Mobile Links

ONE of the sectors of national life that has seen a lot of progress over the past decades is undoubtedly telecommunications. Telephone lines in particular have grown phenomenally over the past years, necessitating addition of digits. Since the past month, we have seven digit numbers, reflecting the growth in both demand and supply with the latter being strengthened with different telecommunications projects in the Valley and elsewhere. For the past couple of years more and more Nepalese have been enjoying the convenience of cellular phones. It is a common sight these days to see many young and old professionals, businessmen and officials sporting a mobile phone. The often-intrusive rings of a mobile during a gathering like seminar and conference has also become familiar. Particularly in the three districts of the Kathmandu Valley and also in the cities of Pokhara, Biratnagar and Birgunj, many professionals consider it de rigueur to have a mobile. While some may go for it more for prestige value than the actual necessity, cell phones are fast becoming a necessity to those whose job carries with it a good deal of communication tasks.

The mobiles however are still the preserve of people who can afford it, not necessarily of those who need it most. Many people who one could easily imagine as ones needing cell phones because of the nature of the job cannot subscribe to the service because of the high cost involved. And there were those in cities other than the six cities, who would be able to bear the cost of a mobile service, but could not because the service had not come to those cities. Therefore, it must be good news to many cell phone aspirants to hear from Minister for Information and Communications and General Administration Ramesh Nath Pandey that the government was doing the necessary homework to bring cell phone services within the reach of the lower and middle class customers. In fact, the mobile services, according to the minister, will reach the far western towns of Dhangadhi and Mahendranagar by next month. With all the expansion so far, the total mobile phone capacity has reached 110,000. Welcome also is the news that the government was thinking of reviewing the mobile phone tariffs. The government should as far as possible revise down the existing tariffs of mobile phones, for there are many who are awaiting the time when subscribing to a cell phone does not eat too much into their wallet. At the same time, mobile links should continue to be expanded.

Summer Maladies

THE nation and the people are right now in the midst of summer. Though the people, after having endured the cold months of winter, have been eagerly looking forward to the hot, if not warm, days of summer, going by past experiences, this season is also a harbinger of diseases. Especially those that tend to proliferate and make their deadly, if not debilitating, effects felt among the people during the hot, dry days of summer. As if all this is not enough, as the summer season inexorably gives way to the rainy monsoon season, additional diseases, mostly water-borne ones, announce their unwanted arrival by infecting some of the people, especially those living in the rural areas. And, in the bargain, not only forcing the concerned health authorities to mobilise their resources, personnel and facilities to stamp out, if not contain, the further march of such diseases but, worse still, never failing to instill some amount of fear, panic and anxiety among both the people and the victims of the diseases.

The people have been stoically bearing with such summer and monsoon season specific-maladies as well as the accompanying health-related for many decades, if not years. All this, needless to point out, has never failed to give the impression that either the concerned health authorities have yet to put their disease controlling acts together or that they are lacking in adequate resources, especially the much-needed funds, to launch schemes to control the summer or monsoon season-specific ailments. If it is the former, then they need to renew their efforts to put their heads together to speedily come up with short and long-term plans and programmes to eradicate, if not control, summer and the monsoon-related maladies. And if it is the latter, then the government, to avail the concerned health authorities with the funds to contain the deadly effects of the summer and monsoon-specific maladies, should spare no efforts to explore all available avenues to drum up the necessary resources. In this regard, soliciting assistance from the like-minded international organisations could go a long way in meeting any shortfalls in the required resources. While they are at it, both the concerned health authorities and the civic society should work hand-in-hand to chart out and implement schemes to teach the people the ways and means to take preventive measures against such summer and monsoon season-specific aliments.