As an adventure destination, Nepal’s policy has always been to make it as thrilling as possible for tourists who visit the country with attractions like white water rafting, bungee jumping, trekking, and negotiating gridlocks at Nagdhunga.Now that Covid-19 cases are going down, tourism will pick up again and we must re-inject that sense of excitement to the Nepal holiday. The Dept of Tourism &amp; Maoism is on it: together with the Covid-19 Control and Management Center (CCMC) it has a mandatory application form, and you need to fill it and get a QR code before landing at Kathmandu airport.The CCMC has designed the form like an entrance exam to medical college -- just to add to the thrill of visiting Nepal.Here is a sample:<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d033e9c7e80680e0a36c0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="686" height="784"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

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Filled your CCMC form?

<figure><img width="1620" height="1028" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110919118/636bed3b4b0ad905ca02eed1jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photos: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>There are signs that after nine months of stoppage due to the pandemic, flights between Kathmandu and Indian cities are set to resume.The Cabinet last week approved a Ministry of Tourism proposal to allow all flights to all destinations as per the pre-pandemic schedules. The Ministry, for its part, has instructed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to begin the process of restarting the flights.“The government has decided to allow all flights to resume, and we are now starting the necessary preparations to resume flights between India and Bangladesh initially,” Ministry of Tourism spokesperson Kamal Prasad Bhattarai told Nepali Times. The prospect for the resumption of flights is looking better after a thaw in relations between India and Nepal which had been strained by the border dispute over Lipu Lekh. There was a slew of high level visits by Indian officials in November, with the latest one last week by India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.In addition, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali is scheduled to visit New Delhi on 15 December for bilateral talks that are expected to bring Indo-Nepal relations to a more even keel. “It will look odd if Minister Gyawali flies from Kathmandu to New Delhi and back when there are no scheduled flights between the two cities,” said a senior executive at Nepal Airlines. Tens of thousands of Nepali businessmen, students, families and those seeking medical treatment have been stranded in India for months, as have Indians in Nepal.Commentators have pointed out the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF4YAORCYxMdNHo98G3ag2BiAoMDw">absurdity of the absence of flights</a> between the two countries when air connections from Kathmandu are almost back to normal to other overseas destinations, and both India and Nepal allow unlimited domestic flights. Besides, they say thousands of nationals of both countries are crossing the land border between the two countries even though travel at official checkpoints are still supposed to be restricted.  <figure><img width="1496" height="1038" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110919118/636bed3d4b0ad905ca02eed2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>In August, India had proposed a ‘travel bubble’ with Nepal as it has with 20 other countries, including Bangladesh and Bhutan. The arrangement has allowed Bhutan’s Druk Air, for example to restart flights Paro-New Delhi. However, there was no response from the Nepal government to the proposal. Observers blamed this on strained relations between the two countries, as well as India’s delay in granting more air routes in addition to the existing two entry points for flights descending into Kathmandu through Indian air space.  The Ministry of Tourism has also been pushing for reopening India flights because the state-owned carrier Nepal Airlines is in deep financial crisis due to under-utilisation of its Airbus fleet. There <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/flights-to-nepal-limited-by-airport-capacity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/flights-to-nepal-limited-by-airport-capacity/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF3chYwaXnaT1l80LstSw9e9qGFFw">used to be up to 60 flights a week</a> between Indian cities and Kathmandu, of which Nepal Airlines flew weekly 18. The losses for the airline have been particularly heavy because of the inability to fly the money-spinning Kathmandu-Delhi route. Flights to and from Kathmandu airport were stopped on 24 March when Nepal went into complete lockdown. Although some <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/repatriation-regular-flights-to-nepal-to-resume/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/repatriation-regular-flights-to-nepal-to-resume/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEjOwfiNdFT7zTk3XrcD_KmL53Xhw">repatriation charter flights </a>were allowed, Nepal remained cut off from India. Even when the ban on regular flights was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/unlimited-flights-to-nepal-from-17-october/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/unlimited-flights-to-nepal-from-17-october/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHfFKKcRE5Tedvf3Cf23ChQ2QRutA">partially lifted on 1 October</a>, Indian and Nepali airlines were not allowed to operate to and from Indian cities to Kathmandu. Despite the optimism, some say that flights are not likely until 1 January, when India is set to allow all regular international flights to its cities. At present only repatriation flights and some 'air bubble' regular flights are allowed on international routes from Indian cities.  The Nepal government allowed foreigners, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFUeqKDI0iYxQywZnm1zOZ-EqNiGQ">but only trekkers and mountaineers</a>, to visit Nepal from 17 October, but the resurgence of Covid-19 in Nepal, India and Europe has meant that there are not so many foreign passengers. Airlines that have resumed flights to Tokyo, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, the Gulf cities and Istanbul have done so with reduced frequency, and mostly carry Nepali families or migrant workers.   There has been a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/everest-trek-closed-open-closed-open-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/everest-trek-closed-open-closed-open-again/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH-pfaOkifP9PaiUme84imZ2HVC9Q">trickle of trekkers</a> coming to Nepal, but they have to spend a week in quarantine in Kathmandu and need a PCR negative test before they can head off to the mountains. However, the Ministry of Tourism is said to be pressing the government to open Nepal to all foreigners in time for the Christmas New Year holidays. Before the Covid-19 crisis, Kathmandu airport used to handle an average of 80 international flights a day, which has come down to only about 20 now. Sixteen international carriers and Nepal Airlines currently operate flights to and from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Doha, Kuwait, Muscat, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Istanbul, Narita, Seoul and Bangkok.  “The next step is for CAAN to approach the Indian civil aviation authorities to request for slots, and then coordinate the timetables, we do not yet know how many flights per day there will be,” explained CAAN spokesperson Rajkumar Chhetri. So far India’s Indigo and Nepal’s private carrier Shree Airlines have been flying occasional charter and cargo flights between Kathmandu and Kolkata and Delhi.  Meanwhile, domestic flights in Nepal are back to 75% of pre-Covid levels. Nepal’s domestic carriers Yeti Airlines and Buddha Air have also restarted their <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14313#.X8Yw4i8RoWo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D14313%23.X8Yw4i8RoWo&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGnunJNx_Y16G_F-yoQS4VZvpa-NA" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;">Mt Everest sightseeing flights</a> after nine months. Both airlines have slashed fares for Nepali passengers on the Everest flights, and have offered a buy-one-fly-two scheme under which a passenger can take a companion in the aisle seat.  Nepalis have to pay Rs8,900 for a roundtrip Everest flight, and get another ticket for free. Yeti is offering the same for Rs8,998 for the one-hour flight that takes off and landed in Kathmandu, and takes passengers to within 20km of Mt Everest. Both airlines are conducting the flights weekly on Saturday mornings, and will increase frequency as per demand. Mountain sightseeing flights used to the main cash cow for Nepal’s domestic airlines which could charge foreign tourists up to $155 for the trips. Now, foreigners will also get a discount and pay Rs13,499 (USD113) for the flights, and like Nepalis get to take another passenger for free. In pre-pandemic days, Nepal’s airlines used to make up to 30 sightseeing flights on days with good weather over the mountains. “The pandemic has hit our revenue base, and the loss of the dollar fare on mountain flights has made it worse, we hope that by resuming the flights even partially will revive interest on one of the most spectacular flights in the world,” said Buddha Air’s Rupesh Joshi. Domestic airlines which <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-domestic-flights-resume/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-domestic-flights-resume/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGFo_TgDtijQs0gdgV5lQNzuI0S5Q">resumed operations on 20 September </a>are flying trunk routes at up to 50% discount for Nepali passengers following safety protocols.

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<figure><img width="1620" height="1028" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181140/636be6189c7e80680e087788jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photos: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>There are signs that after nine months of stoppage due to the pandemic, flights between Kathmandu and Indian cities are set to resume.The Cabinet last week approved a Ministry of Tourism proposal to allow all flights to all destinations as per the pre-pandemic schedules. The Ministry, for its part, has instructed the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to begin the process of restarting the flights.“The government has decided to allow all flights to resume, and we are now starting the necessary preparations to resume flights between India and Bangladesh initially,” Ministry of Tourism spokesperson Kamal Prasad Bhattarai told Nepali Times. The prospect for the resumption of flights is looking better after a thaw in relations between India and Nepal which had been strained by the border dispute over Lipu Lekh. There was a slew of high level visits by Indian officials in November, with the latest one last week by India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla.In addition, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali is scheduled to visit New Delhi on 15 December for bilateral talks that are expected to bring Indo-Nepal relations to a more even keel. “It will look odd if Minister Gyawali flies from Kathmandu to New Delhi and back when there are no scheduled flights between the two cities,” said a senior executive at Nepal Airlines. Tens of thousands of Nepali businessmen, students, families and those seeking medical treatment have been stranded in India for months, as have Indians in Nepal.Commentators have pointed out the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF4YAORCYxMdNHo98G3ag2BiAoMDw">absurdity of the absence of flights</a> between the two countries when air connections from Kathmandu are almost back to normal to other overseas destinations, and both India and Nepal allow unlimited domestic flights. Besides, they say thousands of nationals of both countries are crossing the land border between the two countries even though travel at official checkpoints are still supposed to be restricted.  <figure><img width="1496" height="1038" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181140/636be61b9c7e80680e087789jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>In August, India had proposed a ‘travel bubble’ with Nepal as it has with 20 other countries, including Bangladesh and Bhutan. The arrangement has allowed Bhutan’s Druk Air, for example to restart flights Paro-New Delhi. However, there was no response from the Nepal government to the proposal. Observers blamed this on strained relations between the two countries, as well as India’s delay in granting more air routes in addition to the existing two entry points for flights descending into Kathmandu through Indian air space.  The Ministry of Tourism has also been pushing for reopening India flights because the state-owned carrier Nepal Airlines is in deep financial crisis due to under-utilisation of its Airbus fleet. There <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/flights-to-nepal-limited-by-airport-capacity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/flights-to-nepal-limited-by-airport-capacity/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF3chYwaXnaT1l80LstSw9e9qGFFw">used to be up to 60 flights a week</a> between Indian cities and Kathmandu, of which Nepal Airlines flew weekly 18. The losses for the airline have been particularly heavy because of the inability to fly the money-spinning Kathmandu-Delhi route. Flights to and from Kathmandu airport were stopped on 24 March when Nepal went into complete lockdown. Although some <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/repatriation-regular-flights-to-nepal-to-resume/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/repatriation-regular-flights-to-nepal-to-resume/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEjOwfiNdFT7zTk3XrcD_KmL53Xhw">repatriation charter flights </a>were allowed, Nepal remained cut off from India. Even when the ban on regular flights was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/unlimited-flights-to-nepal-from-17-october/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/unlimited-flights-to-nepal-from-17-october/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHfFKKcRE5Tedvf3Cf23ChQ2QRutA">partially lifted on 1 October</a>, Indian and Nepali airlines were not allowed to operate to and from Indian cities to Kathmandu. Despite the optimism, some say that flights are not likely until 1 January, when India is set to allow all regular international flights to its cities. At present only repatriation flights and some 'air bubble' regular flights are allowed on international routes from Indian cities.  The Nepal government allowed foreigners, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFUeqKDI0iYxQywZnm1zOZ-EqNiGQ">but only trekkers and mountaineers</a>, to visit Nepal from 17 October, but the resurgence of Covid-19 in Nepal, India and Europe has meant that there are not so many foreign passengers. Airlines that have resumed flights to Tokyo, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, the Gulf cities and Istanbul have done so with reduced frequency, and mostly carry Nepali families or migrant workers.   There has been a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/everest-trek-closed-open-closed-open-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/everest-trek-closed-open-closed-open-again/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH-pfaOkifP9PaiUme84imZ2HVC9Q">trickle of trekkers</a> coming to Nepal, but they have to spend a week in quarantine in Kathmandu and need a PCR negative test before they can head off to the mountains. However, the Ministry of Tourism is said to be pressing the government to open Nepal to all foreigners in time for the Christmas New Year holidays. Before the Covid-19 crisis, Kathmandu airport used to handle an average of 80 international flights a day, which has come down to only about 20 now. Sixteen international carriers and Nepal Airlines currently operate flights to and from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Doha, Kuwait, Muscat, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Istanbul, Narita, Seoul and Bangkok.  “The next step is for CAAN to approach the Indian civil aviation authorities to request for slots, and then coordinate the timetables, we do not yet know how many flights per day there will be,” explained CAAN spokesperson Rajkumar Chhetri. So far India’s Indigo and Nepal’s private carrier Shree Airlines have been flying occasional charter and cargo flights between Kathmandu and Kolkata and Delhi.  Meanwhile, domestic flights in Nepal are back to 75% of pre-Covid levels. Nepal’s domestic carriers Yeti Airlines and Buddha Air have also restarted their <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14313#.X8Yw4i8RoWo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D14313%23.X8Yw4i8RoWo&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGnunJNx_Y16G_F-yoQS4VZvpa-NA" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;">Mt Everest sightseeing flights</a> after nine months. Both airlines have slashed fares for Nepali passengers on the Everest flights, and have offered a buy-one-fly-two scheme under which a passenger can take a companion in the aisle seat.  Nepalis have to pay Rs8,900 for a roundtrip Everest flight, and get another ticket for free. Yeti is offering the same for Rs8,998 for the one-hour flight that takes off and landed in Kathmandu, and takes passengers to within 20km of Mt Everest. Both airlines are conducting the flights weekly on Saturday mornings, and will increase frequency as per demand. Mountain sightseeing flights used to the main cash cow for Nepal’s domestic airlines which could charge foreign tourists up to $155 for the trips. Now, foreigners will also get a discount and pay Rs13,499 (USD113) for the flights, and like Nepalis get to take another passenger for free. In pre-pandemic days, Nepal’s airlines used to make up to 30 sightseeing flights on days with good weather over the mountains. “The pandemic has hit our revenue base, and the loss of the dollar fare on mountain flights has made it worse, we hope that by resuming the flights even partially will revive interest on one of the most spectacular flights in the world,” said Buddha Air’s Rupesh Joshi. Domestic airlines which <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-domestic-flights-resume/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-domestic-flights-resume/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1606911052484000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGFo_TgDtijQs0gdgV5lQNzuI0S5Q">resumed operations on 20 September </a>are flying trunk routes at up to 50% discount for Nepali passengers following safety protocols.

After a week of to-and-fro that culminated in all-night bargaining, two populist young figures in Nepali politics agreed at 4AM on Sunday to join forces ahead of elections in March. Rabi Lamichhane of the RSP, who came out of jail a week ago, has forged an alliance with Kathmandu mayor Balen Shah. Both are keen to ride on the GenZ wave that radically changed the direction of Nepal’s politics that has been dominated by three mainstream parties for the past three decades. Under the 7-point deal, Lamichhane will still head the RSP, while Shah has been promised prime ministership if the party wins a majority in the federal elections. Shah will also be the parliamentary party leader. The RSP will keep its name and election symbol. “Agreements must be made not on the basis of what leaders want, but on what the country needs,” Lamichhane wrote on social media announcing the alliance. The RSP chair is said to have put his own prime ministerial aspirations on hold to ensure the Kathmandu Mayor's support for the March polls. This is an alliance of convenience. Lamichhane requires the backing from Shah’s youth voters to face the legacy parties, while the mayor needs a political platform. Ultimately the prospect of leading not just Kathmandu but Nepal itself appears to have been the deciding factor for Balen Shah. The Kathmandu mayor is reportedly keen to contest the election from Jhapa against former prime minister K P Oli in his constituency.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251228041212_1b26fd7f14e418a9bdb827a7b733914c08183c36b4a93694fc1aefda9f45d85a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251228041212_1b26fd7f14e418a9bdb827a7b733914c08183c36b4a93694fc1aefda9f45d85a" data-rendition-name="original" width="900" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="Balen-Rabi alliance"> <figcaption>Photo: BALEN SHAH, RABI LAMICHHANE / FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  The two have much in common. Lamichhane, a former tv anchor, returned from the United States and launched the RSP as an alternative party four months before elections in 2022. He served as Home Minister twice in Pushpa Kamal Dahal's coalition government before being jailed for defrauding cooperatives depositers. He made a jail break during the September protests, returned to prison voluntarily, and was released on bail last week. Balen Shah stood as an independent candidate for mayor of Kathmandu in local elections in 2022, and was catapulted to victory because of anti-incumbent protest votes among urban youth.&nbsp; Both campaigned on social media, pushing a populist anti-corruption agenda and against the governance failure of the three establishment parties — the same logic that drove the GenZ protests in September that escalated into violence and brought down the UML-NC coalition. Even as government buildings smouldered on 10 September, GenZ members were strongly urging Balen Shah to be the interim prime minister, but when he declined they voted on Discord for former chief justice Sushila Karki.&nbsp; With just over two months to go for elections on 5 March, Prime Minister Karki has been trying desperately to get the mainstream parties on board. She has met twice with the top leaders of the UML, NC and the NCP. All three parties have been dealing with internal power struggles, and the UML appears to be the most reluctant to face elections.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251228051212_d42944e014b278d6864270b74f924ac842d6f7a68d5bd6817148d120522ba60b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251228051212_d42944e014b278d6864270b74f924ac842d6f7a68d5bd6817148d120522ba60b" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="Sushila Karki with political leaders"> <figcaption>Prime Minister Sushila Karki has been meeting with leaders of the mainstream parties to get them on board for the election. Photo: PMO</figcaption> </figure>  The UML’s former prime minister K P Oli has refused summons by the Judicial Inquiry Commission charged with investigating the massacre of protesters on 8 September and the arson and vandalism the next day. Then home minister Ramesh Lekhak is scheduled to give his deposition to the Commission this week. The legacy parties appear to be taking the threat from the Rabi-Balen partnership strongly, and have been trying to forge an electoral alliance so they do not compete against each other.&nbsp; They are relying on traditional vote banks among the rural electorate, and calculate that alternative forces will cancel themselves out. They could also be hoping that Balen Shah’s erratic behaviour and Rabi Lamichhane’s prison conviction will put voters off. A total of 837,094 first-time voters have been registered in Nepal ahead of the elections.&nbsp; The Kathmandu mayor is an engineer and rap artist, and had till now been reclusive, preferring to post on social media rather than face the press. His late-night online posts have been impulsive: like the one urging that Singha Darbar be burnt down, or another one recently in which he used the f-word against the US, China, India and the mainstream parties. He later deleted both posts.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251228041212_a2f87881e36fb40b82bf77e1b07003aaf36b91e2a9eb5da096f1e562654c31e3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20251228041212_a2f87881e36fb40b82bf77e1b07003aaf36b91e2a9eb5da096f1e562654c31e3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1112" height="1440" loading="lazy" alt="Balen Rabi agreement NT"> <figcaption>The seven-point agreement between Shah and Lamichhane. </figcaption> </figure>  Lamichane and Shah had also been negotiating with Energy Minister Kulman Ghising’s newly-forced Ujyalo Nepal Party, but the bargaining did not go well because Ghising refused to fight elections under the RSP banner. If the three had been successful in coming together, it would have been a formidable alliance. There are misgivings about the RSP-Balen Shah deal, even among some GenZ who see the two prominent men dividing up the power structure as just the kind of political culture they wanted to reform. Many are already predicting exactly the kind of clash of egos between the two alpha males that characterised Nepali politics since the restoration of democracy in 1990. In the coming days, as with most political change in Nepal, there will be much speculation about the geopolitics behind the Rabi-Balen deal. Balen Shah’s angry post against India-US-China as well as his past nationalistic pronouncements on Nepal’s territorial dispute with India over Kalapani will be recalled, while Beijing has misgivings about the antecedents of some GenZ figures. Dharan-mayor Harka Sampang, who has also formed his own political party, has already pronounced the Rabi-Balen deal as being “foreign backed”.

Old vs New in Nepal in 2026

Everyone in the world is running some kind of race. Some chase recognition. Some chase money. Others run simply to stay ahead of others. But there are some who run for others. They are not trying to overtake anyone, they do not do it for fame, they are not getting paid to do it. But they run to pay for the upliftment of those less privileged. Bal Joshi, 41, is originally from Surkhet. His father was involved in the democratic movement during the days of absolute monarchy and he remembers frequent police searches of the house. And with his father in hiding, the young Joshi had to take care of the family. When the family’s small shop failed, his mother took the young Bal and his brother back to the village, and that is where he completed his education, walking four hours roundtrip every day between home and school. He ran most of the way, and without realising it he has been running ever since. Life was hard. Rent, food, education. His mother struggled constantly. There were days when there was no money even to buy kerosene for the stove. At one point, he sold his calculator, worth Rs 300, for just Rs 80 to get by.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251229031252_edb16b64a3d362a8dc86870bfa5deaad03a84e67d47f37cfd0bb5a8e584691fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251229031252_edb16b64a3d362a8dc86870bfa5deaad03a84e67d47f37cfd0bb5a8e584691fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Running for dear life NT"> </figure>  At 15, Joshi moved to Nepalganj to continue his education. He initially stayed with his uncles, but eventually began living on his own. The transition to city life was difficult, and he experienced significant economic hardship while trying to pursue his studies. There were times when he struggled to meet basic needs, and at one point he sold his calculator just to get by. When he was 17, after hearing that his father was seriously ill, Joshi travelled to Gujarat to bring him back home. His father died soon after, and Joshi took on responsibility for supporting his family. It was his mother who taught him that despite scarcity, life had to be lived with dignity. Joshi started working at a newspaper at the age of 16 as a proofreader, and later became a journalist. During the Maoist war when children were being orphaned as a result of violence by both sides, he became active in the Sahara Group, and at 19, he began managing an orphanage that took in conflict-affected children. In Bajhang, after the army killed a man on suspicion of being a Maoist, his wife jumped into the Seti River and ended her life. Their two children were taken into army custody. During the rescue process, Joshi met Sunaina Adhikari of the ICRC and back in Nepalganj they decided to get married. The conflict was still raging in western Nepal in 2005, when Joshi went to the United States. In Maryland, he initially worked at a Bengali-owned Subway outlet, spending long hours on his feet behind the counter. He changed jobs frequently, financing his education along the way, and ultimately graduated with a degree in finance in 2008. He joined Hancock Whitney Bank in Texas, and has risen up the ranks to be Senior Vice President. A colleague inspired him to run as a way to stay healthy. But it soon turned into something more meaningful — running more than a dozen 50km marathons for charity.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251229031252_165a6d935860cf6707178aa2ac7395733883158f425bbe0ebed125529d601f61.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251229031252_165a6d935860cf6707178aa2ac7395733883158f425bbe0ebed125529d601f61" data-rendition-name="original" width="999" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Running for dear life NT"> </figure>  Last year, Joshi returned to Nepal to run the Everest Marathon, and raised $42,000 which he donated to <a href="https://onestepfoundation.org/" target="_blank">One Step Foundation</a> which works on health care, child welfare and cultural preservation in Nepal and around the world. In June this year, Joshi and his family climbed Kilimanjaro, raising $19,000 for 80 HIV-affected orphaned children in Tanzania. During the Diwali festival he ran 220km in Nevada’s Red Canyon and raised $25,000 for cataract surgeries through the the <a href="https://www.theruitfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Ruit Foundation</a> in Nepal for cataract surgeries.&nbsp; Joshi does not run competitions, and is not trying to break any records. His motto is: “My race, my pace.”&nbsp; Turning his childhood scarcity into helping others, he says: “We all share sunlight, rain, air, and soil, nothing is truly just your own. I grew up without shoes, and I am fortunate to be able to distribute shoes to those who walk barefoot.” We ask Bal Joshi what (and where) next? His answer: the <a href="https://www.worldmarathonchallenge.com/" target="_blank">World Marathon Challenge</a> that will go around the world to run seven marathons in seven continents in seven days beginning in Antarctica at end-January.&nbsp; Joshi aims to run wearing the daura suruwal and Nepal’s flag as to show where he comes from, and how far in life he has come.

Running for dear life

A day after Rabi Lamichhane and Balen Shah <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/old-vs-new-in-nepal-in-2026-z6l4fgrd">came together to form an electoral alliance</a>, Kulman Ghising has also joined forces with the two leaders, merging his Ujyalo Nepal Party with the RSP.&nbsp; Following last-minute negotiations before Monday’s midnight deadline for parties to file their list of candidates for the Proportional Representation (PR) seats, Lamichhane and Ujyalo Nepal chair Anup Kumar Upadhyay signed a seven-point agreement to unify the two parties, with Balen Shah as witness.&nbsp; Per the deal, Ghising will be the vice-chair of the RSP, joining DP Aryal and Swarnim Wagle as the party’s seconds-in-command. The earlier agreement between Lamichhane and Shah retained Lamichhane as RSP chief, and promised Shah prime ministership if the party wins a majority in Parliament in March.&nbsp; Ghising’s team reportedly has a 17% share on the list of PR candidates filed by the RSP at the Election Commission. Balen has also fielded his own picks, and together the party has the likes of cricketer Gyandenra Malla, actress Reema Biswokarma, rights activist Mohna Ansari, climate activist Tashi Lhazom, and singer Prakash Saput as PR candidates. Ghising had held multiple rounds of talks with the RSP chair and the Kathmandu Mayor to discuss possible collaborations, but had failed to reach a power-sharing agreement. On Monday, Ghising had met with Lamichhane heeding a last-ditch effort from GenZ leaders, in particular Sudan Gurung, as they tried for the final time to get the interim Minister on board with Lamichhane and Shah before the PR list submission deadline.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025123004128_99e23ae7b6a042e71d271e3e74f7527086a7bb55779e6781bc9e7b711c8303e7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025123004128_99e23ae7b6a042e71d271e3e74f7527086a7bb55779e6781bc9e7b711c8303e7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1595" height="1087" loading="lazy" alt="Sudan Kulman Balen"> <figcaption>Photo: SUDAN GURUNG / FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025123004128_d9f530704ab4c6e27eebf51f8e9fb55fed1d4281c99d089d06455cc7448bfda7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025123004128_d9f530704ab4c6e27eebf51f8e9fb55fed1d4281c99d089d06455cc7448bfda7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1026" height="1084" loading="lazy" alt="Balen and Sudan NT"> <figcaption>Photo: BALEN SHAH / FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  The three are now set to make a formidable team to challenge mainstream parties at the polls. News of this alliance has been welcome to Nepalis who are looking for any alternatives to break the stronghold of the Oli-Deuba-Dahal trio over Nepali politics in recent history.&nbsp; But they will also carry each other’s baggage.&nbsp; Lamichhane, who was jailed for defrauding cooperatives depositors last year, was welcomed back as RSP party chair with open arms after he was released on bail last week. And while he has maintained his base of loyal supporters, he was subject to widespread criticism after he walked out of detention amid the jailbreak during the September protests, prompting his eventual voluntary return to prison.&nbsp; His party’s silencing and expulsion of critics within the RSP has also drawn direct comparison with the leadership structure of Nepal’s mainstream parties. Prominent leaders like Sumana Shrestha have left the party over disagreements with leadership.&nbsp; Meanwhile, Balen’s impassioned campaign resonated with Nepalis disillusioned with establishment leaders during the 2022 election and made him mayor of Kathmandu. The mayor’s direct, no-holds-barred style of communication and commentary has attained him much support beyond his constituency.&nbsp; But his unyielding, often unempathetic leadership style and policies— like his dismissal of street vendors and informal businesses during his drive to free up Kathmandu’s footpaths— have also earned him detractors. His recent outburst on social media in November that included expletives against both of Nepal’s neighbours and the US, as well as Nepal’s three main parties and the RSP was also widely criticised.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251230041212_fc2088daf32bac93541ebf25ca07725d75a721ae83440749ac8fa09d8fe308f2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251230041212_fc2088daf32bac93541ebf25ca07725d75a721ae83440749ac8fa09d8fe308f2" data-rendition-name="original" width="890" height="1255" loading="lazy" alt="Agreement NT"> <figcaption>The seven-point agreement between RSP and Ujyalo Nepal Party.</figcaption> </figure>  Ghising, credited with ending Nepal’s prolonged load-shedding during his tenure as the chief of Nepal Electricity Authority, has a reputation of getting the job done. His public goodwill earned him a seat on Prime Minister Sushila Karki’s interim Cabinet following the youth protest.&nbsp; But he has also been under scrutiny for funds misappropriation as well as controversial power purchase agreements during his tenure as NEA chief. Ghising had foregone the leadership position at his Ujyalo party, preferring to play the role of patron until closer to the election date, but was nonetheless criticised for his political and electoral aspirations while being a member of the transitional government. It now remains to be seen if and when Ghising will step away from his position in the interim Cabinet and begin campaigning with his new partners.&nbsp; As it stands, the involvement of prominent GenZ figures in bringing together Ghising, Shah, and Lamichhane has established youth leaders as major players in Nepal’s post-September political landscape. These leaders will have significant pull with young and first-time voters. But not all young leaders are impressed with this new triumvirate. Some have pointed out that the unity between these three leaders is no different from the political opportunism and quid-pro-quo power-sharing culture established and followed by Nepal’s mainstream leadership for the last three decades which culminated into the GenZ movement of September.

Kulman follows Balen to RSP

Koreana Coffee Guff begins with a scene where Narayan Wagle, the editor-turned-farmer, appears in reverse cameo, as a character in a novel. He has just landed at Incheon in the dead of winter.&nbsp; The opening premise reminds one of Tolstoy’s saying about how stories begin either when someone goes on a journey, or when a stranger comes to town. ‘The winds of each city are its original inheritance, shaped by its local language, its specific topography and the buffets of the airborne wings of birds and airplanes,’ Wagle writes.&nbsp; The author is both on a journey and a stranger to the town. The word ‘stranger’ might need to be redefined here, as he has visited Korea several times before. But if every journey is new, then he is a stranger of sorts — stranger to the people he meets for the first time in the book, stranger to the reader who will encounter him for the first time like I did in high school reading the English translation of his 2005 Madan Puraskar winning novel Palpasa Cafe.&nbsp; Koreana is non-fiction, and was first published in 2017 in Nepali, and recently rendered into English by Prawin Adhikari, who specialises in translating Nepali works into English in such a way that they do not read like translations at all.&nbsp; Even so, I turned to a few chapters from the original text, curious to see how ideas have morphed. Take Wagle’s journey to Ansan Mountain. It is the same mountain, but something different happens in the two languages. The inexplicable feeling is that the translation has to conquer the mountain itself. At its best, the book gives the reader a peek into Wagle’s mind, his internal monologues, his writing ideas, his thoughts on the people around him, his deep yearning and respect for nature, his exploration of Seoul and Korea, where he is attending the Asian Literary Creative Writing Workshop in 2017.&nbsp; BACK TO THE LAND ‘All cities appear the same everywhere,’ he writes of Seoul, speaking of how ‘development’ has masked the original charm of a city rebuilt after war. In recent years, Wagle has moved on from being the editor of Kantipur, to activism, and has now returned to his ancestral land in Tanahu to farm.&nbsp; Clues to this metamorphosis can be detected in this book, which was written nearly ten years ago and before his transition. Wagle used to write a column called Coffee Guff, and the book carries that conversational style.&nbsp; But not all monologues land. Thoughts rooted in a specific time and space like the hike to Ansan where the author reflects on buildings, birds, and trees feel connected with a context and background. Then there are those that bring in a new metaphor, a new reflection, a new connection in almost each new sentence which make it difficult to follow the author’s stream of consciousness.&nbsp; Halfway into the book, we finally meet the writers who have come from different parts of Asia for the workshop. Not speaking a common language, the writers have to rely on interpreters and Google, which turns their exchanges into quirky moments of laughter.&nbsp; Writers are an important part of the book, the lens through which Wagle invites us to see the world. Poets Manjul from Nepal and Shiva Ryu from Korea make guest appearances. Through two Korean writers who share the surname Kim, we get a glimpse into Korean history and society, and how writing is intertwined with politics.&nbsp; This Korea is different from the Kpop idols and skincare routine that has dominated recent imagination of the divided peninsular nation. Wagle writes, ‘Literature attempts to unite, politics impedes it. They are being continuously thwarted by the conflicts ongoing in the nation’s politics.’&nbsp; One of the Kims is Kim Min-jung (김민정), author of The World’s Most Expensive Novel, that explores what it means to be a writer in Korea.&nbsp; Reading Koreana feels like a hike through a jungle. If one is able to move past the tangled and stretched monologues, the book can hold moments of awe and wonder. But there is always a desire for a clearer trail to follow. &nbsp;&nbsp; Narayan Wagle’s characteristic witticism is there aplenty, his observations are astute. Writers exploring their craft and readers curious of what is churning inside Wagle’s mind will find treats -- sometimes well-crafted, other times to be searched between the lines. &nbsp; Alfa M Shakya is a writer, researcher, and podcaster. She runs and hosts ‘How’d You Create That?’, an art podcast about the creative process.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251230071252_5503c9fb08d62adb328d8f817b353604429559d3d9c6542edf3663c3f8c554e5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251230071252_5503c9fb08d62adb328d8f817b353604429559d3d9c6542edf3663c3f8c554e5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Korean coffee guff English translation review"> </figure>

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Old vs New in Nepal in 2026

Running for dear life

Kulman follows Balen to RSP

Coffee guff from Korea