<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232859c7e80680e0c489bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1512" height="1210"/><figcaption>The inner courtyard of the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. The statue of Yama – a replica – can be made out under the pavilion at the centre. Photos: ASHISH DHAKAL and ERIN L. THOMPSON.</figcaption></figure>The National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh is a vast complex. The red buildings with oblique roofs curve upwards at the ends of their triangles like naga with a flourish, and the tall finials that decorate these roofs rise like elegant peaks.Constructed between 1917 and 1924, the museum was officially inaugurated in 1920, and reopened after renovation in 1979 with the fall of the Khmer Rouge.Inside, a giant Garuda welcomes visitors, and on either side the hall stretches out into two wings. One is the gallery of the Buddhas: a four-cornered room set up like a shrine. Numerous in number and styles, and stunning, the statues are arranged to evoke a serene and meditative atmosphere.Three young Cambodian women walk to the table in the middle. There is a bowl with water and floating frangipani on it and on the table's either side sit kneeling statues. The women pick some more flowers from their bags, and set it next to the bowl, clasp their hands, and bow in prayer.Read also: <a href="http://v">The Hindu gods of Buddhist Thailand</a>, Jeong Moon Tae<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232889c7e80680e0c489cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2500" height="1875"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Then they move to an inner courtyard, in the centre of which stands Yama, the Hindu god of the underworld. Under a pavilion, he sits with one raised knee and a smile on his face, and the group lights incense before him, placing a white lotus in his lap, folding hands in prayer.Museums, as houses of objets d’art, often take on an inert air where visitors are welcome to interact with what they see, but from a distance. American arts crime professor Erin Thompson thinks most are modelled to accommodate tourists more than local people.But that is not the case at the National Museum of Cambodia. Here, the building could very well be a monastery or a large shrine, where figures of the Buddha co-exist with Hindu iconographies, much like in the three cities of the Kathmandu valley.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/u-thant-kenzo-tange-and-the-buddhas-birthplace/">U Thant, Kenzō Tange and the Buddha’s birthplace</a>, Kunda Dixit<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/6372328c9c7e80680e0c489djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1512" height="2016"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/6372328f9c7e80680e0c489ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1512" height="2016">Two separate statues of Yama, one in the National Museum (left) and the other in Angkor (right) with offerings before them.“We want our museum space to be welcoming to the tourist visitors as much as to the locals,” says Chhay Visoth, the museum director. However, this is a slightly different expression of one’s belief which does not correspond directly to one’s religion.For example Cambodia is predominantly Buddhist (97%), and the figures of Vishnu, Shiva, Skanda, Durga, Yama or even Bhim and Duryodhan are not so much physical manifestations of Hindu gods, but rather a link that connects Cambodia and its people to its past, and provides guidance — rather an anchor.This is linked to the Khmer emphasis on ancestral and spirit worship, and perhaps intensified by the <a href="http://Statues of the deva tugging on the great Vasuki naga on the bridge to the Southern Gate in Angkor (above). Parallel to them on the other side would be the daitya. This scene is from a famous episode in the Hindu mythology – Samudra Manthan – also depicted on a bas-relief in Angkor Wat (below)." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">memories of Khmer Rouge</a>, the reign of terror between 1975-1979 during which nearly 2 million Cambodians were systemically slaughtered  — nearly one-fourth of Cambodia's population then.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/telling-the-story-of-buddhas-lumbini/">Telling the story of Buddha’s Lumbini</a>, Sahina Shrestha<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232929c7e80680e0c489fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1210" height="968"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“In our local faith and belief, even music, we want to keep the spirits around us happy and help us,” adds Visoth. “When we look at the Hindu statues, we see our own ancestors who made them. So even though we may not be Hindu ourselves and may not recognise the iconography, the gods and goddesses have spiritual meaning for us, keeping us in touch with our forebears.”Hinduism made its way across the Bay of Bengal to what is now Indonesia and moved north to present-day Cambodia and Thailand some time in the 1st century CE. That was during the beginning of the Kingdom of Funan, the name given by ancient Chinese cartographers and writers to the Indianised states of Southeast Asia.Hinduism was the official religion of the Khmer Empire (9th-15th century) which saw the construction of over a thousand religious buildings of varied sizes in its capital Angkor, including the famous Angkor Wat.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lets-only-buy-bio-degradable-prayer-flags/">Let’s only buy bio-degradable prayer flags</a>, Ashish Dhakal<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232959c7e80680e0c48a0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1572" height="2096"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232999c7e80680e0c48a1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="745" height="795"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/6372329b9c7e80680e0c48a2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1512" height="2016"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Khmers saw these temples as quite literally the home of gods rather than merely a meeting place for the faithful, built to represent the towering Mount Meru where Hindu gods are believed to reside.Each Khmer king’s legacy was set to stone, delicately carved and moulded like clay. The bas-reliefs depicted scenes from the myths, or Angkor daily life. At night, the temples closed to allow the deities some restful sleep.Much of the glory and might of the Khmer Empire today lies in ruins, owing to time and looters. Large blocks of sandstone and laterite punctuate the otherwise green landscape with shades of grey and red. Many sura and asura holding the great Vasuki naga on the bridges have their heads hacked off, and most of which are in currently in foreign museums and collections.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/buddhist-relics-in-western-nepal/">Buddhist relics in western Nepal</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/6372329e9c7e80680e0c48a3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2016" height="1512"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232a29c7e80680e0c48a4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2016" height="1512"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232a59c7e80680e0c48a5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2016" height="1512"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232a89c7e80680e0c48a6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2796" height="2097"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232ab9c7e80680e0c48a7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2016" height="1512"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232ae9c7e80680e0c48a8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1915" height="1277"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232b19c7e80680e0c48a9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1915" height="1277"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>When the French ‘re-discovered’ Angkor in the 19th century, it was already overtaken by the forest, with large constrictor-like Tetrameles rising from the cracks in the stones, their roots running along galleries and adding decorations to the doors. But Angkor was not ‘abandoned’ as ancient sites and ruins are often portrayed.Although the Hindu faith and practices declined around the 13th Century in Cambodia to be replaced by Theravada Buddhism as the dominant religion, locals had a long-standing spiritual relationship with the temple complex, and continue today.Pilgrims burrow into stone tunnels laced with moss to pray to the gods, as well as to ancient kings and queens. And they throng to the sparsely populated region of Koh Ker, 120km away, which was briefly the capital of the Khmer Empire in 928-944 AD.Among the over 180 sanctuaries there, many dedicated to Shiva (Lingapura or Chok Gargyar, as it was known in the past), perhaps none is as imposing as Prasat Prang, a 36m high seven-tiered stone pyramid built by King Jayavarman IV.As the original stairs are in bad condition, a new wooden one has been constructed which takes the visitor all the way to the top. It is a long, hard walk, especially in the humid weather.Originally the pyramid had a 4m tall Shiva linga at the top but is now lined with blocks of stones and a wooden fence surrounding the shaft at the centre. Even then, all the way up here and almost touching the sky, devotees light candles and incense, leave food and flowers to the spirits — perhaps even to Jayavarman IV, who would have come up here, prayed and then looked out to the horizon and his vast empire.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/who-looted-nepals-gods/">Who looted Nepal’s gods?</a>, Ashish Dhakal<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232b59c7e80680e0c48aajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3024" height="4032"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232b99c7e80680e0c48abjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1512" height="1512"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232bc9c7e80680e0c48acjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1512" height="2016"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131120/637232bf9c7e80680e0c48adjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1512" height="2016">Well-attended statues of Vishnu and Laxmi at the Western entrance of Angkor Wat.Back in Angkor Wat, the 5m tall statue of eight-armed Vishnu clad in golden robes stands at the western entrance. Devotees kneel before him holding incense and circling the figure, chanting prayers. On his left is a headless statue of Laxmi, similarly garbed in sapphire. Open cans of Coca Cola also sit on the altars as offerings.“We pray to the god wishing for prosperity, and for goodness,” says Noah who has come with his family to visit the shrine. “It doesn’t matter whether we pray to the Hindu or a Buddhist god, because when we pray, we feel at peace with ourselves and those around us.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-script-of-the-scriptures/">The script of the scriptures</a>, Sewa Bhattarai

Ashish Dhakal

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An anchor to Cambodia’s past

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bada79c7e80680e077fa8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>A glimpse of enough Is Enough campaign in Kathmandu. Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>Civil society around the world faces serious restrictions on its freedom to express and engage in activism to defend human rights following the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by Forus International and the Asia Development Alliance (ADA) has concluded.Titled ‘Realising the Potential of Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda’ was published last week with 18 civic space cases studies from countries, including Nepal. It highlights how the pandemic has exacerbated and deepened existing problems faced by civil society organisations (CSOs) by constricting their work environment.“Civic space was already under pressure before the pandemic,” said Sarah Strack of Forus. “A vibrant and independent civil society is vital to fulfil its role in the implementation of SDGs. Progress will be correlated to the extent to which meaningful civic space will be secured at local, national, regional and international levels.”The report says the SDGs (the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030) will be severely affected by state responses to the coronavirus crisis, and the pressure on non-governmental actors.A key trend in almost all of the case studies included in the report is unwarranted state restriction on civic space -- on the freedom of expression, assembly and association of civil society in many countries around the world.Says Philip Alston, former UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights: “The responses to COVID-19 in many countries has only made the situation worse as governments have opportunistically used the pandemic as a justification to further clamp down on civil society.”<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/media-muzzle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Targeting free speech can take various forms</a>. In Cambodia, several journalists have been arrested or threatened because of their reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic. A blogger on the Pacific island of Samoa was jailed for seven weeks for allegedly defaming the Prime Minister. CSOs and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lockdown-crackdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">independent media groups have been ‘muted'</a> in many countries from Nepal to Colombia.The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in its 18th annual report released earlier this year on the World Press Freedom day also said that the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/south-asia-tightening-press-controls-amidst-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pandemic has worsened the lack of safety for journalists in South Asia</a> as controls on media freedom were tightened across the region.The Internet and social media has been especially targeted by authorities to curtail dissent, but civil society organisations around the world have used virtual spaces to become more vocal and exchange information to efficiently defend offline space. One example of this is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/social-movement-through-social-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s Enough Is Enough campaign that first started on social media</a>.Thousands of youth took to streets demanding better response to the pandemic with some of them participating in a hunger strike that lasted 12 days before <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/12-point-deal-after-12-days-of-hunger-strike/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an agreement was reached earlier this month</a>  However, some activists resumed their hunger strike in Kathmandu on Sunday.A global campaign involving Forus International and concerned stakeholders will call for new civic space indicators to be developed that will measure the efforts of UN Member States to protect fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and national human rights laws.Nepal’s treatment of civil society and their advocacy will be crucial as the country <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/will-nepal-get-2nd-term-at-unhrc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prepares for a second term</a> at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) amidst poor record on transitional justice at home.For the social recovery from the COVID-19 crisis to be sustainable and resilient, a return to business as usual must be avoided, stated the report. It further explains that the building back better narrative and plans must be comprehensive, covering all policy areas and creating more space for civil society in the development, implementation and monitoring.Says Forus International: “We believe progressive governments, international and regional institutions, philanthropic organisations and civil society now need to take bold steps to counter the shrinking of civic space and to develop global partnerships to tackle the issue.”

COVID-19 shrinks civic space

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714118/636903449c7e80680e037cb0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="885"/>After being hunted nearly to extinction, Nepal’s tiger numbers  surged in recent decades thanks to a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Conservation-and-tourism-Chitwan-National-Park,2957" target="_blank" rel="noopener">successful conservation program</a>. But with Nepal committed to double its tiger numbers, there are questions about whether some of the country’s national parks are becoming too crowded.At the World Tiger Summit in 2010 in St Petersburg, 13 tiger range countries <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16820#.W2wXGtUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">committed to doubling tiger populations by 2022</a>. Nepali officials are confident the country’s total wild tiger population can be increased to 242 to reach that goal.“Nepal will be the only country to meet the target, and we will be releasing the total figures of the recent census soon,” said Man Bahadur Khadka, Director General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/sun-striped-shadows/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sun striped shadows</a>, Lisa Choegyal The census result, synchronised with a count in India, was supposed to be announced on World Tiger Day on 29 July. But it was suddenly postponed, fuelling speculation the tiger count had decreased from the 2013 total of 198, with 120 of the tigers in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nation-quality-control-in-tourism,471" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chitwan</a> National Park.Some experts say the number could have gone down, because male tigers have been getting into fights over territory. Eleven tigers died in the past three years in Chitwan, five of them so far this year."Animals have been known to limit their own numbers by social mechanisms to avoid depleting prey in their natural habitat. Tigers are territorial, and space is limited to match natural population growth, so this could be what is happening in Chitwan," one international tiger expert told us.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/clouded-future-for-the-clouded-leopard/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clouded future for the Clouded Leopard</a>, Yadav GhimireyKhadka denied withholding the announcement because of the total was less than in 2013, saying enumerators were taking longer than expected to go through camera trap images. Every tiger has to be recognised by its stripe pattern, which are as individual as human fingerprints.“We have no need to hide the figures, we just want to be accurate with the count, and there are other factors like reconciling individual tigers with camera trap images from <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3126#.W2wXMNUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India</a>,” Khadka added.However, delaying the announcement has raised fears Nepal may not increase the tiger total by 50 tigers in the next four years.“Someone, somewhere seems to want to cook the data. If so, this will hurt Nepal’s credibility in the global conservation movement that has so far praised Nepal’s effort to protect the tiger,” said the expert.Even if the target is met, however, tiger numbers could exceed the carrying capacity of protected areas, especially <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12200#.W2fawWaB1TY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chitwan</a>.Habitat destruction, human encroachment along wildlife corridors, new highways, transmission lines, irrigation canals and new  railroads <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/habitat-destrcution-of-tiger-in-Tarai,3423" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disturb the ecosystem of which the tiger is at the top of the food chain</a>.If Chitwan has reached saturation, tiger numbers may need to be boosted in Bardia, which has 50 tigers, but has area to sustain double that number. National parks in Banke and Parsa can also accommodate more tigers if the prey base is increased.There have always been questions about whether Nepal should have committed to doubling tiger numbers, when protected space is so limited and prey numbers are shrinking. When tiger territories overlap, there is fierce competition between individuals as well as with other predators, like leopards, for prey.An average tiger needs to make at least one kill of a deer-sized animal a week – that makes 12,000 kills per year. Chitwan has a lower large prey density than Bardia, and conservationists doubt if it is sufficient to sustain so many tigers.The tall grass along floodplains and oxbow lakes of the Narayani and Rapti Rivers are the ideal habitat of the tiger, but these are threatened by invasive mikania vines, disturbance due to mass tourism, and annual grass-burning. Chitwan’s wetlands, favourite watering holes for tigers, have also been going dry because of the dropping water table in the Inner Tarai due to over-extraction.The sharpest increase in tiger numbers in recent years has been in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/bardiya-beginnings-Lisa-Choegyal,1085" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bardia </a> National Park, with the population going up from 18 in 2009 to 50, four years later. But even for Bardia to take more tigers, its grasslands and water courses need to be protected so prey can thrive.Man Bahadur Khadka says the government will now announce the official tiger tally on National Conservation Day on 23 September, adding: “We are not doctoring the numbers, we are just trying to be accurate as possible.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCtyrTtZRLQ<h2>WWF video</h2><h4>Tigerman Leonardo DiCaprio</h4>For the past decade, Hollywood actor <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000138/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leonardo DiCaprio</a> has been <a href="https://www.leonardodicaprio.org/protecting-wild-tigers-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supporting the WWF campaign</a> to double wild tiger numbers through his philanthropic organisation.<a href="http://www.wwfnepal.org/what_we_do/wildlife/tiger/tx2.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The initiative</a> funds tiger conservation in 13 tiger range countries, including Nepal, to boost the numbers of wild tigers to 6,000 by the next Year of the Tiger, 2022. Currently there are 3,900 tigers in the wild all over the world, up from 3,000 eight years ago, with most of the increase in Russia, India, Bhutan and Nepal.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714118/636903479c7e80680e037cb1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="931"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In Nepal, DiCaprio has donated nearly $7 million to WWF to boost tiger numbers. The resources were used to set up more than 400 community anti-poaching groups in areas bordering national parks and wildlife corridors, and to help reduce human-tiger conflict.DiCaprio visited <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/bardiya-beginnings-Lisa-Choegyal,1085" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bardia National Park</a> two years ago to inspect anti-poaching initiatives and to set up camera traps (right). He said after the visit: “I am proud of the work being done here. Tigers are some of the most vital and beloved animals on Earth. I am optimistic about what can be achieved when governments, communities, conservationists and private foundations like ours come together to tackle global challenges.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714118/6369034a9c7e80680e037cb2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="850" height="541"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>WWF has also been trying to re-invigorate the tiger grassland habitat by constructing and upgrading wetlands and waterholes, establishing firelines against forest fires, and installing solar-powered electric fences.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/habitat-destrcution-of-tiger-in-Tarai,3423" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Allow tigers to roam more freely</a>, Om Astha Rai<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Conservation-and-tourism-Chitwan-National-Park,2957" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conservation and tourism</a> , Kristjan Edwards<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/Tigerman-tiger,930" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tigerman</a> , Lisa Choegyal<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-cantankerous-conservationist/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The cantankerous conservationist</a> , Lisa Choegyal

Kunda Dixit

How many tigers in Nepal?

At the stroke of the midnight hour, it finally came to something everyone in Nepal’s oldest and biggest party had been dreading — a split.
Not that this was anything new. The Nepali Congress (NC) had splintered twice before and the main protagonist both times was five-time prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. After the GenZ uprising and being physically mauled and his house looted and set on fire on 9 September Deuba had said he was stepping aside, but it seems old ambitions die hard.
The showdown between the Gagan Thapa-Bishow Prakash Sharma camp and Deuba came to a head on Wednesday as the establishment leadership decided to suspend Thapa, Sharma, and Farmullah Mansoor for five years to punish them for daring to challenge the leadership and hold a special general convention.&nbsp;
Bhrikuti Mandap in the centre of Kathmandu is the venue for trade exhibitions, but this week it was where an exhibition of everything that is wrong with Nepali politics was on full display — lack of internal party democracy and an unaccountable gerontocracy clinging on to power.&nbsp;
Thapa and Sharma had gathered the support of 62% of the NC membership at their convention and chose Gagan Thapa as the new party leader and proposed him as a prime ministerial candidate after the 5 March election.
Deuba’s allies had refused to attend or endorse the special general convention, and were adamant about holding a general convention to choose a new party head after the election. Thapa, Sharma and their supporters argued that the party faced ignominious defeat in the polls if Deuba insisted on being prime minister again.
The events of September 2025 have cast a long shadow over Nepali politics, with many new parties and alliances pledging to represent the aspirations of the GenZ movement. However, that realisation does not seem to have dawned on the tried, tested and failed leadership of the NC, UML and the NCP where the party leaders have held on to power by sidelining all rivals. &nbsp;
Thapa and Sharma were NC general secretaries held multiple rounds of discussions to convince Deuba to accept their eight-point demand that for the party’s and the country’s sake his time was up, and he should cut and cut cleanly. Despite having already handed over the party leadership to Purna Bahadur Khadka in September, Deuba refused to step down.&nbsp;
‘What demands has the Nepali Congress been unable to reconcile that it is headed for a split? There is no ideological dispute, just a proposal to make it easier to go for the election,’ noted journalist and author Narayan Wagle. ‘If those who have been in politics for so many years cannot reach an agreement, what have they learned in life and what hope is there for the country?’
Gagan Thapa was elected unopposed as the new party president on Thursday midnight, with Sharma and Pushpa Bhusal appointed vice-presidents. Thapa has said backroom talks are still ongoing though mediators, but for all intents and purposes the split seems irreconcilable.&nbsp;
The million dollar question now is: who gets to be the real Nepali Congress? Who gets the NC’s tree election symbol at the polls?
Both the Thapa and Deuba factions have written to the Election Commission (EC) laying claim to the party and its symbol. Whatever the EC decides, with less than two months to go for the polls, the dispute over its legitimacy will almost certainly have to be decided in the courts.
Deuba and his counterpart K P Oli in the UML have been unwilling or unable to fathom the level of outrage that young Nepalis feel about their parties. They have shown an inability to heed the call for institutional overhaul within parties and in Nepal’s political culture post-September. Second generation leaders within those parties who have grown old waiting for reform, seem to have better internalised the need for internal restructuring.&nbsp;
Oli has managed to hold on to power after displaying increasing authoritarianism within his UML, while Deuba has shown an unwillingness to bow out of leadership with grace. Both have squandered away their legacy.
For Gagan Thapa, the events of Thursday was a culmination of his long-standing claim for leadership change within the NC coupled with a compulsion to address the demands of the youth movement to maximise gains for his party this election. Just like Deuba, Thapa’s house was also looted and torched during the September protests.
Thapa told Onlinekhabar on Thursday: “Our belief was that we cannot go into elections under the present circumstances under [Sher Bahadur Deuba’s] leadership and with him as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. We would lose.”
The special general convention has taken further steps for reform, endorsing amendments to the party statue, which has set term limits for key leadership positions, including a one-term limit for party president, two-term limit for prime minister, three for a ministerial position, and four terms for a directly elected member of Parliament. Meanwhile, party members are only allowed to become lawmakers through the Proportional Representation system for one term.&nbsp;
If Thapa’s leadership holds legitimacy, this new chapter for the NC might come as a welcome change to young Nepalis who have been calling for leadership overhaul and internal party reforms within the establishment parties. But it may also come at the cost of the NC’s core base. It remains to be seen which side tips the scale at the polls.&nbsp;
The NC’s infighting and institutional shake-up has also posed fresh concerns about how it will affect the election schedule just as it looked as though all the mainstream political parties were finally on board and preparing for the polls. With voting barely weeks away, Nepal’s political parties are still too busy cleaning up their own house to give too much time to work on their platforms, agendas and serious campaigning
Historically, political break-ups and make-ups in Nepal are not set in stone. Even the newest alliance between Rabi Lamichhane’s RSP and Kulman Ghising’s UNP did not even last 12 days. &nbsp;Balen Shah is set to resign from his mayor position in the next and has gotten into the thick of election preparation with the RSP. His next step will be to choose which constituency he is going to contest from.
Meanwhile, in the light of a new day, the two NC factions may still decide that breaking up is hard to do when they are so close to elections, and the political stakes are so high.&nbsp;

Grand split in Nepal’s grand old party

The India Art Fair (IAF) advertises itself as ‘the biggest event in India’s cultural calendar … a leading platform’ for art collectors who can discover modern and contemporary art from South Asia.&nbsp; For this year’s ticketed event on 5-8 February in New Delhi, more than 133 exhibitors from 14 countries will be representing top artists from their networks. Danfe Arts, a touring art space from Kathmandu, will participate in the Galleries Section of IAF’s 17th edition featuring a booth with works by six Nepali artists.&nbsp; One of them is Sanjeep Maharjan, Assistant Professor for Sculpture at Kathmandu University, who will showcase his claywork as part of Danfe Arts’ entourage. In 2024, Maharjan curated a show for Danfe Arts at Takpa Gallery titled, ‘Unfolding the City’. The IAF prefers to showcase skilled artists who have honed their practice over many years. Much like various biennales and residencies that have been popping up increasingly in Asia, the Fair delves into sociopolitical issues of the region such as many comissioned works including <a href="https://indiaartfair.in/exhibitor/yogesh-barve-supported-by-art-charlie" target="_blank">Yogesh Barve</a>’s installation entitled ‘I am not your Dalit’ featured at the feastival last year.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260115110136_13f262546fca46c0fe4d76f758a694afe7c0c1cfee5bf74eb4f257f78734f8f2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260115110136_13f262546fca46c0fe4d76f758a694afe7c0c1cfee5bf74eb4f257f78734f8f2" data-rendition-name="original" width="989" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali artists at India Art Fair"> <figcaption>Anil Shahi's Hand of Hope, Oil on Canvas, 36 x 60 inches. Exhibiting work at IAF.</figcaption> </figure>  As the name implies, it is a grand bazaar where artists and their agents show up, to be seen — a powerful regional platform where creativity merges with commercial interests. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Artists have a reputation for being weak at business.&nbsp; And in Kathmandu, where the contemporary art scene has been steadily expanding since the early aughts, more and more creatives are seeking platforms like IAF and collaborators like Danfe Arts in order to boost their portfolios. A NEW COURSE In 2022, I was invited to participate in a formal group discussion by founder of and curator at Danfe Arts Shivangi Bansal who was preparing to chart a new course with her Danfe Journal. The journal included photos of artworks as well as writings about art and helped bridge the gap between art and the Nepali public’s understanding of associated processes. Contemporary art and literature is considered a niche activity. Proper marketing and outreach is required to make the product accessible to the average consumer. Besides, consistency can also be an issue. Too often, energetic graduates might register organisations and launch initiatives only to burn out within a year or so. Nepali society would benefit more from a sustained effort with a long-term vision rather than trendy initiatives that look bright and shiny. Danfe Arts discontinued the journal but continued to engage with Nepal’s art community, like facilitating a commission for Mini Tamang by the India Art Fair (IAF) in 2025, as part of IAF’s Young Collector’s Program. Tamang’s artwork, ‘Evocative Waves’, was installed at New Delhi’s Stir Art gallery last year. In 2024, Danfe Arts had organised a group exhibition called ‘A Lake That Once Was’ in New Delhi’s Bikaner House to coincide with the India Art Fair, which listed the exhibition as part of its parallel programs. This meant the Nepali artists received more visibility and value among IAF’s much larger audience.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026011804014_2a15d57a63c375503965a41396b22c006152368a018450d2617f4c8c076ccc74.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026011804014_2a15d57a63c375503965a41396b22c006152368a018450d2617f4c8c076ccc74" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="998" loading="lazy" alt="arts"> <figcaption>A Lake That Once Was, 2024 at Bikaner House, Delhi.</figcaption> </figure>  Since its inception, Danfe Arts has put out an eclectic mix of programs, demonstrating innovative thinking and effort. With its multi-platform approach, Danfe Arts has collaborated with restaurants like Mezze, putting up an exhibition in November 2025, ‘Bhoye - The Feast’. Danfe Arts is also cultivating relationships with specific artists based on synergies and sensibilities.&nbsp; The history of art practice in Nepal is long and illustrious, but due to political and geographical constraints, esteemed artists have been sheltered and confined within our national borders.&nbsp; By featuring these six artists for the 2026 edition of IAF, Danfe Arts is helping them make regional connections. And as our artists and gallerists show up on global platforms, they might in turn compel Nepalis to view more critically the value of art and how creative practices can contribute positively to society. As technology takes over and AI bots spam the Internet, the issue of originality might become tantamount to survival. We should take risks in our professional pursuits in order to design new communal models of exchange. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; India Art Fair New Delhi 5-8 February&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026011804014_f226a31af8a33f8da5e7359886289de3fd1b2db17697b96b909404e582d75124.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2026011804014_f226a31af8a33f8da5e7359886289de3fd1b2db17697b96b909404e582d75124" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1875" loading="lazy" alt="arts"> </figure>

Nepali artists at India Art Fair

Only a handful of people who witnessed the 1934 megaquake as children are still alive. And the memories of 2015 are fading fast.&nbsp;
We were shaken, but have not stirred into action. We have not even started preparing to be prepared for the inevitable, for it is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’.&nbsp;
Thursday 15 January was National Earthquake Safety Day commemorating the 1934 disaster that killed 10,000 people in Kathmandu Valley at a time when its population was barely 100,000.
Nepal is in an active seismic zone, and a really big one is overdue in the seismic gap in western Nepal where there has not been a megaquake for 500 years. The 7.8M quake in 2015 did not completely release the tectonic stress below Central Nepal.
An 8M+ earthquake epicentred in western Nepal will be even more violent than the 2015 one in Kathmandu and will be powerful enough to cause destruction across northern India as well.&nbsp;
We Nepalis are resilient, but we are also complacent and fatalistic. How else does one explain the unsafe and unplanned building construction in Kathmandu, Pokhara and other towns despite frequent reminders of what quakes can do?&nbsp;
Most designs are ad hoc and follow no engineering logic. Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) is now widespread across the country since such structures mostly withstood the 2015 event. But structural engineers say most concrete buildings are substandard, and can be death traps. Also, the country lacks equipment and training for search and rescue in cement houses.&nbsp;
FIRE HAZARD
If an earthquake struck Kathmandu on a windy winter evening, there is the added risk of fires from gas cylinders in collapsed buildings spreading across the densely packed city core. Fire trucks will not be able to reach those areas because the streets will be blocked.
Seismic risk is now amplified by climate breakdown. Nepal now needs to factor in the co-hazard of massive avalanches and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) triggered by future earthquakes. There are 41 potentially dangerous glacial lakes in the region, and 27 of them are in Tibet feeding rivers that flow into Nepal. A megaquake there could cause multiple simultaneous GLOFs.&nbsp;
If the 2015 earthquake had not happened on a Saturday, tens of thousands of children could have been killed in the 7,000 schools that were flattened. More than 2,500 government buildings came down, and would have killed and trapped many if it had not been a weekend.
Schools and health facilities retrofitted before the disaster were unscathed, and served as shelters for survivors. Chhatrapati Free Clinic (CFC) was reinforced three years before the earthquake for Rs5.2 million, and with support from National Society of Earthquake Technology (NSET), 800 community members were trained in search and rescue.
Bhuwaneswori Secondary School in Bhaktapur and Bal Bikas Secondary School in Kathmandu both survived 2015 because they had been retrofitted. Singha Darbar, the Supreme Court and the Department of Roads buildings were also made seismic resistant after 2015 quake, but the arson attacks on 9 September gutted them.
While many private residential homes built after 2015 continue to flout building codes, municipalities are now stricter. New schools and colleges, hospitals and high rises now have to meet stringent requirements for seismic resistance.
Nepal is a hotspot for many types of disasters — earthquakes, floods, droughts, glacial outbursts, wildfires. These are not ‘natural’ disasters, they are human induced. Earthquakes do not kill people, poorly-built buildings do. Climate breakdown is anthropogenic.&nbsp;
Waiting for a disaster to strike means we have waited too long. Search and rescue readiness are well and good, but much more important is preparedness — seismic resistance structures especially of public buildings, strict zoning to establish open spaces, pre-positioning supplies and simulated drills.
We do not know how much time we have before the next one. But it is not too late to start preparing. &nbsp;
Sonia Awale

Shaken, but not stirred

The series <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/looking-good-by-doing-good">Nepal Made</a> profiles world-class Nepali products and the people behind them. Deepak Acharya was born and raised in Simara, before his uncle took him to Pokhara when he was only in sixth grade. After class, he helped sell jackets and outdoor gear at his uncle's Lakeside store. &nbsp; Twenty-two years later, &nbsp;Acharya is still selling jackets. Not international brands like he used to, but products of his own outdoor gear company, DOLPO.&nbsp; Acharya and his brother-in-law, Krishna Ammai, started making and selling jackets and gear for international companies out of Thamel. After losing his business partner in the 2015 earthquake, he was done selling imported items. He launched his own line of outerwear, named after Nepal’s rugged and remote district, known for its stunning arid landscape. The careful selection of the name DOLPO paid off. It took off, providing a high-quality, affordable Nepal-made alternative to foreign companies.&nbsp; “A lot of work went into choosing the name Dolpo,” says Acharya, who considered what came into people’s minds when they heard the name of a place with double-O sound. “I wanted a brand that local customers would instantly relate to toughness and mountains.” The elegant logo reflects this as well, made up of two overlapping rounded triangles denoting mountains with a third peak in the middle. Underneath is ‘DOLPO’ in upper case sans serif.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260116120148_968d9354094049265372d851d0e44e16ae4fc86b5631481e365e6e977f13d37d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260116120148_968d9354094049265372d851d0e44e16ae4fc86b5631481e365e6e977f13d37d" data-rendition-name="original" width="854" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="Dolpo NT"> <figcaption>Photo: DOLPO</figcaption> </figure>  RIGHT QUALITY, RIGHT PRICE “Our philosophy is Right quality, Right price,” says co-founder Deepak Acharya, adding with a smile that the pricing strategy of a particular competitor has made business easy: “The employees at North Face may sell North Face, but they wear Dolpo.” The rebranding was so successful that Acharya regrets not launching it sooner. The reason for the success is that the outdoor gear market in Nepal has taken off with more and more domestic tourists trekking in the high mountains to share their adventures on social media.&nbsp; Nepalis seem to be consciously choosing sustainable, Nepal made products of international quality. Acharya says: “Of course, there will always be a demographic that only wears North Face, or Sonam. But we have the right design, right price philosophy.”&nbsp; DOLPO uses fabric and material mainly from Japan, and adheres to strict quality control. The reversible down jackets, windcheaters, shorts, fleece-lined pants, trekking trousers, backpacks, and polo shirts can be bought through its website, or two exclusive flagship stores in Sorakhutte and Thamel Chok. “After the rebrand, we slowly made a digital platform, marketed online, and worked with a delivery company to get items directly to buyers,” says Acharya. “We have no brokers or middlemen to keep prices low for the consumer.” DOLPO is a family business with Acharya’s mother and sister also involved, and nephew Nishant Ammai driving digital sales. Acharya points out that there is a lot of business opportunity in Nepal, as there are too many low-quality products being sold at too high a price. &nbsp;“The market is begging for an auto-correction,” he says. For Nepal’s pessimistic youth who are fleeing the country, Acharya urges patience: “The younger generation wants shortcuts. The mindset is to set up a venture and in three years they will be set for life. But this is not how success works.” “Choose a field, put in ten years of effort, really learn about it, and then you will see the vast possibility present in Nepal,” he continues.&nbsp; Last month, the DOLPO logo was seen on the jerseys of the Biratnagar Kings in NPL 2. The company made hats, jackets, and jerseys for star-studded cricket players including Lokesh Bam, Sandeep Lamichhane, Faf Du Plessis, and Martin Guptill. The Kings finished second in the group, and although Acharya is a football fan, he is happy to contribute to the rise of cricket in Nepal. &nbsp;&nbsp;