I am surprised and happy to see Jivan Bahadur Shahi's article ('Don't kill the Karnali with your aid', #260) in your paper. Having travelled all over Nepal, I was always skeptical about the food shortages in the far west. Speaking with officials, it was exactly what they meant by that, no rice. In Nepal, people do not say "hello" as a greeting but "have you eaten rice". Without it they are apparently "starving". Fortunately this is not the case in western Nepal where there are other food grains, as Shahi points out. And then these same officials say that Nepal is a poor country having their ministers begging for devevelopment aid. Nepal is such a wonderful and rich country, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Hans Zollinger
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. What irony that DDC chairman Jivan Bahadur Shahi's excellent and heartfelt plea for the development of the Karnali coincided with the attack on Kalikot. And what is even more poignant is that the Maoist attack was on the very activity that will ultimately lead to the development of this region, the Karnali Highway. By stopping the progress of the Surkhet-Jumla road, the Maoists have done nothing to advance their revolution. In fact, they have pushed the Karnali back and damaged their own reputation among the people. Planners in Kathmandu should read and re-read this article, especially Shahi's great line: 'The Karnali is not a food-deficit area, but only a rice-deficit one'.

Name withheld on request