<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904509c7e80680e037d17jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1800" height="1050"/><figcaption>Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>The Kanchanpur rape case should go down in history books as a landmark that brought long awaited changes to Nepal’s justice system, how it is implemented and delivered, and how rape is reported in the media.In early 1900s when women all over the world were waking up and rising up against the patriarchy and were demanding their right to vote, in Britain some <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34425615" target="_blank" rel="noopener">women started to train in jiu-jitsu</a>.It came in handy while dealing with male vigilantes who believed women should be harassed or beaten to submission, and the police who did the same to protesting women. The Women's Social and Political Party (suffragettes) was formed in 1903, and two decades later, finally women over 21 won the right to vote.See also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/republic-of-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Republic of rape</a>We are in 2018 now, and it is not just women fighting for women, but <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-roots-of-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">men are also joining the marches for justice</a>. Rapes do not only happen to women. And in a land where we have to fight to even register a case, the chances of abuse of an irreversible penalty like capital punishment is high.Let us demand fast track courts, a well-funded and well-trained prosecution arm of police, safe houses for women, compensation for victims, and (not or) harsh punishment for the perpetrator. Let us also call for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/03/11/kalaiya-protest-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">counselling services for rape survivors</a>, and efforts to remove stigma of rape. There should also be stricter punishment for those who obstruct justice regardless of their political clout or position in the police or bureaucracy. Here is what each sector can do:Major opposition partyIt is shameful to politicise the rape of a minor on the street to try to get some airtime and harass the government. Each party has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/four-fold-increase-in-reported-rape-in-10-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">served in government when there were rape cases</a>. You did very little then, so if you really want to be in the news, then fight it out in Parliament to which you were elected. If you want to join the protests in the streets, leave your political baggage and flags  behind. Fight for the right as a citizen, not as a party hack.Ruling government party <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/justice-for-sale/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A compensation of Rs1 million is not what the victim is looking for</a>. Ask yourself: is that your price tag on the life of a child? Where can they go to heal? What is the Ministry of Women and Child Development really doing? What is the Home Ministry doing in Kanchanpur? If you believe the opposition party is fanning the flames, why weren’t you quick off the mark to address the problem? Why did you let it drag on to the point where it could be politicised?Development agenciesExamine which activist group or government agency you fund and ask for a statement of solidarity from each of them for better implementation and delivery of justice and stricter and swifter laws. Your mandate doesn't need to explicitly state that you will be an ally of the rape victims and survivors. It is assumed.Nepali citizensRapes do not only happen to Nepali women, men are also raped. You don't need to have a mother, sister, daughter, aunt to empathise with the cause. If someone needs to be shot dead to demand justice, then we really have no hope of expecting swift and stern action against perpetrators of other crimes as well. If you do not like 'dollar wallas’ then create a rupee funded organisation that will fight for the cause. The culture needs to stop objectifying women, and releasing block-blusters in which women have no role except to play a love interest of the ‘villain' or ‘hero’, with no will, no voice, no part at all in a plot in which men are rewarded with love and marriage for stalking a woman. Fight for women not because you think they (we) are weak, but because we want a just society. We want a society that will take responsibility for safety for everyone at all hours.MediaC<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-does-the-nepali-media-cover-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over this as a trend, not an event to be forgotten</a>. Keep following up.Protestors and activistsWomen in Britain 100 years ago were beaten, force-fed when they went on hunger strikes, and it took them almost 25 years to get equal voting rights. They passed the baton to a new generation of leaders, and kept fighting. In Nepal, it may take more petticoat protests, but the next generation of leaders must be groomed. Civilisation always progresses, but in the meantime, Nepali women may also need to learn martial arts to protect themselves.

Sumana Shrestha

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To the Point

Turning outrage into justice

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368f00f9c7e80680e0359b4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="1024"/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>If you knew Hari or Phulmaya when they were three or six years old, you would probably have put them in a mental compartment of pity, blaming the system, blaming the parents, or wishing things were different for them.These days, I still blame the parents and the system, but I have evolved to not pitying anyone. I have often been pleasantly surprised that my subconscious is now trained to see hope and potential in every child. Despite their circumstances, despite what my eyes see and my brain demands.Cancer claimed Hari's mother when he was three. His father was an alcoholic, and often landed in jail, sometimes with his youngest son because he would beat the little one black and blue. Hari would have become a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4949#.W2wGedUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">street child</a> along with his siblings if it wasn't for a few people who saw him outside the long shadow cast by his father.He went to a free school and stayed at a free hostel. He now has a 3.7 on his <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/grading-the-grades,3124" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SEE</a>, plays excellent<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-cricket-comes-of-age/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> cricket</a>, despite the mental naggings of his father and the inner need to belong to someone biological who would also love him back the same way.Phulmaya grew up in a family in which the parents took loans and made the daughters work in their food stall, while the son was sent to a private school. The seven members of the family grew up in a single room (not one bed-room, but one room) with daughters sleeping on the floor while the bed was given to the son. Despite having to work from 5:30AM, commute three hours each day to go to school, and work till 10PM, Phulmaya struggled for an education.These two children are now adolescents. They are miracles given all the emotions they have had to overcome, or live with. I had to fight back my tears while they practiced interviews for IB scholarships at a prestigious high school. We rehearsed, corrected grammar, body postures. All they needed was an opportunity, and another miracle: they both got spots for the program.They will now be in class with students from the wealthiest segments of society. But I also worried: what if they couldn’t fit in, or their insecurities get better of them? So far they have been in a free school where everyone shared the same story -- alcoholic parents, children abandoned because they were girls, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-country-for-women/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">children born of rapes</a> and abandoned even by their mothers, or extreme poverty that drove them to Kathmandu’s streets.Perhaps I need to take them to a coffee place and teach them restaurant etiquette, or the basics of how to get the movie tickets. As I thought of how to make the transition easier, I realised that I was seeing their strength as their weakness. Surely, they will figure it out like they have done so far, and we will always be there to provide a helping hand?Instead, I told them that it will get difficult only if they give those passing judgement the permission to inflict pain, and to be strong like they have always been, to see and learn, to hear and learn, and remember they already are miracles, and they don't need anyone's validation to believe that.So, when you see street children lying on the sidewalk, sniffing glue, or a child worker,  instead of judging them try to imagine the circumstances that put them there, and see if you can create an opportunity for them. What they need is just an opportunity.If we look back in our own lives, hasn't it been a series of chances of being born to certain set of parents, of someone deciding to give us a break, take a chance on our ideas, or being at the right place at the right time that has made all the difference?So why not give it to others in whatever form we can? Our one intervention on behalf of a child might be the right place and right time for that person. You never know. It surely was for Phulmaya and Hari -- their neighbour and teacher had heard of a free school and mentioned it to them. And that has made all the difference to their lives.Names have been changed.Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4949#.W2wGedUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> A day in the life of Patan's street children</a>, Kashish Das Shrestha

The right place and the right time

Rapes of minors and the arrest of a high-profile paedophile highlight the urgent need to protect Nepal’s young  Recent rapes of minors and allegations of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3347#.Wt1jWhuFO70">long-term child abuse in Nepal</a> by, among others a high-profile international civil servant, has once more forced us to ask the question: are our children really safe? How can we ensure their safety?Added to the dangers faced by Nepali children from domestic and foreign predators, the 2015 <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/epicentre-trafficking-migration,3256">earthquake has put more children in the vulnerable category</a>. Thousands of families have been pushed below the poverty line, and three years on there are people still in flimsy shelters. A quest for better future drives many parents to believe in any one who offers help.There have been many wake up calls to the Nepal government and public to be more wary of the helping hands being extended, especially in times of emergencies. The abuse cases of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bal-mandir-rape-allegations,1495">Bal Mandir</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/child-abuse-kidnapping-happy-home,1143">Happy Home</a> are still raw, yet policy-level interventions have been massively inadequate or missing. Perhaps it is poverty,  desperation and lack of information that has forced Nepali families time and again, to extend open invitation to what looks like local and foreign do-gooders without any scrutiny of their past.Some have criminal records, others may be alimony refugees, still others could actually be working for child welfare organisations, but we trust them implicitly for their philanthropy or charity work.Perhaps it has become a norm that we ignore street children who seem too cosy with a tourist in Thamel, or who all of sudden have brand new clothes or bicycle after a trek. Dig deeper, and there are dark secrets of exploitation and abuse.In the light of the recent arrest of Peter Dalglish, who served with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Nepal office and other UN offices around the world, we must really ask ourselves what can be done to ensure the safety of our children.Dalglish’s Wikipedia profile is everything a parent or a child can hope for in an angel that ‘saves children’. He has projected himself as a formidable friend of children: the founder of Street Kids International, someone who has been working to improve the lives of children since 1987, chief technical adviser for the UN’s anti-child labour program, Unicef, senior adviser to UN-Habitat Afghanistan.  He was decorated with the Order of Canada, the second highest honor of merit accorded to Canadians for their community service or service to Canada.The 60-year-old Canadian was arrested last week in Nagarkot in the company of two children by the Central Investigation Bureau after a tip-off from Interpol.  He is to be arraigned on Wednesday. But what lurks behind these accolades are three things: is his reputation and circle of friends going to create pressure on the investigating team, if yes, how do we prevent such pressures?Then is a serious OMG moment: how much of an unparalleled access to vulnerable children and parents Dalglish’s child protection platforms must have given. There is also a cold sensation of the loss of comfort: who else could be in the paedophile ring if indeed he is convicted? How many knew and did nothing? How many will continue to access children through those platforms?This is not the first arrest in Nepal related to pedophilia. In 2016, an American Kenneth Joseph Coombs was caught: he had a history of sexual misconduct and assault in the US. Yet, he made it inside Nepal because of lax immigration laws.  In 2015, Ernest Fenwich MacIntosh was found guilty and is serving a seven year sentence.It may be time to warn street children about foreign and Nepali paedophiles, take better care of them in shelters with vetted child protection policies and actions, where they will be safe from such predators. Last time I checked, the Nepal government has a ministry specifically called Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, but it remains to be seen what it has done to reduce the number of street children, child survivors of the earthquake, and implement policies against exploitation by aid workers.Read More:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bal-mandir-rapists-jailed,1861">Bal Mandir rapists jailed </a><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17174#.Wt2S79RubIV">Who's watching? </a><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13306#.Wt2TQNRubIV">Baby bajar</a><h2></h2>

Keeping children safe

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516fb9c7e80680e02c249jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1210"/>People often ask me how the United States compares with Nepal. Here are five things that are uniquely funny about my country. If you don't take these with a sense of humour, it may be hard to rationalise the way things are here.1 Not-for-profit organisations pay more than the for-profit sector. And the pay is lower in the US, compared to Nepal. As long as not-for-profit crowds out the employment sector by paying more, for-profit can never compete or really develop. After all, who can compete with what looks like a never-ending supply of free money? Besides, if the majority of people are focusing on ‘development’ which most of the time is supposed to centre on the bottom of the pyramid, who is going to focus on the middle class? (A strong middle class would probably have a much more positive effect on the BoP and quality of living.)2 Like in Silicon Valley, everybody wants to be an entrepreneur in Kathmandu Valley. Everybody wants to make it big. The only unfortunate part is, most of the kids in urban areas don’t really get a job until they are well out of their college or university years (excluding some amazing kids who are working and paying their own bills while studying). If most people want to be <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/business-of-entrepreneurship-in-nepal,3362">entrepreneurs</a> without ever having worked for someone and are mostly still dependent on their parents’ allowances, who will they hire to work on their idea? It must be quite an expensive on the job learning method. I’ve worked with few tech companies – some quite large, some small: the turnover rate is quite astounding. I still have very little clue as to what is driving the turnover rate to be so high. And large tech companies pay more than the not-for-profit sectors even at the entry level.3 Certificates: All students seem to be driven by the need to get a certificate. Most people who have worked in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/12/06/carpooling-in-kathmandu/">my social initiatives</a> have probably found to their dismay that I don’t give out certificates. I just tell them that the work they will do is worth their time and if I have funding, they get some allowance. Are the certificates so important when one applies for a job or higher education? What is driving this funny need for certificates?4 Internships need a new name or do they? I am not sure if it is because this term has been over abused in Nepal as an excuse for free labour, or if students have been properly introduced to the concept of apprenticeship. A senior mechanical engineer friend with ten years of work experience at Mitsubishi, went to hire interns from a notable Kathmandu college for his project. It turns out the students wanted Rs 2 lakh per month salary to intern with him. I am glad he eventually shared his first internship experience with the students.But in Europe when he went to intern with another car company, he had to pay for the program because he would be gaining more than he would be giving.Apprenticeships / internships mean you value what the person has to teach and you really ask for that person’s time.I used to run lunch orders for my desk in my first job. That is basically going to each person and saying can I order lunch for you? Pick it up and deliver it to you, and collect cash from you and pay the restaurant, while you work. And in exchange, maybe after about a month of doing that for you, you will stay for 10 more minutes and show me that cool excel function that would save me four hours. Running lunch orders was the easiest thing I could do to get people to give me their 10 minutes. And this was the way all the first years got by to learn the ropes of the job.This was a productive way of learning, because in those 10 minutes, I would be most attentive as I had already put in 30 minutes each day for a month or more to earn those 10 minutes.5 The number of conferences on entrepreneurship, women empowerment and development, WOW! What is even more amazing is finding the same set of speakers, CEOs and social leaders, or same set of aspiring entrepreneurs attending most of the events. How do these people work on their startups which they are so passionate about and still manage to attend the endless events? Is it for networking, for business sales, another opportune moment to catch a potential subscriber or a buyer?Whatever the reason may be, hats off to the amazing time management skills folks have here.Sumana Shrestha is an aspiring Kathmandu-based entrepreneur and used to be with Boston Consulting Group and a financial trader at Citigroup. She writes this column, To The Point in Nepali Times every fortnight.Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/12/06/carpooling-in-kathmandu/">Carpooling in Kathmandu</a>,  Sahina Shrestha<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/business-of-entrepreneurship-in-nepal,3362">The business of entrepreneurship</a> , Triveni Chand and Pankaj Parajuli

Five 'funny' things about Nepal

The sight of a grassland where Rani Pokhari used to be exposes bureaucratic greed and lack of accountability<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141136/636515849c7e80680e02c1c4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Photo: Gopen Rai</figcaption></figure>Nepali politicians are rarely in the good books of the people. They cannot seem to get anything right. But who will punish the slow, corrupt and over-protected bureaucrats?It is these civil servants who are having the last laugh over the fiasco at Rani Pokhari. For those who haven’t followed the saga of the restoration of this historic pond, here is a brief recap:Reconstruction of the Balgopaleswor Temple in the middle of the pond started in August 2016 using concrete pillars.This was before local elections, when  Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) was run opaquely by bureaucrats who even managed to fool President Bidya Bhandari’s PR team, by having her lay the foundation stone to launch post-quake reconstruction. What she was inadvertently agreeing to by her presence was a beautification plan that was in motion even before the earthquake damaged the temple.The pond perimeter was draped in tarp and the construction site hidden from view. There was no public hearing or community engagement. When activists protested, chief engineer of Kathmandu Municipality Uttar Kumar Regmi argued that he was just re-using old construction material.Regmi said he had permission from the Department of Archaeology (DoA) for his design, even though DoA Engineer Sampath Ghimire promised traditional design and materials would be used in reconstruction. Giving into the public pressure and protests by activists, DoA chief Bhesh Narayan Dahal said his department would take charge of the reconstruction, and admitted to lapses.By December 2017 activists had to again rally to save Rani Pokhari from a concrete perimeter wall that the KMC said was needed to ‘beautify’ the pond. Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya’s remarks broadcast on Facebook live exposed complete lack of understanding in how traditional ponds are built, lack of faith in the people protesting, who where in fact trying to work with him, and his blind trust in a bureaucracy that made a complete fool out of him.When the media and activists later prodded him, Chief Engineer Uttar Kumar Regmi said on camera he was only executing approved plans. The DoA’s Engineer Sampath Ghimire admitted that DoA approved the use of concrete.Demand by activists and even journalists for drawings, plans and contract details all went unheeded. Activists then sought to educate everyone on the traditional water management system, and demystify the 24-hour water in the stone sprouts. The KMC, DoA, and MPs were all invited, but only two MPs showed up.Then something unexpected happened: the deputy mayor lead a team that padlocked the construction site. The mayor lost his cool and broke open the lock. All this high drama lead to some frenzied coverage in the media.DoA Director General Bhesh Narayan Dahal went on national television to say the department never gave explicit permission to use concrete contrary to what his chief engineer had said earlier.Finally, the mayor realised he has been mislead by his own technical chief. It must have been hard to get slapped in public by the same people he so blindly trusted and defended. After the rude awakening, he rushed to consult experts and learned more about Rani Pokhari. MP Bhimsen Das Pradhan tabled a motion to halt the construction of Rani Pokhari which was approved by the Cabinet.The mayor, deputy mayor, DoA’s Dahal and the National Reconstruction Authority Secretary formed a male-only committee tasked to suggest options for reconstruction of Rani Pokhari within 15 days. The committee is heavy with bureaucrats and the same Sampath Ghimire who gave the original permission to use concrete.  The advisory committee includes politicians, but no activists. The mayor is back to square one because he is relying on the same bureaucracy that sank him with their greed.In all this mess, media pitched the deputy mayor against the mayor: political heavy weights have tried to make the best out of this, and political minorities too have got a lot of momentum.But the real question and the root cause of the problem remains: an over-protected bureaucracy. They seem immune to any prosecution. So, who will drain the swamp? Who will ask why Uttar Kumar Regmi lied that he had permission? How come Bhesh Narayan Dahal is still heading the Department of Archaeology despite his repeated failures to protect heritage sites like Rani Pokhari. How come Sampath Ghimire was not questioned about permission to reconstruct using concrete, an assertion denied by his own boss on national television.And most importantly, how did the tender to rebuild Rani Pokhari go to the same contractor twice? Who signed the cheque without proper approval from the DoA? Where is the math for the Rs30 million in tax payers’ money for destroying heritage? Who will refund the public coffers that are filled by our VAT payments? Who gained financially from these deals? And why does it take the activists to ring an alarm bell, when DoA officials pass heritage sites in the heart of the city every day? It points to something much more sinister: collusion between the KMC, DoA and the contractors.  The KMC has a Heritage Department, but the responsibility to rebuild Rani Pokhari goes to the Infrastructure Development Department.The new Cabinet needs to swiftly investigate the bureaucrats. Heads must roll, tax-payers money refunded, and elected representatives must restore Rani Pokhari. Let us demand that Mayor Shakya, ministers, and newly elected representatives punish the destroyers of heritage, and the people demand greater accountability from their leaders. This must be the reason activists have filed a first of its kind criminal case against the DoA, KMC and the contractors.Sumana Shrestha is an aspiring Kathmandu-based entrepreneur and former consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, and a financial trader at Citigroup. She starts her fortnightly column TO THE POINT in Nepali Times from this issue.

Draining the swamp

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

Thousands of Nepali students dreaming of an American education have been forced to look elsewhere as the Trump administration’s visa restrictions make their future uncertain.
The US was long considered a top destination for higher studies, making Nepal the 10th biggest country of origin for international students in America.&nbsp;
However, that number has seen a significant decline with the total for Nepali students now at 16,482. Some 8,000 Nepali students obtained no-objection certificates to study in the US from the Ministry of Education in the past year.&nbsp;
India, Australia, Canada, South Korea, United Kingdom and Japan are the other popular destinations for Nepali students. There are no clear numbers for Nepalis going to India, but a slight decline was noted this year after the deaths of two female students.
The US State Department has issued a circular to its embassies not to issue new visas to applicants until further notice. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the directive stated that the department planned to expand the screening of applicants' social media.&nbsp;
While new applicants are barred including those applying for visitor visas, students with scheduled interviews are allowed to proceed.
“Many of our students are affected by the new restrictions, but those who had applied for student visas earlier have got interview dates,” one Kathmandu-based college counsellor told us.
Meanwhile, even foreign students with spotless records already in the US have not been spared, as visa scrutiny intensifies under the new policy. In a move that underscores the growing sense of insecurity, many US colleges advised international students to carry their passports and documents at all times, even when traveling locally.
“Me and my friends did not go home this summer because we were not sure we would be allowed back, so we just went to Niagara Falls,” said a Nepali undergrad in Ohio, who like many interviewed for this report did not want her name used for fear of repercussion.
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Nepali students have adopted a cautious stance, with many choosing not to return home during summer vacation due to fear of visa revocations as well as travel bans. Meanwhile, over 7,000 Nepalis with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will have to come back to Nepal by 5 August or face deportation. Thirty-seven were flown back to Kathmandu on Omni Air last week.
“The US is one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education, and the ban will definitely impact bright students,” says Narottam Aryal of the King’s College in Kathmandu.
Indeed, Nepali undergraduates admitted into Ivy League colleges for the 2025 academic year have been asked to look for alternatives. The entire Fulbright Foreign Scholarships Board resigned on Wednesday citing interference from the Trump administration on the selection of this year’s cohort. Some Nepali students already on Fulbright scholarships have noted disruptions, delays and even cancellation of stipends.&nbsp;
The student visa restrictions were initially just for foreign students admitted to Harvard University, but it was later extended to all Chinese students and now to all students. Universities like Columbia which actively recruit foreign students, face sharp enrolment declines, threatening their financial stability and diversity.
An Indian female PhD candidate at Columbia University had her visa revoked by the US State Department, and said she was targeted on the basis of her social media posts on Israeli military attacks in Gaza. Social media vetting of political activism has raised concerns about privacy and freedom of expression in a country where such rights were a given.
Many students have been informed via email that their visas have been revoked for getting speeding or parking tickets, but even others with no criminal record have been affected. The fear of deportation looms large amongst international students, including those from Nepal.&nbsp;
For most Nepalis who migrate to the US for education, the journey is a high-stakes investment. They come largely from middle-class families, often rely on a patchwork of scholarships, work-study programs, loans, or even the sale of family assets to afford fees.
Most Nepali students pursue STEM subjects which offer extended Optional Practical Training (OPT) periods that help fund their education. But with the US backsliding on education and humanitarian matters, countries like the UK and Canada are becoming more attractive despite their own recent stricter controls on student visas.&nbsp;
The UK universities saw a 63% rise in Nepali students’ admissions in 2024. Japan is another popular destination with 64,816 Nepali students enrolled as of 2024.
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Already, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia are poised to benefit from the increased scrutiny of US student visas. Several Hong Kong universities are offering unconditional admission to affected students, while Malaysian institutions are targeting previously US-bound Asian students. China and India have 330,000 and 280,000 students respectively in America, but the numbers for China have seen a sharp drop in the past year.
Elsewhere, branch campuses of American institutions such as NYU in Abu Dhabi, Georgetown in Dubai and Northwestern in Doha are getting more admission applications, and universities in the Gulf region are expanding infrastructure to accommodate those who would otherwise have gone to the US.&nbsp;
Even educational institutions in Nepal are hopeful that the US visa restrictions can be an opportunity to at least keep Nepali undergrads in Nepal, and also attract foreign students from the region.&nbsp;
“Many students might choose to complete their undergraduate degree here in Nepal and then move abroad for their Master’s degree later,” says Aryal of King’s College. “There was a need for quality higher education in Nepal anyway in terms of innovation and opportunities, so this could be the time to reduce our dependence on other countries.”
Nepal’s strategic position between India and China makes it sensitive to US policy shifts. India, a key ally, is also under US scrutiny for potential student travel restrictions. Chinese universities are already offering more scholarships to Nepali talent to capitalise on the US retreat.
American universities have challenged student visa restrictions in the courts. A federal court in Boston revoked the blanket ban on Harvard, and the State Department has ordered the resumption of processing student and exchange visitor visas.&nbsp;
Some are still hoping that President Trump will backtrack on the student visa restrictions, just like he has done with many of his more drastic executive orders.
Even so, the visa see-saw and longer-term uncertainties about living in the United States and its education system means students across the world are making alternative plans.
Says Aryal: “Policies of foreign countries change according to their needs, so excessive dependence was never a good idea. We should work to create different opportunities and choices of higher education within Nepal, so students are retained.” &nbsp;

America no longer prime destination for Nepali students

That winter day in January 1664 marked an exceptional event in the reign of King Pratap Malla of Kathmandu. It was 15 Paush 784 of the Nepal Sambat and for the first time, a historical event was being immortalised on canvas for generations to come.&nbsp; The occasion was the grand Tuladaan ceremony of the King’s youngest son Chakrabartendra Malla from his wife Anantapriya, an Indian princess from Cooch Behar in present-day Assam.&nbsp; During the ritual, the prince was weighed against gold, silver, pearls, and other precious stones, which were then offered to Goddess Taleju Bhavani, the guardian deity of the Malla dynasty.&nbsp; The 170 x120cm painting captures the time of King Pratap Malla in all its splendour and is more than a personal tribute to his son: it is a significant visual historical document. It was evidently completed five years later in 1669, and could be considered a photographic record, with retrospective recreation of the event by the unknown artist. A Tuladaan ceremony is performed to purify one’s karma, quell impending bad luck, or as an act of charity and devotion. Chakrabartendra Malla was not well, and the ritual was performed in hopes of restoring his health. King Pratap Malla had arranged for each of his sons to take turns ruling Kathmandu so they got administrative experience. But Chakrabartendra died just two days after assuming power in 1670 (790 NS). This painting is considered the earliest known example in which the composition is dominated by an architectural landscape: the Taleju Temple. Given the stylistic features such as side-profile facial depictions and the rendering of human forms, it is believed that the Nepali artist was trained by a Rajput master.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250615040624_ddad3bc27a327e3f9926c8473287e4f14b53081296c295049009f327a4d97051" data-rendition-name="original" width="3248" height="4395" loading="lazy" alt="Tuladaan NT"> </figure>  During that era, there were regular exchanges of artists between Northern India and Kathmandu Valley. The painting is also a melding of Nepali, Tibetan, Mughal, and Rajput art styles of the time. Pratap Malla could have been inspired by a painting of Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s Tuladaan ceremony for his son Khurram in 1607. The Mallas and Mughals shared cordial relations, which is reflected in the cultural influences seen in the art and attire of the period.&nbsp; The clothing of the Malla ruling class, in particular, features colourful tunics, turbans, and jewelry that display strong Rajput and Mughal stylistic elements. The musicians in the upper tier are also dressed in Indian-style clothing, while the ensemble on the lower steps wear local attire, notably without turbans. Their hairstyles also differ, with the lower group wearing their hair tied in a bun at the front. This national treasure is currently in storage at the Collège de France in Paris, and has never been publicly displayed. Nepal’s art scholars like Gautam Vajracharya, Pratap Aditya Pal and Anne Vergati have written about this iconic paubha in the past, but the only detailed study is from the perspective of music history by researcher Richard Widdess who had access to high resolution copies of the original.&nbsp; Widdess from the Department of Music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London describes the paubha as the most significant and richly detailed documentation of music in Nepali art. He identifies distinct musical ensembles on the terraces of the temple, and remarkably most of them are actively used today. One of them reflects the Mughal naqqārakhāna model — a loud outdoor ensemble typically composed of kettledrums, trumpets, and cymbals, traditionally performed from the gateway of the emperor’s palace to announce his entrances and exits. The depiction of such an ensemble in the tulādāna painting is likely the earliest known representation of a complete naqqārakhāna in Nepal — considered the forerunner of the panche baja, the traditional Nepali ensemble. On the stepped pyramid base of the temple are two groups of musicians playing local instruments: dhimey, bhushya, and dha. They are unmistakably Newar musicians, wearing short skirts and short-sleeved tops, with bare heads and legs—clearly distinguished as local performers.&nbsp; Higher still on the temple pyramid are musicians of apparently higher status, positioned close to the king, and his courtiers, possibly professional court musicians from India, well-versed in rāga and tāla. A dāphā group is also clearly depicted, identifiable by their characteristic instruments.&nbsp; Dāphā bhajan is likely the oldest surviving tradition of Newar devotional singing, and this paubha is the oldest visual record of it. Pratap Malla himself is believed to have composed songs that continue to be performed by dāphā groups throughout Kathmandu till today.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025061211064_d67636730cdc0ec778c02494817aca0b99654f2950d0fae4b95499a61faf7ef3" data-rendition-name="original" width="596" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Priceless paubha in Paris NT"> </figure>  The artist’s thorough attention to musical detail may be attributed to King Pratap Malla’s own deep interest in music. His inscriptions on this painting and elsewhere proclaim his mastery of all branches of knowledge, including music. He is also known as the author of dance dramas and poems, penning his name as Kavindra (king of poets). Some noteworthy elements of new art techniques stand out: for example, the roof of the temple is filled with realistically rendered white doves, pigeons, and crows. This is a rare feature in paubha, where animals and birds are stylised, mythological forms. This remarkably talented unknown artist has managed to also render an orthographic projection: the front and side view of Nepal’s first architectural paubha. The Taleju Temple, with its staggering multi-tiered structure and numerous steps and platforms, is masterfully translated into layers within the painting. This represents a significant artistic achievement of the time, especially considering that dimensional perspectives had not started in deity-based paubha.&nbsp; The artist has also made a meticulous effort to capture architectural details such as the toran (ornamental arch) and temple struts with impressive precision. There are flickering lamps along the steps and some people carrying what appear to be oil pots.&nbsp; It is a full moon night and the dark sky is adorned with all the gods and goddesses, who are depicted as blessing the ceremony while seated on stylised thangka clouds. There is a lot happening in this painting, with people engaged in various activities. The artist has also rendered a forest backdrop behind the temple, complete with deer, trees, and flowers. Could there have once been a royal garden behind the Taleju Temple?&nbsp; More details and clarity can only be achieved if we are able to view the original or a high-resolution scanned version of the artwork. Many countries proudly display art depicting historical events in their national museums with great reverence. France, for example, has The Coronation of Emperor Napoleon and Empress Joséphine by Jacques-Louis David (1808–1822), along with numerous paintings of the Napoleonic Wars. Many were commissioned by Napoleon himself for future generations to remember.&nbsp; For Nepal, the equivalent is the Tuladaan paubha which is a visual record capturing a historic moment involving one of Kathmandu’s greatest kings, on the very day the event took place. Sadly, we await the day when this masterpiece is displayed, shared in high resolution for detailed study, or more rightfully — repatriated to its homeland, where it truly belongs. &nbsp; Shaguni Singh Sakya is the Director of the Museum of Nepali Arts (MoNA) at Kathmandu Guest House in Thamel. <h2>Gods homeward bound</h2> The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign and Nepal’s Department of Archaeology are convening the first international conference on the Recovery of Cultural Heritage from 16-18 June in Patan. The conference will address urgent issues of theft, illicit trafficking, the campaign to repatriate looted cultural artifacts, and explore how the return of sacred antiquities contributes to justice, healing, and reconciliation for communities and nations affected by cultural loss. American art crime professor Erin L Thompson and Saubhagya Pradhananga of the Department of Archaeology will deliver the keynote. Meanwhile, author and Nepali Times publisher Kunda Dixit will lead a conversation on Illicit Trafficking: Public Opinion and Role of Media with Erin Thompson, Amr Al Azm, associate professor of Middle East History and Anthropology at Shawnee State University in Ohio, as well as Bradley J Gordon, a lawyer based in Phnom Penh. There will be sessions looking at repatriation perspectives from Cambodia, India, Vietnam, China and Poland, international frameworks for repatriation, emerging digital technologies in the repatriation of cultural heritage, cultural property agreements, museums as well as trends in the art market, and heritage diplomacy and the role of media.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025061211068_59cfccfa8f5d73bfe8b4c5811a7f53abc09ea04e8cb7c638933d62e5283efdf6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1350" loading="lazy" alt="Heritage recovery NT"> </figure>  <h2> </h2> Some of the other highlights include James K. Reap, a professor in the Master of Historic Preservation Program at the University of Georgia who has a session on the US response to illicit trafficking. Art historian Lea Saint-Raymond is taking on “Gods at Auction: The Market for Himalayan Artefacts”, while lecturer of criminology at the University of Glasgow Emiline Smith is delving into transformative approaches to heritage ownership and repatriation. Helena Arose of Antiquities Coalition and Melina Antoniadis of NOSTOS Strategies that specialise on the return home of cultural heritage as well as Hao Liu of International Cultural Heritage Law at the School of Law at Shandong University are some of the others attending. The Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign was set up in 2020 to develop a coordinated movement to reclaim Nepal’s stolen gods and goddesses, with an aim to ensure that recovered items are returned to their original shrines, niches or sanctums. Ahead of the conference opening organisers have arranged for a film screening of Loot &amp; Return: 4 Documentaries at YalaMaya Kendra in Patan Dhoka between 14-15 June. Following the conference is a multimedia exhibition titled Absent Gods: Nepal’s Lost Heritage from 31 July to 4 August at Patan Museum.

Priceless paubha in Paris

While Nepal was hosting the Sagarmatha Sambaad international climate conference in Kathmandu this month, on Mt Everest it was pretty much business as usual.&nbsp; The signs of climate breakdown are all there: a river now runs through Base Camp in summer, the Khumbu Icefall is more unstable, and there are more &nbsp;frequent avalanches. When expeditions arrived in March, the mountains were bare: it had not snowed since September, but then blizzards dumped unseasonal snow in May. And despite climate worries, such is the pull of Himalayan mountaineering that the Everest Industry showed no signs of slowdown. More than 600 international climbers and their Nepali guides had made it to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. At one point there were an estimated 2,000 people in the tent city on the Khumbu Glacier. All the ropes and ladders on the Icefall came down on Thursday, marking the official end of the spring climbing season, and just in time to avoid a monsoon cyclone approaching from the Bay of Bengal. It has been an action-packed season. One factor could be that Everest fees will go up from September: each foreign climber needs to pay a $15,000 royalty, up from the present $11,000. The cost for a Nepali climber on the South Col route will also go up: from Rs75,000 to Rs150,000.&nbsp; The fee to climb Everest in autumn is $7,500 (up from $5,500), but most climbers still prefer spring. Winter permit fee (December-February) is only $3,750 per person and the mountain is now also open for monsoon (June-August) climbs, when the fee is ever lower at $2,750. The revised rule also makes it mandatory for every two climbers on an 8,000m peak to hire one Nepali mountain guide.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046" data-rendition-name="original" width="931" height="732" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry graph 1"> </figure>  In addition, climbers also have to pay for porters and guides, equipment, Base Camp costs, Ice Fall and fixed rope team fees, so climbing Everest does not come cheap. But such is the draw of climbing the world’s highest peak that some say the increased fees will not diminish the crowds next year. The government has tried to spread expeditions out to other seasons and other 8,000ers, but with not much success. Earlier this year, Nepal unilaterally increased the number of 8,000m peaks to 14 by adding six more sub-summits to broaden the choice for climbers. Added were: Yalung Kang (8,505m), Yalung Kang West (8,077m) &nbsp;Kangchenjunga Central (8,473m), Kangchenjunga South (8,476m), Lhotse Middle (8,410m) and Lhotse Shar (8,400m).&nbsp; The announcement could go against the accepted topographic criteria that a stand alone peak has to be at least 300m higher than an adjoining prominence, and at more than 3km isolation from it. The UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme) still recognises only 14 mountains as eight-thousanders, and only eight of those are in Nepal, or on the border with China. Nepal’s revised mountaineering regulations also increased the insurance coverage of high-altitude workers to protect porters and high altitude guides who usually take more risks on the mountains. Rescue teams and clean-up campaigners to collect trash and remove bodies of dead climbers up to Camp IV of Mt Everest do not need permits.&nbsp; The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee is now using drones to fly down trash in 20kg sacks. Each climber is also required to bring down at least 6kg of waste and not just their own, but this rule is erratically enforced. With five fatalities on Everest and Lhotse, Spring 2025 had a historically low death toll. Another five climbers died on Annapurna, Kangchenjunga and Makalu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a" data-rendition-name="original" width="665" height="740" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest industry graph 2"> </figure>  Journalist Ben Ayers who ran the Everest Live social media channel from Everest Base Camp with daily updates credited the low death rate to dramatic rescues of climbers from the ‘Death Zone’ by their Nepali guides and longline helievacs — the visuals all uploaded on YouTube.&nbsp; “Ironically, this perception of safety is bringing more and more inexperienced climbers to the mountain, and they need more rescues,” Ayers said in one of his dispatches.&nbsp; American expedition chronicler and summiteer Alan Arnette suspects there is a lot of under-reporting given that the jet stream and storms were lashing Everest even till late in the season. He told us: “I heard a lot about frostbite and rescues that were not made public. It’s become practically impossible to cover the details on Everest. All the teams report nice news, and they don’t talk about bad stuff to avoid hurting businesses.” Although trash on Nepal’s mountains makes headlines, what does not receive as much attention is the climate impact of so many expeditions. The Sagarmatha Sambaad conference sidestepped this issue, which is ironic given that the impact of climate breakdown is most evident on Himalayan peaks and their glaciers.&nbsp; <h2>Need for Speed</h2> The big stories this year have been about speed-running from their home cities to the top of Everest. Ukrainian entrepreneur Andrew Ushakov flew out of JFK on 15 May at 10:15AM Nepal time, and was on the summit 3 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes later on 19 May at 9:22AM.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry"> <figcaption>Andrew Ushakov at the summt. Photo: ELITE EXPED</figcaption> </figure>  “I could never find the time for the traditional 40-50 days of acclimatisation,” Ushakov explained matter-of-factly. His ‘Everest Sea-to-Summit’ climb was possible because he spent 400 hours in hypoxic sleep tents over the past four years in New York. However, Ushakov did use ropes already fixed, hired four Nepali guides, helicoptered to Base Camp, and used much more oxygen than an average climber. And after the climb, Ushakov was arrested at Kathmandu airport for being in possession of $20,000 of undeclared cash and spent a night in jail and fined $60,000.&nbsp; The other speedsters were Garth Miller, Alastair Cairns, Anthony Stazicker, and Kev Godlington, all former British Army commandos. They left London and summited five days later on 21 May, and flew right back. They also used hypoxic tents to simulate the thin air high on Everest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8" data-rendition-name="original" width="810" height="668" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry "> <figcaption>All four members of the Furtenbach team at the summit. Photo: Sandro Gromen-Hayes</figcaption> </figure>  But more controversial was their use of xenon gas therapy in a German hospital to ramp up the production of oxygen-carrying haemoglobins in their blood. Xenon is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for being performance enhancing in sports. Expedition leader Lukas Furtenbach said this rule does not apply to mountaineering, as it is not a regulated sport like swimming. Nepal has no rules about xenon, but the Department of Tourism said it was launching an ‘investigation’ to decide on future policy since it is difficult to ban xenon, but allow oxygen. The controversy has also divided the mountaineering community, with some climbers saying they just want to maximise their chances of survival. Spending less time on the mountain could make climbing safer by reducing avalanche risk. It would also mean less trash on the mountains, but it would reduce the income of Nepal’s expedition industry. It is also unclear how much of the success was due to xenon therapy and whether the ex-special forces were already in good physical shape.&nbsp; The need for speed hides the fact that climbing in the Himalaya is dangerous business, and climbers cannot sprint to the top just by huffing xenon. But ultra-fast climbs could be charged more, and the revenue generated can be used to establish state-of-the-art rescue operations, and increase pay and insurance for guides. Two other speed chasers this season were Swiss-Ecuadorian Karl Egloff and American Tyler Andrews, both on Everest without oxygen. Andrews choppered to Base Camp to catch a weather window, but turned back from 8,500m due to high winds. Heavy snow and wind also forced Egloff to descend from 7,000m. Slow and steady climbers like Anja Blacha from Germany did make it to the summit without oxygen, while Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record with his 31st Everest summit as he led a 26-strong Indian Army group. There were 468 permits issued for foreign climbers from 48 expeditions to Everest this spring. Nepal’s other eight-thousanders together had only 17 expeditions. Nepal has more than 1,000 peaks above 6,000m, and has opened only 476 of them for climbing.&nbsp;