Rivers have been the lifelines of civilisations with their dynamic ecosystems providing vital services for human survival and ecological balance through the ages.&nbsp; But accelerating anthropocentric footprints are causing severe, and often irreversible, damage to river systems across the world, including those across High Asia, a region that sustains nearly a fourth of the global population downstream. An example is the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-the-bagmati-civilisation-is-becoming-uncivilised" target="_blank">Bagmati River</a> that courses through Kathmandu, crosses the Himalayan foothills to join the Ganga in India. A river that once shaped the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/when-it-comes-to-water-pollution,3196" target="_blank">Kathmandu Valley Civilisation </a>is now a polluted and biologically dead water body constricted by urban sprawl, choked by construction debris, chemical waste and untreated sewage.&nbsp; The loss of a sacred river is tragic enough, but its hazards related to health, life and livelihoods are not limited to the Valley, nor is its enormity fully gauged by the metrics of fatality, income loss, flood return periods, runoffs, embankment failure.&nbsp; It is a systemic collapse of ecological integrity, socio-economic stability and cultural heritage, affecting its downstream users as well. The death of Bagmati is a peril for a population size way bigger than circa 5 million residents of Kathmandu Valley. The degradation started in the 1980s and has accelerated. Why has not enough been done to save this iconic river that runs through Nepal’s capital?&nbsp; The Bagmati River Basin Improvement Project (BRBIP) was designed to make headway in restoring the river with a sewage treatment plant, dams for storing water to support dry-season runoff, recharge groundwater, creation of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/resurrecting-bagmati-the-river" target="_blank">green biodiversity corridors</a> along the river bank to also serve as recreation areas, reduce the urban heat island effect, and also provide cultural continuity. The project also envisages collection of hydrological data for managing Bagmati multipurposewater systems and providing flood forecasts and early warnings aimed at protecting lives and property, among other things. Most importantly, the project takes the integrated water resource management approach, which, in principle, is a holistic and collaborative way of managing all elements of the water cycle to ensure water security, public and environmental health and amenity.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260329040336_9605240fa8c7d649ce49fbe43565130e3187e979338ccf959c4e9b8c581b7a4c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260329040336_9605240fa8c7d649ce49fbe43565130e3187e979338ccf959c4e9b8c581b7a4c" data-rendition-name="original" width="2126" height="1577" loading="lazy" alt="Bagmati NT"> </figure>  This should pave the way for managing a river as a connected ecological, social, and economic system by enabling coordination across agencies and disciplines, stimulating technological innovation and financial investment. The success of this approach depends on long-term political will and commitment that transcend political cycles, but also needs strong community and civil society in defining issues and proposing solutions, creating and sharing knowledge, taking independent action to inform practice, monitoring and evaluating policies, and participating in public decision-making. Civil society, especially, in making the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/encounter-with-bagmati-river" target="_blank">revival of the Bagmati River</a> a pressing governance issue. The Bagmati Action Plan 2009, a precursor to the BRBIP, was designed in response to lawsuits filed in 2000 and 2004 by an independent legal practitioner of Kathmandu against waste dumping in the river.&nbsp; It took him almost two decades of legal battle for Nepal’s Supreme Court to pass orders for mandatory septic tanks in all homes in Kathmandu Valley, relocation of squatters from Bagmati river banks to government-built houses, and embargo on dumping and burying garbage on the banks of the river and its tributaries. Despite court orders, however, actual results have been unsatisfactory. Restoration of Bagmati barely made it to any political debate or electoral manifesto this time. Treatment plants have not been operational for years, yet no one is held accountable. The population ignores waste segregation or single-use plastic rules to check littering.&nbsp; The current condition of the river therefore seems to have more to do with the lack of public awareness and behaviour change than the failure of various master plans. Why does the deep danger of a dead river fail to arouse widespread civil society concern, let alone action? The apathy is perhaps underlined by an innately anthropocentric understanding of the river as a mere resource to be exploited, rather than the backbone of existence.&nbsp; Such a paradigm shift is possible when river or river systems are understood to be necessary for &nbsp;a harmonious coexistence with human populations. The more pertinent question is not whether a dead river can be restored because there are many examples from around the world where that has been successfully achieved. It is whether we choose to restore our rivers for intergenerational equity. This would require a holistic perspective and political will to revive reverence for a river system so that its symbiotic relationship with human settlements can be restored. Roshni Gurung is Research Assistant, River Basins at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

A lifeline becomes liability

Nepal’s new government hit the ground running with the arrests of former Prime Minister K P Oli and home Minister Ramesh Lekhak early Saturday morning.&nbsp;
Their dramatic detentions followed an inquiry commission report recommending that Lekhak, Oli, and former Police chief Chandra Kuber Khapung be investigated and prosecuted for negligence in failing to stop the killing of 19 young protesters by security forces during the protests on 8 September.&nbsp;
Interim PM Sushila Karki’s government faced considerable criticism from GenZ activists at the end of her 7-month tenure for failing to release the report and hold the previous UML-NC coalition to account.&nbsp;
Karki had left any decision on the report’s findings to new RSP government, but her government released it after the content was leaked earlier this week, a day before Nepal’s newly elected lawmakers took their oath of office.
By making the arrests of Oli and Lekhak as its first order of business, the new government, and especially Home Minister Sudan Gurung and Prime Minister Balendra Shah, have tried to show that they are decisive and mean business.&nbsp;
It has been hailed by many as signalling that Nepal’s new and young leadership will back up its pledges with action. However, others including the UML and some constitutional experts, say that the arrests have not followed legal procedures. The UML has mobilised its affiliated groups to start nationwide street protests.&nbsp;
The main divide seems to be over the perception that the new government is only interested in justice for the perpetrators of the 8 September Parliament massacre, and not against those who organised arson and vandalism of government buildings, homes of politicians, businesses and the media the next day.&nbsp;
While some celebrate what they see as the beginning of justice for the victims and survivors of the September violence, political analysts and legal experts express alarm over a lack of adherence to the rule of law.&nbsp;
K P Oli has a lot of experience being behind bars. He was jailed a dozen times in 1970s by the Panchayat regime for his extreme left activism and then spent 14 years in prison between 1974-1988.
Critics argue that the former leaders were denied due process and label their arrest a “political vendetta."
RSP supporters had made similar arguments in October 2024 and April 2025 that the arrest of party chair Rabi Lamichhane over misappropriation of funds from numerous cooperatives were &nbsp;politically motivated.
‘What is happening is unacceptable,’ wrote former minister and diplomat Nilamber Acharya wrote on Saturday morning. ‘Such acts of revenge and crackdowns do not bode well.’
In response to accusations of the arrests being partisan and politically-motivated, Home Minister Sudan Gurung took to social media, saying that the new government is fulfilling its promises: ‘No one is above the law,’ he wrote. ‘This is not revenge, it is the beginning of justice. I believe now that the nation will now take a new direction.’
There is also concern the new leadership has jumped the gun to implement the findings of the inquiry commission, which has itself been criticised in some quarters for concentrating on the events of 8 September rather than investigating the perpetrators of the anarchy on 9 September.&nbsp;
The first meeting of the Council of Ministers made the immediate implementation of the GenZ Movement Inquiry Report its first priority.
But there are questions as to whether the execution of the report will be impartial. Home Minister Gurung will now dictate how the recommendations &nbsp;will be conducted, since he is himself referenced in the report in connection with the unrest on 9 September.&nbsp;
In fact, the report also outlines how supporters stormed Nakhu Prison on 9 September to organise Rabi Lamichhane’s jailbreak. Will Minister Gurung also go after his own party's leadership? &nbsp;
With the UML already calling for nationwide protests against the detention of its leaders, there is concern that Nepal is plunging straight into turmoil instead of stability.
The UML leadership has been unrepentant about the 8 September events. Oli has defiantly blamed infiltration and outside forces for the killings, and unlike the Nepali Congress the UML has not managed its own leadership changeover.&nbsp;
The NC under Gagan Thapa as well as the Nepali Communist Party of Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal have so far been silent about the detentions even though former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak is from the NC.
Oli and Lekhak’s arrests will now be challenged in the courts. But their detention also signals to Nepal’s political old guard that the tables have turned: legacy leaders cannot be complacent and assume they will disappear from national consciousness for past deeds without being held accountable for what happened during their watch.
The RSP government under Prime Minister Balendra Shah seems determined not to let bygones be bygones. But while that is all and well, it remains to be see whether the party can deliver on the need of the electorate for tangible governance reform.
The danger is that the new rulers may be defined by the same tactics of political revenge as its predecessors in the name of meting out justice.

New Nepal government signals action

As a direct fallout of the Israel-American war on Iran, Nepal on Monday nearly doubled the price of aviation fuel in a move that is going to impact during the spring peak tourism season. The steep price hike of jet fuel appears to have been made to cushion the impact on the general public. The price of petrol, diesel and cooking gas were also hiked for the third time in a month on Thursday.&nbsp; Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) will now cost $2,237/ton up from $1,207. The cost of ATF in Kathmandu was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/sky-high-fuel-price-hits-nepal-s-tourism-airlines" target="_blank">already one of the highest among Asian airports</a>, and this price hike will affect mostly long-haul flights to Istanbul, Seoul and Narita for airlines that need to refuel in Kathmandu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260404130420_4ae075d1e871fc5608cf242d6e309005d30cfdb6e6d0ecfb45ca7388a851c6aa.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260404130420_4ae075d1e871fc5608cf242d6e309005d30cfdb6e6d0ecfb45ca7388a851c6aa" data-rendition-name="original" width="1784" height="1294" loading="lazy" alt="aviation turbine fuel prices"> </figure>  Domestic airlines, which paid Rs127 per litre, will now have to pay Rs251 for their turboprop planes. “We have no recourse but to pass this on to passengers as a fuel surcharge,” said one executive of a domestic airline in Nepal. As it is, Nepal Oil Corporation levied a hefty tax on petrol and ATF in order to subsidise diesel and cooking gas. Many analysts were expecting a fuel price hike, but the near-doubling of the price of ATF means the new Nepal government is trying to protect ordinary citizens from raising the price of diesel and LPG even more than it has so far. Aviation fuel in Nepal is trucked in on tankers from Indian refineries and its price is highest in Kathmandu, and less in Bhairawa and Pokhara — transportation costs being higher depending on distance. But even in Bhairawa, ATF prices have doubled for the only international airline that serves it, Thai AirAsia.&nbsp; Most airlines flying Kathmandu from nearer airports in India, the Gulf and Southeast Asia will be less impacted because they can fly in on full tanks and need minimum refuelling in Kathmandu. But carriers like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/high-cost-lays-aviation-low-in-nepal" target="_blank">Turkish Airlines</a>, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, &nbsp;and Nepal Airlines which fly wide body aircraft on long-distance routes will be hit hardest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026040305040_a40db74375ebe0c28e7c35477bc262df9ae392a84e7bfa4033996181d69e0209.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2026040305040_a40db74375ebe0c28e7c35477bc262df9ae392a84e7bfa4033996181d69e0209" data-rendition-name="original" width="1032" height="689" loading="lazy" alt="sky high prices"> </figure>  However, ATF costs have also been raised in regional airports like Hong Kong, India and Singapore. Aviation fuel at New Delhi airport has risen to $1,698/ton. Korean Air is adopting emergency measures to reduce expenses to make up for rising fuel costs. South Korea gets nearly all its fuel from the Gulf, and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz has been especially damaging for the country. Fuel makes up more than a third of the operating cost of airlines, and even a small increase in ATF prices can make a big difference. Crude oil prices have increased 50% since the West Asia war began on 28 February, and global ATF prices have doubled.&nbsp; Airlines in Asia, including Nepal, face a double shock. The first is the higher fuel cost, and the second is that fewer people are travelling. Nepal’s tourism arrivals fell in March compared to February. India has added up to 20% fuel surcharge on domestic flights, and has reduced flights by 12%. Chinese airlines have also been affected, with China Eastern preparing for a significant impact of the Gulf war. It has added fuel surcharges to new tickets, as have Cathay Pacific, Thai International and Air Asia. Vietnam has drastically cut the number of domestic flights, and the Philippines will ration ATF. Australia imports 90% of its ATF mainly from China which has stopped export to ensure domestic supply to its own airlines. Carriers like Qantas have curtailed flights, changing aircraft type on long-haul routes, and a fuel surcharge of up to 20% have been added to tickets. Most Asian airlines are adding fuel charges only to new tickets, and the increase will not affect the price of pre-sold tickets issued for April and May.

Fuel price shock hits Nepal aviation

Nepal got a radically new and young government this week, and among the many choices it has to make will be to decide on embracing bleeding edge technology like cryptocurrency and the blockchain. All crypto activities are currently banned by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), and violations can be punished by confiscation of bought goods, fines of three times more, and prison time.&nbsp; “This ban comes from ignorance, not strategy,” says blockchain expert Bijay Bogati, Head of Engineering at Mandarix IT services. “Nobody at the policy-making level in Nepal really understands the technology.” Bogati is also building the Himalayan Art Council’s art certification blockchain, which tracks and archives the transaction history of traditional Paubha paintings as non-fungible assets, ensuring the original artists are credited and paid if the artwork changes hands. &nbsp; This group of technology, often called Web3, is not a fringe movement anymore. Some governments recognise that digital assets have to be integrated into their economies, although there are also those who say it is a corrupt bubble.&nbsp; Donald Trump announced a strategic bitcoin reserve for the US government a year ago. El Salvador has adopted bitcoin as legal tender, and even has ATMs for conversion. France recognises it.&nbsp; Bhutan uses its surplus hydroelectricity to mine bitcoin at its Gedu data center and has used earnings to invest in its Gelephu Mindfulness City project, boost civilservant salaries, and curb the brain drain.&nbsp; In this month’s GenZ-inspired election, Nepal’s voters replaced the older generation of leaders with mostly millennials who are more fluent with new technologies.&nbsp; The tech sector has grown with the country exporting nearly $1 billion worth of software products last year. This is seen by some as the perfect timing to harness the technology in the national interest.&nbsp; NEPAL’S BAN Central banks and financial regulators are averse to switching to technology, and NRB fears crypto transactions could foster money laundering, terrorism financing, capital flight and tax evasion.&nbsp; Critics say this is hypocritical, like a pot calling the kettle black, because it ignores the fact that Nepal’s centralised financial regulator has itself not been able to control rampant corruption, money laundering and tax malpractice. The NRB justifies its ban by saying that people were getting scammed or were at risk of losing money when influenced to bet on digital assets. Others reject this reasoning, saying it dictates how people spend their money.&nbsp; A real concern for Nepal in recognising crypto would be in maintaining ties with bodies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international creditors, just as the backlash some countries have faced.&nbsp; In Nepal, it is the cybercrime department of the Central Investigation Bureau that invigilates, and it has made a handful of arrests since 2017.&nbsp; But ambiguous laws and a lack of knowhow about the technology means enforcement has not been easy. Says Bogati: “Crypto persists in Nepal. The ban just pushes activity underground.”&nbsp; BHUTAN’S PLAN Bhutan started mining Bitcoin in 2019, when the price for one BTC was $5,000 -- it is now over $70,000. The logic was simple: the country had excess hydroelectricity which was used to power supercomputers to mine bitcoin.&nbsp; The energy was renewable and fit in with Bhutan’s sustainability commitments. The country’s cold climate meant less heat was required to cool the machines.&nbsp; It was state-owned entities doing the mining. Crypto was not something the average Bhutani used every day, and the country has accumulated over 13,000 BTC valued at up to $1.4 billion — 40% of its GDP. It has sold some BTC and used it to raise civil servant salaries and try to reverse youth outmigration.&nbsp; Nepal also has surplus clean energy, especially in the monsoon, and also has natural cooling in the mountains. It also needs money. Every terawatt-hour (TWh) of electricity is worth roughly $84.8 million in gross mining revenue at current bitcoin prices. Nepal’s current surplus of about 3TWh would translate into $254 million a year. Selling the same amount of electricity to India earns Nepal only $56 million a year. In the near term Nepal’s surplus hydropower is expected to reach 14TWh, generating about $1.2 billion a year — almost 3% of its GDP.&nbsp; Currently, Nepal does not have surplus power in winter, the hardware costs to set up the mining operation would be huge, and the value of bitcoin is volatile.&nbsp; Bhutan also made over 100 cryptocurrencies usable for tourists for flights, hotels, and restaurants. After adopting bitcoin as legal tender, tourism to El Salvador surged 22%. Nepal is already a major tourism destination, and adding crypto infrastructure would attract global high-income remote workers who deal in crypto.&nbsp; Experts say there is always the risk of putting all the eggs in the bitcoin basket. It is a speculative asset, and could crash, governments may suddenly outlaw it citing its heavy energy use. Breakthroughs in quantum computing might break its cryptographic basis.&nbsp; But in the 15 plus years it has been active, bitcoin has survived crashes and regulatory and technological attacks.&nbsp; Perhaps as important as the money is the message that Nepal would send out about being open to innovation and investment, providing its engineers jobs within Nepal, and signaling its tech ambitions. For a country so dependent on remittance, using crypto would also save about 4% on transaction fees, as is happening in the Philippines now. The estimated 5 million Nepalis overseas send home $11 billion a year, although the unofficial amount is said to be much higher.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026032803030_ff2106a8941d17e05d4defef183e05a226f03fe67b4b51507d134ad42971534a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026032803030_ff2106a8941d17e05d4defef183e05a226f03fe67b4b51507d134ad42971534a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1777" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Web3 Nepal"> <figcaption>Photo: YALE UNIVERSITY</figcaption> </figure>  All this could be points to ponder for the youth-led RSP when it forms a government this week. It is especially relevant in addressing the party’s main mandate of reducing graft, and could be sold to international creditors like the World Bank and the IMF as a good investment when most capital expenditure projects in Nepal face delays and quality issues because of corruption. One way would be to create a blockchain system for government projects. Funds would be withheld until work is completed, reducing cheating and delays.&nbsp; Any Nepali could poke around to see which firm is granted which project at what cost, and how much progress has been made would improve government efficiency and help reduce fraud. “Lots of Nepalis are actively in Web3/Blockchain development despite the ban. The talent exists,” says Bijay Bogati. “But developers are scared. People with real skills do not want to take the risk.”&nbsp; Raunak Raj Rauniyar leads Superteam Nepal, a global talent network of creators and developers in Web3. He organises regular hackathons and bounty hunts where the best projects can win cash prizes.&nbsp; In a recent college tour across Nepal, it introduced and connected communities to blockchain developers.&nbsp; “We found that there is talent across Nepal. In fact participants outside the Valley were much more engaged and hungrier than those in it, perhaps because they have fewer tech events overall,” says Rauniyar.&nbsp; “More women are involved, the ratio is about 70-30, up from perhaps 90-10 a few years ago.” The Janamat app built on the blockchain is a recent Superteam product that lets any Nepali with a citizenship to anonymously share opinions and vote. This could let the government quickly understand public sentiment of Nepalis home or abroad instantly and on a wide range of topics.&nbsp; During the 5 March election, a Janamat poll for Jhapa-5 showed that 87% thought Balendra Shah would win, which accurately predicted the actual result. Users on the app are now discussing and voting on who should be in the RSP Cabinet (see page 1).&nbsp; WHAT NEXT Nepal continues to be wary and circumspect of these emerging technologies, responding with outright bans that it can hardly even enforce, and maintain an illusion of control.&nbsp; The alternative would be to identify talent which exists, and adopt these technologies, regulate it effectively and reap the benefit. It could make it easier for people to spend and invest their money in Nepal, create jobs, and even slow the brain drain.&nbsp; The timing seems to be just right, as a new forward-looking government of technocrats assumes control. Nepal is set to have a 35-year-old prime minister, and a supermajority government that will hopefully be stable for the next five years. &nbsp;

A lifeline becomes liability

New Nepal government signals action

Fuel price shock hits Nepal aviation

Time for Nepal to enter Web3