<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08649c7e80680e0a6014jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1319" height="1975"/><figcaption>Photo: UNICEF NEPAL</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/eu-will-stand-by-nepal-in-hard-times/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">European Union</a> has renewed its committment to sharing more than 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines with low and middle-income nations, including Nepal, by the end of 2021.The doses will be delivered mainly through <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hope-hyperbole-and-hypocrisy-of-covax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the COVAX initiative</a>, which has so far provided 122 million doses to 136 countries. This is far less than the quantity originally promised because of supply chain issues and India’s ban on export of its AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine.“Team Europe takes its responsibility in helping the world fight the virus, everywhere. Vaccination is key – that's why it is essential to ensure access to Covid-19 vaccines to countries worldwide,” said EU President Ursula von der Leyen at this week’s Global Health Summit in Rome.In parallel, Europe is providing better access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa, in part by helping create the right conditions for local vaccine manufacturing in Africa.The initiative will be backed by a €1 billion grant from the EU, and European development finance institutions such as the European Investment Bank (EIB).On 9 July, Team Europe agreed to support large-scale investment in vaccine production by the Institut Pasteur in Dakar. The new plant will reduce Africa's 99% dependence on vaccine imports and strengthen future pandemic resilience in the continent.The European Union is one of the biggest donors of COVAX and has contributed at least €2.47 billion to the initiative, which had committed to providing free vaccines for 20% of Nepal’s population.It sent its first consignment to Kathmandu back in March with 348,000 doses of AstraZeneca Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India. But owing to a global manufacturing bottleneck and the export ban in India on vaccines, it was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/im-sad-vaccines-are-delayed-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unable to deliver any more doses</a> till recently.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08679c7e80680e0a6015jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="448" height="537"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Even as Nepal was in the grip of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">devastating second wave</a> in May-June when there were close to 10,000 new cases daily and up to 250 fatalities a day, there was a complete stop to vaccinations.Nearly 1.4 million Nepalis above 65 are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lonely-wait-of-nepals-elderly-for-2nd-doses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">still waiting for their second doses of Covishield</a>, which they may now get with a grant of 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca from Japan.In early July, the Americans flew over 1.5 doses of single-shot Johnson &amp; Johnson to Kathmandu under COVAX, which is sending another 350,000 doses by August.At present VeroCell and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/johnson-johnson-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">J&amp;J vaccination</a> drives are running in parallel across Nepal and the vaccine supply chain is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-start-trickling-into-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">less constrained</a>.But the decline in the number of new infections and deaths has now stalled. Public health experts have warned <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/vaccines-variants-and-a-third-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">of a third wave</a> and there are threats of newer, more virulent variants as long as a major chunk of the population remains unvaccinated.Covid mortality rose by 50% this week, and urban centres in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Chitwan, Kaski and Jhapa have recorded the most new cases.On Friday, there were a total of 2,977 new cases across the country, taking the total active infections to 28,518. There were 18 fatalities in the last 24 hours and 1,678 recoveries. So far, 9,679 people have succumbed to Covid-19 in Nepal since the outbreak in January 2020.

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EU to share 200 million vaccines by 2021

<figure><img width="1430" height="872" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111015118/636d06329c7e80680e0a5f4djpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>A group of European, Nepali and Bhutanese personalities have sent an <a href="https://www.petitions.net/vaccines_to_himalayas" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.petitions.net/vaccines_to_himalayas&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1625660311215000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEuu109cz_uT0mzvuFORxCpVo-70A">open letter</a> to the European Commission, asking it to allow member states to send surplus vaccines directly to Nepal and Bhutan, by-passing delays through COVAX.
EU member states have millions of doses of excess vaccines, but donations or transfers of these surplus doses are severely constrained by the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/aid-pours-into-nepal-but-where-be-vaccines/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/aid-pours-into-nepal-but-where-be-vaccines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1625660311215000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEOGELikZJFPj6cPmuERuwgR5_tDA">contracts between EU, member states and vaccine manufacturers. </a>
‘We appeal to European Commission to facilitate a mechanism which would allow member states to transfer vaccines bilaterally to other countries or enable member states to target their vaccine contributions multilaterally to the countries where it is most urgently needed,’ the appeal states. 
Millions of people in Nepal and Bhutan are in urgent need of Covid-19 vaccines, especially AstraZeneca, in order to vaccinate their citizens with second doses. Nepal needs 1.4 million doses immediately for people above 65 years who got their first doses, and are still waiting for their second jabs because India banned the export of Covishield AZ. 
Nepal has not even got an additional 1 million doses<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/anger-grows-in-nepal-over-covid-vaccine-delays/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/anger-grows-in-nepal-over-covid-vaccine-delays/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1625660311215000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG91MGxSlsuyUqVeeU6-wQZv9jkrg"> it already paid Serum Institute of India for</a>, and needs a further 20 million doses for the rest of its population. Nepal government is buying 4 million doses of VeroCell from SinoPharm in China and the first of the weekly shipments will start arriving on Thursday. 
Similarly, Bhutan has inoculated most of its eligible population of 500,000 with Covishield AZ from Serum Institute India, but only with their first doses. 
Some European countries like Denmark, Norway and the Czech Republic have excess AZ vaccines which they want to send to Nepal and Bhutan directly, but they are constrained by legal agreements to go through the EU and COVAX.
However, WHO’s COVAX facility has also not been able to dispatch promised vaccines to Nepal, Bhutan and other developing countries because it had sourced it from Serum Institute India. COVAX has only sent 835,000 of the 2.26 million it promised before India stopped its export. 
Nepali officials disclosed this week that 1.5 million doses of Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccines from the United States through COVAX would be delivered later this month.
The open letter states: ‘While COVAX is a fair mechanism of vaccine distribution among the low and mid income countries, its prioritisation is not taking into account the receiving country's actual situation amid Covid-19 pandemic, its specific vaccination needs and its vaccine administration preparedness. Ability to direct at least part of the available supplies to the places where the vaccines are currently most needed would overcome these shortcomings.’ 
Despite the urgency of second doses, the COVAX mechanism prioritises countries by population and not by the current pandemic situation. The open letter argues that European countries have stockpiles of vaccines that are nearing expiry, and the European Commission could expedite shipments if it facilitated direct transfer of doses from EU member states.  
It also says that by denying the requests by Bhutan and Nepal for direct vaccine donations, EU is ‘damaging its international image ... and reinforces the EU’s stereotypical image as bureaucratic, inflexible and alienated’. 
It says failure to respond to the urgent requests from Nepal would hurt the EU because other vaccine manufacturing countries ‘are successfully using vaccine diplomacy to increase their soft-power’. 
Signatories of this open letter are known personalities from EU countries, Nepal and Bhutan. This includes members of European Parliament Tomáš Zdechovský and Kateřina Konečná, academics Françoise Pommaret and Karma Phuntsho, former under secretary general of the United Nations<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hope-hyperbole-and-hypocrisy-of-covax/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hope-hyperbole-and-hypocrisy-of-covax/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1625660311216000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHDSyw9q0gS0XWMLZzZS82mvNgKcg"> Kul Chandra Gautam from Nepal, </a>artists, mountaineers, activists, public health workers and others. 
Other prominent Nepalis include writers Manjushree Thapa and Budhhisagar, as well as former Miss Nepals Malvika Subba and Srinkhala Khatiwoda.
The open letter idea was initiated by a group of Czechs with close ties with the Himalaya who sent an earlier open letter to the Czech Government calling on it to gift its surplus vaccines to Nepal and Bhutan. 
“In subsequent unofficial consultations, it became clear, that Czech Government is not at a liberty to donate or sell its excess doses of AstraZeneca vaccine due to the constraints of the contract between EU, Czechs and the vaccine manufacturer,” explained photographer Michal Thoma, one of those behind the initiative. “It also became apparent that the same situation applies for other EU countries which purchased vaccines through the EU vaccine procurement mechanism.”
So Thoma teamed up with Věra Exnerová, the Nepal Country Director of humanitarian organisation People in Need, mountaineer Jan Tráva and filmmaker Petr Horký to write to the European Commission with other Nepalis and Bhutanese.
On 1 July, Denmark announced that it would donate 250,000 vaccines to Bhutan. However, it is understood that these grants still need to be facilitated by the EU. 
Says Thoma: “The European Commission should stand up to its responsibility so that the EU can fight the pandemic not only within its borders but everywhere else around the world.” 
Those interested can sign the petition at <a href="https://www.petitions.net/vaccines_to_himalayas" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.petitions.net/vaccines_to_himalayas&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1625660311216000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE8S4KxCeyaljq2uj4jL7emQuTHgg">https://www.petitions.net/vaccines_to_himalayas</a>.
Full Text of the Open Letter:
European Commission Ms Ursula von der Leyen President of the European Commission 
Open Letter to the European Commission to facilitate direct transfers of excess Covid-19 vaccines from EU member states to the countries with most urgent needs, namely Nepal and Bhutan 
Dear Commission President von der Leyen, 
We would like to bring to your attention the pressing issue of excess vaccines which were purchased by the member states through the centralized EU vaccine acquisition mechanism. Many of these vaccines, such as Vaxzervia produced by AstraZeneca, are not being administered or their use in most EU member states is substantially restricted. As a result, millions of doses are now idly awaiting other allocation. 
Many foreign governments, namely Bhutan and Nepal, asked for donation or purchase of excess vaccines from EU member states. Many public initiatives in EU member states also appealed to their respective governments to facilitate transfer of excess vaccines to Nepal and Bhutan or other mid and low income countries. 
However, EU member states are not in liberty to donate the surplus vaccines directly due to the legal constraints of the contracts between vaccine manufacturers, member states and EU. 
We, an informal group of people with close relationship to the Himalayas, namely Bhutan and Nepal, are nonetheless convinced that these countries, currently affected by regional outbreak of Delta variant, would be best helped by direct vaccine donations. Nepal and Bhutan urgently need almost two millions doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in order to administer second rounds to its citizens. Unfortunately, it has been reported by the media that WHO’s COVAX facility asked Nepal and Bhutan to request doses from other vaccine manufacturers. This may cause delays and complications for rapid response to fight against Covid-19 pandemic in these countries.
We thus appeal to European Commission to facilitate a mechanism which would allow member states to transfer vaccines bilaterally to other countries or enable member states to target their vaccine contributions multilaterally to the countries where it is most urgently needed. 
The reasons for above are as follows: 
<ol><li>While COVAX is a fair mechanism of vaccine distribution among the low and mid income countries, its prioritization is not taking into account the receiving country's actual situation amid Covid-19 pandemic, its specific vaccination needs and its vaccine administration preparedness. Ability to direct at least part of the available</li>
</ol>Prague, 6th July 2021 
supplies to the places where the vaccines are currently most needed would 
overcome these shortcomings. 2. By denying the foreign government requests for direct vaccine donations, EU 
member countries and the EU itself is damaging its international image. At the same time, other vaccine manufacturing countries are successfully using vaccine diplomacy to increase their soft-power and will certainly yield from that in the future. 
<ol start="3"><li>Inability to react positively to the appeals of member states’ citizens to donate vaccines to countries in urgent need reinforces the EU’s stereotypical image as bureaucratic, inflexible and alienated. Allowing member states and its people to decide on how to distribute the excess of vaccines would counteract such feelings among EU citizens.</li>
<li>The USA just recently decided to distribute its excess vaccines partly through COVAX and partly bilaterally according to US foreign policy prioritization. We believe that this is an example to follow.</li>
</ol>On top of that, many EU member states will soon have vast caches of soon to expire vaccines for which there will be no recipients among the EU citizens. In such a case, European Commission should pave the way for the member states for the swift transfers of such expiring doses to the third countries which are ready to receive and administer such supplies in the short time. 
We would like to request you to consider the above points thoroughly. We have full faith and hope in the European Commission's ability to make the right decisions that would be taking into account a global responsibility of the EU as well as the international relations priorities and wishes of EU citizens. 
Yours sincerely, 
Michal Thoma, photographer and writer, Czechia 
Věra Exnerová, Nepal director of the humanitarian organisation People in Need, Czechia 
Jan Tráva, mountaineer, Czechia 
Petr Horký, filmmaker, Czechia 
Kunda Dixit, editor and publisher of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1625660311216000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFueSB5zZbscyAgy7DPVj7QFyZZuQ">Nepali Times</a>, Nepal 
Françoise Pommaret, ethnohistorian and Tibetologist, France &amp; Bhutan 
Karma Phuntsho, Loden Foundation, Bhutan and Cambridge University, UK 
Stanislav Tomka, entrepreneur, Slovakia 
Gabriel Točka, Namasté, Society for Nepal-Slovakia Friendship, Slovakia 
Zdeňka Karky, former Czech honorary consul in Nepal, Czechia 
Kul Chandra Gautam, former deputy executive director of UNICEF, Nepal 
Manjushree Thapa, essayist, fiction writer, translator and editor, Nepal &amp; Canada 
Tomáš Zdechovský, Member of European Parliament, Czechia Buddhisagar, writer, poet, columnist, author of Karnali Blues and Firfire, Nepal 
Saurav Dhakal, curator, Story Cycle, Nepal 
Malvika Subba and Shrinkhala Khatiwoda, both Miss Nepal, Nepal
Buddha Basnyat, Himalayan Rescue Association and Mountain Medicine Society of Nepal 
Kateřina Konečná, Member of European Parliament, Czechia 
Šimon Pánek, director of the humanitarian organization People in Need, Czechia

Nepal-Bhutan vaccine appeal to European Commission

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b84379c7e80680e067780jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>Women with their babies displaying their ‘Nanglo with nutritious diet’. Ever since the first (2013-2017) phase of the Multisector Nutrition Plan (MSNP) gathered steam with support from the EU and in 30 priority districts, there has been visible progress in the health of both mothers and their infants. Photo: ELOISA FERNANDEZ ASTUDILLO, EU DELEGATION TO NEPAL</figcaption></figure>The 71st birthday of the European Union is a special day. Every year on 9 May we celebrate what started as a peace project in 1950, and is now an alliance for our joint future.The 27 member states and their 450 million citizens build our Union every day with their actions and their commitment, making it stronger through challenging times such as the Covid -19 pandemic.From day one, Europe has been guided by the principles of community, solidarity and cooperation. Today, these principles remain as relevant as ever.Europe promotes a sustainable and balanced growth: at home and in our partner countries. The European Union (EU) is the largest donor of development and humanitarian aid in the world and one of its major economic blocks, building the future based on agreed rules. The EU has expanded its presence in 140 nations across the world to build for all children, wherever they are, whoever they are, a shared world of peace, democracy, prosperity and security.The EU advocates and promotes a multilateral rules-based world order. It believes that there are global solutions to global problems. And to solve today’s global problems, the EU is pushing for universal access to Covid-19 vaccines, to strengthen the global recovery from the pandemic, tackle inequalities, modernise global institutions, establish global rules for the new digital technologies, win the race against climate change and restore our relationship with nature.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b843a9c7e80680e067781jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="680" height="450"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The EU is dedicated to tackling the challenge of climate change in Europe and in Nepal, because there is no partial solution to climate change. Some 40% of the world’s public climate finance comes from the EU, and climate change is at the heart of our external action and financing.We want to take this opportunity to invite the government and the people of Nepal to engage in a conversation on how we can work together and make a green alliance with Nepal.The EU has seized the challenge of climate change in the context of Covid-19 recovery, and has adopted the ambitious European Green Deal, which is the Union’s internal growth strategy aiming towards a carbon-neutral Europe by 2050.As in Europe, the fight against climate change in Nepal is an opportunity to support, alongside with other international partners, Nepal’s evolution towards a modern, sustainable, resource-efficient and competitive economy. A green recovery is not only about climate change.The pandemic has reminded us of the links between environmental degradation and the impacts on human health. Air needs to stay cleaner, and biodiversity loss needs to be reversed. We have to build back better, for the health and wellbeing of our people.The Covid-19 crisis has put the spotlight on gender bias and its impact on women-owned businesses, on the burden women are facing during the crisis, on their role as essential workers, the increased household load and the increase of gender-based violence.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b843c9c7e80680e067782jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="423"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>It is more relevant than ever in this context, to shape the coming socio-economic recovery with women at its centre, so that it is socially just, resilient and inclusive for all and support the progress on Nepal’s global commitments to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.The EU is showing leadership, responsibility and solidarity with those affected by the pandemic. Since the very start of this pandemic, the EU has chosen multilateralism and cooperation over nationalism and competition. We have formed Team Europe, which consists of the EU, its member states and their diplomatic networks, and financial institutions such as the national development banks, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.Together, Team Europe has contributed €2.47 billion to the COVAX initiative, which delivered already 40.5 million doses of vaccine to more than 100 countries worldwide, including Nepal – truly embodying our European principles of community, solidarity and cooperation.COVAX’s 348,000 doses of vaccines reached Nepal in March, and Team Europe will do its part so that 20% of Nepal’s population is vaccinated for free.The EU in its over 45 years of partnership with Nepal has contributed to the development, reform and democratisation process of the country, as a reliable companion in the implementation of Nepal’s reform strategies. European citizens have given €600 million to Nepal in the last 15 years, and they intend to continue.We were here during hard times, as when the earthquake hit, and we will continue being here in the next decade. The EU as a political partner will make Nepal’s voice stronger in the global and international dialogue and partnerships.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b843e9c7e80680e067783jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="843" height="843"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Let us celebrate Europe Day and may the friendship between Nepal and the EU and our people grow deeper and stronger. Let us live the principles of community, solidarity and cooperation because we are stronger together.This year’s celebrations, just as last year, is happening amidst the pandemic. In keeping with the social distancing measures, <a href="https://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/nepal_en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">online events</a> will replace traditional Europe Day celebrations. We may not be able to share physical spaces, but we can still be together virtually, safely from our homes. Stay safe.Nona Deprez is Ambassador and Head of EU Delegation to Nepal (@EUinNepal).

“EU will stand by Nepal in hard times”

On the occasion of the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the European Union and British Council Nepal are holding a European Union film festival. The first phase of the festival was held in Pokhara last week. In the second phase, films from the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Finland, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Luxembourg and Portugal will be screened at Tourism Board in Kathmandu, 14-16 July.My Pure Land14 July |11:00 AMBased on the true story of a woman in Pakistan who has to defend her land from scheming relatives, after her husband is incarcerated in a bitter family feud. Though their arms and ammunitions are limited, the women take up guns against 200 hired mercenaries in an isolated farmhouse. <img width="1000" height="666" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368efd69c7e80680e03599ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Berlin Babylon, Germany1:00 PMSet in 1929, this period drama explores a troubled time in World history through the eyes of German police officers. Based on novels by Volker Kutscher, the movie contains characters trying to uncover a web of intrigue, while themselves battling traumatic pasts.  <img width="1000" height="599" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368efd99c7e80680e03599fjpeg.jpg" alt="">Teorie Tygra3:15 PMA comedy about an aging man who leaves for adventure and freedom, to get away from his controlling wife. After the death of his father in law, he realises that his mother in law had been controlling him in the same way as his wife controls him, and his daughter controls his son-in-law. <img width="1000" height="562" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368efdb9c7e80680e0359a0jpeg.jpg" alt="">Defenders of Riga5:15 PMThe most watched Latvian movie after its independence in 1991, the movie depicts Latvia’s battle to defend Riga in 1919. Novice Latvian riflemen defeat a much larger and better prepared army of Germans left behind in the area, one year after the end of WW1.L’ Odyssee, France15 July |11:00 AMThis biography of French adventurer, biologist, marine conservationist, writer, and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau spans 30 years of his extraordinary life. In his adventurous life he researched the sea and all forms of aquatic life, and helped develop the aqua-lung.Escape from the Moomin Valley1:30 PMThe film shows the life of Tove Jansson, creator of the popular Moomin characters, who considered herself a painter first and foremost. The movie uses many of her paintings to propel the story, as well as accounts from her family and friends.  <img width="1000" height="563" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368efde9c7e80680e0359a1jpeg.jpg" alt="">Bauhaus Germany3:00 PMThe movie traces the German art movement called Bauhaus from 1919-1933, that floated the idea of combining art with craft, and combining all forms of art including architecture. The influential art movement has been called the face of the 20th century.Taranta on the Road5:15 PMA man and a woman are thrown together in their journey as illegal immigrants from Africa to Italy. Forced by circumstances, the strangers pretend to be a married couple in the eyes of three musicians who have decided to help them navigate the tricky European police system.A selection of European short films will be shown on 16 July.

European union film festival

In 2004, Poet Durga Lal Shrestha asked me to translate 223 little poems from Newa into English. They were each written as sestet-- terse in their form but heavy in imagery and sentiment. The novice translator in me struggled to find the best way to convey his poetry in English-- but the process became a tour as I discovered my mother tongue anew. The highlight, however, was Shrestha’s handwriting. His calligraphy is immaculate. He had given me photocopies from the notebook he had written the poems in and each page looked as though they were freshly out of the press. The letters bore a consistency, unswayed by the emotions of his poetry. Sometimes, I would just stare at the handwriting in admiration.&nbsp; Someone else had been similarly besotted by his writing: “I met him 25 years ago in the UK when he was the chief guest at a Mha Puja event organised by Pasa Pucha,” recollects Ojesh Singh, writer and engineer. “We were roommates. I noticed he couldn’t stop writing.”&nbsp; Shrestha, an octogenarian now, was a teacher at Kanya Mandir School for many years, where his writing was admired by colleagues and students. Known as Janakavi or People’s Poet, a title bestowed on him by the Nepal Bhasha Parishad, Shrestha is also the recipient of the Jagadamba Shree Puraskar for his contribution to literature.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251021071052_b109f2ee6dbac911fb8002e8e8bb33a50a8f755d26662f333535d32c8573e782.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251021071052_b109f2ee6dbac911fb8002e8e8bb33a50a8f755d26662f333535d32c8573e782" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="Digitising the savant calligrapher NT"> <figcaption>From left to right: Suman Shrestha, Ananda Kumar Maharjan, Durga Lal Shrestha, Ojesh Singh, and Arbindra Man Singh. Photo: SUCHITA SHRESTHA</figcaption> </figure>  “He would write on anything he could lay his hands on. On tissue paper, envelopes, cigarette boxes. It struck me how neat and tidy his writing was,” says Singh. “The structure and size were perfectly in sync-- and as an aspiring graphic designer then, I fell in love with his writing. Later, whenever I read his books, I thought it would be nice to read them in his writing.” After sitting with the notion of turning Shrestha’s writing into a digital font for years, in 2024, he reached out to a small group of people who he thought might be allies.&nbsp; “It was during Ojesh Ji’s book launch that we met and talked about the possibility of turning Durga Lal Shrestha’s writing into font,” recalls Ananda Kumar Maharjan, who has designed the Durga Lal Shrestha font and is affiliated with Callijatra, an organisation promoting Newa calligraphy.&nbsp; For Singh, the desire to immortalise the poet's handwriting wasn’t only coming from personal admiration, it was also about preserving the writing of a language and literature leader and activist. He offered to fund the font project, which meant paying for Maharjan’s time and dedication. He also drew into the conversation Shrestha’s son Suman, who has been an integral part of the process.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251021071056_372dc34ac3ce3b70445128131a11ade8f321756c6cc7615825c4451e85f56374.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251021071056_372dc34ac3ce3b70445128131a11ade8f321756c6cc7615825c4451e85f56374" data-rendition-name="original" width="616" height="728" loading="lazy" alt="Digitising the savant calligrapher NT"> </figure>  The others involved in the process were journalist Arbindra Man Singh, who had been scanning Shrestha’s writing for the book Hastakshar, a collection of poems printed in the author’s handwriting. Also an enthusiast of converting Shrestha’s writing to a font, Singh provided help in bringing together the scans, based on which Maharjan picked the best letter for each alphabet to create a complete set.&nbsp; “Doing this was different from other font developments I have done in the past,” explains Maharjan, who has also digitised his own handwriting into a font, called Anand. “To create Durga Lal Shrestha’s writing as font, I had to analyse his writing archive and pick the best.”&nbsp; He adds: “There was a book published in his writing, so there were scans and digital archiving done by Arbindra Ji, which became the foundation for my work.” He had to find a prototype for each alphabet based on the scans. He traced the letters on Illustrator and copied them to a MAC software called Glyphs where he had to enter each letter, using a traditional Devanagari keyboard instead of Unicode.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025102108100_2f6b8c0f3cf91682707ac356e11ad50b342a4198f56490ab68d041e875b15edb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025102108100_2f6b8c0f3cf91682707ac356e11ad50b342a4198f56490ab68d041e875b15edb" data-rendition-name="original" width="818" height="766" loading="lazy" alt="Digitising the savant calligrapher NT"> </figure>  “I had to be very careful to keep it accurate. Conjunctions need attention,” Maharjan says. “There are half letters, saint letters, ligatures and open type features to pay attention to, this is more advanced than the fonts I’ve created in the past.” &nbsp; Maharjan has designed this font in three different variations that users can play with. “Writing changes with age. While young, people write better, but with age, it starts to change. Since Durga Lal Shrestha hasn’t been very well lately, his hand shakes when he writes. So, we had to pick the best of his writing from the records,” he adds. “People also tend to write in different styles depending on their mood so we took the best four of every letter and traced and picked one.”&nbsp; Handwriting is deeply intimate and in this day and age of tech, becoming lost.&nbsp; What bothers me about the day of phones is that I no longer know what the writing of those close to me look like. I no longer know how you press the pen between our fingers or how you tilt it against the paper or how you pause to write periods or how the nib makes a perfect tiny orb before you drag it just so, to turn it into a comma. The familiarity of the nuances of someone’s writing is lost on us.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251021071056_2c83ab2c3ed4cfa42e6a6a637d88fd879218fb5b7391e086ab5db1a8ec173654.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251021071056_2c83ab2c3ed4cfa42e6a6a637d88fd879218fb5b7391e086ab5db1a8ec173654" data-rendition-name="original" width="992" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="Digitising the savant calligrapher NT"> </figure>  Ojesh Singh agrees with me. He says it’s important to keep handwriting alive as people become more and more tech-dependent. People are likely to interact even less with letters on paper, but at least we can have fonts, he says.&nbsp; A set of six books by poet Durga Lal Shrestha is set to be launched on 31October. One of them, entitled, Kawa, is typeset in the Durga Lal Shrestha Font. The font will be made available to the general public after the books have been released. In July, I had visited Shrestha, who I also call Durga Lal Taaba, as many Newa people in my generation do. Seated in the quiet of his home, he conversed about literature and language with my father and my uncle. Coming out of Taaba, Newa, which has a utilitarian function for me to communicate with my parents, sounded more like a lyric.&nbsp; I asked him what he thinks about his handwriting being archived as a font. He replied: “This body is going to be gone eventually, so I thought maybe my handwriting could live on.” Suburban Tales is a monthly column in Nepali Times based on real people in Pratibha’s life.

Digitising the savant calligrapher

The winter air pollution season started early this year with emissions, Diwali firecrackers and crop residue burning making the air unbreathable across north India. Much of the pollution was transboundary, with prevailing winds carrying the suspended particulates from Pakistan, across India to Nepal and beyond. All this pollution and domestic emissions killed 41,300 in Nepal in 2023, and 85% of all deaths were because of noncommunicable diseases such as heart and lung disease, lung cancer, diabetes, and dementia, according to the State of Global Air (SoGA) 2025 report released Thursday. With the onset of winter, Kathmandu Valley’s own emissions are trapped in a surface inversion layer and as in previous years will have some of the worst air quality in the world.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251023131016_7c42a4e8b0dce01dfeeaaf89dbb10dbfa036b41163f3ebada88c7ce17dbded49.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251023131016_7c42a4e8b0dce01dfeeaaf89dbb10dbfa036b41163f3ebada88c7ce17dbded49" data-rendition-name="original" width="921" height="850" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution killing season starts early NT"> </figure>  The SoGa report says air pollution has now become the leading risk factor for deaths in Nepal, ahead of tobacco and high blood pressure. Interestingly, while the health impacts due to environmental risk factors such as unsafe water and sanitation have reduced significantly since 2000, the opposite is true for ambient PM2.5 (particles smaller than 2.5 microns). Globally, 7.9 million deaths were attributable to air pollution– about 1 in 8 deaths – in 2023. Of this total, 4.9 million deaths were attributable to PM2.5 exposure, 2.8 million were from household air pollution, and 470,000 were from ozone. Similarly, dementia attributable to air pollution resulted in 626,000 deaths and 40 million healthy years of life lost. And 95% of air pollution attributable deaths in adults over the age of 60 are due to noncommunicable diseases. The burden of noncommunicable diseases in relation to air pollution is rising worldwide and in Nepal. The SoGA report shows that nearly nine of ten global air pollution deaths are from chronic ailments, and half of all respiratory disease deaths are attributable to air pollution.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251023131020_8577f464b4a73007de5dd018b8ac91dae3a9c732dbb81a44b6aa5a0ced7df3df.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251023131020_8577f464b4a73007de5dd018b8ac91dae3a9c732dbb81a44b6aa5a0ced7df3df" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution killing season starts early NT"> </figure>  In Nepal, air pollution is responsible for three out of four COPD deaths, one out of three heart deaths and one out of five diabetes deaths. More than one third of lower respiratory infection deaths were due to air pollution. “The data presented in the State of Global Air report highlight the significant impacts of poor air quality on the health and well-being of billions of people around the world, especially those living in Asia and Africa,” says Pallavi Pant of the Boston-based Health Effects Institute (HEI) that released the report in collaboration with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the NCD Alliance. She adds: “Growing momentum on air quality management across those hard-hit locations, including expansion of air quality monitoring, adoption of air quality regulations, and sector-specific interventions are yielding improvements for those most impacted.” Low- and middle-income countries stand to gain most by reducing air pollution, with particularly strong impacts on children, older populations, and people with pre-existing health conditions. Indeed, of the 41,300 air pollution deaths in 2023 in Nepal, 31,600 were in adults over the age of 60 years and 3,500 in children below five years. Death rate for air pollution in Nepal, which is 178 per 100,000, is more than 10 times higher than high-income countries, which is at 17 per 100,000.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251023131020_604e852aed4ffde0dc7d1df72fcd3e73d904136dfb1bb2407e53b7445f3ef72c.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20251023131020_604e852aed4ffde0dc7d1df72fcd3e73d904136dfb1bb2407e53b7445f3ef72c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1078" height="423" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution killing season starts early NT"> </figure>  “Win-win solutions for air pollution and NCDs exist, with added benefits for climate, physical activity, nutrition, and many other global development priorities,” says Alison Cox, Policy and Advocacy Director at the Geneva-based NCD Alliance. “These policies are effective and deliver a strong return on investment - for the sake of our people and the planet we need to implement them faster.” Fine particle pollution (ambient PM2.5) is the largest driver of air pollution’s burden of disease worldwide as kit attributed to 4.9 million deaths and 124 million healthy years of life lost in 2023. Vehicles, power plants, factories, and homes, as well as agricultural and industrial activities, waste burning and wildfires are some of the biggest sources of pollutants. South Asia is among the regions of the world with the highest exposures to ambient PM2.5 , while more than 36% of people around the world live in areas where PM2.5 levels do not meet even the least stringent interim target. As per the report, 78% of Nepal’s 30 million population lives in areas where annual PM2.5 exposure exceeds the least stringent WHO Air Quality Interim Target of 35 µg/m3. Meanwhile, exposure to household air pollution due to the use of solid fuels for cooking remains an important driver for the disease burden in the country. “Ongoing efforts to meet global development goals are not achievable without directly addressing air pollution,” says Maria Neira, Commissioner of Our Common Air. “Countries and cities must focus their efforts toward reducing air pollution emissions, including household air pollution, which has particularly severe impacts on young children and older people across Asia and Africa.”

Air pollution killing season starts early

Nepal needs to enact and enforce animal law

This year, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/quo-vadis-un-80-9vthn7mg">United Nations is marking its 80th anniversary</a> and it is being celebrated with special events across the world to commemorate its establishment on 24 October 1945. It has also been 75 years since the first UN adviser, the Swiss geologist Toni Hagen, was sent to Nepal to explore development opportunities. In 1950, there were no roads and Hagen walked on foot across the length and breadth of Nepal’s mountains, valleys and plains. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Nepal, and much of Hagen’s work laid the basis for the UN’s involvement in education, health, and connectivity in Nepal’s future development. Despite frequent changes in government and political system, Nepal has made remarkable progress. The poverty rate has gone down by half in the past 30 years to 20.27% of the population. Much of it has to do with remittances from Nepalis working overseas, but it is also a result of the Nepal government’s investment in education, health care and social welfare.&nbsp; There have been special initiatives like the Prime Minister’s Employment Program that have provided jobs to nearly 800,000 people in the country’s 743 municipalities — especially in those areas with lower Human Development Index (HDI) like the far-west and the Tarai.&nbsp; This year’s HDI report by UNDP shows that Nepal’s score had risen to 0.622, whereas it was only 0.404 in 1990. In the past 33 years, the average lifespan of Nepalis has risen by 15.6 years to 70.4 years, whereas it was only 54.8 in 1990. However, the country’s HDI ranking is still 145 among the world’s 193 countries. “Yes, there has been significant improvement in living standards in the past 60 years, road connectivity has improved, the maternal mortality rate has gone down dramatically, almost everyone has phones, there are schools,” says Saru Joshi of the thinktank Nepal Policy Institute. But, she adds: “It is still difficult to get citizenship papers, especially in the name of the mother, and this has excluded many women from banking services, inheritance. After all our progress in physical infrastructure, Nepal now needs to prioritise inclusive social development.”&nbsp; Some of this is also happening. Eighteen years ago, Nabaraj Subedi, 49, of a village in Baglung decided not to join his peers &nbsp;fleeing the Maoist conflict to find work overseas. He invested Rs500,000 to buy a diesel generator and start a small furniture business.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251024071044_eeef308e19a73de507a425b2c6afc47269884549cf4c8fac07ca9a4898c8e031.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251024071044_eeef308e19a73de507a425b2c6afc47269884549cf4c8fac07ca9a4898c8e031" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Nawaraj Subedi"> <figcaption>Nawaraj Subedi, 49, proprietor of Tarakhola Furniture Factory. </figcaption> </figure>  Today, with the installation of the 380 kilowatt small hydroelectric plant, he does not need to depend on his unreliable generator to power his equipment anymore. There is now a road connecting his village, and Subedi has generated local jobs, opened a sales branch in the city, and gets orders from as far away as Pokhara and Chitwan. “My costs have gone down drastically because of the electricity, and sales have gone up because of the road connecting my furniture to markets. My business has expanded,” Subedi says. Back in 1960 in a report he prepared for the Nepal government on behalf of the United Nations, Toni Hagen had emphasised just this: investing in electricity generation and connectivity to uplift the remote rural areas of Nepal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251024081024_188ab121dc3cf2816ee71a72cb3687493eda37ab99ecc04802d647c8c9b4cd2d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20251024081024_188ab121dc3cf2816ee71a72cb3687493eda37ab99ecc04802d647c8c9b4cd2d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Tarakhola Furniture Factory"> <figcaption>Subedi's staff at the Tarakhola Furniture Factory.</figcaption> </figure>  Subedi’s furniture factory gets its electricity from the nearby Tarakhola Hydropower, a company set up eight years ago with financial and technical support from UNDP’s Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihood (RERL) project. &nbsp; “The project completely transformed living standards in this village,” says municipality chair Dhan Bahadur BK. “It has helped create jobs locally, there is now money to invest in education and healthcare. Households can pay their electricity fees electronically through smart billing.”&nbsp; After working with the government on rural electrification, UNDP is focussed on using that power for local employment creation. A women’s group, for example, has bought an electric-powered potato processing machine that can produce chips.&nbsp; “We are 12 of us mothers, daughters, daughters-in-law who process, package and market the potato that we grow ourselves, and it has raised our income,” says Sukmaya Roka, 57, who chairs the group.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251024071044_70b22418699178bcdd0abb0aa308796980ecd29634bcda6ff113a7624e709751.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251024071044_70b22418699178bcdd0abb0aa308796980ecd29634bcda6ff113a7624e709751" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Sukamaya Roka"> <figcaption>Sukamaya Roka, 57, chair of Sipa Aalu Chips Utpadan Samuha from Tarakhola Rural Municipality, Baglung. </figcaption> </figure>  Today, 6.1 million households in Nepal (92.2% of total) have electricity in their homes, up from 17.9% 30 years ago. Access to electricity has not just brought lights to homes, but improved everything from productivity, quality of education, healthcare and phone connectivity.&nbsp; “To see what electricity and roads can do, just look at our municipality,” says chair Dhan Bahadur BK, “citizens have become more self-reliant, more aware of the outside world.”&nbsp; NETTLES INTO CASH&nbsp; Just a little bit of training, resource backup and local empowerment can uplift the living standards of Nepalis. The progress made in harvesting abundantly-available allo (nettles) and turning it into household products is an example. When a landslide swept away his home and farm in a flood 40 years ago, Buddhi Purja of Parbat became destitute. But he took part in a government training program supported by UNDP and Australia to harvest the wild nettles that grew on mountain slopes and turn the fabric into bags.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251024071048_56c440c478dffbc13911369b6f4133baf658cc3667773cdb44b7c40e006463ce.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20251024071048_56c440c478dffbc13911369b6f4133baf658cc3667773cdb44b7c40e006463ce" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Rhitu Saugat Handicraft"> <figcaption>A worker at Rhitu Saugat Handicraft making a bag out of nettles.</figcaption> </figure>  “After the landslide, we had to go hungry if we did not get a day job,” Purja recalls, “but after this training we have found that we can turn nettles into cash.” His allo bags are now hanging in tourist shops in Pokhara Lakeside and Thamel.&nbsp; The idea that nettles can be processed into useful fabric has not spread across the country, and new ecologically conscious consumers in Europe and elsewhere now import Made in Nepal nettle products.&nbsp; Purja started out with an investment of Rs500,000, and had a Rs20 million business that employed 25 workers. The Covid crisis in 2020 affected the sales, but Purja has recovered from it, sent his daughter off to study abroad, and is thinking of diversifying his product range.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251024071044_ab6d15abcbb9a643e12a384f4bc488b7e210a8c95303fbe1b2f77716d26eede9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20251024071044_ab6d15abcbb9a643e12a384f4bc488b7e210a8c95303fbe1b2f77716d26eede9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Buddi Purja"> <figcaption>Buddi Purja, proprietor of Rhitu Saugat Handicraft in Pokhara.</figcaption> </figure>  While UNDP’s project has made successful businessmen out of people like Purja, nationwide it has created 187,000 jobs in rural medium-scale industries. Much of what has worked in Nepal has been at the community level with decentralised projects like these that use the entrepreneurship of people like Buddhi Purja, Navaraj Subedi, and Sukmaya Roka. It is tantalising to imagine how much more progress Nepal would have made if their work could be replicated nationside and upscaled to the state-level.

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