<img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce41b9c7e80680e09668ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figure><img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce41d9c7e80680e09668fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>A series of photographs of Kathmandu Valley taken by Abhushan Gautam on 10 May 2020, and on 6 April 2021 from the same spot in Chobar at the same time just before sunset. Mt Everest was visible last year from 200km away in Kathmandu (left). On Tuesday (right).   All photos: ABHUSHAN GAUTAMAfter all traffic in Nepal and India came to a halt during <a href="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=bead8272edd0f2143&amp;q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-lockdown-proves-air-quality-can-be-improved/&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi3w6rw_-rvAhXa63MBHVnRDjcQFjABegQIBxAC&amp;usg=AOvVaw2s82NSU_ZjeP2pMpINXwoB" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the coronavirus lockdown last year</a>  photographer Abhushan Gautam posted proof that if the air was clear enough, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/when-the-air-is-clean/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mt Everest could be seen from Kathmandu</a>. On Tuesday, he went back to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-lockdown-proves-air-quality-can-be-improved/">the exact spot in Chobar</a> from where he had taken the photograph last year at 5-6PM just before sunset. The visibility this week was less than 2km.“Last year, I was super excited to document the panoramic views of Kathmandu with the Himalayan backdrop,” Gautam recalls. “I did not feel like leaving the spot till nightfall.” <img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4209c7e80680e096690jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figure><img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4229c7e80680e096691jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Patan with Phurbi Ghyachu (7,083m) in the backdrop last year, and this week looking in the same direction.This year, with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wildfires continuing to burn across Nepal</a>, the country has been shrouded in thick smoke for more than two weeks. After some rain on 2 April, there had been a short respite, but Kathmandu’s Air Quality Index has gone back to above 300 for the past five days.“This year, the poor visibility felt both alarming and suffocating because of the smoke, I just took the photographs and left the spot,” Gautam told Nepali Times.   <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4259c7e80680e096692jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Kathmandu Valley with the Jugal Himal Range in the background on 10 May 2020, and on 6 April 2021 (below).</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4289c7e80680e096693jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce42b9c7e80680e096694jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="718" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce42d9c7e80680e096695jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>With no references of mountains in the backdrop, Gautam missed some of the vantage points where he had stood last year. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/wildfires-in-nepal-cause-air-quality-to-plummet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The air was so bad</a>, the city had disappeared and only some of the high-rise apartments in Jhamsikhel were faintly visible through the dirty yellow haze. “Capturing the panoramic images seemed seamless last year, the camera easily focused on Kathmandu landmarks and mountains beyond due to clear weather and soft light from the golden hour, this year the camera struggled to find those landmarks, and taking the panorama was even more difficult because I could not identify the common frames for stitching later,” he said. The results can be seen in the before-and-after images: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/when-the-air-is-clean/">photographs last year</a> were crisp and saturated, but this week they are blurry and dull. <figure><img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4309c7e80680e096696jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1000" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4339c7e80680e096697jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Closeup of Gurkapo Ri (6,891m), Dorje Lakpa (6,996m), Lonpo Gang (7,083m) and Gyalzen Peak (6,151m) just before sunset last year, and the view from the same spot in Chobar this week. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4359c7e80680e096698jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Himalchuli and Manaslu loom over the western edge of Kathmandu Valley in this photo taken last year.</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4389c7e80680e096699jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>And the view from the same place on 6 April.</figcaption></figure>The reason the air quality has remained so poor for so long is that there are thousands of fires right across western and central Nepal, as well as parts of Uttarakhand in India. Deficient precipitation in winter and spring, possibly<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-sky-can-be-this-clean-every-day/"> a result of climate change,</a> had turned the forest underbrush dry, making this year’s fire season the worst in living memory. The fires have been unprecedented in extent and duration. They have added to the already serious pollution from vehicular emission, brick kilns and open garbage burning in Kathmandu Valley. In mid-March there was also a lot of wind-blown sand from the Arabian and Indian deserts.There have been years like the winter of 2008-2009 when huge fires ravaged the high mountains, blowing plumes of smoke over Kathmandu. But these lasted only a few days and went out after the rains arrived. <figure><img width="1500" height="733" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce43b9c7e80680e09669ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Twitter post by Pawan Gupta, @pawanpgupta, a researcher with NASA, showing the extent of the fires in Uttarakhand and Nepal with smoke blowing across the Himalayan foothills.</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1116" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce43e9c7e80680e09669bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Graph showing the number of fires in Nepal in March-April 2021, compared to the average total fire radiative power for the same period between 2003-2020.From a Tweet by Mark Parrington, @m_parrington, a senior scientist at Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="961" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4419c7e80680e09669cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Concentration of soot particles up to 2.5 microns over Central and Eastern Nepal on 6 April at noon.</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="738" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4449c7e80680e09669djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Smoke billows right across Nepal in this NASA Worldview satellite image in the visual spectrum taken at 10am on 6 April.</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1159" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4479c7e80680e09669ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>There have been years when wildfires have been bad, like 2008-9 following a long winter drought. This satellite image from that year shows huge fires in western, central and eastern Nepal. But these lasted only a few days. Photo: NASA</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="225" height="300" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce44b9c7e80680e09669fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>AQI measurement in Kathmandu on 6 April. Photo: Kunda Dixit</figcaption></figure>The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology says there are no signs of a major westerly system to bring rain or to blow the smoke away. There have also not been local convection systems along the mountains during this spring’s storm season so far.The scale of the blazes is too extensive for local firefighters, and there has been no effective national effort to douse the flames. This means the fires are likely to continue until they burn themselves out.

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Nepal's smoky mountains

Samsung Nepal has opened pre-orders for the Galaxy A57 5G and A37 5G. Both phones run Samsung’s One UI 8.5, featuring AI capabilities like voice transcription, Circle to Search, and photo editing. They feature a 50MP triple-camera system, a Super AMOLED display, and six years of OS and security updates.

Galaxy A series

The war in West Asia has exposed the fragility of the economic architecture Nepal has built on over two generations. If the conflict continues, growth across developing Asia will slow and prices will rise. For Nepal, this will be felt through higher living costs, weaker economic activity, and growing uncertainty for the millions of families who depend on remittances.&nbsp; Nepal now needs to structurally transform from exporting labour to investing in domestic job creation. &nbsp; The country's current path toward a knowledge economy has a blind spot. A <a href="https://iids.org.np/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/unleashing.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> by the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) in Kathmandu shows that IT export companies alone generated 7,228 jobs and income for 66,509 freelancers.&nbsp; We are building digital labour export, not an economy that accumulates institutional knowledge. The Nepali Upwork developer and a migrant construction worker in the Gulf are engaged in the same economic activity, but with different tools. Nepal’s reliance on a <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.DT.GD.ZS?locations=NP" target="_blank">remittance-driven economy,</a> means the country has failed to create enough <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nepal/publication/unlocking-nepal-s-growth-potential" target="_blank">quality jobs</a> at home. For millions of young people, leaving the country is not a choice but a necessity to survive and support families back home. <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nepal/publication/unlocking-nepal-s-growth-potential" target="_blank">Remittances</a> have no doubt helped reduce poverty. Thirty years ago, 55% of Nepal’s population lived on less than $2.15 a day, now it is 20% after the absolute poverty line was revised upwards. This progress has come at a cost — &nbsp;an economy that depends more on exporting workers than creating opportunities at home. This development reflects a deeper political failure to create meaningful jobs within the country. Since the democratic transition in 1991, Nepal’s leadership has largely recycled the same faces, with limited progress on job creation or industrial growth.&nbsp; Nepal cannot build a <a href="https://nipore.org/accelerating-nepals-startups/" target="_blank">knowledge economy</a> while its most ambitious people are outbound to Doha and Tokyo. We are also not just losing ‘labour’. We are losing the entrepreneurial risk tolerance of our youth.&nbsp; If the most ambitious 25-year-olds are abroad, who is left to support innovation and entrepreneurship? The same people who are working tirelessly abroad, are our biggest asset for development. Their work ethic and the know-how inurban renewal could well fit into the new RSP government’s mandate of 7% annual growth.&nbsp; The <a href="https://english.biznessnews.com/posts/-nepal%E2%80%99s-it-exports-cross-1-billion-" target="_blank">$1B milestone</a> of IT exports is a celebratory moment for Nepal. However, that cannot lead to a pathway to a $100 billion economy without innovation ecosystems that go beyond individual labour export. Companies like SecurityPal and industry associations such as NASIT have made significant efforts in building such an environment, recently championed by private sector leaders as a &nbsp;<a href="https://www.securitypalhq.com/blog/silicon-peaks" target="_blank">Silicon Peaks</a> model that emphasises a home growth tech cluster. The need to accelerate this transition is even more urgent with the escalating conflict in West Asia. &nbsp;The recent International Labour Organisation (ILO) <a href="https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/Nepal%20LDC%20Graduation%20Employment%20Impacts%20Report.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> shows that LDC graduation is expected to adversely impact manufacturing with losses of $1 billion by 2030.&nbsp; If manufacturing takes such a large hit from losing trade preferences, then Nepal’s services and IT sectors need to structurally transform and shift from exporting individual talent to building firms. &nbsp; A generation’s frustration has finally forced a shift in Nepal’s political structure, handing the new government a clear mandate to fix failures. But the question still persists: what prevents Nepal from achieving sustained, productivity-driven growth? &nbsp;&nbsp; RSP is in the right place at the right time to put Nepal's economy on a firm footing. At the heart of Nepal’s economic underperformance lies a major development binding constraint: low returns to investment on projects.&nbsp; The government invests like a high-growth economy, with gross capital formation at around <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NE.GDI.FTOT.ZS?locations=NP" target="_blank">25–30 percent of GDP</a>. Yet economic growth remains modest. The problem is not how much the country invests, but how little it gets in return. One way to see this is by looking at how much investment is required to generate growth.&nbsp; Nepal needs large amounts of capital to produce relatively small gains in output (graph, below). For instance, in 2024, the ICOR was 8.29, this suggests that Nepal had to invest more than 8 units of capital to produce a one unit of additional economic output.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260406040412_605dc527641d2ff2dc5723ed8bbec946898331d5538a55b9941e32a0725bf811.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20260406040412_605dc527641d2ff2dc5723ed8bbec946898331d5538a55b9941e32a0725bf811" data-rendition-name="original" width="1827" height="925" loading="lazy" alt="Economy graph"> <figcaption>Source: Author's calculation based on a Growth Diagnostic simulation</figcaption> </figure>  This reflects a deeper issue in how investment is allocated and executed. Capital is often locked in low-productivity sectors or diluted by delays, inefficiencies, and policy uncertainty.&nbsp; As a result, even high levels of investment fail to translate into sustained growth. Until investment shifts toward productive, firm-building activities, higher spending alone will not deliver results. &nbsp; To reverse this, the government must focus on raising the returns to investment by enabling firms to grow and compete. This requires a shift from managing scarcity to creating an environment where capital can generate consistent and predictable returns. A central priority should be given to attracting and retaining both domestic and foreign private investment. Investors do not just respond to direct incentives, but also to policy stability in the country. Nepal’s economy cannot sustain high growth if its human capital continues to leave the country.&nbsp; The goal should not simply be to create jobs, but to build companies that scale, innovate, and compete beyond Nepal. This requires supporting sectors with strong productivity potential and ensuring that firms can expand without being constrained by infrastructure gaps or regulatory friction. Finally, the state must improve the quality of its own investment. Public spending should focus on lowering the cost of doing business through reliable electricity, efficient logistics, and digital infrastructure.&nbsp; The GenZ movement took two days to bring change. The economic transformation of Nepal might take a generation. The RSP can accelerate this transition, but only if it focuses on building a better investment climate for business and not just feeding the global labour pool. Kailash Raj Pandey is an MPA/ID and MBA candidate at Harvard Kennedy School and MIT Sloan School of Management and a fellow at MIT Kuo Sharper Center for Innovation and Prosperity.&nbsp; Siddhartha Raymajhí is a policy researcher based in Kathmandu.

Creating a firm future for Nepal

Know your Ministers

Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Wednesday broke tradition and met with 17 foreign envoys collectively, a move that was a notable departure from how his predecessors operated.&nbsp;
Shah had already set himself apart by talking less, listening more, and delegating to trusted friends. But by meeting all ambassadors at one go in the presence of the Foreign Ministry, he signalled a paradigm shift in how he wants Nepal to be seen: no longer just balancing India and China, but as a country confident about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/tripolar-contestation-over-nepal">strategic importance and place in the world</a>.
In just two weeks, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rsp-dos-and-don-ts">RSP has sprung into action </a>on multiple fronts to implement its ambitious 100-point, 100-days action plan. It has taken short-term measures to mitigate the impact of the Gulf war, as well as medium- and long- term measures to streamline the bureaucracy. A few high-profile figures have been made examples of to drive the message home.
Earlier this week, the government recalled six politically appointed ambassadors, the most notable being long-serving Shankar Sharma from New Delhi. The Kathmandu District Court issued arrest warrants against former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his former foreign minister wife Arzu Rana on charges of money laundering and corruption.
Each ministry has been trying to clean up the accumulated rot from the past three decades: regulatory overhaul of microfinance, education, health and service delivery.&nbsp;
These actions widely disseminated campaign-style on YouTube and TikTok have made most Nepalis hopeful that the party they installed in power means business.
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BACKLASH
But such attempts to overhaul a long-entrenched political culture were bound to face backlash. In their impatience and enthusiasm to get things done, some of Prime Minister Shah’s ministers have over-reached.
It was common knowledge that government-paid advertising in the mainstream press was kickback-driven, but the PMO’s directive that official notices be published or broadcast only on state-run media has been denounced — especially as the media industry struggles to stay afloat.
More serious are some recent appointments by ministers of relatives and figures closely associated with the RSP to key positions. This has rankled because this party built its political plank on ending nepotism and graft.&nbsp;
News that Home Minister Sudan Gurung allegedly had not paid rent on leased land, which illegally encroached on the lake in Pokhara did not help. &nbsp;
Prime Minister Shah himself has come under scrutiny for appointing a kitchen cabinet full of male buddies from his time as Kathmandu mayor. To douse criticism he brought in as adviser investigative journalist Deepa Dahal, who has exposed corruption in high places of the previous coalitions.&nbsp;
Shah’s appointment of another political adviser Asim Shah to the head Constitution Amendment Task Force, is also seen as problematic. He is a filmmaker and former lawmaker, but does not have a background in constitutional law.&nbsp;
Even more controversial is the Cabinet’s decision to appoint RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane’s legal counsel, Narayan Kandel, as Attorney General. Kandel used to be a UK permanent resident, and does not have as much experience practicing law in Nepal.&nbsp;
Kandel’s appointment drew flak and raised eyebrows, and with the pending legal cases against Lamichhane this appointment represents a flagrant conflict of interest.
Health Minister Nisha Mehta was also accused of favouritism after reappointing Junu Shrestha, wife of Labour Minister Dipak Kumar Shah, as member of the Health Insurance Board which had earlier suspended her. The Labour Minister’s rambling rant at the Board’s meeting on Tuesday has not helped the RSP’s image.&nbsp;
(UPDATE: On Thursday, Prime Minister Shah sacked the Labour Minister after the RSP found him in breach of the party's code of conduct and discipline. He served 14 days in the Cabinet, one of the shortest tenures for a minister in Nepal )
It is hard to know what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ball-in-balen-s-court">Balendra Shah is thinking</a>, and how Rabi Lamichhane is going to justify some of these moves. After all, making politics, governance, and bureaucracy a meritocracy has been the core tenet of the RSP, and it risks alienating its mainly youth base if these missteps persist.
But at least for now, most RSP supporters seem to be giving the party the benefit of doubt.

everest-from-kathmandu

Nepal's smoky mountains

Galaxy A series

Creating a firm future for Nepal

Know your Ministers

Nepal’s new government springs into action