A state-of-the-art Conservation Center was inaugurated at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/u-thant-kenzo-tange-and-the-buddhas-birthplace">the Lumbini Museum </a>officially on 11 May, a day before <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/buddha-jayanti">Buddha Jayanti</a>. The new facility is located at the museum in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-buddha-was-born-in-lumbini">the sacred birthplace of Buddha</a>, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and safeguards centuries-old Buddhist artifacts and architecture for future generations. <a href="https://lumbinimuseum.org/the-museum/">Lumbini Museum</a> is world’s only contemporary museum dedicated to both Buddha and his birthplace. Designed by renowned Japanese architect Tange, the museum’s once-neglected structures have now been revitalises by Nepali and international experts.&nbsp; The museum’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/forgotten-international-starchitects-in-nepal">modernist architecture</a>, now preserved alongside sacred artifacts, offers a rare blend of spiritual sanctity and architectural heritage.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250513120512_d30c20d4ae0d397a8dbcd683fafb15a35223ed94ea36f575719e9fc5d487274a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250513120512_d30c20d4ae0d397a8dbcd683fafb15a35223ed94ea36f575719e9fc5d487274a" data-rendition-name="original" width="4898" height="3265" loading="lazy" alt="Preserving Lumbini's past"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250513120512_bd599dddb2d703b925cda079ea174abd3944f0a366d4ba557c60e8cca387679f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250513120512_bd599dddb2d703b925cda079ea174abd3944f0a366d4ba557c60e8cca387679f" data-rendition-name="original" width="4898" height="3265" loading="lazy" alt="Preserving Lumbini's past"> </figure>  The new Conservation scenery is equipped with diagnostic tools, climate-controlled storage, and dedicated restoration workspaces. It is a specialised facility designed to serve as a hub for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/kathmandu-s-liquid-landscape">scientific preservation</a>, conservation, and the study of the region’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-historic-kathmandu-beneath-our-feet">archaeological treasures</a>, ranging from terracotta and stone sculptures to architectural relics dating back over two millennia. The lab also aims to train <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-s-soft-power-is-its-heritage?%2F=">local heritage</a> professionals and students, fostering long-term sustainability in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/progress-and-or-preservation">cultural preservation</a>. The Center is expected to draw scholars, pilgrims, and visitors from around the world. “This lab is more than just a facility, it’s part of a larger effort to build conservation expertise in the country,” said Jason Meeks, Deputy Chief of Mission U.S. Embassy in Nepal. “Training programs for local professionals and students will ensure that this work continues well into the future.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250513120512_797554bc97a4c8f7892e5eea160d0a96bff1e9fbbb9ca6bf6b5b473eaf9c7398.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250513120512_797554bc97a4c8f7892e5eea160d0a96bff1e9fbbb9ca6bf6b5b473eaf9c7398" data-rendition-name="original" width="4898" height="3265" loading="lazy" alt="Preserving Lumbini's past"> </figure>  The project is a collaborative initiative involving The Buddha Foundation, the U.S. Embassy’s Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), Department of Archaeology (DoA), and Anupam Heritage Lab (AHL). Speaking at the launch, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Badri Pandey, emphasised that the Conservation Center will not only strengthen Nepal’s capacity in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-archive-of-nepali-heritage">heritage conservation </a>and education but also pave the way for Nepal to emerge as a regional leader in the field.

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Preserving Lumbini's past

The streets of Patan are alive this month with lavender jacaranda trees under rain-washed skies as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-red-god-rises-again-in-patan">the chariot of Rato Matsyendranath</a> is pulled across town. This is the festival of the rain god, and inevitably the heavens opened up and pre-monsoon showers pelted the chariot as it started being pulled in Pulchok last week. Thousands of devotees, onlookers and the chariot procession organisers thronged the streets on the first day last week. The rhythmic cymbals and drums exuded a vibrant energy as the enormous four wheels turned and the chariot lurched.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  The<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Red-rain-god,3141"> red rain god</a> has Hindu and Buddhist antecedents, alternatively called Bungadya and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-gravity-defying-chariot-festival"> Karunamaya</a> — reflecting Kathmandu Valley’s syncretic mixture of the two religions.&nbsp; “Bungadya is a profoundly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/marketing-the-intangible">intangible form of heritage</a>,” explains heritage expert Monalisa Maharjan. “It embodies traditional knowledge,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/reviving-nepal-s-craft"> artisanal skills passed down through generations</a>. Local communities and specific families have specified roles in being custodians of the heritage, ensuring their survival over the centuries.” There are many legends and stories about this annual tradition. Lichhavi king Narendra Dev is supposed to have brought Rato Matsyendranath from Assam to Kathmandu Valley to convince Guru Gorakhnath to lift a spell that created a two-year drought in Kathmandu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1503" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Matsyendranath was Gorakhnath’s mentor, and upon seeing him, the serpents were released, unleashing the rains. The chariot festival honours the return of this life-giving rain. The deity is seen as an icon for thriving agriculture, t<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/before-the-next-monsoon">he arrival of monsoon</a> showers, and the welfare of the community. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-reign-of-the-god-of-rain">The reign of the god of rain</a>, Vidhu Prakash Kayastha Till this day, the Rato Matsyendranath festival is no ordinary celebration. Patan does not sleep for a month as the chariot is pulled through various neighbourhoods. It unfolds at a state level with the president (formerly the king) attending the climax of the Bhoto Jatra in Jawalakhel later this month.&nbsp; The intergenerational transmission of tradition is unique in the world, and the reason the festival is one of the most vibrant cultural expressions that thrives despite inroads of modernity. The other unique aspect is that it is a transnational festival, binding Patan with Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  “Unlike Nepal, where the deity commands grandeur and devotion, many in Assam are unaware of Rato Matsyendranath,” says Khagen Sharma of Gauhati University, which convened <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-assam-connection-revived">a symposium in February in Guwahati on the rain god</a>. Attending was a delegation led by Lalitpur Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan, organisers of the festival, and builders of the chariot. After the symposium, a committee was formed to explore and revive the tradition in Assam as well. Although the team had planned to visit Nepal this month, logistical challenges delayed the trip. Still, there are plans to build a Guru Matsyendranath statue in Assam to reestablish regular worship practices in the Guwahati shrine.&nbsp; The vines used to build the chariot in Patan are sourced from the jungles of Assam. But Sharma notes that in recent years unclear regulations have blocked the official import of the vines, although they are still brought to Nepal informally. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/makers-of-machhindranath,2204">chariot making</a> has also had a taste of modernisation in recent times. In the past, even a single nail or piece of steel was avoided. But over time, the wooden structure, particularly the shaft between the wheels, has been replaced with bronze. When that too proved unstable, metal clamps were introduced, which have become a pragmatic compromise.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="998" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Another welcome change is the focus on safety. Builders climbing the chariot’s tower now wear harnesses and there are efforts in crowd control. The most visible change in recent years has been the involvement of Patan’s enthusiastic youth in the festival — the tradition is now passing to a new generation. Says Matsyendranath expert Vidhu Kayastha: “There is more energy, the young people in red t-shirts this year were very organised, these modern touches aren’t diluting our culture, they’re keeping it alive in new forms.” He adds, “We are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home">reconnecting with our roots</a>, we have more resources, more awareness than ever before. We must not be swept away by western values that may not serve us, and in some ways, cause more harm than good. We must revive our own culture.”&nbsp;

Divine chariot

Nepal’s public sphere is replete with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-s-corruption-carousel">tales of corruption</a> in high places and the powerful stealing the hard-earned deposits of cooperatives. But there are ordinary Nepalis showing extraordinary <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/cruelty-and-compassion?%2F=">compassion</a> and sacrifice like Nirmala Rawal.&nbsp; Rawal lives in Jayagad village in an isolated corner of Achham, and had just returned to her home and climbed to an upstairs room when she heard a commotion outside. There were cries of a fire. Looking out the window, she sees an inferno moving up the sloping market town. Nearby houses and stores were<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/protecting-nepals-forests-from-fires"> in flames</a>, and she rushed outside for safety. The fire had started at 7pm after a gas cylinder exploded in one of the houses. Police and army teams arrived, but they were too ill equipped to tackle the flames which were too high and spreading quickly, fanned by winds.&nbsp; A <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/german-firetrucks-for-nepal">fire truck</a> arrived but there was no paved road up to the fire.&nbsp; Jayagad’s bazar area is made up of 150 densely-packed houses and within one hour 15 houses had gone up in flames. The only way to stop the flames was to create a fire break by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/demolishing-kathmandu-to-rebuild-it,2288">demolishing a house</a>.&nbsp; No was willing to do so, except 45-year-old Nirmala Rawal. It was a difficult decision, but after her house was bulldozed, the fire was contained and the village was saved.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025050709050_ab668eff4b4da0438d2e123680bfd20f3bde05a60ba9aaf77a1337bfdb1514ba.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2025050709050_ab668eff4b4da0438d2e123680bfd20f3bde05a60ba9aaf77a1337bfdb1514ba" data-rendition-name="original" width="378" height="494" loading="lazy" alt="Ordinary Nepali's extraordinary sacrifice"> </figure>  Jayagad’s village chief Navaraj Saud says bringing down Rawal’s house was the last resort: “We could not have contained the fire any other way. It was just too big.” It has been a month since the fire, but Rawal is now faced with a new reality. She has lost not just her home but all her possessions. All of Rawal’s valuables were destroyed in the blaze. She lost loans taken out to pay her mortgage, and significant <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/fusion-fashion">old jewelry</a> and has not been able to return to her job at the rural municipality office. “Even the clothes I am wearing were given to me, I lost everything,” she says. “I had to sacrifice my house to save others.” Like many girls at the time, Rawal dropped out of school in Grade 8 to be married to a husband who owned a general store in Jayagad. He died of a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18115">heart attack</a> in the store, and she has been living in the house he built for the family.&nbsp; As a widow, Rawal had to contend with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/banning-banishment-is-not-enough">stigma and hardship</a>. The job in the municipality was a respite. It gave her life a welcome daily structure, although raising her four children on a Rs18,000 salary was still a struggle. Rawal’s eldest daughter is already married. Her other daughter is doing a BSc in Agriculture in Punjab, and one of her sons is studying <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-on-my-mind">hotel management </a>in Kathmandu. Her youngest son is in Tikapur, where Rawal is originally from. All of her relatives have migrated to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">the Tarai</a>, and her land in the village is barren. She is in no position, financial or otherwise, to rebuild. Rawal’s children have now heard about the fire. “My son is considering heading to India to find work, so we can rebuild our home,” she says. All of the 30 families who survived the fire are living in temporary arrangements and do not know how to start over. Most lost their businesses as well. Achham police estimate the damage of goods to be Rs80 million, although they have not yet put a number on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/lost-and-damaged">property damage</a>. A request has been sent to the Sudurpaschim provincial government, and a minister has visited from Dhangadi. Rawal is not hopeful, and does not expect much since she has experienced firsthand how slow government processes take. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/managing-the-monsoon">The monsoon</a> will soon be here, and we will need permanent houses,” says Rawal. Her trouble keeps her up at night. “I don’t know if I should put my salary towards a new house or to my children’s education.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/before-the-next-monsoon">Before the next monsoon</a>, Amit Machamasi

Ordinary Nepali's extraordinary sacrifice

Rhino sightings in the wild used to be rare in Nepal. Not any more, nowadays videos of them coming out of ATM booths or patrolling the sidewalks in Sauraha often go viral on YouTube.
Tourists hashtag the videos with #OnlyInNepal, getting the country’s <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Conservation-and-tourism-Chitwan-National-Park,2957">wildlife tourism </a>much traction. But these visuals also underline new concerns about the conservation status of the endangered pachyderms.
The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/where-have-bardia-s-rhinos-gone">rhino population in Nepal </a>was nearly decimated by poaching and clearing of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">the Tarai jungles </a>in the last century, but have sprung back. Last week marked two years since a rhino was poached in Nepal.
These higher numbers mean that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/parks-plus-people">national parks</a> are getting crowded with rhinos and tigers, leading to more <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/human-animal-interface-in-nepal-wildlife-corridor">human-animal contact</a>.&nbsp;
“When old, most male rhinos are pushed out by other young male rhinos. The old male rhinos then roam around the peripheral areas in search of food and safety,” explains conservation biologist Shanta Raj Jnawali of the animals seen out in the streets.
The greater one-horned rhinoceros was once found from Pakistan to Burma. Over the years, as human settlement expanded, encroaching on the habitat of the animals reduced rhinos to parts of India, Nepal and Bhutan.&nbsp;
The last rhino census in 2021 put the total number of rhinos in Nepal at 752, with most of them in Chitwan National Park, which has 694. Another 38 rhinos are in Bardia, three in Parsa and 17 in Shuklaphanta national parks.&nbsp;
The rhino census is undertaken every 4-5 years and the authorities were supposed to conduct a new one this year, but it did not go ahead because of budgetary cuts.
For any species to flourish, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/conserving-mountains-for-people-and-nature-6761w34s">management of the ecosystem</a>, food and water sources as well as forest cover for reproduction and protection are important. But the Tarai now has 53% of Nepal’s population and human-wildlife contacts have increased.
“Both <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/biosphere-on-the-brink">humans and wildlife are dependent on nature</a>. But we are the wiser species, so we must learn to coexist,” says Kamal Jung Kunwar formerly with the Chitwan National Park. “Rhinos almost never attack humans, unless they feel threatened or sense danger for their offspring.”
In areas that have seen <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/close-encounters-with-tigers-in-nepal">tiger attacks </a>or destruction of crops by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-wild-elephants-are-also-on-the-move">wild elephants</a>, villagers have erected electrified fences to keep away wildlife. Rhinos are sometimes electrocuted, and there have been instances of roadkill on highways that run through protected areas.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/wildfire-season-starts-early-in-nepal">Forest fires </a>and habitat degradation further shrink wild spaces, while rising temperature and droughts due to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-change-new-threat-to-nepal-s-rhinos">climate change</a> push rhinos into closer contact with humans, increasing conflict. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/better-forecasting-reduces-flood-impact-in-nepal">Weather extremes</a> such as record floods have swept rhinos downstream, sometimes into India.
Floods also wash down plastic trash into<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/close-encounter-of-the-wild-kind-in-nepal?fbclid=IwY2xjawFomglleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHd0IT1aTm1ugPsScRVjFSOQKx4trJC1QolMquJH-VcPA3Dsuc7J8twvEtg_aem_oRrHg17T6T0bQzRqU0AvgA"> rhino habitats</a>, and research found that 10% of rhino dung piles in Chitwan contained plastic residue.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-suffers-another-winter-drought">Prolonged droughts </a>reduce water availability for rhinos to wallow and regulate body temperature and protect their skin from parasites. Without enough water, rhinos face heat stress and disease.
“The changing climate and its impact on rhinos and their habitat must be addressed, and we must plan for at least 100 years down the line,” warns Jnawali.
Logging and degradation of the fragile Chure Range are also threatening the Tarai ecosystem, lowering the groundwater table and posing risks to plant life.&nbsp;
Nepal is an international model for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-conservation-nepal-is-not-out-of-the-woods-yet">wildlife conservation</a>, but it was a collaborative process. Under the Community-Based Anti-Poaching Units, villagers patrol forests, share information, and report suspicious activities.&nbsp;
Many women’s groups, like Chitwan’s Buffer Zone User Committees, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/women-conserve-men-still-conservative">lead reforestation and awareness campaigns</a>, planting trees to restore habitats.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/model-for-post-covid-ecotourism">Ecotourism</a> has improved living standards and provided jobs through <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/opening-their-home-to-others">community-managed homestays</a> and rhino treks. Locals now have a reason to protect rhinos as an economic asset.
Despite these successes, rhino conservation must now have a focus on<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/wildlife-people-coexistence-in-nepal-national-park"> human-wildlife coexistence</a>, says conservation biologist Jnawali: “Every stakeholder has their own role. There is a growing need to maintain harmony between conservation and human needs.” &nbsp;

Not out of the woods yet

Om Rijal has been training and caring for elephants for years, but unable to keep up with the high cost of maintenance, he now wants to sell them. He owns nine elephants and employs 13 people, costing him Rs800,000 a month. Income from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/speaking-for-elephants">elephant safaris</a> has dropped in recent years due to animal rights activism. They are not allowed to graze in the forests like they used to and local villagers blame<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/making-the-life-of-nepals-captive-elephants-easier"> domesticated elephants </a>for attracting wild ones, often leading to conflict. “It is no longer feasible to keep elephants,” says Rijal, “But we are in a dilemma. We can neither sell them nor abandon them.” Binod Timalsina has a hotel in Sauraha and also owns an elephant. He says: “There’s not even enough grass to feed them, and we can’t forage in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">the forest</a>. And there is no way to sell them.” There is no legal framework in Nepal permitting <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/police-track-india-nepal-elephant-trafficking">the sale or transfer of elephants</a>, but such transactions were common until a few years ago. During the pandemic, when <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-tourism-may-take-5-years-to-recover">tourism ground to a halt</a>, many businessmen sold their elephants to India to avoid financial loss. Even rented elephants were returned as their expense became unsustainable. “Back then, people who had even one elephant managed to sell it for a good price,” adds Timalsina. “But since the government imposed a ban, it has become increasingly difficult.” The value of an elephant is based on factors such as age, health, and utility. An adult elephant in Nepal can cost up to Rs8 million, while in India, the price can go up to Rs10 million. Another elephant-keeper, Dhurba Giri from Sauraha, says upkeep is difficult since an adult elephant consumes 40 kg of grain daily, in addition to large quantities of grass and other food items. Each elephant also requires two dedicated mahouts to care for it. According to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal has between 255 and 265 wild elephants and150 domesticated Asian elephants spread across Chitwan, Bardia, Kosi Tappu, Parsa, Banke, and Shuklaphanta. There are 45 domesticated elephants in Sauraha alone. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-elephant-whisperer-of-nepal">The elephant whisperer of Nepal</a>, Biraj Adhikari In response to growing concerns about<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-illegal-elephant-export"> illegal trade</a>, advocates Sanjay Adhikari and Arnab Chowdhury, representing Janhit Sanrakshan Mancha, filed a case in the Supreme Court in 2021, seeking a ban on the sale, purchase, and transfer of elephants. Just five days later, the court issued an interim order halting all such transactions, citing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/water-for-nepal-s-wildlife">conservation concerns</a>. Nepal’s Domestic Elephant Management Policy also prohibits the sale and transport of elephants, primarily due to concerns over <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-drives-wildlife-poaching">poaching and habitat loss</a>. Additionally, the Asian elephant is listed under Index I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning international trade and transport are prohibited. Nepal, a signatory to CITES, enacted a law 19 years ago to regulate international trade in endangered species. Under the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/does-nepal-need-the-army-to-guard-parks">National Parks</a> and Wildlife Conservation Act, selling or transferring elephants is a criminal offence. Yet, elephants are still brought in from India for religious purposes and then sold illegally within Nepal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501130536_b3cad1e7b6a8e6121eb3d2a856a7fe4bb11d05dd75f1825b8b0d4131e6ca549a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250501130536_b3cad1e7b6a8e6121eb3d2a856a7fe4bb11d05dd75f1825b8b0d4131e6ca549a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Elephants become white elephants"> </figure>  Elephant domestication is not new in Nepal. Historically, the animals were reared by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/inside-story-of-nepal-s-rana-dynasty">royal families</a> and used for military and ceremonial purposes. With the growth of tourism, especially in Chitwan, elephants began to be privately raised to cater to the increasing demand for jungle safaris. While government <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/set-the-elephants-free">use of elephants in tourism</a> declined, private ownership filled the gap. Giri has been rearing elephants in Sauraha for over 40 years and says allowing elephants to graze in forests could reduce upkeep costs by as much as 35%. He explains: “Feeding green vegetation not only saves money but also improves the elephants’ health and lifespan. Instead of watching <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/wildfire-season-starts-early-in-nepal">forested areas burn annually</a>, wouldn’t it make more sense to let elephants graze?” He also argues that the government has a stake in protecting these animals as well as the livelihood of the people. “If the government won’t support us in raising elephants, then at least allow us to sell them,” he urges. “There’s demand from India—we should be allowed to sell them legally.” Elephant safaris and such businesses have long been criticised for exploiting the mammal, but activist Shristi Singh says that there was a proposal for reform to adopt ethical elephant-based tourism models which was largely ignored. “Before the earthquake, stakeholders visited Thailand and observed the Sanctuary Model. It is possible to involve elephants in tourism without exploiting them, but the model was never adopted,” she says. “Even older elephants that can no longer work are made to suffer.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/breaking-the-mold">Making festivals elephant-friendly in Nepal</a>, Sanjeeta Sharma Pokharel Dhurba Giri has implemented the Sanctuary Model in Sauraha after his visit to Thailand. “My friends didn’t support it. But 95% of the tourists who visit me leave happy,” he tells us. The Sanctuary Model emphasises the welfare of the animals with a particular focus on retired or rescued elephants. They are kept in open, natural environments where they can roam, bathe, and interact freely. Tourists are invited to watch them from a distance or engage in non-exploitative activities like feeding or bathing. “This model allows for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-sustainable-tourism-means-in-practice">sustainable tourism</a> while respecting elephant dignity,” says elephant expert Sanjeeta Sharma Pokharel, adding that Thailand’s elephant parks are prime examples of this practice which attracts not only tourists, but also researchers, students, and activists. Such parks also create local employment and contribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/shrinking-tourism-s-ecological-footprint">conservation through responsible tourism</a>, but local entrepreneurs argue that the model alone cannot sustain their business due to declining tourist numbers. “We’ve invested so much in these elephants. We can’t just give them away to the parks,” Omprakash Pandey states. Meanwhile, talks on the matter are ongoing at the DNPWC office in Kathmandu. Says Ved Kumar Dhakal of the department: “Only if traders formally declare their inability to care for the elephants in written form will the government intervene.” &nbsp;

Elephants become white elephants

Global press freedom across the world is at a “critical moment,” campaigners have warned, as a major index mapping the state of global press freedom hits an unprecedented low.
In the <a href="https://rsf.org/en/rsf-world-press-freedom-index-2025-economic-fragility-leading-threat-press-freedom?year=2025&amp;data_type=general">latest edition </a>of the annual press freedom index produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which was published on 2 May, the average score of all assessed countries fell below 55 points, falling into the category of a “difficult situation” for the first time in the index’s history.
More than six out of ten countries (112 in total) saw their overall scores decline in the index, while the conditions for <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Between-the-lines/investing-in-journalism-in-nepal,614">practicing journalism</a> are for the first time classified as poor in half of the world’s countries and satisfactory in fewer than one in four.
In 42 countries—harboring over half of the world’s population (56.7%)—the situation is “very serious,” according to the group. In these zones, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-has-press-freedom-but-no-freedom-after-press">press freedom</a> is entirely absent and practicing journalism is particularly dangerous.
RSF says that while there has been a downward trend in press freedom globally for some time, the latest index scores are a distressing “new low.”
“Our index has been warning of this for the last ten years—the trajectory for press freedom has been a downward one—but this is a new low. Sixty percent of countries saw their scores [in the index] drop last year and the environment for media freedom globally has worsened. We are now at a critical moment for press freedom globally,” Fiona O’Brien, UK Bureau Director for RSF, told IPS.
Experts and campaigners have in recent years warned of growing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/media-matters">threats to press freedom </a>amid a rise of authoritarian regimes looking to muzzle dissent, as well as growing economic pressures affecting the ability of independent media outlets to function.
RSF’s index is compiled using measurements of five different indicators—political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context, and safety—to form an overall score. It says that this year the overall global index score was dragged down by the performance of the economic index.
It says that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/how-nepal-can-avert-an-economic-crunch">economic pressure</a> is an often underestimated but major factor seriously weakening media in many countries. This pressure is being largely driven by ownership concentration, pressure from advertisers and financial backers, and public aid that is restricted, absent, or allocated non-transparently.
The group warns this is leaving many media trapped between preserving their editorial independence and ensuring their economic survival.
“The pressure on media sustainability is as bad as it has ever been,” said O’Brien.
The effects of this economic pressure have been severe. Data collected for the index indicates that in 160 out of the 180 countries assessed (88.9%), media outlets achieve financial stability “with difficulty” or “not at all.” Meanwhile, news outlets are shutting down due to economic hardship in nearly a third of countries globally.
While the struggles of media economies in some countries have been exacerbated by political instability, general lack of resources, and war, media in other rich, ostensibly more stable countries are also facing significant economic pressures.
RSF points out that in the US, a majority of journalists and media experts told the group that “the average media outlet struggles for economic viability.”
Meanwhile, independent media that rely heavily or exclusively on foreign funding have come under increasing pressure.
A freeze on funding for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which halted US international aid earlier this year plunged hundreds of news outlets in different countries around the world into economic uncertainty or forced others to close.
This was particularly acute in Ukraine, where nine out of ten outlets receive international aid and USAID is the primary donor.
“The US cuts have had a profound effect there,” Jeanne Cavalier, head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, told IPS. “Independent media is vital in any country that is at war. It’s a real blow to press freedom in the country,” she said.
She added, though, that the cuts to US funding were “an existential threat to press freedom in all countries with authoritarian governments under Russian influence,” highlighting that exiled media in particular provide a vital service to people living under such regimes.
The Meduza news outlet is one of the most prominent exiled Russian media organizations. While more than half of its financing comes through crowdfunding, until earlier this year a part of its funding came via US grants.
The group said that the combined impact of the cut and previous financial problems presented a significant challenge to its operations. It was forced to cut its workforce by 15% and salaries were reduced.
Speaking to IPS at the time, Katerina Abramova, Head of Communications at Meduza, said the moves would “influence the diversity of our content.” But speaking this week after the release of RSF’s index, she said the group had managed to continue its work but admitted, “it is even more challenging now.”
“Our main goal is to maintain the quality of our reporting and to keep delivering news inside Russia,” she said.
However, she said she was concerned for the future of other organizations like Meduza as press freedom and the economic health of independent media wane globally.
“I hope that there will not be a complete loss of independent reporting on countries where free speech has become illegal. But I know that many independent newsrooms are suffering and are on the edge of closing. When you are in exile, you are in a vulnerable position, so such newsrooms face the most difficult challenges,” she told IPS.
“I am also worried that the USAID cuts may be seen as a ‘good sign’ for many authoritarian regimes around the world. They might say, ‘look, the USA also doesn’t like journalists anymore.’ It would be like a validation of what they are doing to independent media [in their own countries],” she added.
Meanwhile, other organizations have also raised the alarm over growing threats to press freedom, even in countries regarded as among the strongest democracies in the world.
While in the RSF index the European Union (EU)-Balkans zone had the highest overall score globally, and its gap with the rest of the world continued to grow, a<a href="https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/mfr2025-blog/45389"> report </a>released this week by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) group highlighted how some EU governments were attacking press freedom and undermining independent media.
The report, based on the work of 43 human rights groups from 21 countries, warned that press freedom was being eroded across the bloc. It said EU media markets “feature high media ownership concentration, with these owners remaining obscured behind inadequate ownership transparency obligations, the continued erosion of public service media’s independence, ongoing threats and intimidation against journalists, and restrictions on freedom of expression and access to information.”
“The findings of this report should put EU officials on high alert: media freedom and pluralism are under attack across the EU, and in some cases they are in an existential battle against overtly undemocratic governments,” according to the group.
Liberties also warned that “EU legislation to bolster media freedom is being greeted with hostility, making enforcement efforts in 2025 and beyond decisive in protecting the free and plural media that European democracy depends on.”
However, it is this legislation, including the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which is designed to guarantee the protection of journalists and sources, independence of regulatory bodies and full ownership transparency, and the Anti-SLAPP Directive (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) to protect journalists and human rights advocates from abusive legal proceedings, that experts see as providing hope that some of the threats to media freedom can be dealt with.
“At the individual country level within the EU, there are some problems. Where there has been a recent change in government away from authoritarianism, there has been some positive progress, e.g., in Poland. But in other countries, like Slovakia, we are seeing the reverse,” Eva Simon, Senior Advocacy Officer at Liberties, told IPS.
“But at the EU level, we see positive prospects for media freedom in new legislation. The EU Media Act is coming into force soon and the anti-SLAPP directive will come into effect next year.
“The EU has the power to intervene in countries where there are persistent problems and we have high hopes that the EU will use its powers to enforce the European Media Freedom Act. The EU has more tools than ever at its disposal to ensure media freedom in member states,” she added.
On April 30, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) issued a damning report on how, since the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term in January, press freedom has come under attack.
<a href="https://cpj.org/special-reports/alarm-bells-trumps-first-100-days-ramp-up-fear-for-the-press-democracy/">The report </a>warned that press freedom is no longer a given in the United States as journalists and newsrooms face mounting pressures that threaten both their ability to report freely and the public’s right to know.
It said the executive branch of the government was taking “unprecedented steps to permanently undermine press freedom” through restricting access for some news organizations, increasingly using government and regulatory bodies against media, and launching targeted attacks on journalists and newsrooms.
In a statement, CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said, “This is a definitive moment for U.S. media and the public’s right to be informed. Whether at the federal or state level, the investigations, hearings, and verbal attacks amount to an environment where the media’s ability to bear witness to government action is already curtailed.”
The current threats to press freedom in the US are among the most worrying anywhere, many media experts say.
“There is a head-on attack on media freedom in the US. If you look at the scores for the US [in the index], the social indicator has dropped hugely, which shows that within the US the press is operating in a hostile environment. The economic situation there has deteriorated too, which makes things difficult for them,” said O’Brien.
“But also, a lot of people look to America as a bastion of press freedom, with its constitution’s First Amendment, and what is happening there to independent media is an absolute gift to authoritarian rulers around the world. If the rest of the world just sits back and watches this and lets press freedom be restricted and attacked and does nothing, other regimes will look and just think, ‘oh, it’s OK to do this.'”
“World leaders have to now stand up for press freedom. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/messaging-is-the-message">Independent journalism is fundamental to democratic societies</a>,” she added.
<a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/05/world-press-freedom-day-2025-global-press-freedom-index-falls-to-critical-low/">Republished</a> under an arrangement with Inter Press Service (IPS).

Global Press Freedom Index falls to critical low

The pre-monsoon season of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/republicans-and-royalists-on-nepal-s-streets">street upheaval</a> is upon us, and as public frustration builds up there is pressure once more on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-government-changes-again">Nepal’s revolving political leadership</a> to switch partners.
There has hardly been a day in the past month when Kathmandu’s main intersections have not been blocked by royal rallies, teacher’s marches, doctors’ demos, sit-ins by victims of cooperatives scams, and even the ruling UML last week staged its own show of youth force.
In the middle of all this is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/oli-s-oscillations">Prime Minister K P Oli</a>, who assures us that all is well. He is sounding more and more like Emperor Nero.
The street demonstrations by various professions are about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-s-corruption-carousel">corruption</a>, bad governance, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/job-insecurity-in-security-forces">job insecurity</a>, and unsustainable wages, but the general public finds resonance in the anger.
Teachers had been on warpath for a month, demanding that Parliament pass the School Education Bill for salaries and benefits on par with<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepals-uncivil-servants"> civil servants </a>and other reforms. &nbsp;
As it stands, Education Minister Bidhya Bhattarai of the UML had resigned last week following disagreements with Oli over meeting teachers’ demands. Earlier, Binda Pandey and Ushakiran Timalsina were suspended for daring to challenge Oli for taking a tycoon’s donation of real estate for the party office.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/class-act?%2F">Class Act</a>, Shristi Karki
However, on Wednesday, the teachers called off their protest after negotiating a nine-point deal with the government, warning that they would resume demonstrations if the agreements were not implemented.
The Nepal Medical Association has shut down non-essential medical services in solidarity with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/grass-is-greener-overseas-for-nepals-doctors">resident doctors</a> in private hospitals who are demanding stipends on par with government facilities.
For months, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/matter-of-life-and-debt">victims of cooperatives and loan sharks </a>have come to Kathmandu from all over the country to demand <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/justice-delayed-justice-denied-byrx8a1c">justice and compensation</a>. The government has formed multiple committees, signed many agreements, passed an ordinance to return their money, but relevant laws have languished.&nbsp;
All agitating groups have been given the runaround by successive governments led by the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/new-year-revolutions">three main parties</a>. Indeed, Oli, the NC’s Sher Bahadur Dueba, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist Centre have &nbsp;reached multi-point agreements with teachers, doctors, and victims of fraud to address their grievances. But they were <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/cop27-empty-promises-and-funding-failures">empty promises</a>.
And now that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/14-years-after-conflict-no-closure-in-nepal">the Maoists </a>are in the opposition, Dahal is using the street protests to drive a wedge in the ruling coalition. In fact, the only issue uniting all three parties so far is their objection to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-ghost-of-monarchy-returns-to-haunt-nepal">reinstate a Hindu monarchy</a> — although sections of the NC seem to be fence-sitting. &nbsp;
In Baluwatar, Oli issues directives to his ministers to hold marathon meetings with protesting groups even while some coalition partners in the NC question his handling of the demonstrations.
Haggling between the NC and UML on the appointment of the new Rastra Bank governor and appointments to the Constitutional Commission have widened the fissures within the coalition.
Various factions of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/republicans-and-royalists-on-nepal-s-streets">pro-monarchy groups</a> have also been holding different street rallies, including for the release of the royalist <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-party-reincarnating-hindu-monarchy">Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP)</a> leaders who were arrested following<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/a-tale-of-two-deaths"> the violent pro-monarchy protest in Tinkune last month</a>.
Nepal Police have released some detained RPP leaders but former journalist and party senior vice-president Rabindra Mishra remains in police custody, as does Durga Prasai, the business tycoon whom <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/tell-me-what-the-common-man-is-thinking">ex-king Gyanendra</a> had appointed to lead the Tinkune rally.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-deja-vu-on-black-friday">Nepal’s déjà vu on Black Friday</a>, Sonia Awale
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-geopolitics-of-nepal-s-politics">Nepalis across the political spectrum</a> have condemned the continued detention and police treatment of Mishra, calling him a prisoner of conscience.
At another demonstration in Balkhu last week, the RPP criticised the government for not allowing peaceful march at the city centre.
“A <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/stemming-asia-s-democratic-decay">democratic state </a>must give citizens the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-has-press-freedom-but-no-freedom-after-press">right to assemble and express their opinions</a>, and to create public spaces where they can practice those views,” says Taranath Dahal of Freedom Forum.&nbsp;
Added Dahal: “Open platforms were established in Nepal for its citizens to be able to voice their opposition even during <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17889">authoritarian systems</a>. But in an established republic where <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/no-freedom-after-expression">freedom of expression</a> is considered a fundamental right, we see an erosion of the public space.”
Shristi Karki

The Juggler

The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rare-anti-cancer-tree-on-verge-of-extinction">Himalayan yew</a> has a chemical used to treat cancer, but it is an endangered coniferous tree which has been unsustainably harvested. Some rare species of orchids in the Nepal Himalayan are prized in Chinese <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/medicine-goes-back-to-its-roots">traditional medicine</a>, and are smuggled across the border. Nepali conservation scientist Reshu Bashyal has made it her life’s mission to save these two ‘flagship plants’ by protecting them from poachers and cultivating them sustainably to generate income for local communities. For her work, Bashyal was recognised with the £50,000 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hRc3dYG9hGA?si=Ii8DLCQnTkxiXAOP">Whitley Award 2025 </a>presented by Princess Royal Anne on Wednesday at the Royal Geographical Society in London. The awards are given out by the UK-based <a href="https://whitleyaward.org/2025/02/11/2025-whitley-awards-meet-the-shortlist/">Whitley Fund for Nature</a> that recognises individuals working to foster grassroots action on conservation. Bashyal works on research at the environmental non-profit <a href="https://www.greenhood.org/">Greenhood Nepal</a> which has been involved in protecting the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/people-tigers-trees-and-rivers">country’s biodiversity</a> by using <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/unsung-heroes-of-nepal-s-tiger-recovery">indigenous knowledge</a> and finding ways to benefit local communities by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/saving-nature-by-protecting-orchids">protecting nature</a>.&nbsp; “I first learned about the precarious status of orchids when I was in the field doing animal research,” Bashyal told Nepali Times on the phone from London. “I had no idea about the scale in which these plants, locally called ‘the monkey’s bananas’ were being harvested. I realised there was a lot to be done to save the orchid.” Many <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/orchids-of-godavari-phulchoki">orchid species found in Nepal</a> are in high demand in Chinese and Indian traditional medicine as pain relievers, aphrodisiacs, ingredients in Ayurvedic medicine and as ornamental flowers. Orchids were allowed to be legally exported before 2017, after which CITES put all but two species in its appendix, stopping its international trade unless it was harvested sustainably. Still, such is the demand that smuggling has continued. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/save-nepal-s-orchids">Save Nepal’s orchids</a>, Reshu Bashyal “Distinguishing traded plant parts is hard, because when dry they can be mistaken very easily for other plants, like potatoes,” says Bashyal, who did her MSc in Environmental Science at Tribhuvan University and an MSc in Conservation and International Wildlife Trade from the University of Kent. Some harvesters are simply not aware that it is illegal, and raising awareness is one of the first steps. Restoring the habitat of orchids and reducing poaching come next. Bashyal hopes to form community-based task forces to monitor orchid smuggling, just as been done to stop<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-drives-wildlife-poaching"> poaching of tigers and rhinos</a> in Chitwan National Park.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250501030536_5d128776d43de18fe17869c643fe7b054075d49b171d12074b5d01124a463a4c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250501030536_5d128776d43de18fe17869c643fe7b054075d49b171d12074b5d01124a463a4c" data-rendition-name="original" width="7008" height="4672" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali wins Whitley Award 2025"> </figure>  Bashyal’s current project focuses on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeDWxQ1kCAY">the Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana)</a>, especially the mature Maire’s yew, which are most sought after for their leaves. Sadly, there are as few as 500 such trees left in the wild now. Maire’s yew is one of the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320225009_Yews_of_Nepal">three Taxus species found in the country</a>. Taxus wallichiana (Himalayan yew) is found in central to east Nepal, and the rarer &nbsp;Taxus mairei is found only in Kavre, Makwanpur and Sindhuli districts and is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN red list. Harvesting 10,000 kgs of leaves of the yew tree, known in Nepal as the Lath Salla, yields only 1-2 kgs of DAB-10, a white powder used to produce taxol, which is needed to treat early and late-stage breast, skin, and ovarian cancer.&nbsp; It has always been illegal in Nepal to harvest wild yew, although it is legal if the trees are cultivated. Part of Bashyal’s work is also to understand how best to grow the trees commercially.&nbsp; “I talk to people who grow yew trees to understand how it is being done, and to learn and document the best harvest guidelines,” says Bashyal. Such information will be key for the work she plans to do with the prize money of £100,000 over two years to focus research on five <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/reviving-nepals-community-forestry-success-story">community forests</a> in Makwanpur, where Maire’s yew is native.&nbsp; She and Greenhood Nepal also plan to restore 1,000 hectares of orchid habitat, plant 5,000 Maire’s yew, and create a 100-hectare community forest that will serve as a model to study and promote the best long-term practices. Bashyal has faced funding challenges for her work because most conservation grants went to protect <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/lesser-known-endangered-species">endangered animals</a> like the red panda or pangolins.“We tend to think only of animals when we think about conservation, but all living species must be considered,” she says. Bashyal is the fourth Nepali to win the Whitley Award in the last four years. Past winners include <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/owl-conservationist-raju-acharya-wins-whitley-award-in-hat-trick-for-nepal/">Raju Acharya</a> in 2024 for safeguarding owls in Central Nepal, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepali-conservationist-wins-whitley-again">Tulshi Laxmi Suwal</a> in 2023 for protecting pangolins, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-conservationist-wins-whitley-award">Sonam Lama </a>for monitoring and conserving red panda in Eastern Nepal. <a href="https://whitleyaward.org/2025/02/11/2025-whitley-awards-meet-the-shortlist/">Whitley shortlists 12 candidates</a> each year, and awards are given to six candidates. This year’s shortlist included community-based conservationists from Tanzania, Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil and other countries in the Global South.

Vishad Raj Onta

Nepali wins Whitley Award 2025

Architecture can be a powerful agent of change, shaping not just spaces but the way people live, connect, and experience the world.&nbsp; For Nepal, which is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/natures-fragile-gift-to-nepal">gifted by nature</a> and rich in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/ambassador-fund-cultural-preservation-nepal,2092">cultural heritage</a>, &nbsp;reviving rural architecture with modern amenities could hold the key to more <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-sustainable-tourism-means-in-practice">sustainable tourism </a>that benefits local people more. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/bayalpata-hospital-in-nepal-wins-global-design-award">Design and architecture</a> are amazing tools to create a unique experience for visitors,” says Spanish architect Tomeu Esteva of Esteva i Esteva Architecture Studio. “Difficult destinations have beautiful hotels with design and comfort.” Esteva was in Kathmandu with his colleagues at an event organised by the Spanish Honorary Consulate at Dwarika’s Hotel last week to showcase buildings which Nepali architects can adapt with local material and design inputs.&nbsp; Rural architecture holds a unique significance: it is more than a shelter and must reflect <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/inking-an-idenity">local identity, culture</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-humla-from-heritage-loss">heritage</a>. An area’s natural and cultural harmony can be upset by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-protected-areas-from-infrastructure?fbclid=IwAR1wK0MDFlFST_2EYb3f54LS4-fPt6rYfLG1DJ1JaQsU3w8-ezyXIxGOqzk">poorly planned development</a>, speakers at the event said, but the environment can be improved and revitalised by well-integrated structures.&nbsp; Another Spanish architect, Belen Moneo, has designed hotels at elevations of 3,700m in her home country Spain that supply natural spring water spas. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/lost-in-reconstruction">Creativity in construction</a> must be encouraged. Rural architecture always shows possibilities of what we can do better,” Moneo explains, adding that designs must enhance <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-healing-power-of-nature">the beauty of nature</a> and give a natural feel at a time when steel, glass and cement dominate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rebuilding-kathmandu-after-the-1934-quake">urban design</a>.&nbsp; This is why the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/weaving-nature-into-craft">use of natural products</a> such as bamboo, local timber, straw and rammed earth are in demand from customers who want a fresh eco-friendly look encouraged in construction of rural architectural structures. The demand for boutique hotels has increased world over, with &nbsp;more and more tourists favouring aesthetics, experience and comfort over price. While creativity is an important part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/architecture-for-mountains">construction and architecture</a>, incentives to build and use <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Building,370">rural construction materials</a> still remain minimal, and Moneo emphasises the significance of design and execution.&nbsp; Esteva helped design the Vana Retreat in Dehradun that kept the natural environment in focus, with the structure giving an elaborate aesthetic experience to visitors. Another example is Hotel Las Mercedes in the Dominican Republic which was designed and constructed by Moneo and the company she co-founded Moneo Brock, respecting and revaluing the traditional architecture of the area. Hotels providing such experience could attract tourists and revenue. The Spanish ambassador to Nepal Juan Antonio March Pujol said, “The role of architecture and architects in developing tourism is crucial, not only in urban areas but rural settings as well.”&nbsp; The concept of rural boutique hotels gained traction in Spain during the 1990s, particularly in regions like Majorca with economic and environmental sustainability as the main focus. In Nepal <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/guiding-nepal-s-tourism-industry">the tourism industry</a> directly employs about 1 million people, and makes up about 8% of the country’s GDP. In Nepal, the stone homes of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/reviving-himalayan-vulture-and-culture">Mustang and Manang</a>, bamboo and mud structures of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">the Tarai</a>, and the Kathmandu Valley’s terra cotta tile skylines, graceful temples, and tranquil bahal courtyards are all examples of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-traditional-seismic-resistant-designs">Nepal’s traditional architecture</a>.&nbsp; Nepali architect Sarosh Pradhan has been working for the past eight years on the Brakka Village project in Manang Valley north of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/municipalities-want-to-manage-annapurna">the Annapurnas</a>. Other examples of this kind of rural architecture for high-end tourism are the Shinta Mani Hotel in Mustang and Khumbu Lodge below <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Mt Everest</a>. Says Pradhan, “There are places in Nepal that radiate purity and embrace simplicity. Creating projects in such settings require deep reflection and thoughtful planning.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f" data-rendition-name="original" width="4608" height="2184" loading="lazy" alt="A new architecture for Nepal's tourism"> </figure>  Rural architecture is not easy, and sometimes more expensive. Inflation, energy efficiency, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/those-who-stay">the climate crisis</a>, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">increased costs of living</a> pose obstacles to sustainable rural architecture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/forgotten-international-starchitects-in-nepal">Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal</a>, Anne Feenstra and Varun S Bapu Esteva says faith and trust between client and architect is necessary for any project to be successful. He adds that architects must practice being humble, the process of designing always involves learning and not imposing their ideas on clients. Nepal is uniquely positioned for the growth of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hiking-up-the-benefits-of-tourism">rural tourism</a> because of its stunning countryside as well as its internationally renowned traditions in holistic wellness. Creating infrastructure that is small, thoughtfully planned and that respects both tradition and contemporary hospitality standards is crucial. “Projects in Nepal can be made cost effective by using materials from houses that have been brought down,” says Esteva. “Pilot projects involving <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people">local people </a>and simple designing also helps the process.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/vacant-homes-become-homestays-in-nepal">The growth of homestays in Nepal</a> is a step in the right direction, but they are still a bit too rustic for the international traveller who also wants comfort and is willing to pay extra for it. Upgrading the facilities in homestays and ensuring that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-archive-of-nepali-heritage">architectural heritage</a> of the locality is preserved using locally sourced building material could allow owners to charge more. Says Sangita Shrestha of Dwarika’s Hotel, “Our effort is to build upon rural architecture by empowering local communities and using what is available locally. We can fine tune and encourage indigenous design and training.” The vision goes beyond just boosting the economy, it is about building a future where tourism helps villages grow in a healthy and lasting way. Instead of using up resources, it gives back to the land and the people. It supports local communities by<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/staying-in-nepal-to-create-jobs"> creating jobs</a>, improving infrastructure, and protecting natural beauty. When done right, tourism can be a tool for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/progress-and-or-preservation">preserving culture and nature</a>, not harming them. Architects must therefore see their work as more than just designing buildings, they also need to care deeply about people and places, especially in rural areas that can benefit the most.&nbsp; With global interest in sustainable and off-the-beaten-path travel increasing, Nepal stands at the cusp of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/missing-out-on-nepal-s-tourism-potential">tourism transformation</a> that values community-driven, eco-conscious hospitality. A mix of modern ideas and traditional knowledge could transform rural tourism in Nepal. Says Shrestha, “Young architects should spend time with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/the-unsung-heroes-of-conservation">local and indigenous communities</a>, listen to their stories, and learn from their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/life-and-livelihood-in-remote-nepal">ways of living</a>. These communities have deep knowledge about the land, materials, and climate. If this wisdom is used in new designs, it can help create tourism spaces that truly benefit everyone.” &nbsp;

A new architecture for Nepal's tourism

The spring 2025 <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/peak-climbing-season-2025-s4abrxny">mountaineering season</a> has started with an early reminder of the fine balance of glory and risk on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/knowing-our-mountains-43v4iyvo">Himalayan peaks</a>.&nbsp; Everest as always is the biggest draw. But on the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/il-y-a-d-autres-annapurnas-dans-la-vie-des-hommes">75th anniversary of its first ascent</a>, Annapurna has seen record numbers of expeditions, and climbers are also commemorating 70 years of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kangchenjunga">Kangchenjunga</a>’s first successful climb in 1955.&nbsp; But as a stark reminder of the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2912">dangers of Himalayan mountaineering</a> that have been exacerbated by a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-third-pole-is-warming-faster-than-expected">warming climate</a>, came on Annapurna with the tragic deaths of two promising young Nepali high altitude guides.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Everest</a> is seeing big numbers because it is Everest, and it is there. Some 220 international climbers and their guides from 22 expeditions have already arrived at Everest Base Camp, but this number is expected to cross 450, and could even beat the 2023 record of 478 foreign climbers.&nbsp; There seems to be greater demand for Everest permits because the fee is being hiked up from $11,000 to $15,000 starting this autumn. But the $4,000 increase is not expected to reduce the crowds, and therefore<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/overkill-on-everest"> the risks, on the world’s highest mountain</a>.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250418050440_f2cb0157d4779ee131d4b7ef8b67302904cad74b37aee48a778bbdcff05ed824.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250418050440_f2cb0157d4779ee131d4b7ef8b67302904cad74b37aee48a778bbdcff05ed824" data-rendition-name="original" width="1121" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Number of climbing permits 2025"> </figure>  The Department of Tourism starts issuing permits for the mountain only in early-April, which many find absurd because mountaineers start preparing for their Everest climb years in advance.&nbsp; “That is just the process, we want to make sure climbers have all of their paperwork in order once they land in Nepal,” says Goma Rai from the Department of Tourism.&nbsp; Even as expeditions make their first forays up the Khumbu Icefall on Everest, there has already been considerable activity on other <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-just-2-years-a-nepal-peak-becomes-snowless">Himalayan peaks</a>. Makalu (8,485m) has already seen <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nepali-times-buzz/seven-summits-women-climb-again,1486">successful summits </a>this season. Ten guides fixing ropes reached the top of the world’s fifth highest mountain on 10 April. &nbsp; There are two Indian expeditions on Kanchenjunga, which at 8,586m is the third-tallest mountain in the world. The Indian teams are climbing from the Nepal side of the border peak because climbing from the Indian side is not allowed. &nbsp; One of the teams is led by three-time Everest summiteer Col Ranveer Sing Jamwal which is on the last leg of the ‘Har Shikhar Tiranga’ campaign to plant an Indian tricolour on the highest point of all 28 Indian states.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/those-who-stay">Unpredictable weather</a> and its technical nature makes the north face of ‘Kangch’ treacherous. There have been 12,884 Everest summits since 1953, but there have only been 250 ascents of Kanchenjunga in 70 years. Annapurna saw 45 summits over 6-7 April before the weather worsened. On 7 April, an avalanche swept away Ngima Tashi Sherpa and Rima Rinje Sherpa. Pemba Thenduk Sherpa, who was also roped up, survived. “It was a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/five-years-after-avalanche-langtang-is-locked-down">big avalanche</a>, taller than a Kathmandu house when it came down,” recalls Pemba Thenduk. “Me and my client were right under a serac and were saved. We realised our two friends had been swept away but could not find them.”&nbsp; After four days of searching with two helicopters, the expedition company Seven Summit Trek abandoned the search. Nima Tashi was the unsung hero who helped save the life of an incapacitated Malaysian climber, carrying him down from 8,400m on Everest last year. A video of the rescue by Ngima Tashi and Gelje Sherpa became an international sensation. But luck ran out for Ngima Tashi and Rima Rinje on Annapurna last week. ‘We have lost two of our finest <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/without-sherpas-there-is-no-mountaineering">Sherpa guides</a>,’ Seven Summits said in a statement. ‘It is no longer possible for anyone to survive this long under the ice, and prolonging search means risking the lives of other Sherpas.’ In the past 75 years, Annapurna has seen the highest fatality rate among Himalayan peaks, with one third of those trying to climb it not making it down alive. This year, guides ran out of fixed rope because there were so many crevasses on the north face. They also reported bigger and more frequent rockfalls and avalanches.&nbsp; South African climber John Black was nearly caught in the avalanche that killed the guides. He then made the agonising decision to turn back soon after leaving Camp 3 last week on Annapurna.&nbsp; “I was uncomfortable and uneasy. Some may call it gut, others may call it calculated,” says Black, who actually shared a chocolate with the two Sherpas just before they were swept away by the avalanche. “It is certainly a sharp reminder that the risks are real and things can change in a heartbeat.”&nbsp; After the avalanche, there has been criticism of some climbers deciding to be helicoptered off the north face despite not showing signs of immediate emergency. A problem in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-himalayan-odyssey">Himalayan mountaineering </a>in recent years has been the greater numbers of inexperienced climbers who are not only risks to themselves, but also to guides and other climbers. Many do not know when to turn back when the going gets tough. “Some climbers struggled with crampons, some seemed to lack decent techniques for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/if-the-ice-is-gone-we-are-done">climbing rock and ice</a>,” says Black. “In many cases, the climbers were too slow and struggled to move efficiently across tricky terrain. On a mountain like Annapurna, speed is the only thing you can do to reduce exposure to danger.”&nbsp; The problem has been made worse by instant gratification through social media posts. The challenge of climbing a Himalayan peak has been replaced by an <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/love-of-books-goes-online">Instagram</a> summit fetish, and expedition companies try to accommodate the wishes of their clients.&nbsp; The other expedition that generated a controversy even before it started is of a four-member team of British Army veterans who are ‘acclimatising’ by breathing xenon gas ahead of the climb to enhance production of their red blood corpuscles. Although this is said to be an ‘experiment’, use of the gas by the Mission Everest Expedition has been criticised because it is banned by the Anti-doping Agency as performance enhancing. Dimantha Dilan Thenuwara, a Sri Lankan IT professional, is attempting the gorgeous Ama Dablam. He plans to take both the Sri Lanka and Nepal flags up to the summit, and wear the daura suruwal Nepali national dress on top. He wants to promote a message of ‘prosperity through unity’, especially among <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/south-asia-2040-qxr16oup">South Asian countries</a>.&nbsp; Thenuwara describes himself as a pampered child who was best friends with his dad, who was killed in the 2004 Sri Lanka Tsunami. The tragedy drives him to climb.&nbsp; “This expedition is a mission that began 20 years ago,” says Thenuwara, who had to grow up quickly, and put himself through tech school. He is financing the trip himself, and believes strongly in the need for youth to remember their roots. The Ama Dablam climb is<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6738"> preparation for an expedition</a> to climb K2 later this year.&nbsp; Another notable expedition is of Peter Hamor of Slovakia and the Italian couple Nives Meroi and Romano Benet, who are attempting a new route on 7,590m Yalung Peak in the Kanchenjunga massif. A two-member British team is already at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/letters-from-everest-base-camp-1-vfqcer0e">Everest Base Camp</a> to go up the Lhotse face and make one more attempt to jump off the mountain in wingsuits. &nbsp;

Glory and risk on Himalayan peaks

India and Pakistan are twins separated at birth. Tensions between them have been at a hair trigger ever since independence and has erupted into full scale conflict at least four times in the past 80 years.
The 22 April terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed 25 Indian tourists and a Nepali citizen, threatens to escalate tension between the two nuclear-armed nations. India has squarely blamed Pakistan for the attacks, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his military “operational freedom” to respond. Pakistan has said it has credible intelligence of an Indian military strike and its officials have promised a “full spectrum” response — a code for a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/thinking-the-thinkable">nuclear retaliation</a>.
For Nepal, the killing of its national in the Pahalgam attack comes as another stark reminder that in conflicts from Afghanistan to Iraq, from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-to-agree-an-armistice-in-ukraine">Ukraine</a> to Israel, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">Nepalis are getting caught in the crossfire</a>. The last time full-scale fighting broke out between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/peacemongers-at-india-pakistan-border">India and Pakistan</a> on Kargil in 1999, at least 22<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-trial-by-fire-for-soldiers-from-nepal?%27%5C%22="> Nepalis fighting for the Indian Army</a> were killed in action.
Three of Nepal’s immediate neighbours (China, India, Pakistan) have nuclear weapons, and they do not have good relations. With China supplying weapons, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/war-and-warming">missile technology</a> and other support to Pakistan, this triangular friction could set off a regional conflagration.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0" target="_blank">Research at Rutgers University</a> has calculated that even a week-long tactical nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would throw up so much smoke and debris into the atmosphere that it would block out the sun for years, and lead to a collapse of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/grow-nourish-sustain-together-world-food-day">global food system</a>. This does not take into account the radioactive fallout that prevailing winds would blow up to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">the Himalaya</a>, contaminating glaciers that are the sources of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">Asia’s main rivers</a>.
The impact of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>on High Asia was already ringing alarm bells about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">shrinking ice cap</a> reducing the dry season flow of water downstream. Water was going to be the next strategic commodity, geopolitical experts warned, and the next wars in Asia would be over water.
That water war is already happening. India retaliated to the Kashmir attack by suspending the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/world/asia/india-pakistan-indus-waters-treaty.html" target="_blank">Indus Waters Treaty</a> of 1960 mediated by the World Bank that has withstood at least three wars between India and Pakistan. The treaty gives India control over the three eastern tributaries of the Indus (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beas_River" target="_blank">Beas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_River" target="_blank">Ravi</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlej" target="_blank">Sutlej</a>), while Pakistan got water from the Indus and two of its western tributaries (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River" target="_blank">Indus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_River" target="_blank">Chenab</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhelum_River" target="_blank">Jhelum</a>.
Pakistan was assured of 70% of the annual flow, and India could use a reasonable amount of water for<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15231"> irrigation and hydropower</a>. &nbsp;Within days of its threat, India stopped water flowing down to Pakistan from the Chenab river and is reportedly preparing to do the same on the Jhelum.
The sabre-rattling has reached a crescendo. Besides threats and counter-threats there are also symbolic drills, with the Indian Air Force practicing landing on an expressway in Uttar Pradesh by its Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar fighter jets to demonstrate ‘operational readiness’. In response Pakistan test-fired its Abdali ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of 450km.&nbsp;
The danger is that with ultra-nationalist rhetoric and the beating the war drums by both sides, India’s government and Pakistan’s military may have to ‘do something’ to appease domestic public opinion. But any tactical strike, an artillery exchange, or territorial incursion could quickly escalate out of control.
Expecting an Indian retaliation for the Pahalgam killings, Pakistan is using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/interfaith-collaboration-for-nuclear-disarmament"> nuclear deterrence </a>and warning of “catastrophic consequences”. The two neighbours came close to a nuclear exchange in 2019 after an attack on the Indian military in Kashmir, and prompt international intervention led by the United States cooled tensions.&nbsp;
This time, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trump-shock-wave-hits-nepal">Trump administration</a> is too distracted and not as engaged. Pakistan has denied it was responsible for the terrorist attack and called on Washington to stop a possible Indian retaliation. India and Pakistan have stopped overflights by each other’s airlines, and some international carriers have even stopped flying over Pakistan fearing an air war.
Washington, Beijing, the UN and the EU have all urged restraint. Iran, which has good relations with both India and Pakistan has sent its foreign minister to urge both countries not to go into a tit-for-tat war. Iran has its own nuclear flashpoint to worry about with tensions in Israel, &nbsp;Yemen and Syria.
India and Pakistan both share similar problems of joblessness, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-nepal-s-poverty-rate-is-stuck">poverty </a>and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-change-new-threat-to-nepal-s-rhinos">environmental threats</a>. Neither side needs the threat of a senseless war, and we in the neighbourhood do not need it either.&nbsp;
Kunda Dixit
This Editorial is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

Nukes in the neighbourhood

In 2025, two seemingly disconnected acts of violence shattered the illusion of stability in the region. In March, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/16f7f947-1e96-4206-9844-891378adc683" target="_blank">militants hijacked a passenger train</a> near the Bolan Pass in Balochistan, executing soldiers in cold blood. A month later, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/world/asia/kashmir-terrorist-attack.html" target="_blank">gunmen in Kashmir’s</a> Pahalgam Valley massacred tourists. 
In both Islamabad and New Delhi, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/25/were-cursed-kashmiris-under-attack-across-india-after-pahalgam-killings" target="_blank">the reaction was reflexive:</a> condemn the violence, <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/04/22/india-and-pakistan-could-come-to-blows-over-kashmir" target="_blank">blame external enemies</a>, declare the situation contained. But South Asia’s leaders are not fighting terrorists alone. They are fighting the consequences of their own betrayals.
Across <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26272897" target="_blank">Balochistan</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11693674" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/india/346-finding-way-out-festering-conflict-indias-manipur" target="_blank">Manipur</a>, and beyond, decades of <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/projects/enforced-disappearance-in-south-asia/" target="_blank">enforced disappearances</a>, broken promises, and brute militarisation have hollowed out the social contracts meant to hold these nations together. The grievances that drove rebellions from the 1940s through the 1990s – demands for dignity, recognition, and political agency – were never meaningfully addressed. They were buried beneath asphalt and propaganda, paved over by development projects and security checkpoints.
States may claim victory. But their victories are mirages, dissolving the moment anyone looks too closely. South Asia’s unfinished wars are not relics of a violent past. They are live ammunition, loaded into the future.
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/24/he-only-wanted-revenge-the-bloody-insurgency-in-balochistan-gaining-lethal-momentum" target="_blank">Balochistan</a> has been at war with Pakistan for most of its modern history. Rich in gas, minerals, and coastline, the province has been plundered for decades under the language of national development. 
Projects like the <a href="https://eastasiaforum.org/2020/11/26/pakistans-three-evils-cpec-and-good-governance/" target="_blank">China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)</a> promise progress but deliver exclusion: minerals are mined, ports are secured, but Baloch homes are raided. 
The insurgency endures not because of foreign conspiracies, as Islamabad endlessly insists, but because the Pakistani state remains incapable of seeing its <a href="https://thebalochistanpost.net/2025/01/enforced-disappearances-in-balochistan-in-december-2024-tbp-report/" target="_blank">Baloch citizens</a> as anything other than a security problem to be managed.
In <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ranisingh/2016/07/12/kashmir-in-the-worlds-most-militarized-zone-violence-after-years-of-comparative-calm/" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, the Indian government claims to have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/world/asia/kashmir-village-defense-committees.html" target="_blank">“normalised” the valley</a> after revoking its autonomy in 2019. It <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-between-india-and-pakistan" target="_blank">looks a lot like occupation</a>. Soldiers outnumber local leaders, dissent is criminalised, internet shutdowns suffocate public life. Tourism campaigns and investment summits cannot erase a generation raised under curfew and surveillance.
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66260730" target="_blank">Manipur’s descent into ethnic bloodshed</a> in 2023 exposed another fault line Delhi prefers to ignore. Long-simmering tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities erupted into violence that shattered any illusions of northeastern integration. The central government’s delayed, politicised response made clear what many Manipuris had always suspected: they are citizens of India only when convenient.
Even the <a href="https://msf.org.au/rohingya-worlds-largest-stateless-population" target="_blank">Rohingya, stateless and exiled from Myanmar</a>, find themselves entangled in South Asia’s ethnonationalist calculus. Fleeing genocide, they are criminalised anew in Bangladesh and India – trapped between the countries that reject them and the memories that refuse to let them go.
South Asia’s states have excelled at suppressing rebellion. But failed at extinguishing the reasons rebellions rise in the first place. And the wars South Asia tries to forget at home have found new life abroad.
Across <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-17/modis-indian-government-accused-of-spying-silencing-critics/103974414" target="_blank">Canada, Australia, Britain, and the United States</a>, diasporic communities have become memory-keepers and, increasingly, <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/khalistan-supporters-hold-protest-outside-indian-consulate-in-vancouver-123092600087_1.html" target="_blank">the agitators</a> for the struggles their home states would rather erase.
Khalistan flags fly outside Indian consulates in Vancouver and <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/perturbed-over-waving-of-khalistani-flags-at-an-event-in-melbourne-india-warns-australia-of-khalistan-separatists-and-their-links-with-terror-groups-458320/" target="_blank">Melbourne</a>. Tamil activists march through London, demanding accountability for the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/19/grim-reminder-sri-lankas-tamils-mark-15-years-since-end-of-civil-war" target="_blank">massacres in Mullivaikkal</a>. Kashmiri protests in Washington and New York refuse to let India’s crackdown slip into diplomatic amnesia.
For host countries, these movements pose uncomfortable questions. Freedom of expression collides with fears of extremism. Clashes erupt between communities carrying wounds that their new homelands.
Meanwhile, South Asian states pursue their adversaries across borders. India faces allegations of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/canada-says-india-home-minister-ordered-campaign-against-sikh-activist-rcna177972" target="_blank">targeting Sikh activists for assassination in Canada</a> and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/10/27/g-s1-29561/sikh-separatist-assassination-india" target="_blank">United States</a>. Pakistan continues to court Kashmiri separatists abroad while crushing Baloch dissent at home. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-tamils-civil-war-dead-5b372b0bba567837c5a4d94250040e7d" target="_blank">Sri Lanka</a> lobbies furiously to brand Tamil diaspora organisations as fronts for terrorism, even as it stonewalls investigations into its own wartime atrocities.
The old insurgencies have not been defeated. They have been globalised. South Asia’s governments have long mistaken silence for stability.
In Punjab, India broke the back of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/06/india/india-canada-sikh-khalistan-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">Khalistan insurgency</a> through brute force. The fields grew green again, the trains ran on time. But the wounds were never closed, the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-indias-khalistan-separatist-movement-on-the-rise/a-65081729" target="_blank">movement’s heart beats</a> not in Amritsar but in Brampton and Surrey.
In Sri Lanka, the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4738983/The_Man_Who_Destroyed_Eelam" target="_blank">military crushed the Tamil Tigers</a> with <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/17/death-of-the-tiger" target="_blank">overwhelming brutality in 2009</a>. <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264148/we-want-our-children-back-sri-lankan-families-still-demanding-justice-their-missing-loved-ones" target="_blank">Tamil families still search for their missing</a>, still mourn their dead – and still organise across the diaspora for justice that remains undelivered.
In Kashmir, Delhi boasts of new <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/2/4/kashmir-is-bleeding-its-economy" target="_blank">highways and investment corridors</a>, showcasing the region as a trophy of unity. But when the visitors leave and the cameras are packed away, <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-134/from-domicile-to-dominion-indias-settler-colonial-agenda-in-kashmir/" target="_blank">the checkpoints, the raids, and the quiet despair remain.</a>
Victory parades fade. Grievance endures. Suppressing insurgency may end battles. It does not end the ideas that fueled them. In a region where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/world/asia/kashmir-attack-india-pakistan.html" target="_blank">history is rarely past</a>, and memory is rarely voluntary, states that rule through repression are only ever buying time. And often, not very much.
South Asia’s unfinished wars are not accidents. They are the inevitable consequences of states that confuse conquest with consent, and erasure with reconciliation. They cannot legislate memory out of existence.
Every <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15qyyzz89lo" target="_blank">disappeared son in Balochistan</a>, every <a href="https://medium.com/the-wvoice/the-half-widows-in-kashmir-fef80c6b88e9" target="_blank">half-widow in Kashmir</a>, every <a href="https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/focus/rohingya-refugee-crisis" target="_blank">refugee child born stateless in a Rohingya camp</a> carries forward the memory of betrayal – a memory that outlives soldiers, politicians, and peace accords alike.
The region’s future will not be decided by GDP figures or infrastructure projects alone. It will be decided by whether its governments can summon the political courage to face the truths they have long suppressed – or whether they will continue down a path <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-is-using-the-g20-summit-to-further-its-settler-colonial-ambitions-in-kashmir-205166" target="_blank">where forgetting is demanded</a>, and rebellion becomes inevitable.
Shyam Tekwani is a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. This <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/nexus_articles/ghosts-at-the-border-south-asias-unfinished-wars/" target="_blank">article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/security-nexus/" target="_blank">DKI APCSS Security Nexus.</a> The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of DKI APCSS, the Department of Defense, or the US Government. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) of the linked websites, or the information, products, or services contained therein. DoD does not exercise any editorial, security, or other control over the information you may find at these sites.

Balochistan to Kashmir

The discourse around <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-s-corruption-carousel">corruption in Nepal</a> is mainly about politicians and bureaucrats accepting bribes and kickbacks. The private sector usually does not get as much blame.
But the prevalent <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-crony-communism-exposed">climate of cronyism</a> in Nepal means that the politicians and businesses are often hand in glove. The private sector is generally considered to be in favour of free market competition to encourage <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-has-to-curb-corruption-before-wooing-investors">investment</a> and innovation so that wealth is generated.
But insider trading, cartelling, and conflict of interest have become a given in Nepal’s private sector, and it all happens with the blessings of the government. In fact, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-business-of-politics-in-nepal">tycoons have become legislators and politicians have become businessmen</a>.
“Such collusion kills the free market, and does not allow entrepreneurship and innovation to flourish,” says Kush Kumar Joshi, former president of the Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI).
An example of this is the Dangote Group of Nigeria, which was planning for a cement factory in Nepal. A Dangote executive told us that Nepal’s cement cartel got the government to sabotage their plans.&nbsp;
Earlier, the same cartel tried to do the same thing to the Chinese companies Hongxi and Huaxin, arguing that Nepal’s cement industry was capable of meeting domestic demand and did not require foreign investment. Ultimately, Hongxi partnered with Nepal’s Shivam and Huaxin with former FNCCI president Suraj Vaidya.
In 2019, industrialists successfully lobbied lawmakers to prevent foreign investment in agriculture by amending the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act. Two years later,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/aid-rarely-aids-agriculture-in-nepal"> foreign investment in agriculture</a> was opened, but only if 75% of the products were exported.
There is a long history of local lobbyists obstructing the entry of multinationals, like J Walter Thompson advertising agency and the international shipping company Maersk. Microbreweries, which can be operated by restaurants, have been prohibited at the behest of larger beer companies. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1292">private dairy sector </a>opposed the government-owned Dairy Development Corporation when it tried to begin production in Pokhara a decade ago.
“The<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/business-as-unusual?fbclid=IwAR3qEnUrVu9pRhZU669FR1F4zF95uPJKBpbQbq-q1Bm26p7OMVw-8JBP7FU"> business sector</a> is a reflection of Nepali society and government which do not care about <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6725">ethical business practices</a>,” says former CNI president Hari Bhakta Sharma. “The environment is not conducive to the few businessmen who are honest.”
Lobbying by businesses is not unusual in a democracy, but its basic character should be for the collective good, not individual greed.
“This kind of profit-over-everything mindset is fatal for businesses. Entrepreneurs must prioritise social, worker, and customer welfare,” adds Sharma.
Industrialists have actively lobbied for the removal of policies that prevent loan misuse and require bank loans in specific areas. They have partially reversed such directives.
Until the economic slowdown, Nepal’s fastest growing industry was construction. But even there, cement and steel rod manufacturers colluded by price-fixing. Banker Parshuram Kunwar Chhetri says Nepal’s corporates just do not believe in free market principles, adding: “Their ideas go against competition benefiting consumers. It is all about price fixing, cartels and monopolies.”
Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-cash-rich-nepal"> Poor cash-rich Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale
Ideologically, Nepal’s Communist parties are supposed to be against the neoliberal free market, globalisation and the ‘imperialism’ of international financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF. But cronyism is rife there, too.
Two years ago, the FNCCI and the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) accused the IMF of interfering in Nepal's domestic economic policy after the Fund demanded economic reforms as conditions for its Extended Credit Facility.
Says economic analyst Sujeev Shakya: “How can we expect an honest and ethical business sector when we as a society tend to laud those who earn money through illicit and corrupt means rather than lament their <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Editorial-moral,667">moral bankruptcy</a>?”
In October 2012, the Chaudhary Group’s CG Electronics warehouse in Kathmandu caught fire. A surveyor certified that the company had suffered Rs580 million damage, which was paid out by United Insurance Company.
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) directed the Nepal Insurance Authority to investigate suspected insurance fraud, and found that the fire damage was actually Rs340 million.
The Patan High Court ordered Chaudhary Group to return the excess amount, a decision the company challenged in the Supreme Court. But in March, the apex court also found the Chaudhary Group guilty of insurance fraud.
Chaudhary Group's Binod Chaudhary, Nepal's only known dollar billionaire, is a Nepali Congress central committee member and MP, former president of FNCCI and founder of the CNI.
Then last February, the Central Investigation Bureau questioned Binod Chaudhary and arrested his brother Arun Chaudhary of CG Holdings over their alleged involvement in the illegal acquisition of the state-run shoe factory, following an investigative report by Ukaalo Online.
In 2021, Chaudhary and his family’s offshore business dealings landed them <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-richest-man-in-the-pandora-papers">in the Pandora Papers list</a> by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) for hidden assets in Panama.
Says Krishna Khanal, assistant professor of business ethics at King’s College: “Cronyism, political collusion, and anti-competitive cartelling are routine in the private sector. There is no other objective than to make money at any cost.”
Conflict of interest is rife in Nepal’s share market. In 2023, Ghorahi Cement owned by Triveni Group issued primary shares at a premium price. There is also evidence that a river was diverted for the construction of its business tycoon Upendra Mahato’s Mediciti Hospital. Bhatbhateni owner Min Bahadur Gurung is also involved in Lalita Niwas land grab scam in Baluwatar.
Meanwhile, Shankar Group Vice President Sulabh Agrawal, former honorary consul of Kyrgyzstan, was arrested by the police during the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-uneven-covid-19-deaths">Covid-19 pandemic </a>after he was found selling 67 infrared thermometers from a vehicle with diplomatic credentials. He was later acquitted by the court for price-gouging.
Nepal’s most influential corporates were accused of evading billions in VAT by forcing invoices. Freedom Forum invoked the Right to Information to collect evidence of the involvement of CG Foods, Him Electronics of Shekhar Golchha, Morang Auto Works of Bishnu Agarwal, Sulabh Agarwal’s Jagdamba Steels, United Builders of Shakuntalal Hirachan, United Traders of Anuj Agarwal, and Min Bahadur Gurung’s Bhatbhateni Supermarket.
Most of these businessmen have held leadership positions in the FNCCI. Former FNCCI presidents Shekhar Golchha, Pashupati Murarka and Pradeep Jung Pandey, along with members of the federation's governing council Birendra Kumar Shanghai, Shashikant Agrawal, and others all have unpaid dues of Rs22 billion to Nepal Electricity Authority.&nbsp;
Former FNCCI president Chandiraj Dhakal was blacklisted by the Credit Information Bureau Nepal for non-payment of bank loans.
He had previously obtained permission to use 36 hectares of government forest land in Chandragiri for 40 years without competition, and had received an exemption to build a ropeway there. The 54th report of the Auditor General, stating that Nepal had suffered as a result of these decisions, had suggested that the state be investigated for leasing land at low rates allowing large revenue exemptions.
Another ex-FNCCI president Pradeep Jung Pandey was sentenced to prison in 2014 following a corruption case spanning three decades. Former FNCCI treasurer Gyanendra Lal Pradhan is currently facing charges of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/black-white-and-grey">money laundering </a>through insider trading.&nbsp;
Former FNCCI president Pashupati Murarka was acquitted by the special court in a corruption case, but it is still pending in the Supreme Court. His cement company was found to have exploited the environment by over-mining limestone at various times.&nbsp;
His Siddhartha Minerals was also found to have encroached forests in Palpa, following which the District Forest Office registered a criminal case against him and co-investor Manoj Kedia. Arrest warrants were issued for six people, including Murarka and Kedia, but Muraka was released on bail, while Kedia is on the run.
Current FNCCI president Chandra Prasad Dhakal during his tenure as a member of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) was accused of conflict of interest in being a regulator in the sale of shares in a company that his family had invested in.&nbsp;
Dhakal is the chair of the IME Group, which owns banks, insurance, remittance companies, several cable cars and hotels, and has been embroiled in numerous ropeway-related controversies — most recently for allegedly using political connections to suppress local opposition to a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/progress-and-or-preservation"> cable car project in Pathibhara</a>.
Another example of fraud committed in collusion with political leadership is Himalayan Reinsurance, the investors of which include prominent businessmen who have led FNCCI and CNI in the past, including Shekhar Golchha, Pashupati Murarka, Bhawani Rana, Rajesh Kumar Agrawa, Rohit Gupta, Amit Mor, Satish Mor, Shashikant Agrawal, and Sulabh Agrawal.
During <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-the-pandemic">the Covid-19 pandemic</a>, the Nepal Insurance Authority requested approval for a reinsurance company through an emergency notice, even though such a government-operated company already existed. But Himalayan Re-insurance was granted permission without any explanation as to why another reinsurance company was needed, or how it was selected out of the five companies that submitted proposals.
It was found that the Securities Registration and Issue Regulation was amended to allow this company to issue shares at a premium price, allowing the shares priced at Rs100 to be sold for Rs206. Himalayan Re-insurance raised Rs6 billion. The Companies Act stipulates that primary shares can be issued at a premium price only after three years of operation, a criteria Himalayan Re-insurance did not fulfil.
Open competition, consumer protection, worker welfare, environmental consciousness, anti-corruption, and tax responsibility are the foundations of a country’s healthy business world. But most captains of Nepal’s industry themselves do not uphold those principles.
The business community here is instead actively engaged in lobbying and colluding with the political leadership, and forcing the appointment of their candidates to lead various regulatory bodies.&nbsp;
“While the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/reviving-nepal-s-craft">new generation of entrepreneurs</a> operating in sectors linked to external markets such as IT seem sensitive to and compliant with professional codes, ethics, professionalism, and honesty are sorely lacking in Nepal’s business sector in general,” says Rameshore Khanal, former Secretary of the Ministry of Finance.
He adds: “Even those following ethical practices have been forced to seek political favours for fear of being left behind. There will thus be<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/it-does-not-pay-to-have-integrity"> no integrity in the private sector </a>until there is honesty in politics.”
Following the publication of this report in Himalkhabar, a Supreme Court judge on the condition of anonymity said: “Businessmen do not adhere to the principles of judicial independence, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/federalism-rule-of-law-and-the-judiciary">rule of law </a>and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/government-to-governance-editorial,4200">good governance</a>. They use intermediaries and political connections to approach judges and win cases. Meanwhile, nobody raises these issues in public.” &nbsp;

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