Kunda Dixit's 'Naming and shaming' (# 265) provides a true story of Nepal's progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Unlike many developing countries, Nepal has been working very seriously to meet the MDGs. To achieve the highly ambitious but achievable goals, Nepal and development agencies must have a conducive environment as a prerequisite to meet the targets. First, the ongoing conflict in the country must be resolved to bring political stability. Second, as Mr Dixit rightly emphasises, the restoration of 'true' grassroots democracy is prerequisite since the development of Nepal's villages are in the hands of local communities and their elected representatives. Nepal made significant progress in sustainable development since the 1990s precisely due to decentralisation and community empowerment through various hardware and software development programs. Third, an appropriate institutional framework must be in place to effectively link both central and local government resources with civil society and the private sector in meeting development targets. Fourth, all MDGs must be integrated for synergetic impact. And lastly, we need to constantly review progress and learn our lessons from experiences.

Although the good news is that Nepal has made progress as highlighted in the UN Human Development Report 2005, we may regress unles the chanllenges are addressed. The Nepali Times deserves praise for bringing up development issues instead of just focusing on politics.

Hum Gurung,
Griffith University, Australia

. It's hard to believe that Nepal's poverty figures have gone down. Statistics can be twisted and the United Nations and World Bank are notorious for this. So what if Nepal has gone up four points in the poverty index? What kind of difference has it made on the ground for ordinary Nepalis? How do you put a dollars and cents count on a mother who has lost her life because she can't get to a hospital in time because the conflict has closed down the health post, the road and all mobility? All this talk of meeting Millennium Development Goals are meaningless unless we address the political problem of resolving this conflict.

Sudarshan Dulal,
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