Don’t believe what the press is writing about ministers being incompetent. As usual, the media is exaggerating.Actually, our ministers are hard at work behind the scenes trying not to take any major decisions. This is an ingenious strategic move by the government so that they do not make any mistakes.If no decisions are taken, there is no chance of the decisions being wrong. For anything to go wrong, a decision has to be taken that is not right. It is audacious for the government to be so decisively indecisive, since decisions that are eventually taken may turn out to be the wrong decisions.Policy-makers may think they are decision-makers. Out of sheer boredom they take impulsive decisions, and immediately get to regret their decisiveness. Since this is a two-thirds majority grumblement, the Cabinet has the mandate to not decide on anything of a substantive nature.So, the matter of the members of the Cabinet (Motto: ‘Who Told You the Buck Stops Here?’) being incompetent doesn’t arise. It’s an idiot-proof system of governance because our movers and shakers don’t move at all and very rarely shake. To make the system even more failsafe, ministers have collectively decided to henceforth scrap Cabinet meetings at Singha Darbar altogether since it has been decided that everything is decided at Baluwatar anyway.Even so, the grovelment spokespersona is required to hold a press conference every Thursday to brief the press about the decisions that were not taken by the Cabinet. In the pseudo-nationalist interest, we have decided to publish heretounder all pending indecisions:<ol> 	<li>The Cabinet has decided not to make any decision on reviving the Melamchi project, and instead allow the 26.7km tunnel to be used for a Bullet Train service to Langtang National Park. But no decision had been taken till press time.</li></ol><ol start="2"> 	<li>The Ministry of Information Overload has firmly decided to put off any decision on the Media Council Bill because it would show that the government had foolishly decided to be decisive.</li></ol><ol start="3"> 	<li>The God of Rain has not yet decided when the monsoon will begin, and farmers have therefore put off their decision to transplant paddy.</li></ol><ol start="4"> 	<li>Patching potholes on the 500m section of road between Chabahil and Baudhha is half-complete because the Department of Roads and Kingdoms is half-decided about completing it before the rains.</li></ol><ol start="5"> 	<li>The government hasn’t decided what the decision should be on the Nijgad Airport clear-felling contract. “The decision hasn’t been taken on who should decide which logging company should bag the deal,” clarified the government spokespersonification with a hint of indecisiveness in his voice.</li></ol><ol start="6"> 	<li>Heavenly sources have told The Ass on condition of anonymity that The Almighty hasn’t made up his and/or her mind about what to do with Nepal next. “God is weighing the options since things are fluid. Just because he is omnipresent doesn’t mean he’s got Nepal all figured out,” said a celestial spokespersonality.</li></ol>Read also: <a style="font-size: 15px; background-color: #ffffff; outline: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.15px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/future-of-mt-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Future of Mt Everest</a>

The Ass

Nepal’s undecided decision-makers

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a273b9c7e80680e043a5ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1728" height="1224"/><figcaption>SHOCK AND SADNESS: The body of Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari arrives at Kathmandu Airport on Thursday afternoon. He will be cremated in his hometown of Pokhara.</figcaption></figure>The tragic irony of the helicopter crash on Wednesday was that among the seven dead were a civil aviation minister who was striving to improve Nepal’s air safety record, and the country’s foremost airline executive.Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari was one of the few members of the NCP government with a clean, can-do image. He <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revived the construction of two languishing international airports</a> in Pokhara and<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/boom-time-in-central-terai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Lumbini</a>, improved and removed bottlenecks at Kathmandu airport. He was involved in important air route negotiations and was lobbying to remove Nepal from the EU blacklist. He was set to attend the ITB Berlin next week to promote the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, for which he had set a target of 2 million tourists.Ang Tshiring Sherpa was the founder of Yeti Airlines and also owned the Air Dynasty helicopter that struck the side of Pathibhara mountain in Taplejung during a snowstorm on 27 February. He was the Nepali partner of Himalaya Airlines, a joint venture with Tibet Airlines and managed hotels in the Khumbu, Gokarna Resort and Kasara in Chitwan.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a273e9c7e80680e043a5fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="990"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/helicopter-carrying-tourism-minister-crashes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Helicopter carrying Tourism Minister crashes</a> <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Nijgad airport will be a game changer” - Rabindra Adhikari</a><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a27409c7e80680e043a60jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="540"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Pilot Prabhakar KC had reportedly radioed Suketar Tower reporting heavy snowfall. Although it is too early to speculate, former CAAN director Triratna Manandhar says having a minister and his own boss among his passengers may have put undue psychological pressure on KC to get them out of the 3,800m mountain top shrine.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a27439c7e80680e043a61jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Minister Adhikari himself is said to have had misgivings at an earlier airport inspection stop in Tehrathum about the deteriorating weather, and was reluctant to fly to Pathibhara. Eye-witnesses said the Airbus Helicopter H125 crashed 1 minute after taking off in heavy snow, hitting the side of a cliff. Whether it was controlled flight into terrain, or icing on the rotors will have to await an investigation.Adhikari’s hometown of Pokhara is in shock, and the minister was set to be cremated in Kaski on Thursday. The crash has cost the lives of the prime movers of Visit Nepal 2020, and Nepal Tourism Board CEO Deepak Raj Joshi is devastated. He told Nepali Times: “This is an irrecoverable loss, he was devoted to the campaign, and worked tirelessly to improve aviation infrastructure.”It was also a tragic reminder of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12534#.XHfU0MAzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">another disaster 25km away in September 2006</a> in which 24 people were killed when a helicopter hit a  mountain soon after takeoff from Ghunsa in bad weather. Nearly all of Nepal’s conservation pioneers perished, including <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12572#.XHfVK8AzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Harka Gurung</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16569#.XHfVSMAzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chandra Gurung</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/fixing-what-aint-broke/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mingma Sherpa</a>, and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10375#.XHfVa8AzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tirthaman Maskey</a>. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12575#.XHfVscAzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jillian Bowling Schlaepfer and Jennifer Headley of the WWF also died</a>, as did Pauli Mustonen, the Finnish charge d’affaires in Kathmandu (below).<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a27469c7e80680e043a62jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="856"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18587#.XHfUzMAzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Their souls march on</a>, Bhrikuti Rai and Stuti Sharma<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a27489c7e80680e043a63jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1492" height="964">An investigation then had showed that the Russian pilots of the MI-8 were unfamiliar with local terrain and may have been under pressure from the State Minister of Forests Gopal Rai to get back to Kathmandu.- Ramesh Kumar and Gopal Gartaula

minister

Nepal’s undecided decision-makers

The last journey