<img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a615e9c7e80680e056ecdjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>The third day of Tihar is Gai Tihar which celebrates cows. Cows are seen as a symbol of mother and nurture because they give nourishing milk. People of Bhaktapur celebrate Gai Tihar by worshiping cows, anointing them with auspicious red and yellow colours, marigold flowers, and giving them favourite treats to eat. The third day is also celebrated as Laxmi Pooja, when devotees worship Laxmi the goddess of wealth. It is also the main day of dipavali, when homes are lit up with lamps.  <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a61619c7e80680e056ecejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Photos: Monika Deupala</figcaption></figure><img width="1500" height="1058" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a61649c7e80680e056ecfjpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a61689c7e80680e056ed0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="4702" height="3135" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a616b9c7e80680e056ed1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a616e9c7e80680e056ed2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a61729c7e80680e056ed3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="5616" height="3744" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a61759c7e80680e056ed4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a61789c7e80680e056ed5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a617c9c7e80680e056ed6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a617f9c7e80680e056ed7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="5616" height="3744" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a61839c7e80680e056ed8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110815110/636a61869c7e80680e056ed9jpeg.jpg" alt="">

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Bhaktapur celebrates Gai Tihar

<figure><img width="1400" height="933" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933619c7e80680e03df95jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Next week as Nepalis celebrate Tihar, the festival of lights, few will remember that it will mark the second anniversary of the end of paralysing power cuts.Sometimes lasting up to 18 hours a day, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-they-kept-nepal-in-the-dark-ages/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">load-shedding</a> increased the people’s hardship and crippled the economy. The man credited for ending power cuts, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/interview/interview-with-Kulman-Ghising,3409" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kulman Ghising</a> of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) said this week: “Light up your houses this Tihar, there is enough electricity.”The NEA estimates that demand next week will peak at 1,270 MW, but Ghising says there is enough supply from domestic generation and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/nepal-india-thermal-power,3570" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indian imports</a> to meet it. Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/climate-climax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate climax</a>, Editorial <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-a-fossil-past-to-an-electric-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From a fossil past to an electric future</a>, Om Astha Rai <img width="327" height="327" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933649c7e80680e03df96jpeg.jpg" alt="">The reason for Ghising’s confidence is that 30MW has been added this year, his efforts to manage supply and cut leakage have increased capacity, and the Kulekhani reservoir is full. Even all this would not have ensured enough power – the real reason there will not be a dark Tihar is because of electricity imports from India.This year, Nepal’s electricity demand reached 1,281MW, but domestic generation never exceeded 525MW. The shortfall was made up by importing up to 505MW of electricity from coal-fired thermal plants in Bihar. Even with that, industries and some districts still suffered power cuts. The end to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/corruption-in-electricity-industry-of-Nepal,3408" target="_blank" rel="noopener">load-shedding</a> has come at great environmental and economic cost. The average per capita carbon footprint of Nepalis is still low, but it has doubled because of fossil energy bought from India. The electricity import bill this year added Rs20 billion to the Rs150 billion Nepal was already spending to buy petroleum products from India.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/decarbonise-now/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Decarbonise now</a>, Ajaya Dixit<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/electri-city-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electri-City Cars</a>, Sikuma RaiThe government defends the power import, arguing that it is only a stop-gap measure and transmission lines built to import electricity from India can later be used to export Nepal’s surplus power to the Indian market.Former Minister of Water Resources Dipak Gyawali says that is not likely to happen because Nepal’s electricity demand is growing 100MW per year, and there is a lot of suppressed demand that not even big projects like Tama Kosi (440MW) can cover.Instead of building cross-border transmission lines, Gyawali urges the NEA to focus on connecting small hydro projects to the national grid to meet future domestic growth in consumption for cooking and transportation.Sadly, even while importing electricity generated from dirty coal from India, NEA cannot buy clean hydropower from private plants like the 6MW Khani Khola because they do not have transmission lines connecting them to the grid.Says one hydropower investor: “This is the irony of it all: we want to sell our electricity to NEA, but it is buying power from India.”

The cost of light

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fToB9yl5T44Tihar is right around the corner, but the festival of lights is not going to be a holiday for the Prajapatis of Bhaktapur. They are busy with their ancestral occupation of moulding clay to make earthen lamps called pala.This week, the courtyards and sidewalks of Bhaktapur are covered in clay lamps, soaked in coloured water, and drying in the sun until they can be fired.Das Ram Prajapati has been carrying on the profession of his forebears, and says proudly that his family sold 25,000 clay lamps last year, earning Rs 80,000. But even though modern LED garden lights from China have replaced earthen lamps in many households, the clay oil lamps are still regarded as auspicious for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/167/Culture/5035#.W9rM_9UzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Laxmi Puja, Mha Puja and Bhai Tika</a>, which fall between 7-10 Noati clan have started mass producing the lamps with a wheel machine, but the purists still stick to traditional manual chakra to produce potteries the old fashioned way.“I don’t feel good about using a machine to make pottery, my grandfather taught me to use the chakra when I was a boy and I still enjoy using it,” says 74-year-old Lalit Prajapati, the only person making pala the traditional way in the Talako area of Bhaktapur.His skill of turning a clay mould into beautiful pottery attracts tourists by the hundreds to Talako. “It is necessary to preserve our tradition, rather than going for mass production and money. We should not forget why we are making them in the first place,” he adds.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/a-time-to-every-purpose-occupation,3023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A time to every purpose</a>, Sahina Shrestha<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17564#.W9rM89UzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A healthy tihar</a>, Buddha Basnyat<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/bhaktapur-shows-the-way-by-rebuilding-itself/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bhaktapur shows the way by rebuilding itself</a>, Suyog Prajapati<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933689c7e80680e03df98jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Photos: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>What Lalit Prajapati is particularly worried about is that the young have gone abroad for education or jobs, or have taken up other professions. There is no next generation to carry on the tradition.Also, there is now a scarcity of the special black clay needed for making pottery because of the urban sprawl around Bhaktapur. Shiva Kumari Prajapati and her family traditionally sold pala in the markets of all three towns of the valley before <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/mycity/2014/10/31/tihar-celebrations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tihar</a>. Residents of the Valley sought the Bhaktapur pala because they knew it was the best quality.Dasa Ram Prajapati says pottery production shifted to Bhaktapur because Patan and Kathmandu ran out of proper clay. But now the concrete jungle has spread to Bhaktapur as well, houses stand over former clay pits.Read also: <a style="font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.15px; background-color: #ffffff;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/nation-bhaktapur,597" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bhaktapur's Mithila influence</a>, Bhaskar Koirala<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/6369336b9c7e80680e03df99jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="934">“I am using my two-year-old stockpile of black clay that I bought for Rs2,000 back then, it is much more expensive now,” he says.Nhuchhe Ram Prajapati sources his clay from Harisiddhi, from outside the Valley, or from someone who is building a tall house that need foundations deep enough to reach the black clay layer.Shumser Prajapati is the owner of Samrat Ceramics, and the only one from his generation to still be involved in the ancestral profession. He has been innovating with design and texture of his clay products. “I see it more as an art than a profession,” says Shumsher, who sells double the number of earthen lamps in Tihar compared to the rest of the year.His pala have better designs and finish, and now come with inbuilt wax and wick already attached. He has also started making scented lamps with wax of different colours. His son Samrat takes the lamps to the Asan market in Kathmandu every morning in a van. The father and son say their greatest problem now is to find suitable clay, not buyers.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/rebuilding-new-structures-using-old-traditions,2827" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rebuilding new structures using old tradition</a>, Sahina Shrestha<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/tourists-trickle-back-to-Bhaktapur" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bhaktapur is waiting for you</a>, Peregrine Frissell<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/6369336e9c7e80680e03df9ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="934">

Monika Deupala

Bhaktapur’s potters adapt to survive

<figure><img width="1400" height="1190" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/6369335b9c7e80680e03df92jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Catroon: DIWAKAR CHETTRI</figcaption></figure>Forget the horror movies, no more science fiction, stop watching post-apocalyptic Hollywood. We have the real thing coming to a planet near you.If things were not scary enough, the latest report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released in Incheon earlier this month paints a terrifying picture of a dying Earth.This year saw record heat waves and droughts across Europe, Australia, Japan and the United States. Every new hurricane and typhoon breaks world records for wind speed. The hottest years since records started being kept were in the last 10 years, but 2018 was just a trailer of what is to come.If the current pace of warming continues, millions will start dying in heat waves across northern India and sub-Saharan Africa by the middle of the century. Droughts, flash floods and storms will be even more intense and frequent, there will be water shortages leading to starvation and famine. Coral reefs will all die, affecting fish populations. Sea level rise will submerge coastal cities, a fourth of Bangladesh’s land area will go underwater, the Maldives will disappear. Nepal’s mountains and glaciers will lose much of their permanent ice.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-cost-of-light/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The cost of light</a>, Om Astha Rai <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=15778&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electri-city Cars</a>, Sikuma Rai <img width="327" height="327" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/6369335e9c7e80680e03df93jpeg.jpg" alt="">And that is probably the best-case scenario if warming cannot be capped at 1.5o by 2040. In reality, it will probably exceed 2o. By the end of the century, we are looking at average global temperatures at 4o warmer – this means we should replace the term climate change with ‘climate collapse’.Many of us who have been writing about the climate for the past decades have been called ‘alarmists’ or ‘fear mongers’, but this time it is the scientists who are panicking. The reason is that at a time when action on emission reduction is urgent, populist climate deniers are being elected in democracies across the world. It is getting so scary, citizens and politicians are burying their heads in the sand.These alarming changes have happened with just an average 1o warming since the industrial age. The IPCC report makes clear that in the next decades, whether the warming is 1.5o or 2o will make a world of a difference – 1.5o means heat waves will be less severe meaning millions will not die, the polar ice caps will not melt as fast, fewer plants and animals will become extinct, sea level will not rise by as much, fewer coral reefs will bleach. However, the report warns that governments only have 12 more years to implement measures so that global warming will be less than 1.5o.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=15756&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From a fossil past to an electric future</a>, Om Astha Rai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=15845&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Decarbonise now</a>, Ajay DixitNow that we know how bad things are, what are we going to do about it in Nepal? For years we have argued that since we did not create the problem, and what we do is not going to save the planet, we should just try to adapt. But, as a new report State of Climate Action in Nepal shows, Nepal also needs to take mitigation action – not so much to slow global warming, but to save the country’s economy from collapse.Despite international treaties Nepal has signed, and successive governments paying lip service to a renewable economy, the country’s fossil energy imports are soaring, including through electricity imports from thermal plants in India. Solar and biogas programs have languished, and there has been nearly no tangible progress on electric public transport.‘Nepal’s move towards a sustainably renewable future is sluggish, and indeed often regressively heading towards more fossil fuel addiction,’ the report concludes.The most glaring lapse is in sustainable harnessing of Nepal’s hydropower. Chronic governance failure and sheer stupidity of our rulers have resulted in Nepal now importing half its electricity from Indian coal-fired plants, doubling our carbon footprint. New hydropower plants are expected to add 2,000MW in the next two years, but these will barely meet suppressed demands and since they are all run-of-river schemes, the winter power shortage will continue.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The great Himalayan Thaw</a>, Ajay Dixit<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/interview/interview-with-david-molden-icimod,3074" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepalis paying price for climate change</a>The number of vehicles is nearing 3 million, with public transport vehicles making up less than 3% of the total, and the number of electric vehicles is negligible. There is weak political will to promote more efficient and reliable public transport because of the lobbying power of bus syndicates. Although taxes for electric vehicles have been slashed (see page 8-9), there is no sign of a proactive strategy to wean transportation from fossil fuels.All this is impacting public health due to a proliferation of two-wheelers and lack of emission controls. The poor condition of roads and highways has decreased the efficiency of vehicular transport, but has increased pollution levels.Much more worrying is that Nepal’s annual spending on petroleum products has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-a-fossil-past-to-an-electric-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than doubled in the last two years</a>, increasing our trade imbalance with India. Flawed energy policy is not just ruining the environment and bankrupting the country, it is also increasing Nepal’s political vulnerability to the outside world.Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/reservoirs-of-suspicion/hydropower-geopolitics%20,3991" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reservoirs of suspicion</a>, Om Astha Rai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/storing-water-reservoir-Nepal,1042" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Storing water</a>, Bishal Thapa <h2> 10 years ago this week</h2> In the #423 issue of Nepali Times  of 31 October-6 November 2008, the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15330#.W9vq2dUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Editorial</a> dealt with the elected Maoist government getting back to business after the holidays on the mattter of integration of thier milita with the national Army. Excerpt: 'Government formation, the prime minister's foreign trips, then there was Dasain-Tihar. Finally, there are no more excuses for the government to start governing. But there is one more potential distraction: army integration. The January deadline for UNMIN's mandate is beginning to focus everyone's minds on dismantling cantonments and containers. Those bankrolling the UN are not in the mood for another extension.Given the extreme posturing and grandstanding by doctrinaire Maoists led by Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and the centre-right supporters of status quoists in the Nepal Army, integration won't be easy. Thapa's rash public pronouncements, and the kangresis whipping up a storm over rumours they heard that Nanda Kishore Pun was being proposed as army chief has needlessly polarised the debate.'  <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/423" data-elementor-open-lightbox=""> <img width="640" height="1014" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/6369335e9c7e80680e03df94jpeg.jpg" alt=""></a>

Climate Climax

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171116/63692fcb9c7e80680e03c0c4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1556" height="814"/>During  the upcoming festival of lights called <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/mycity/2014/10/31/tihar-celebrations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tihar in Nepal</a> and Diwali in India, families will take the opportunity to clean up their valuables, make an inventory of their wealth and store their assets back into a safe deposit box. And explode firecrackers.The big day of Laxmi Puja this year is on 7 November, and people worship the goddess and welcome her home in the hope that she will ensure prosperity in the coming year.Many Nepalis invest in gold or property, and this year everyone will be happy that the value of both have gone up. If you have saved in paper money, a thousand rupee note sadly is now worth only Rs 930 in terms of purchasing power.Last year, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/business/Business-And-we-all-fall-down,563" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the US dollar</a> was at Rs100 per dollar, this week it is at nearly Rs120. Economists will tell us that the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/business/Indian-currency-black-market-pushes-rupee-peg-into-debate-again,2752" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepali rupee is pegged to the Indian currency since 1956</a>, and hence when its value falls the Nepali rupee also falls. India needs to import a lot of oil which is getting more expensive because the United States  imposed sanctions on Iran and Venezuela thus decreasing global supply.There has also been a slowdown in India’s economic growth rate, and the US economy is doing well because American companies are bringing home profits from money invested abroad. All this is impacting Nepal via India.There was a time when Nepalis calculated their wealth in number of elephants (Gajalaxmi), number of cows and piles of manure (Gobardhan). Today, the cost of the dollar is a concern, just as it is to buy wine, electronics, cars, or to spend holidays abroad. One in four Nepalis is living abroad, and they send home hard currency, which means the festival of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/167/Culture/5035#.W81543szaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Laxmi Puja</a> will see greater spending than before. This is why despite the Nepali economy having tanked, spending power is high.For tourists visiting Nepal, everything will seem cheaper, but hotel rooms, air tickets, tour packages are all priced in dollars and therefore should really make no difference. They are going to be irritated that entrance fees to Nepal’s conservation areas have gone up since they got on the flight to Nepal.Ideally for those exporting goods and getting paid in US dollars, the situation is rosy, unless you have component inputs like oil, machine parts, ingredients that have US dollar price tags.While everyone complains that everything is getting more expensive, few blame the political parties for the state of the economy. Even fewer demand the Central Bank to “do something”. Should the Nepali currency be un-pegged or should we set a new peg-rate to the Indian currency? Do we need to close the Nepal-India border before we do that? The regulators in China get accused of devaluing their currency to help exports, should Nepal use this opportunity to boost exports?Decisions like these require sound market information which we seem to lack. We rely on tables and indices made by donors and multilateral agencies. One thing we can be sure of is that there will be a seminar on the topic of the falling rupee after Laxmi Puja. Experts will present their views and proceedings will be recorded. Bureaucrats will line up to go on foreign-funded fact-finding junkets to study the impact of currency drops.Actually, the falling value of the Nepali currency against the US dollar is an advantage for Nepalis who depend on remittances, or for those who want to produce and export. It is a really bad deal for those who depend on imports, or those <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/migration-certificate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sending children off to study abroad</a>. For those earning in dollars and spending in Nepali rupees, things could not be better. For the poor who have no money this whole discussion is a waste of time.Anil Chitrakar is President of Siddharthinc.

diwali

Bhaktapur celebrates Gai Tihar

The cost of light

Bhaktapur’s potters adapt to survive

Climate Climax

Dollar Laxmi