Several things come into play with the Nepal government’s new <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=6146&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Integrity Policy</a> that wants to tighten control over the activities of international NGOs and donor governments. Most of them relate to the country’s sense of integrity and sovereignty.It is quite normal for a government to monitor and control the flow of non-corporate funds coming into one’s country. There are mechanisms already in place in Nepal to ensure that aid organisations and special interest groups can channel funds to government, institutions, non-government organisations and projects in Nepal.The bureaucracy involved for approval varies depending on project parameters. On a global scale, Nepal is considered fairly liberal in this sense, and there is a long history of foreign support for aid and infrastructure projects.Governments in the past have also been more tolerant than most in giving free rein to outside agencies to help with infrastructure, development, and even constitution-writing, transitional justice and human rights.Of late, such aid projects have also included extreme evangelical Christian missionaries that are seen as undermining local culture and religion and upsetting the old order. The claim is that money buys souls. Perhaps worse for the government is that money also buys politics, and with a quasi-communist coalition as the leading power, this is not appreciated.		
		<img width="424" height="571" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101156/6368d6c39c7e80680e0314a2jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Two emerging global powers are Nepal’s immediate neighbours: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/elementor-3766/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China and India which are vying for a foothold</a> enabling them to adjust Nepal’s internal and external politics to suit their interests. Neither country is tolerant of foreigners, and have strict controls on the activities of non-governmental players and outside agencies.Money can buy sympathy in the countryside and concessions at the central level. And there is more. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/foreign-aid-covering-domestic-deficiencies-nepal,1338" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal wants to have the funds, clearly, but on her own terms</a>. Those terms appear to involve further control measures and prohibitions. The government will be happy to get rid of all the perceived negative influencers, but it seems to throw out the baby with the bath water.A full implementation of some of the suggested measures in the draft Policy make it much less attractive to work in Nepal for aid agencies, and there are other takers ready elsewhere.Nepal is in a process of devolving power to provincial and local governments, at the same time the central government wants centralisation of financial assistance.Aid organisations and similar outfits don’t want to have to go through the Ministry of Finance, and clear funds there before disbursement. Even worse, the new Policy has stricter guidelines for foreign diplomats, the activities of aid groups and even proposes a surveillance mechanism under the Ministry of Home Affairs and the security agencies to monitor the activities of foreigners.The current channel for aid agencies to work through is the Social Welfare Council policy/registration system which is seen as more workable to get funds straight to legitimate recipients. Why fix something that isn't broken?Olav Myrholt is a social development worker based in Norway with a special interest in Nepal for the last 40 years.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=6121&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illiberal ills</a> , Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=6152&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Govt issues draft guidelines for public hygiene</a>, Backside

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Nepal wants funds, but on her own terms

<h4>The government’s new guidelines for dealings between Nepalis and foreign donors raises hackles</h4><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101156/6368d6c09c7e80680e0314a1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1055"/><figcaption>Bhanu Bhattarai</figcaption></figure>In a sign of its new assertiveness, the Nepal government has issued a draft document laying down strict guidelines about what aid agencies and non-government groups can and cannot do. But critics say its provisions are too broad, and could easily be misused to silence critics at home and restrict the activities of international groups in Nepal.The National Integrity Policy is aimed at ‘promoting integrity and transparency’ in all spheres of public life, guiding the conduct of public officials, and regulating the activities especially of western aid agencies, INGOs and civil society groups working on democracy and human rights.Detractors say it is prompted by the establishment class feeling insecure about losing its grip on power and privileges. The document appears to be a backlash against the funding indigenous and excluded groups received from western donors during the Constitution-drafting process. It also seems to be a reaction to heightened activities of evangelical groups in Nepal.Here are just some of the items in the new directive:<ul><li>INGOs cannot forward any reports to headquarters or donors without first submitting them to, and securing approval from, the government.</li> 	<li>NGOs must report foreign individuals or agencies involved in ‘activities against Nepal, Nepali civilisation or social harmony’ to the authorities.</li> 	<li>I/NGOs and foreigners are barred from ‘levelling unwarranted charges against Nepal ... and spreading hatred’.</li> 	<li>Security agencies under the Home Ministry will monitor foreigners to check if they are working against the ‘national interest’.</li> 	<li>Nepali officials meeting foreign diplomats should not work against Nepal’s ‘national interest’ and should maintain secrecy.</li> 	<li>l Foreign embassies cannot disburse development aid directly.</li></ul>The Association of International NGOs in Nepal and the NGO Federation have slammed the draft, arguing that they are impractical and create unnecessary hassles, while admitting there may be some wayward and opaque NGOs that need to be reined in.What diplomats and aid officials are worried about is that the policy has ambiguous provisions that can be used to shut down any I/NGO, aid agency, or deport foreigners. Such broad rules could also be used to target critical civil society groups and political dissidents.To be sure, the idea to silence civil society is not new. After king Gyanendra’s coup in February 2005, the Army cracked down on pro-democracy forces, putting Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba under house arrest, jailing political dissidents, and forcing many to go underground.As political parties regrouped, thousands of NGOs and civil society members fought back to reclaim democracy. The king saw civil society as a direct threat to his authoritarian ambition, and jailed many members. He announced new controls on non-profits, INGOs and donors similar to the ones in this draft National Integrity Policy.Deuba returned to power 12 years later, and his first decision in 2017 in his fourth term as prime minister was to do exactly what king Gyanendra had tried: restrict civil society, international donors and diplomatic missions.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=6121&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illiberal ills</a> , EditorialHe chose two government secretaries known to be vocal critics of international agencies and donors to formulate his National Integrity Policy. It was clearly guided by suspicions that <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/golden-age-of-gospel-christianity,3903" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proselytisation</a> was undermining Nepal’s Hindu identity, and the conviction that western embassies, their aid agencies and INGOs were behind conversions.Gopal Lamsal, who is now President of the NGO Federation of Nepal, was a young activist when the king tried to silence critics in 2005. He remembers how they had to hit the streets, burning copies of the NGO regulations and clashing with police.Lamsal says some of the provisions of the new National Integrity Policy seem to be directly lifted from the king’s and Deuba’s rule-book. He says the Policy is full of vague, impractical and outrageous clauses like the one asking NGOs to report anti-national activities. He says: “It is ridiculous that the government wants us to be its spies.”The real reason Deuba ordered a National Integrity Policy last year seems to be because his advisers had concluded that over 65% of NGOs in Nepal were close to UML, and could use their budgets to finance the party’s election campaign.Deuba’s NC party lost the elections anyway, and UML Chair K P Oli replaced him as the new PM in February.Ironically, it is now the Oli government's turn to revive a Policy paper he inherited from Gyanendra and Deuba. An activist explains that Oli is endorsing the controversial draft because it has so many broad provisions that it can be used to snare political enemies.He says: “Gyanendra or Deuba or Oli, they all hate an independent and critical civil society.”Another rights activist interviewed for this article told us the policy was initially mooted in 2011 when Janajati lawmakers, supported by the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19592#.Wv1bIrh-jjE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">British aid agency DfID</a> through the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), formed a caucus to push for greater representation in the new Constitution.Indeed, even five years ago, various line ministries delayed a UNDP medium-term plan document and demanded that words like ‘structural discrimination’, ‘gender’, and ‘inclusion’ be removed.“The Kathmandu elite began to create a false narrative that foreigners are funding Janajati-Madhesi NGOs to perpetuate political instability and promote proselytisation in Nepal,” the activist said.However, Ex-secretary Sharada Prasad Trital, who led the team drafting the Policy, defended the document: “Does the Chinese government allow an INGO to publish whatever report it writes about China? If not, how can INGOs expect Nepal to allow it?”Trital argues that the guidelines will actually protect Nepal’s international image. “If this policy had been in place, the EU Election Observation Mission could never have been able to publish its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/hail-to-the-chiefs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one-sided report</a> about Nepal’s election laws in March,” he says. “Such biased reports harm Nepal’s reputation, without allowing the government to put forward its own perspective.”A board member of AIN argues otherwise: “Of course, I/NGOs need to be within the Constitutional framework, but it is also their role to monitor the government and be critical if necessary.”He adds: “Some NGOs are required to submit shadow reports to the UN pointing out the government’s failures or weaknesses. The government is obliged by several international treaties to allow these NGOs to draft independent reports.”To be sure, the National Integrity Policy has tried to assert the government’s authority after many decades in which donors and international agencies were allowed to do <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/broken-promises-reconstruction,3627" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what they liked without much scrutiny</a>. Many of the provisions in the document could actually help make aid agencies more transparent and accountable.For example, more than one person of a family can no longer be in the executive committee of an NGO, one cannot hold executive posts for more than two terms, and I/NGO budgets cannot cross a threshold for administrative cost. It also reduces the role of Social Welfare Council by empowering the Finance Ministry to approve budgets and programs of allI/NGOs.UML leader Rajan Bhattarai assured Nepali Times: “The guidelines are not intended to curb any freedoms. There will be no compromise on democratic values."However, the policy has alarming provisions like the setting up of a surveillance network to monitor foreigners working in Nepal, check their past records and scrutinise if they are involved in undermining the national interest.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=6152&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Govt issues draft guidelines for public hygiene</a>, BacksideOne such mechanism will be at the Ministry of Home Affairs overseeing surveillance teams made up of the Army, Police, Armed Police Force and National Investigation Department. Those found guilty can be deported, or declared persona non-grata.What troubles many is that the draft is being issued at a time when a joint communist government is in power – parties historically not known to be supportive of democratic freedoms and human rights. see Editorial, page 2) Critics say such a policy, instead of strengthening Nepal’s standing in the world, would undermine its democratic and liberal credentials.Said one: “If the government fairly implements this policy, it could promote integrity. If not, its provisions are so sweeping they could be used against anyone. Even the most upright and law-abiding citizen can be punished.”It is an indication of the degree of fear the policy paper has already spread that most civil society members interviewed for this piece wanted to remain anonymous.Ex-AIN President Deepak Raj Sapkota is not so worried. He says: “We are almost certain the government will not pass the policy in its current form without addressing our concerns.”GUIDE LINESNew rules in the National Integrity Policy for: NGOs-NGOs funded by foreign donors will be categorised separately from those that do not receive funding from foreigners-NGOs must inform the Finance Ministry about how much they are receiving from foreign donors and for which projects and get approval.-NGOs must inform local governments about their projects.-NGOs cannot bid for government contracts-NGOs must have a ceiling for administrative expenses-Registration of an NGO will be scrapped if it fails to renew within three months after expiry-Only one person from a family can be in the executive board of an NGO-A person cannot hold executive positions in an NGO for more than two terms.-A public office holder cannot be associated with an NGO-NGOs must not lobby on behalf of an INGO involved in leveling unwarranted charges against Nepal, harming social harmony or spreading hatred.-NGOs must report to the government if they find foreign nationals or organisations working against Nepal, Nepali civilisation and social harmony among Nepalis.INGO-INGOs must submit applications to the Finance Ministry, detailing their annual programs and budgets and can only spend money if it is approved.-INGOs must adhere to statutes and the preconditions agreed upon before entering into Nepal.-All the taxable spending by INGOs must be brought into the tax net.-INGOs must submit audit reports (to the government)-INGOs must not lobby for, create pressure on or influence the government to formulate laws or policies.-INGOs must abstain from leveling unwarranted charges against Nepal, harming social harmony and publishing reports with  hate content or sending them to their countries.-INGOs must abide by the Statistics Act 2015 while collecting data in Nepal.-INGOs cannot directly carry out projects.-INGOs cannot directly send reports about Nepal to their countries without first obtaining the government's approval.-INGOs must not cross ceilings for administrative works, hiring consultants, foreign junkets or hotel bills.-INGOs must limit the number of foreigners working for them in Nepal.-INGOs must not act against Nepal's civilisation, culture, social relations and goodwill-INGOs must not push for their religious, social or other agendas in Nepal.-Foreigners cannot hold the same position in INGOs for more than three years.-INGOs assisting foreign embassies and religious missions or for their narratives will be barred.-Foreigners will be allowed to work with Nepal-based INGOs only after thoroughly examining their past records.-INGOs must sign written agreements that they will not be directly or indirectly involved in proselytisation. If caught its agreement with the government will be nullified.

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The crow and the scarecrow

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

Running for dear life

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

Kulman follows Balen to RSP

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

Coffee guff from Korea

From stone spouts to cast-iron mains, Nepal’s water system and its struggle to provide safe water tells a larger story of power, disease, dependency — and lessons for the future. From 1823 to 1891, the Nepali state made just two notable interventions in Kathmandu’s drinking water system. The first was when Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa commissioned a stone pout (hiti) to tap groundwater within the valley’s traditional supply system. The second came nearly 70 years later with Nepal’s first industrial-era water system, the Bir Water Works in 1891 under Prime Minister Bir Shumsher Rana. Linking these two milestones was the spectre of cholera. From the 19th century on there were seven global cholera pandemics. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X19309995#bb0325" target="_blank">Originating in Asia</a>, the disease reached Europe and the Americas, the Vibrio cholera bacillus breeding in poor sanitation wherever it found it. The first wave erupted in 1817, followed by others in 1829, 1852, 1863, 1881, 1889 and, finally, in 1961, the seventh pandemic which still lingers on. London, the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution, was repeatedly stricken. In Britain ‘miasma’ foul air was blamed. &nbsp;In Nepal, cholera was seen as divine damnation. By the late 19th century, as Nepal’s relationship with Britain deepened, the Bir Water Works was inaugurated in 1891 as a defence against cholera. Whether cholera also shaped Bhimsen Thapa’s decision in 1823 is less clear. Contemporary records note the commissioning of Sundhara, but do not refer to the cholera epidemic raging at the time. The silence itself is telling: Nepal’s elites were ruling in the shadow of the disease. Bhimsen Thapa first resided in Thapathali Palace, which was built in 1802 by Nain Singh Thapa, father of Mathabarsingh Thapa, who would briefly become prime minister in the 1840s. In 1806, Bhimsen Thapa moved to Bagh Durbar, a new complex on the western edge of Tundikhel. Historians are vague about the water supply in the residences of the nobility, but wells and water hauled from rivers, ponds, canals, and other sources were likely the primary sources. A small hiti north of Bagh Durbar, near today’s Sun Dhara, may have supplied the palace. In 1823, Bhimsen Thapa had it enlarged, making it the last and largest state-built hiti in Kathmandu. Even as Bhimsen Thapa was involved in palace intrigues and border conflicts, Britain was engineering pipelines. By the late 18th century, Sir Thomas Simpson had invented the bell-and-spigot joint, making long-distance pipes viable. Fluid dynamics, dealing with pumps, pipes, and filters, was becoming a foundational discipline. In Kathmandu, the scourge continued. Cholera struck Kathmandu repeatedly, in 1862, 1867, 1872, 1874 and 1875. The 1872 epidemic, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/kathmandu-in-the-time-of-cholera" target="_blank">according to historian Tom Robertson</a>, claimed between 200 and 250 lives a day. On average, cholera killed between 1,200 and 1,500 people annually in Kathmandu Valley, an enormous toll for its small population. The summer of 1885 was especially calamitous: a cholera epidemic ravaged Kathmandu and its periphery from the beginning of June until late August. The disease even breached the royal palace, reportedly killing 23 people, mostly young girls. Records show that 909 people received treatment at the British Residency dispensary, and estimates suggest that as many as 10,000 people perished in a city of 50,000. In November that year, Bir Shumsher seized power in a coup. He inherited not only a premiership but a Valley ridden with disease. Cholera was endemic, and it was accompanied by typhoid, smallpox, goitre, syphilis, and chronic dyspepsia. The The British Residency dispensary at Lainchaur was inadequate. “In a poor country like ours, wealth means health,” Bir Shumsher remarked, an unusually pragmatic admission that epidemics were not divine punishment but structural afflictions of urban life. He soon pledged to expand health care. In 1889, he opened Bir Hospital and staffed it with Indian doctors to treat cholera, typhoid, smallpox, and other prevalent illnesses. PIPED WATER Bir Shumsher also recognised the need for safe drinking water. Between 1866 and 1872, he had served as Nepal’s ambassador in Calcutta, and he must have seen water mains already in operation there, and a filtration plant inaugurated in 1870. Madras had installed such a system as early as 1800, Bombay constructed the Vihar and Tulsi reservoirs in the mid-19th century. In Kathmandu British Residency personalities such as George Gimlette must have urged Bir’s government to quicken the construction of the hospital and water system, yet the archival traces of such exchanges still await historical scrutiny. By the late 19th century, the British had developed a technological ecosystem for water supply, intakes, pipes, fittings, reservoirs, and trained engineers. Bir Shumsher appealed to the British Government in India for engineering assistance. A British engineer named Mr Feigneur surveyed Kathmandu to prepare maps, and estimated the volume of water that could be brought from the Rudramati River. In 1889, a more experienced engineer, Lockhart Matthew Sinclair arrived. He was a Scotsman educated at Wellington College and the Royal Indian Engineering College, with prior experience in constructing waterworks in Jubbulpore and the Viceregal Palace in Shimla. Appointed State Engineer of Nepal (1889–1892), Sinclair reviewed Feigneur’s plans, updated them, and chose the Bishnumati River as the source of the city’s drinking water. Sinclair’s design included a reservoir at Panipokhari, at 1,330m elevation and 30m above &nbsp;Tundikhel, thereby enabling gravity-fed distribution in pipes. With a capacity of 7,327 cubic metres, the reservoir could store nine days of supply.&nbsp; The system was designed to serve about 70,000 residents through both private connections and public standpipes. The reservoir was a single-compartment tank with an arched brick roof covered in earth and turf. Its brick walls were bonded with lime mortar and aggregate, and its floor was dressed with fly stone. Work on the valley’s water supply began in 1888, three years after Bir Shumsher seized power. The following year, Bir Hospital and the Bir Water Works took shape. The project involved some 40km of imported cast-iron pipes, weighing 1.866 million kg and inscribed with the marks of Scottish foundries ‘Ally and McLean’ and ‘Glasgow’. Construction required 620,000 man-days of labour and cost over Rs600,000. Transport costs inflated prices: <a href="https://commons-nepal.com/the-first-kaldhara-in-the-four-cities-of-the-valley/" target="_blank">a load of cement</a> costing Rs10 in Calcutta was worth Rs33 by the time it reached Kathmandu. Bir Water Works was inaugurated in September 1891, six years after the cholera epidemic. Water flowed out of 131 taps, including eight in Lainchaur, six in the royal palace, eleven in the prime minister’s palace, sixteen around Tundikhel, thirteen in Thapathali, seven in Thamel, and two in Naxal. The system’s designation, the term ‘works’ , echoes the Chelsea, Calcutta, and Glasgow Water Works, underlining its industrial pedigree. Water was also supplied to Phora Durbar, Bir Shumsher’s palace of music and dance whose fountains sprayed rose-scented water in a display of opulence. The <a href="https://commons-nepal.com/the-first-kaldhara-in-" target="_blank">Bir Dhara Works</a> was more than an engineering scheme: it was Nepal’s first modern public-health intervention. Safer drinking water curbed waterborne disease, and the number of cholera outbreaks declined, but were not eliminated.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260103020144_d5c22de54c0eaab680a166c5a7482839fdc09b60679109021d0504252a810254.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20260103020144_d5c22de54c0eaab680a166c5a7482839fdc09b60679109021d0504252a810254" data-rendition-name="original" width="865" height="535" loading="lazy" alt="Cholera and drinking water in Kathmandu"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260103020144_a46075b6d759585df56a2bb8e5a07d85de7d9a69406165c32784fe30012c9971.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20260103020144_a46075b6d759585df56a2bb8e5a07d85de7d9a69406165c32784fe30012c9971" data-rendition-name="original" width="2791" height="3859" loading="lazy" alt="Cholera and drinking water in Kathmandu"> </figure>  “Now we have water to fight cholera, and I believe cholera will no longer prevail. After four years of piped water, the benefits have been greater than expected,” Bir Shumsher said in a proclamation. Despite this, the prevalence of poor sanitation, open defecation, cramped housing, and malnutrition meant that typhoid, smallpox, and dyspepsia remained endemic. The Bir Dhara system marked Kathmandu’s transition from reliance on wells, rivers, springs, and hiti to piped water, operating for several decades and laying the foundation for the expansion of drinking water services across the country in the late twentieth century. <a href="https://commons-nepal.com/the-first-kaldhara-in-the-four-cities-of-the-valley/" target="_blank">Extensions followed in Patan</a> under Chandra Shumsher, and Bhim Shumsher later added the Tri Bhim Dhara. Piped water systems were subsequently constructed in towns such as Kirtipur, Bhaktapur, Dhankuta, Pokhara, Dhulikhel, and Jajarkot which itself saw a deadly cholera outbreak in 2009.&nbsp; CHOLERA METAPHOR In 1933, Nepal’s first water bureaucracy, the Pani Goswara, was established, formalising state involvement in urban water supply. Yet even till the late 20th century, households continue to rely on a mix of sources, including public water networks, private vendors, rooftop storage tanks, borewells, wells, hiti, and household filtration. The lack of reliable water supply places disproportionate financial, physical, and psychological burdens on low-income households, underscoring how decades of infrastructure expansion have not translated into universal, reliable service. during challenges in governance, investment priorities, and regulation. Bir Shumsher also attempted to introduce <a href="https://www.ukaalo.com/news/cholera-in-kathmandu-1958/" target="_blank">basic hygiene measures</a>, such as pit latrines with squatting slabs. However, there is no record of these facilities being built in his palaces, later built palaces, or elsewhere. Sanitation conditions remained poor for both the elite and the general population. Open defecation or the use of crude pit latrines without proper waste disposal was common. With no drainage or sewer systems, human waste accumulated near homes, contributing to the spread of waterborne diseases. In 2019, Nepal declared itself ‘open defecation free’, a policy milestone, but this achievement masks the persistence of deeper problems. Urban areas generate some 867 million litres of wastewater daily, yet only 7% of it is treated before being discharged. Sewage flows untreated into rivers and streams, spreading cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and other diseases, particularly among children and vulnerable communities. Safe disposal of faecal sludge continues to be a major struggle for many communities and local governments. Besides Jajarkot, Godavari in Kathmandu Valley had a localised outbreak in 2024. This year, Birganj was struck by a cholera outbreak caused by a lethal combination of unreliable water supply, groundwater overpumping, poor drainage and hygiene, and unsafe waste disposal. And Nepal’s peacekeepers deployed after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 were blamed for spreading cholera that ultimately killed 30,000 people in the Caribbean nation. The Bir Water Works was more than a reservoir and pipes. It was Nepal’s first brush with modernity, mediated through engineering and haunted by cholera. More than 134 years on, cholera remains a threat and a reminder of Nepal’s challenges in water and sanitation governance. The issue is not merely ensuring access to safe water but also building public trust that quality essential services can be delivered equitably, sustainably, and with resilience. Ajaya Dixit is a Kathmandu-based researcher exploring Nepal’s water history since the mid-eighteenth century to inform ethical water and river management in a changing climate.

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