For a country like Nepal, it may not be that easy to do without it but we must start. I also agree with the Beed about the brain drain from government institutions. Donors love to complain about how inefficient the government is. How can the government perform when they have lured away the brightest and the best? This is not to say that civil servants don't deserve a better career but the government has to give serious thought to retaining its most experienced and efficient bureaucrats. Honest and accountable managers have no option but to leave the government because of the way they are treated.

Name withheld,
United Nations, Pulchok