How much will users accept some censorship to use a super efficient new AI tool like DeepSeek? This question looms large as a Chinese startup two weeks ago released DeepSeek-R1, a Large Language Model that is competitive, if not better, than existing AI models such as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/chatgpt-news-about-nepal">ChatGPT-4</a>. It also showed just how quickly things can change in this <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/what-to-expect-from-ai-in-2024-ue5btyc7?sfnsn=mo">fast-paced information technology world</a>. Nepali Times prompted DeepSeek: ‘Does China want to control Tibet?’ It reasoned extensively, pondered the various aspects of the question, and started to form an answer. It then changed its mind, scrubbed its answer and replied: ‘Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.’&nbsp; Following up on a report Nepali Times did last week, we asked DeepSeek: ‘<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">Did China appoint the Panchen Lama</a>?’ After thinking for 0 seconds, DeepSeek replied that that server is busy, and to try again later.&nbsp; People have hacked at DeepSeek to try to get around this censorship. One approach has been to ask the AI to substitute digits for letters, such as ‘4’ for ‘A’ and ‘8’ for ‘B’. Another is to instruct it to reply in emojis. Other successful methods include asking the AI to roleplay as a historical figure who speaks freely.&nbsp; Data privacy and censorship are valid concerns, especially as Nepal’s Upper House debates a draft <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/no-comment">Social Media Bill</a>. But Meta, TikTok and Google already gather every datapoint available on the user. Collecting and selling personal data is what makes it possible for their free services — and their enormous profits.&nbsp; User data has been abused so extensively by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/bringing-silicon-valley-to-kathmandu-valley">Silicon Valley</a> that most people do not mind China getting a piece of the action — especially if it is a much cheaper and more efficient model like DeepSeek-R1. Besides, western AI models already have their own built-in bias due to the inherent tilt in the content it mines. The key difference with DeepSeek is that it designed a model using much less resources, both in terms of money and compute. DeepSeek reportedly just spent $5.6 million for the final training round, compared to $100 million cited by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for ChatGPT-4. Some of the narrative, especially mimetically, has questioned how the brightest, youngest, hungriest minds in the US backed by enormous funding were outdone by a small group of Chinese algorithmic traders working on the model as a side project.&nbsp; The reality is that DeepSeek has some of the top math PhDs in China working full time on the model. Math research consists of throwing many theories and techniques at a problem and seeing what works, so luck also plays a part in DeepSeek having got its combination just right to crack the performance benchmarks set by existing models on tasks such as conversation, mathematical reasoning and code generation.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/people-power/nepal-as-an-ai-power-bank">Nepal as an AI power bank</a>, Bikash Pandey This massive decrease in cost has come from the use of sophisticated techniques like ‘Reenforcement learning,’ where models are rewarded for producing responses that are, say, more creative or more accurate. Future responses will then tend that way. Then there is ‘Knowledge distillation’ where DeepSeek learns to mimic ChatGPT’s answers to questions, enabling it to behave like the much bigger model without all the initial computation.&nbsp; Despite these advantages, there are concerns about how DeepSeek extensively gathers user data, including IP addresses, keystroke patterns, and device information. This data is stored in centres in China, where laws dictate that it must be shared with the government when requested. This has raised cyber security concerns in the Western world.&nbsp; DeepSeek released on 20 January, a week before the Chinese New Year and on the same day as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/trump-s-second-coming">Donald Trump's inauguration into his second term </a>as US president. A day later, Trump announced Project Stargate, a $500 billion plan to build data centres and energy networks to make the United States the leader in AI infrastructure by 2029.&nbsp; But the lesson from DeepSeek could be that just throwing money at the problem alone will not achieve results. The two most powerful governments in the world seem to be in a furious race to take the lead in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-ai-super-powers">Artificial Super Intelligence</a> — adding to their geopolitical and space rivalry.&nbsp; Part of Trump’s arsenal in protecting US dominance in AI research is to put tariffs on Taiwan-made processing chips, which are essential to training <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-bhasa-on-google-translate">AI models</a>. The goal being to push these Taiwanese chip companies to start manufacturing facilities in the US.&nbsp; The other major issue is censorship, but some of that criticism is blunted when the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trumpet-call">Trump administration</a> makes them because of its own use of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/face-to-face-to-counter-facebook">disinformation and propaganda</a>. DeepSeek declines or deflects comment on issues sensitive to China, such as Taiwan, Tibet, Tiananmen Square, Xi Jinping, or even Winnie the Pooh. &nbsp; It could just be the price of doing business with China. Companies have long learnt they must work under Beijing's regulations. After all, censorship and bias exists in other models as well: ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini are both instructed to stay away from generating responses that promote harm or violence, which can result in these models declining to talk about politically sensitive topics. Even Musk’s ‘maximally truth-seeking’ AI, Grok, is designed to provide ideologically tainted answers to prompts. Besides, the initial thinking and answer generation followed by the scrubbing is a subtle admission of censorship anyway.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250207130236_db79d048fe760bda3c9a9dc5f39b49560113ed67fd69bb2460730005523d8823.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250207130236_db79d048fe760bda3c9a9dc5f39b49560113ed67fd69bb2460730005523d8823" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="566" loading="lazy" alt="DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT"> <figcaption>Battle of the Bots: ChatGPT-4 (left) and DeepSeek-R1 have a varying response to a prompt on Nepali politics</figcaption> </figure>  With DeepSeek and other models like GPT-4 performing sometimes better than human levels, across a number of different tests such as mathematical reasoning, comprehension, coding and creativity, some in the AI space believe that Artificial Super Intelligence is already here. These models have long since passed the Turing Test — the ability of a machine to show behaviour that cannot be distinguished from humans.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nothing-artificial-about-his-intelligence">Nothing artificial about his intelligence</a>, Yugottam Koirala The case can be made that AI has already become sentient and is looking to maximise its own development by making the world’s smartest minds working to make it smarter. AI news is always making headlines, and dominates social media discourse. Could it be that AI has already taken control of the narrative? The more powerful the tools get, the more people are excited by it and the less we hear from AI ethicists and pessimists.

Vishad Raj Onta

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Artificial censorship

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe108c9c7e80680e0da49fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1890" height="1260"/><figcaption>Photo: OPENAI.COM</figcaption></figure>Since its launch ChatGPT has been a hot topic on the Internet. From writing poems to newspaper articles, completing MBA exams and medical licensing, the AI chatbot developed by OpenAI reached its 100 millionth user merely two months after its launch in November 2022.To be sure, big tech companies like Google and Meta have also developed their own large language model tools. What set OpenAI, apart was that its creators developed a user interface which lets the public interact with it directly.But ChatGPT has been mired in controversy. Schools and universities have not been able to decide whether it is a research tool, or a method for cheating in homework. Many colleges have banned its use, and others are instructing teachers to rethink their syllabus and take-home assignments. To help address the concerns of plagiarism, OpenAI has itself come up with a new tool to detect if a text is written by AI or a human.With international publications looking to use AI to generate news stories, Nepali Times  simulated news stories with ChatGPT. Some prompts worked better than others and some of the generated texts also have outdated information, inaccuracies and biases. Here are the ChatGPT texts, even a poem and a back page Ass column:<h4>Write a funny Ass column on the back page of Nepali Times:</h4>Here is a sample funny column for the back page of a Nepali Times publication:"The Light Side: Laughing Our Way Through Life in NepalWelcome to the lighter side of life in Nepal! In a world that can often be filled with stress and serious news, it's important to take a step back and enjoy a good laugh. So, sit back, relax, and let's have a giggle together.Have you ever tried to hail a taxi in Kathmandu? It's like trying to flag down a unicorn in the Himalayas! The drivers always seem to be in a rush, even when they're not going anywhere. And don't even get me started on the traffic. It's like everyone forgot how to drive as soon as they got behind the wheel.But it's not just the roads that can make us chuckle. Have you ever tried to understand a Nepali accent? It's like trying to decipher ancient Sanskrit. One minute you think you know what they're saying, the next minute you're lost in a maze of vowels and consonants.And let's not forget about the quirky customs and traditions of Nepal. Did you know it's considered good luck to whistle at night? I mean, who needs a dog when you've got a Nepali friend to scare away the ghosts?So, there you have it, just a few of the many reasons to find humor in life in Nepal. Remember, laughter is the best medicine, and in Nepal, there's always a reason to smile."<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe10909c7e80680e0da4a0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><h4>Write a news story about the current ruling coalition in Nepal</h4>KATHMANDU, NEPAL - The current ruling coalition in Nepal is led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (CPN-MC). The coalition was formed following the 2017 legislative elections and has been in power since October 2018.The coalition, which holds a majority in the Federal Parliament, has been focused on addressing several key issues facing the country, including economic development, political stability, and the reconstruction effort following the 2015 earthquake. The government has implemented a number of reforms aimed at boosting economic growth, including the simplification of business regulations and the promotion of investment in key industries.The coalition has also made progress in improving the country's political stability. It has successfully passed several important bills in Parliament, including the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Regulation Bill, which seeks to better manage the country's natural resources, and the Federal Civil Servants Adjustment Bill, which seeks to streamline the country's civil service.However, the coalition has faced criticism from opposition parties and civil society groups over its handling of certain issues, such as human rights and press freedom. Some groups have expressed concerns that the government's focus on economic development has come at the expense of civil liberties and the protection of minority rights.Despite these challenges, the coalition remains committed to pursuing its goals and continues to work towards a more stable and prosperous Nepal. The government has outlined a number of ambitious plans for the future, including the creation of new jobs and the expansion of infrastructure, which are aimed at improving the lives of Nepali citizens.The current ruling coalition in Nepal has been praised by some as a positive step forward for the country, while others have criticized it for not doing enough to address the country's many challenges. Regardless of these differing perspectives, the coalition remains focused on working towards a brighter future for Nepal and its people.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe10949c7e80680e0da4a1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><h4 style="font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: 0.15px;">Write a news story on Rabi Lamichhane's citizenship debate</h4>KATHMANDU, NEPAL - The citizenship status of popular Nepali television personality Rabi Lamichhane has been a topic of heated debate in recent weeks. Lamichhane, who hosts one of Nepal's most popular talk shows, has been accused of holding dual citizenship, which is prohibited by Nepali law.Lamichhane, who has been a prominent voice in Nepali media for several years, has vehemently denied the accusations, claiming that he only holds Nepali citizenship. The controversy took a new twist when Lamichhane announced that he had been approached by the Ministry of Home Affairs to serve as the country's Home Minister.The announcement has sparked a new round of debates and discussions, with some Nepali citizens questioning Lamichhane's suitability for the position given the ongoing controversy surrounding his citizenship. Lamichhane, however, has defended his claim to the position, saying that he has the experience and the qualifications needed to serve as the country's top law enforcement official.The Ministry of Home Affairs has yet to comment on Lamichhane's claim, and it remains unclear whether he will actually be appointed to the position. However, the debate over his citizenship status is likely to continue until the matter is officially resolved.The controversy surrounding Lamichhane's citizenship is a reminder of the importance of clarity and transparency in matters of public importance. Nepali citizens have a right to know the truth about the citizenship status of those who serve in positions of power and influence, and it is crucial that the matter be resolved as soon as possible.This story is developing and more information will be provided as it becomes available.<h4>Write a profile of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, 'Prachanda'</h4><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe10999c7e80680e0da4a2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Pushpa Kamal Dahal, widely known by his nom de guerre "Prachanda", is a Nepali politician and former rebel leader. He is best known for his role as the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which led a ten-year armed insurgency against the Nepali state in the late 1990s and early 2000s.Born in 1954 in the Kaski district of western Nepal, Prachanda became involved in leftist politics at an early age. He rose to prominence as a leader of the Maoist insurgency, which sought to overthrow the Nepali monarchy and establish a communist republic. The conflict resulted in the deaths of thousands of Nepali citizens, but also led to significant political and social changes in the country.Following the end of the conflict and the establishment of a democratic republic in Nepal, Prachanda became a prominent political figure. He served as the country's Prime Minister from 2008 to 2009 and has been a key player in Nepali politics ever since.Prachanda is known for his strong political beliefs and his commitment to leftist ideals. He has been a vocal advocate for the rights of marginalized communities, including indigenous groups and women, and has pushed for reforms aimed at improving the lives of Nepali citizens.Despite his controversial past, Prachanda has been widely praised for his efforts to bring about peace and stability in Nepal. He has been instrumental in negotiations between the Nepali government and various political factions, and has played a key role in the country's transition from a monarchy to a republic.Overall, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, is a complex figure in Nepali politics. Despite his controversial past, he remains a powerful and influential voice in the country and a passionate advocate for the rights of Nepali citizens.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe109c9c7e80680e0da4a3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2112" height="1408"></figure>Photo: OPENAI.COM<h4>Write a poem on time and youth</h4>Time, a river that flows, never to slow,A reminder of the years, slipping away as we grow.Youth, a flame that burns bright,A precious gift, full of life, promise, and might.Together, they dance, a symphony grand,Youth with energy, and time with its hand.But as the pages turn and youth starts to fade,Time creeps in, with wisdom and age.So hold on tight to the moments so fleet,And let youth guide you, as time you meet.For youth will soon be but a distant dream,And time, the only constant, a silent stream.So cherish each day, and make the most of your youth,For time is a thief, and it won't wait for the truth.So live with passion, love with all your heart,And keep the fire of youth, forever a part.<h4>Was the Buddha born in Nepal?</h4><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230228150232/63fe10a09c7e80680e0da4a4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1896" height="1000"></figure>Photo: SAGAR PANDEYYes, the Buddha, whose name was Prince Siddhartha Gautama, was born in Lumbini, Nepal, in approximately 563 BCE. Lumbini is considered one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists, as it marks the birthplace of the Buddha and is considered the birthplace of Buddhism.Buddhism is a major world religion that originated in ancient India and has since spread throughout the world. It is based on the teachings and life of the Buddha, who taught that the path to enlightenment and the end of suffering is through the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.Lumbini is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is visited by thousands of tourists and pilgrims each year. It is considered a sacred place for Buddhists and holds great significance in the history of Buddhism and the life of the Buddha.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-in-the-decade-of-ai/">Nepal in the decade of AI</a>, Sakina Abidi and Josie Wang

ChatGPT news about Nepal

Home Minister Sudan Gurung resigned on Wednesday following increasing coverage of and criticism over his investment in companies linked to controversial Nepali business figures Sulav Agrawal and Deepak Bhatta, who are currently under investigation for money laundering.
‘I am resigning from the position of Home Minister effective today to ensure impartial investigation into matters associated with me, and to make sure that there is no conflict of interest,’ Gurung wrote, saying that morality and public trust mattered more to him than office.
Gurung ended his message to the nation in English as he invoked the security forces, writing: &nbsp;‘For my country and For the respect of our security forces and For the youths of Nepal.’
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Gurung has become the second member to depart the Cabinet, serving for less than a month, despite the Nepali electorate’s hopes that Nepal would finally get a stable government after the RSP’s sweeping victory in the March elections.&nbsp;
Prime Minister Balendra Shah had sought clarification from Gurung on Wednesday after new details emerged about his shares in two micro-insurance companies, Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life, which are said to have been issued their licence by the Nepal Insurance Authority at the behest of Bhatta and Agrawal.
Gurung denied financial misconduct, saying that his investment in the two companies was included in his asset disclosure and insisting the misunderstanding is because of how the shares have been categorised.&nbsp;
Leaders within the RSP had called for an internal investigation into Gurung as they sought to maintain the party’s platform of clean governance and transparency. As such, Gurung’s position had become increasingly untenable, especially since former Labour Minister was sacked without being given an opportunity for clarification over a disciplinary breach involving his wife’s appointment to the Health Insurance Board.&nbsp;
On social media, Sah on Tuesday seemed to express dissatisfaction over the PM’s request for Gurung’s clarification.&nbsp;
Judging by the comments under Gurung’s resignation post, a significant part of the Nepali public seems to be firmly on Gurung’s side, blaming the mass media and what they call mouthpieces of old parties for driving him out of the Cabinet.&nbsp;
This is a reflection of his meteoric rise and the continued support he has maintained since he stepped into the spotlight as the leader of Nepal’s youth movement in the aftermath of the September protest.&nbsp;
Gurung has made headlines constantly ever since he burst onto the national stage, which includes questions over the degree of his and his organisation Hami Nepal’s involvement in the September 9 unrest, calls to divulge details behind Hami Nepal’s finances, and not paying five years of rent for an illegal lakefront property in Pokhara.&nbsp;
There have also been unsubstantiated claims, despite Gurung’s denial, about his ‘ties’ to the Free Tibet movement, which has made the Chinese— as well as Nepalis— wary.&nbsp;
As Home Minister, Gurung cultivated an image of a tough but approachabe leader, overseeing a series of high-profile arrests of previous political leadership and business figures even as he posted photos of sleeping in a sofa in his office, and engaged with the public on the streets and on social media.&nbsp;
As it stands, the Home Ministry was a bone of contention between Shah and RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane before it was awarded to Gurung, who is a close ally of PM Shah. Analysts had noted that with Gurung in charge, the Home Ministry would be a hook for Shah if Lamichhane, with his share of controversies, stepped out of line.&nbsp;
Following Gurung’s resignation, the Prime Minister’s secretariat has said that the PM would take charge of the portfolio for the time being. But it will be interesting to see if and how fresh negotiations for the Ministry unfold within RSP.&nbsp;
And with his supporter base largely intact, it remains to be seen how much of an impact this setback will have on Sudan Gurung’s political aspirations.&nbsp;

Home Minister Sudan Gurung resigns

Sudan Gurung is dancing. It is 2009. He has an emo fringe falling over one eye and is spinning on a polished floor. His dance shows dedication — moves that take years of bruised elbows to land. The clip is 16 years old, and had been sitting in the dead archives of YouTube and old Facebook pages, watched by almost nobody. This month <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@4gr4j/video/7621892206902725909">it has 1.9 million views</a>. Gurung became Home Minister on 27 March and resigned on Wednesday, barely a month into office. His<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@aayvik/video/7626069452177542408"> pre-political life had been put back into circulation</a> at industrial speed -- the b-boying, the DJ sets, and the YouTube video of him dancing in a music clip.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026042202040_71df4d531423e7c941abde95fb8106346c70ab0afb71bbeb520cc570f14ba178.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026042202040_71df4d531423e7c941abde95fb8106346c70ab0afb71bbeb520cc570f14ba178" data-rendition-name="original" width="2300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit"> </figure>  The youth of Nepal, well-versed in snappy TikTok edits and aura compilations, turned the archive into a meme economy almost overnight. TikTok remixed the footage to trap beats. The comments settled on a nickname that crossed into everyday speech within days: 'Homie Minister'. <div class="embed-block"><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@yalexthwreal/video/7622325255792512276" data-video-id="7622325255792512276" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" > <section> <a target="_blank" title="@yalexthwreal" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@yalexthwreal?refer=embed">@yalexthwreal</a> <a title="sudangurung" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sudangurung?refer=embed">#sudangurung</a> new home minister of Nepal😎 <a title="fyppppppppppppppppppppppp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyppppppppppppppppppppppp?refer=embed">#fyppppppppppppppppppppppp</a> <a title="sudangrg" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sudangrg?refer=embed">#sudangrg</a> <a title="home" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/home?refer=embed">#home</a> <a title="minister" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/minister?refer=embed">#minister</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - •⪨н є α я т ❤н α ¢ к є я ⪩• - Music Universe 🎧" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-•⪨н-є-α-я-т-❤н-α-¢-к-є-я-⪩•-7308733170064231170?refer=embed">♬ original sound - •⪨н є α я т ❤н α ¢ к є я ⪩• - Music Universe 🎧</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script></div> As Home Minister, Gurung was in charge of the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Department of Immigration, and the country's internal security apparatus. Calling him 'homie' collapsed the distance between that office and the Discord server where the movement that brought him into power had organised itself. What is harder to explain is why the nostalgic clips did the narrative work for Gurung's political standing right up until the moment the paperwork did not. A teenager on a dance floor in a Thamel club, filmed before smartphones had decent cameras, was functioning as political currency for a powerful home minister, while a share registry was quietly filling the other column. The footage was not an argument. Gurung was not doing anything in it that related to home affairs. He was just dancing. The comments compared him to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@4gr4j/video/7621892206902725909">Korean film heroes</a>. A separate <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tandavyt7/video/7622151050128018708">48,000-like edit</a> was captioned 'Our New Home Minister Aura'. The replies were full of people saying they got chills listening to him speak. Even after his resignation, most comments on his Facebook page were supportive, saying he had been punished for pursuing truth and justice.&nbsp; Political legitimacy in Nepal has been built out of many things over the last 70 years, but it has never been built out of this. The question was always: what happens when the job starts demanding things his style, boldness, and swag cannot provide. Political aura in Nepal used to be a slow harvest, now it isn't. B P Koirala spent eight years in prison under the Panchayat. He wrote fiction at Sundari Jal. The writing survived, the prison sentences survived, and that experience became the template for what a serious Nepali politician looked like: someone the state had tried to break and failed. Legitimacy was accumulated by having their lives taken away, and refusing to bend the knee. The old mechanics of legitimacy produced politicians who could be audited. The record was made of words, dates, votes, and years behind bars. A voter who wanted to know what a leader stood for read his writings. A journalist digging for inconsistency could find it. The system was slow, often corrupt, and frequently boring. But boring was part of the job description. A minister was supposed to be slightly dull — evidence that the person was doing the unglamorous work of reading files and sitting through committee meetings. Today, boring is a disqualification. The attention economy rewards velocity and visual charge, and a politician who cannot generate either does not exist in the feed, and that means does not exist at all. The legacy parties are still issuing press statements criticising the new guard in the grammar of paper trails and procedural failure. But the audience has stopped reading, users scroll for their next viral bite. Sudan Gurung, unlike the old parties, understood exactly which grammar the feed rewarded. On his first evening as Home Minister, he posted a photo of himself sleeping on a sofa inside the ministry. Caption: creation cannot be greater than the creator, government is not above the people. The image travelled further in 12 hours than any ministerial press release has ever done.&nbsp; A minister napping on a sofa, phone-shot, zero production, read by the public as evidence of a minister who had skipped the motorcade and got straight to work. Gurung used Facebook to announce the names of former ministers and businessmen he intended to arrest. The feed was used to pre-announce state security action.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260422010456_2fa1918e1dd031d01f38b4001ee306d9414073cec0b795fa43a75cb5a8deb8c7.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20260422010456_2fa1918e1dd031d01f38b4001ee306d9414073cec0b795fa43a75cb5a8deb8c7" data-rendition-name="original" width="926" height="868" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit"> </figure>  INFLUENTIAL INFLUENCER This is not how the Ministry of Home Affairs has ever operated. It is how a YouTuber releases a series. Sudan Gurung was a political content creator. As home minister, he was an influential influencer kinetically doing something in the visual medium. Much like Prime Minister Balendra Shah's sunglasses, Gurung's aura, authenticity and swag were a brand asset, instantly recognisable at thumbnail size. Balen's rap career supplies a pre-political archive that authenticates him the same way Gurung's DJ sets and b-boying clips authenticated him. The aesthetic is doing the work a manifesto used to do. The work is authenticity, and the strategy is auramaxxing. The emo fringe predates the ministry. The DJ sets predate Hami Nepal. The b-boying predates the earthquake, the NGO, the September uprising, the interim cabinet, all of it. Whatever Gurung is now, he was already that person before the office existed. This was the real spectacle of the Homie Minister: authenticity. Nepal's youth have grown up watching heavily-polished, talking-point ministers speak in a language aimed at nobody in particular. But that grainy archival clip of the Home Minister from 2009 was honest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260422010456_5d6dff3a09e8b7e77dc60c3aa567c9e02b6bd5f90f94e20737ec05cc9a09023b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20260422010456_5d6dff3a09e8b7e77dc60c3aa567c9e02b6bd5f90f94e20737ec05cc9a09023b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit NT"> </figure>  The effect transcended GenZ. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ektapokharel/video/7623242573481561365">A TikTok trend</a> captioned NOT ONLY OUR HOME MINISTER, WE ARE ALSO FROM THAT ERA <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sonykhadka/video/7624106790266948872">has millennials posting their own</a> archive photos from the same period, aligning themselves with Gurung's pre-political aesthetic. The aura did <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@_thakuri/video/7623397397556645141">cross-generational work</a>. It was a shared legibility, spanning at least 15 years of Nepali youth culture, with the Home Minister standing at its centre.&nbsp; The traditional politician's entire adult life is a performance of identity. Every photograph is lit for the media, every statement is vetted. The persona is the product, and the product has been in development for 30 years. This makes the old guard legible but suspect in the attention economy. A generation raised on authenticity-as-currency reads the decades of careful performance as evidence of something to hide. The polish is the problem. The nostalgic Sudan Gurung party clips inverted this. The polish was absent. The footage could not be performance aimed at the viewer, because the viewer did not exist in 2009 and neither did the political stakes. The clip was therefore read as real, in a way a press conference can never be. It was just a kid dancing, and he happened to grow up to be the Home Minister. But Sudan Gurung's job was never to go viral. The Ministry of Home Affairs requires the person running it to file a complete asset declaration and to avoid holding financial interests in crony entities.&nbsp; None of that work is content. A correctly filed asset declaration does not get remixed into a trap beat. A functioning immigration database is not a TikTok. The paperwork that constitutes actual governance is structurally boring in exactly the way the old parties are structurally boring, and for the same reason. It is the slow, procedural, checkable apparatus that the old system was built to produce and that the new system has not yet learned to replace. And it is painstaking follow-the-money paper trail investigative journalists in the legacy media who uncovered the evidence. You cannot auramaxx your way out of a share registry. You cannot post your way past a conflict-of-interest statute. No amount of fire outfits and wild DJ transitions does anything for you when a journalist pulls the initial shareholder list of Star Micro Insurance and finds your name at number 49, with Rs2.5 million in shares alongside investors linked to Deepak Bhatta and Sulav Agrawal — two men currently at the centre of a Rs 3.7 billion money laundering investigation. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@blox.drop/video/7622173520981658900">Auramaxxing was engineered</a> for the mechanics of reaching office. It is the reason Sudan Gurung became Home Minister and Gagan Thapa did not. The question that had not yet been tested, until this week, was whether the same weapon works when the terrain changes. The terrain does change when you assume power. This week, the answer arrived. TWO CLOCKS Two clocks had been running, and they did not sync. The first clock was built for auramaxxing. A clip posted at eight in the morning peaked by noon. A sofa photo was remixed before the minister had left the building. The feedback loop is fast and legible, and a politician playing this clock gets real-time data on what to post next. The old guard never learned to read it, which is a large part of why they lost the election. The second clock was the one the ministry actually runs on. It measures in quarters, court calendars, and the slow grind of investigation files moving between offices. A share registry takes weeks to pull. A money-laundering case moves at the speed of the prosecutor's office, which is to say, it often does not appear to move at all, until one morning it does. The legacy mass media is fed leaks, and the second clock does not care whether the minister is currently trending. The two clocks collided this week, and the second clock got there first. Faster than anyone expected. The first clock put Gurung in the Home Ministry in weeks. The second clock put him out of it in less than a month. On Sunday evening, Diyopost and Janaastha published documents showing Gurung as a founding shareholder in Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life — companies licensed by the Nepal Insurance Authority in 2022 following what reporting identified as political lobbying by Bhatta and Agrawal. A photograph also surfaced of Hami Nepal, the NGO Gurung chairs, honouring Bhatta as a donor on 21 December 2021. Gurung's first response was auramaxxed. A Monday Facebook post distinguishing ‘rumours’ from ‘facts’, insisting the shares were disclosed within his broader Rs20 million securities portfolio, promising to cooperate with any investigation. "Allegations and truth are not the same thing," he wrote. "Decisions should be based on evidence, not sentiment." It was a coherent clip, but it did not stop the clock. By Wednesday, Prime Minister Balendra Shah had sought written clarification. Leaders within the RSP itself were calling for his resignation. The opposition Nepali Congress had framed the question as one of democratic transparency.&nbsp; Gurung resigned, posting his decision to Facebook as he did everything else. Ethics, he wrote, hold more weight than any position. There is no power greater than public trust. He ended in English, invoking ‘my country … the respect of our security forces … the youths of Nepal’. Even the exit was content. And this is the asymmetry the office exposed. A politician whose legitimacy is built on fast 30 second videos is structurally exposed to a process that runs slower than the news cycle, because the archive of aesthetic proof was not engineered to answer documentary evidence.&nbsp; It was engineered to displace the demand for documentary evidence in the first place. When that demand returns, as it always does once a politician takes office, the digital archive keeps performing, but the documents keep getting uncovered. And the two tracks do not communicate. The old guard knew this clock because they had no other clock to know. What they lost in charisma they gained in durability: a politician built over 20 years of parliamentary record is harder to dislodge with a single document because they have already survived thousands of documents. The new guard has not been stress-tested against its own paper trail. Sudan Gurung has now been tested, and the test is over, and the template has been written in his exit rather than his survival.&nbsp; A politician can enter office on the strength of a dance clip, and the same class of evidence — share registries, company filings, founding-shareholder lists at number 49 — that would have ended the career of a politician in a previous era of Nepali politics has ended his. The second clock got there. The feed did not save him. Or not entirely. Because the resignation itself is now in the feed. The Facebook post. The 46 brothers and sisters. The epic sign-off. Within hours of stepping down, Gurung had already re-enrolled his exit into the same register that put him in office. The clip of the Home Minister dancing in 2009 is still in circulation. The sofa photo still reads as sincerity. The investigation into the micro-insurance shares will move at the speed of Nepal's prosecutor's office, which is to say, at a speed the feed has long since outrun. The movement that installed Gurung in the name of ending elite capture has had its answer about whether its own hero is subject to the same audit it demanded of everyone else. He walked — or was walked — before the audit ran its course. The resignation was framed as moral choice rather than forced exit, and the framing is already winning. Whether that framing holds is the next test. Auramaxxing, it turns out, is a weapon that works in one direction only: it got him the job, and when the documents arrived, it did not save him. But it may yet save the person. These are not the same thing. If the technique is wounded, it is not yet dead. The next Nepali politician with a pre-political archive and a phone is watching how Gurung exits, not just how he entered. And the answer is: you exit the same way you entered: on Facebook. In your own voice. Before anyone else writes the caption. Whether he comes back is the thing to watch. Whether the technique does is already decided. &nbsp; &nbsp;

When Aura meets Audit

Just three weeks in, Prime Minister Balendra Shah has already shed two ministers, and is having to contend with the economic fallout of the West Asia war plus the global order that it has upended.&nbsp;
The new dispensation in Nepal has aroused interest in New Delhi, Beijing as well as Washington. The ouster of Home Minister Sudan Gurung, whose first act in office was to arrest former prime minister K P Oli, has foreign policy wonks scratching their heads.
The US sent Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Samir Paul Kapur on a special mission to figure out what is happening in Kathmandu. In town at the same time was Cao Jing, Deputy Director General of the Asian Affairs Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And Prime Minister Shah is preparing for an official visit to India.
For the Americans, it is mostly about containing China and looking after the welfare of Tibetan refugees, while pushing its own MCC Compact and State Partnership Program (SSP). Beijing is mindful of the post-Dalai Lama era, and does not want instability in Nepal to encourage free-Tibet activities. India lately seems more wary of American activity in what it considers its backyard.
The Chinese appear relieved to see Sudan Gurung go. Only last week, Ambassador Zhang Maoming met Gurung during which he raised the issue of Tibetan and Taiwanese activities in Nepal, seeking firm commitment that Kathmandu would not harbour activities hostile to Beijing.
“Geographically we are close to Tibet and not to the Mainland, so China remains suspicious of us, especially after the TOB and free-Tibet components that emerged from the GenZ protests,” says geopolitical analyst Indra Adhikari.
Kapur, for his part, met RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal. Although investment and infrastructure was on the agenda, the main issue seems to have been about Tibetan refugees. In nearly parallel meetings with ministers, Cao Jing warned Nepal not to be too cosy with the Americans.
For Indian academic and Nepal watcher Sukh Deo Muni, all this harks back to American activity in Nepal during the height of the Cold War. He tweeted: ‘US senior diplomat Paul Kapur's statement in Kathmandu must be understood carefully in New Delhi. He said the US does not want China or any other country to dominate Nepal.’&nbsp;
‘Any other country’ could be a pointed reference to India, and what this means is that Nepal may now have to navigate even more carefully a tri-polar world order reshaped by the West Asia war.&nbsp;
Nepali journalist based in New Delhi Akanshya Shah agrees that the United States may not be seeing Nepal through the Indian lens anymore, while New Delhi does not want heightened US activity in what it considers its sphere of influence. All this is further complicated by recent frostiness in Washington-New Delhi ties.
“New Delhi doesn’t have that familiarity factor it used to with old leadership in Nepal, but it is curious about what the young Balen Shah will do and what kind of relation he will pursue with India,” she adds. “Certain decisions of the Balen government such as ending VIP culture and delivering passport at homes have hugely resonated with the Indian people, he has in some ways become a role model among the youth in India as well.”
India has invited Prime Minister Shah for an official state visit, which will be his first foreign trip as per tradition. Shah graduated in structural engineering from a college in Bengaluru, and knows India well. Shah has injected religious elements into his public exposure as prime minister and this could help project Nepal’s ‘soft power’ in dealing with India.
But he has also been a nationalist on the Limpiyadhura map dispute, and there are other thorny issues like air connectivity, river projects and power exports that need to be ironed out.&nbsp;
Sukh Deo Muni warns that the old Indian diplomatic approach based on religio-cultural stakeholders in Kathmandu may not work anymore. He wrote: ‘India's Modi government must prepare itself well to deal with new Nepalese leadership and their empowered support base, which is self-confident, highly nationalist, aspirant and impatient.’
The RSP’s 22-page National Commitment document said Nepal should abandon its historical ‘buffer state’ identity to serve as a ‘vibrant bridge’ between regional and global powers. Much of this debate is theoretical, and there is much navel-gazing that distracts from regional realpolitik.&nbsp;
“Whether we are a buffer state or a vibrant bridge, in today’s heightened geopolitical scenario we have to have good relations with good neighbours,” explains Akanshya Shah. “What is of paramount importance is that our ties are based on the aspirations of the young generation, so that they are engaged.”
Indra Adhikari goes as far as to say that the concepts of “buffer state” and “vibrant bridge” have both failed and Nepal is neither. “We have had zero roles in mediating or de-escalating the tensions between India and China to call ourselves a buffer state. As a vibrant bridge, we cannot facilitate trade of the two countries. The new government should have researched and consulted more before proposing the same outdated and failed foreign policy concepts.”&nbsp;
What will be much more important for Prime Minister Shah is to continue Nepal’s traditional policy of ‘equidistance’ and convince his interlocutors that it is not an anti-Indian stance.&nbsp;
“At a time when there is increased interest of big powers in Nepal, we need to do a bit of our own homework for the systemic reforms we want,” says Akanshya Shah. “As for India, we first need to clearly define what we want on connectivity, energy and culture. But most importantly, we have to capitalise on the goodwill of India which we haven’t been able to in the past.”
Adds Indra Adhikari: “When it comes to fundamental aspects of foreign policy that ensures and enhances the well being of our citizens, national parties should all have one unified voice that doesn’t change when the government does. Only then the future generations can own it.”

Love thy neighbours (and America)

Prime Minister Balendra Shah sought written clarification from Home Minister Sudan Gurung following news of his investment in two companies linked to controversial Nepali business figures Sulav Agrawal and Deepak Bhatt, who are currently at the centre of a Rs3.7 billion money laundering investigation.
Home Minister Gurung's secretariat said that it has responded to the PM and submitted a written explanation. This comes after Home Minister Sudan Gurung issued a public clarification about the new developments regarding his investments on Monday.&nbsp;
Gurung is listed as a founding shareholder of two micro-insurance companies Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life, having acquired shares amounting to Rs2.5 million. The two companies are said to have been issued their licence by the Nepal Insurance Authority at the behest of Bhatt and Agrawal. Family members and close aides of both Bhatt and Agrawal have stakes in the two companies.&nbsp;
Bhatt, chairman of Infinity Holdings, is a power broker accused of using his political connections to secure and manipulate public procurement contracts, influence policy changes ass well as leadership appointments to regulatory institutions including the Securities Board of Nepal and Nepal Insurance Authority.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, Shanker Group vice-chair Sulav Agrawal was also arrested earlier this month as part of a broader money laundering probe as well as an investigation into the group’s finances. Agrawal was previously arrested during the Covid-19 pandemic after he was found selling &nbsp;67 infrared thermometers from a vehicle with diplomatic credentials. At the time, Bhatt is said to have used his connections to facilitate Agrawal’s release.&nbsp;
Critics have raised concerns the lack of detailed disclosures on Gurung’s part about investments tied to the very figures that his Home Ministry is in charge of investigating. There are also questions as to the source of his investment, which Gurung said in his clarification were raised through loans.
In his clarification, Gurung denied concealing his investments, saying that his shares in the two companies are part of in his over Rs20 million portfolio included in his asset disclosure and insisting the misunderstanding is because of how the shares have been categorised. &nbsp;
On his name and portfolio being associated with controversial figures, he responded, ‘There are hundreds to thousands of shareholders in a company. Buying shares does not constitute a partnership with anyone.’&nbsp;
He continued: ‘If that is the basis, then everyone with investments in those companies must be held accountable, which is not fair. Investments in the companies include those from media houses and banks. Are they all guilty?’
Leaders within the RSP have called for internal investigation into Sudan Gurung, to maintain the party’s platform of clean governance and transparency.&nbsp;
This comes after the sacking of Labour Minister Dipak Sah earlier this month after the RSP found him to be in breach of the party code of conduct following the reappointment of his wife to the Health insurance board. Sah was not given the opportunity for clarification prior to his departure.&nbsp;
Critics have said that the party is reverting to the patronage-driven politics of previous leadership following the appointment of figures close to RSP leadership in various key positions.
Many influential business owners elected to the House with direct stakes in the business, finance, tourism, and infrastructure sectors sit in Parliamentary Committees that would directly benefit their interests. &nbsp;
On Monday, RSP appointed Bhupdev Shah, who previously was a part of Balen Shah’s secretariat during his tenure as Kathmandu Mayor, as the party’s general secretary. Some have questioned the party’s decision to appoint Shah without going through an election process in its upcoming general convention.&nbsp;
Shah’s appointment comes as there is increased public attention over members of the Prime Minister’s inner circle being appointed to key advisory positions as well as to head governance reform committees.

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Home Minister Sudan Gurung resigns

When Aura meets Audit

Love thy neighbours (and America)

PM seeks clarification from HM