A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/business/nepal-electric-vehicles-china.html#:~:text=Over%20the%20past%20year%2C%20electric,including%20Norway%2C%20Singapore%20and%20Ethiopia.">New York Times report this week</a> on Nepal’s electric vehicle boom was widely shared. The world is finally taking notice of the country’s energy transition.&nbsp; But the success story also brings new problems. Nepal will soon be facing a crisis in managing the lithium-ion of battery-powered cars, scooters and three-wheelers. Then there are mobile phone batteries, heavy metals and rare earths. “It used to be just laptops and mobiles, so people didn’t care so much, but one electric car can mean up to 500kg of waste, it will be beyond our control once they start piling up,” warns Pankaj Panjiyar of <a href="https://dokorecyclers.com/">Doko Recyclers</a>, an electrical and electronic waste management company in Kathmandu. He adds: “We were on track to generate 3,500 tons of lithium battery waste a year after 2027, but given the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/evs-hybrids-and-plug-ins">increased market of EVs</a> the actual figure will now be much bigger.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240411100420_bbef06f8a778f06fcd95f46764e9e5e280d8d0abb75563c7d7a0e5b1912caba8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240411100420_bbef06f8a778f06fcd95f46764e9e5e280d8d0abb75563c7d7a0e5b1912caba8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="EV year 2081 Page 1 NT #1207"> <figcaption>With 76% of new car sales being fully battery-powered, Nepal is second only to Norway. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  Besides lithium, there are also heavy metals such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese that can contaminate the air, soil, and water, as well as rare earths. Nepal imported nearly 1.9 million mobile phones in the past year, a 40% growth from the previous — and that was only through official channels. With 76% of new car sales<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rev-your-car-and-charge-it-too?fbclid=IwY2xjawE-ds5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRuXixJOm8QKgTPUuBka6dm6ifd_kyvOPOVrXxCcyZxLGhn5i3O9PPY3gw_aem_RE4gaV7GYb_AUUkkYkGsrw"> being fully battery-powered</a>, Nepal is second only to Norway. Lithium-ion battery waste from electric cars, mobile phones, toys, solar panels and the 9,000 telecommunication towers all over the country already makes up a sizeable chunk of electronic waste.&nbsp; Recycling lithium-ion batteries is possible but expensive, while the recovery rate of heavy metals, including gold, is at 95% or more. China is leading the game with more than half of the global recycling capacity of heavy metals at about 500,000 metric tons a year, much ahead of the United States and Europe. Nepal does not have recycling infrastructure for lithium-ion batteries. In fact, there is no recycling plant for lead-acid batteries either: the acid is usually just dumped while lead, other metals and plastic are extracted by the informal sector or sent to India. “Battery recycling is textbook engineering, it is not difficult, we should be able to do it ourselves,” energy economist Dipak Gyawali told a recent climate discussion. “But when there is no market, the standard law of political economy is that the state has to create one, that is how it happened in the US, the UK and China.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250801040832_149b8cdfa617b9d9ad8df9da39bb0795e87f2798a7317824cabfb5af7cef46c5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250801040832_149b8cdfa617b9d9ad8df9da39bb0795e87f2798a7317824cabfb5af7cef46c5" data-rendition-name="original" width="3791" height="2527" loading="lazy" alt="e-waste in Nepal"> <figcaption>Staff at Doko Recyclers in Kathmandu working on sorting electrical waste this week.</figcaption> </figure>  Doko Recyclers had tried to set up a recycling infrastructure for lithium-ion batteries, and had nearly got a Rs40 million investment from Singapore-based Total Environment Solutions (TES). But Nepal’s lack of e-waste policy and investment guidelines meant the company was not assured of a return on investment and pulled out. Nepal also does not have Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR), wherein manufacturers and distributors are responsible for disposal and pay for the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/making-money-from-garbage-in-kathmandu,2055">recycling of the waste </a>generated by their product, including batteries. “It is only a matter of technology transfer when it comes to lithium-ion recycling, but it requires investment backed by government policies such as EPR,” explains Panjiyar. “But there must also be provisions for extracted raw materials like lithium. We don’t manufacture batteries in Nepal, so we have to export them. But who is going to pay for that?” Lithium, heavy metals and rare earths also draw much criticism for unethical mining and environmental cost. One ton of mined lithium emits nearly 15 tons of CO2. Lithium is either extracted from briny water or hard rock minerals, add is often associated with contamination of water as well as loss of water sources. Nickel and cobalt mining comes with massive ecological cost and labour exploitation.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250801040848_3b3fc49c554a1759f31becaca1c737a641c94ee7a0d964e5fa898b060f41dec1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250801040848_3b3fc49c554a1759f31becaca1c737a641c94ee7a0d964e5fa898b060f41dec1" data-rendition-name="original" width="5460" height="3640" loading="lazy" alt="e-waste in Nepal"> <figcaption>Repair and refurbishing of used electronic goods can help reduce e-waste. </figcaption> </figure>  Sodium-ion batteries which are a safer, cheaper and more sustainable alternative. Battery-powered transportation could also be just a stepping stone to green hydrogen fuel of the future. “If we are using these metals, at the very least deploy them for the benefit of the larger public, like by promoting electric buses,” says Shilshila Acharys of Avni Center for Sustainability which recycles plastic and other waste. “Ultimately, it comes down to our consumption patterns. It is much easier to use one less mobile phone or a car which wasn’t even necessary, than recycling.” <h2>What happens to your phone when it dies</h2> <a href="https://ewastemonitor.info/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/GEM_2024_18-03_web_page_per_page_web.pdf">Nepal generated 42,000 tons of e-waste</a> in 2024, up from just 13,000 ten years ago, according to a worldwide survey by Global E-waste Monitor. The figure for Nepal is projected to reach 69,000 tons in 2026.&nbsp; While this is modest compared to most other countries, the growth and lack of recycling facilities are worrying. Household appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators, cooking stoves and ovens still make up nearly half of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/what-will-nepal-do-with-its-e-waste">electrical and electronic waste in Nepal</a>, while phones, laptops, tablets, hard drives, routers and modems come next at 9%. Consumer electronics made up 17% of e-waste, followed by lighting equipment at 14%, screen and monitors at 8% and toys at 9%.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250801040832_c271890d0cacd31b7c4e244daef81fc612b62fb40d00500f60c35aec65822390.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250801040832_c271890d0cacd31b7c4e244daef81fc612b62fb40d00500f60c35aec65822390" data-rendition-name="original" width="1267" height="649" loading="lazy" alt="E-waste in Nepal"> </figure>  “The nature of e-waste has changed in the last decade or so, we now have less CRT monitors and CFL bulbs but more devices, solar panels, optic fibre which actually has a negative recycling value and now EV batteries,” says Pankaj Panjiyar of the Doko Recyclers. The nature of e-waste is also guided by changing consumption patterns where people upgrade to newer gadgets every couple of years, not necessarily because they are at the end of their lives. The average lifespan for mobile phones in Nepal is only two years, four years for laptops, eight years for televisions and computers, and ten years for refrigerators and washing machines. Just last fiscal year, Nepal imported nearly 1.9 million smartphones worth Rs24 billion. “Businesses today, especially electronics, have exchange offers wherein customers can exchange even well-functioning goods for a newer version. By not using electronic goods to the end of their lives, we are creating a problem that wasn’t there to begin with,” says Shilshila Acharya of Avni Center for Sustainability. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ev-year">Electronic use has increased dramatically</a>, but our e-waste management capacity remains the same.” When municipal governments have failed to even manage biodegradable waste, they have not even started thinking about e-waste. Which is why electronic and electrical waste is left to the informal sector. There are some 1,200 scrap dealers in Kathmandu and 20% of e-waste is thought to be recycled despite the lack of proper formal channels, and most of it ends up in India. This means limited extraction of plastic parts as well as metals such as aluminium and copper, but removal of precious and heavy elements is not yet carried out in Nepal. Liquid waste, such as acid from lead batteries, is disposed of in the dumping sites, poisoning ground water and rivers.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250801040844_ccc83c1133fc54567abc93abc87a97263b3b28f9edb58450c8804526d97aeda8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250801040844_ccc83c1133fc54567abc93abc87a97263b3b28f9edb58450c8804526d97aeda8" data-rendition-name="original" width="3936" height="2624" loading="lazy" alt="e-waste in Nepal"> <figcaption>Nepal doesn't have a proper recycling infrastructure for e-waste and cannot extract precious and heavy metals as of now.</figcaption> </figure>  There is also a small but growing market to refurbish used electronic goods led by the likes of Sabko Phone which buys second-hand smartphones and reconditioning them to an almost new cheaper device.&nbsp; “It was very difficult for us in the beginning to get people behind this campaign, but over the last couple of years, we have seen a change,” says Uttam Kafle of Sabko. “The fact that they are buying a refurbished phone today means they might buy a refurbished washing machine in future.” Fourteen percent of the 1.22 billion mobile phones sold in 2023 were refurbished — that translated to 190 million fewer new phones that year. Says Kafle: “If we can associate refurbishing and upcycling with environmental gain, we will go a long way.” Indeed, experts recommend reducing the consumption of electronic goods not required as the first step to managing waste, followed by repair, reuse, and upcycling. Recycling is often the last option, also because Nepal lacks proper infrastructure as well as a legal mechanism.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250801040832_9b96a8ba5e161633e6f1341da06d0fd53c8f17b12f3dc05c4d39fc0168ee01c2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20250801040832_9b96a8ba5e161633e6f1341da06d0fd53c8f17b12f3dc05c4d39fc0168ee01c2" data-rendition-name="original" width="5879" height="3919" loading="lazy" alt="E-waste in Nepal"> <figcaption>Experts recommend reducing the consumption of unwanted electronic goods as the first step to better manage e-waste. </figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s Solid Waste Management Act 2011 has no mention of e-waste. It has since been revised, but the document is making rounds of various ministers and is yet to be finalised. Even so, it does not have any guidelines on managing electrical and electronic waste, and has only defined the terminology. India has an Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR) as well as Battery Waste Management Rules 2022 which clearly outline the responsibilities of producers, recyclers, and refurbishers. “A national-level e-waste legislation with EPR is a must with provisions at municipalities such that there is a separate collection value chain, and such a policy should allow for recycling infrastructure,” says Panjiyar. “All of this should happen simultaneously and with public awareness about e-waste in Nepal.” EPR will also help remove unreliable players in the market, and in turn reduce the flow of unwanted goods. This is in line with calls to curb unchecked and uncontrolled consumption of goods as well as prioritising ethical and sustainable development. This has much relevance for the EV boom in Nepal. Of the 22,907 four-wheelers worth Rs50.88 billion that the country imported last fiscal year, 16,701 units valued at Rs41.23 billion were electric vehicles. Few of them were passenger buses, which are much more expensive than diesel ones of the same size. Until grid-to-motor technology, such as trolley and tram, are introduced, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-public-in-public-transport">government must subsidise electric buses</a> to make the best use of surplus hydroelectricity while cleaning up the air and reducing Nepal’s petroleum bill.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240315040324_95d6be14bc19ae56151d75be42d3d39d6cba00308b4159104bc6c6fe0292b39a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20240315040324_95d6be14bc19ae56151d75be42d3d39d6cba00308b4159104bc6c6fe0292b39a" data-rendition-name="original" width="3500" height="2141" loading="lazy" alt="Poor cash-rich Nepal NT"> <figcaption>An electric bus and bicycle lane in Lalitpur. Photo: GOPEN RAI</figcaption> </figure>  After all, only so many individuals can afford private EVs, and even then, they do not nearly reduce emissions as much, but add to traffic. Large electric buses also mean fewer lithium-ion batteries per person. “Our EV adoption is both a success story and a disaster waiting to happen given all that battery waste we will be faced with soon. It is like by trying to solve one problem we have created another,” says Acharya. Uttam Kafle at Sabko Phone says the concept of responsible use and circular economy which involves reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible, should be the way forward. “We must make the best use of electronics for the betterment of our lives, there are still places and people without much access to these goods. But their ethical use and management, especially at the end of their life, will help save us from a lot of future problems.” This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250307140328_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250307140328_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>  &nbsp;

Sonia Awale

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Waste not, want not

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UExRdp1UiBk&amp;t=0sMany Nepalis are worried about growing consumerism and throw-away culture, but most shrug and move on because they think one person cannot change the world.But not Shubu Tewari and Uttam Kaphle. Both were working in the development sector, and felt they should do something concrete to prove that sustainability made business sense. They could make a difference by shedding their indifference.Unlike a linear economy which begins in extraction and ends in disposal, the circular economy keeps materials in use for as long as possible, making maximum use of them and minimising resource extraction and waste. Tewari and Kaphle studied models for a circular economy that would work in the Nepal business context.Read also:  <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/dangerous-ewaste,2953" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dangerous rubbish</a>, Lokmani RaiTewari and Kaphle zeroed in on e-waste, researched the mobile phone market and customer behaviour, and set up <a href="https://sabkophone.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sabko Phone</a>. They were shocked to find out that Nepal officially imports 6 million cell phones a year valued at Rs 24billion. So, they decided to focus on repairing and refurbishing phones. In April 2019, SabKo Phone was born.Sitting in a sunny corner of their bright, airy office in Sanepa, Tewari and Kaphle explain that most Nepalis seek a phone upgrade every 15 months. They found that 40% of old phones were just lying around the house unused, and could be refurbished.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101152/636b78c39c7e80680e0646bcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="6000" height="4000"/><figcaption>Old phones that cannot be recycled are used for their parts. All Photos: SHRISTI KARKI</figcaption></figure>“This is a sector in which there are a lot of problems, but that also means that there are many solutions to be found,” explains Tewari. “If only 5% of the demand for new phones switched to refurbished phones, more than Rs1 billion would be saturated in the market.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/what-will-nepal-do-with-its-e-waste/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What will Nepal do with its e-waste?</a>, Sonia AwaleSabKo Phone offers phone repairs within three days, and refurbishes old phones in a week or so. The company also buys phones from people, and have prices for 300 models on its data base. If potential customers are satisfied with the price, they can book an appointment via the website, or just visit the store. Phones left with SabKo Phone are worked on by two full-time technicians and when clients get their phones back or buy refurbished ones with warranty.While beating the planned obsolescence of mobile phones, refurbishing also ensures that gold, cobalt, and other hazardous materials in e-waste can be mined and sold so they do not contaminate landfill sites.“We might not be able to change everything, but we want to at least try to mitigate the problem,” says Tewari. “The fewer new smartphones brought on to the market, the lighter the economic and ecological burden.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101152/636b78c79c7e80680e0646bdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="667"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>SabKo Phone’s sustainability practice extends beyond phone repair and refurbishing. Tewari and Kaphle are researching alternative uses for phone parts that cannot be reused in phones. The company sells its phones in boxes made of Nepali paper, and most of the furniture in SabKo Phone’s office is reused or repurposed. The company calculates its carbon footprint and at the end of each working year, and is working with Wildlife Conservation Nepal to neutralise it.“If there is one thing that we figured out, it is that people do not want to throw away their phones and have them go to waste,” Tewari says, “There are very few people who say that they would rather throw their phones away than sell them.”There are other environmentally sustainable practices in Nepal like Fashion Revolution, and Tewari hopes others will join in creating non-waste ventures in the electronics sector as SabKo phone itself expands.

Shristi Karki

Reincarnation of old phones in Nepal

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

Grand split in Nepal’s grand old party

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

Nepali artists at India Art Fair

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

Proud to wear DOLPO

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

electronics

Waste not, want not

Reincarnation of old phones in Nepal

Grand split in Nepal’s grand old party

Nepali artists at India Art Fair

Proud to wear DOLPO

Shaken, but not stirred