Sujan Rawat had come to Kathmandu from Karnali in the hope of somehow <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/dead-end-of-the-korean-dream">making it to Korea</a> to pay off family debt. His dreams and that of his family back home was dashed on Friday on the Ring Road in Kathmandu. He was one of the two aspirants hoping to go to Korea who were killed in a police charge at Balkumari in Lalitpur. Applicants for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Korea-treating-Nepali-migrant-workers-right,2813">Korea jobs</a> had gathered at the Korean Employment Permit System (EPS) office in Balkumari to protest a recent decision that disallowed them from applying for a mandatory Korean language test.&nbsp; The angry protesters set fire to the car of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala. As the violence intensified, riot police was deployed to control the situation. They charged the agitators with batons as well as firing tear gas and rubber bullets.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231230121220_c84479e7c80b289e0f55ad48a39f66a1ee042738c90bb63d5465dba6336a8b10.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20231230121220_c84479e7c80b289e0f55ad48a39f66a1ee042738c90bb63d5465dba6336a8b10" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1306" loading="lazy" alt="Balkumari EPS protest"> <figcaption>Protesters set fire to the car of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala.</figcaption> </figure>  Rawal had left his room earlier in the morning looking for his older brother who had also joined the protest. Having arrived in Kathmandu just a week before, Rawat did not know his way around but managed to reach Balkumari. Rawat was just walking on his side of the road when the police suddenly charged at him, said Roshan Katuwal, a relative. “He wasn’t there to protest, he was minding his own business when the police took him for one of the demonstrators,” he told Nepali Times. “A heavy blow to his chest is what killed him.” Rawat was taken to the nearby KIST Hospital but there wasn't much doctors could do to save his life. “He was brought in unconscious at 12:40PM, he succumbed to his injuries at 1:17PM while undergoing treatment,” Amish Pathak, executive officer of KIST Hospital told us. “He had a blue bruise on his chest.” Rawat had followed his older brother to Kathmandu from Dailekh Bazar where his family ran a small shop. But when his father was diagnosed with a brain tumor, the family could not afford treatment. They incurred debts, the responsibility of which had fallen on Rawat to clear. “His father passed away less than a year ago and now this has befallen the family,” added Katuwal. Rawat has a mother and a younger sister and a brother back home who had all their hopes pinned on Rawat. Rawat himself wanted to continue his studies after completing high school. But his family situation meant he didn't see any other option but to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/delayed-dreams-for-korea-bound-nepalis">migrate overseas</a> to pay off the loans.&nbsp; As soon as he reached Kathmandu, Rawat enrolled himself in a Korean language class and was preparing for the EPS exam. Birendra Shah of Achham was seriously injured in the police charge on Friday, and taken to Patan Hospital but he died during the treatment. The government has announced Rs1 million in compensation for the families of Rawat and Shah, as well as suspension of the key security officials involved until further investigations. The protest was triggered by a notice published by the EPS office which stated that for the applicants to be eligible to apply for the test, they should not have done so in 2023. In many ways, the protest is a representation of the frustration and desperation of the youths against the political system that does not even ensure basic rights and jobs to the people. Oftentimes, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/50-diaspora-diaries-in-nepali-times">labour migration is their only hope</a>. Following the notice, 12 individuals including Tarka Bahadur Paul filed a writ in the Patan High Court on 28 December. The single bench of Judge Chandramani Gyawali gave an interim order not to stop anyone from filling out the application form for the Korean language test, stating that it was a violation of their rights. The court's order states, '...as the petition presented by these petitioners will be addressed during the final hearing, from the point of view of the irreparable damage to the petitioners and inconvenience, it is not reasonable to deprive the petitioners of filling the application form, and interested persons of the same nature as the petitioners...' As per the order, all the agitating youths will now be able to apply for the EPS exam. But Rawat and Shah will have lost their lives in vain. There are about 80,000 <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Korean-kafala-migrants-in-Korea,4025">Nepali migrant workers in Korea’s farms and factories</a> and their situation is better than other countries in the Gulf. Salaries are higher and labour rights are guaranteed. Which is why there is such high demand from Nepali migrants for jobs in Korea. The EPS exam system is supposed to streamline the selection process, but it ended up costing the lives of two promising young lads.

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Karnali to Korea dream dashed in Kathmandu

On a usual bustling March morning in Karachi, roads choked with traffic and the air thick with trumpeting horns, the clock is ticking for Ramu Kharel’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=529015909314191" target="_blank">morning show appearance</a> on Geo TV. A physician of Nepali origin who teaches <a href="https://vivo.brown.edu/display/rkharel" target="_blank">emergency medicine at Brown University</a> in the United States, Kharel was on his way back from Nepal after training staff in hospitals. Karachi is only two-and-half hours flying time away, but since there are no direct flights from Kathmandu, he had to overfly Pakistan all the way to Dubai and fly back after a long layover. Kharel was in Pakistan for the first time and it was at the invitation of <a href="https://www.aku.edu/mcpk/cete/Pages/directors-message.aspx" target="_blank">Dr Junaid Razzak</a> of <a href="https://plsp.org.pk/Pages/home.aspx" target="_blank">Pakistan Life Savers Programme</a> (PLSP) at Aga Khan University. It aims to educate 10 million lay persons over the next decade on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and bleeding control. Cardiac arrests <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1649189" target="_blank">claim up to 47 lives per hour</a> in Pakistan. <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FbCxUc71CqTo&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> “The possibility of resuscitation increases if a person is trained in CPR and choking prevention,” says Kharel. “It typically takes 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, but by then the brain suffers irreversible damage.”&nbsp; Kharel was in Nepal to introduce a similar program, training frontline providers, police officers and bystanders who are often first responders. Kharel was born in Gulmi district, and experienced first hand the devastating consequences of poverty and poor health infrastructure. He lost his mother when he was just eight because she could not be taken to a hospital in time, and this fuelled Kharel’s determination to improve healthcare access to underserved communities. His uncle was a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/my-uncle-died-in-qatar" target="_blank">migrant worker in Qatar who died</a> while making infrastructure for the FIFA World Cup. His employers in Qatar only listed his death as ‘cardiac arrest’ as the cause, since they did not have to pay compensation for&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061205064_e0ebc99527e1c9e16aacb0e4da2ac6808398634b2179c7c4d294abff0da5b636.png" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2023061205064_e0ebc99527e1c9e16aacb0e4da2ac6808398634b2179c7c4d294abff0da5b636" data-rendition-name="original" width="1184" height="1493" loading="lazy" alt="Ramu Kharel on screens"> <figcaption>Ramu Kharel on screens at the Geo TV studio as he talks about the Pakistan Life Savers Programme and recites Urdu poetry.</figcaption> </figure>  A member of the <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/category/sapan-news-network/" target="_blank">Southasia Peace Action Network (Sapan)</a> that works for cooperation in the region, Kharel says Nepal can learn a lot from Pakistan’s experience with trauma care. “Our mountains unite us and we even look alike,” he says. “Sadly, it’s the petty egos of those in power that keep us divided.” Highway crashes claim some <a href="https://extranet.who.int/roadsafety/death-on-the-roads/#deaths" target="_blank">half a million lives</a> a year in South Asia, and as a member of <a href="https://youtu.be/bCxUc71CqTo" target="_blank">Sapan’s road-safety</a> group, Kharel has been trying to find region wide solutions.&nbsp; When cataclysmic floods swept one-third of Pakistan last year, the government of <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/press-release-nepals-humanitarian-assistance-pakistan" target="_blank">Nepal promptly donated</a> relief goods, including tons of food, shelter, and medical assistance for the victims.&nbsp; And in 2015, when a deadly <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zgkksrd/revision/5" target="_blank">earthquake</a> killed over 8,500 people in Nepal, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1178334" target="_blank">Pakistan helped</a>, sending four aircrafts with a 30-bed hospital, special search and rescue teams including Army doctors and food items. <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FUGLikHax0OQ&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> It was in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake that Kharel established a health advancement committee in Nepal in collaboration with local communities to provide more decision-making power over their healthcare systems. Working with local governments, he led a program to overhaul local healthcare systems. &nbsp; In coming years, Nepal and Pakistan are likely to face more flood disasters due to accelerating climate change. “Since local communities will be first to react in an emergency, preparing them for disaster response and developing their healthcare systems is crucial,” he says. When he is not working on ways to improve healthcare, Kharel is actively creating content on social media as @namestedoc on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/namastedoc/?hl=en" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@namastedoctor" target="_blank">TikTok</a>. While his target audience is largely Nepali, Kharel has a TikTok following of nearly 100,000 with over 3.8 million likes on his videos. It was during the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/a-little-help-goes-a-long-way-in-home-isolation" target="_blank">Covid-19 pandemic</a> in 2020 that he began <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtV5j7DdJT0" target="_blank">using social media </a>to spread health awareness, starting with <a href="https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS8om7XeM/" target="_blank">a TikTok video</a> from Nepal appealing for vaccines.&nbsp; Kharel also loves basketball and Urdu poetry. Guided by his mentor <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/mes/faculty/hydersa" target="_blank">Syed Akbar Hyder</a>, an associate professor of Asian Studies and Islamic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, he is a fluent Urdu speaker.&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FvtV5j7DdJT0&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> The Nepali doctor’s love for Urdu poetry started when Hyde shared a couplet by Ghalib at an introductory class. “We spent the entire class discussing one couplet. I was hooked by the ‘ibham’ (ambiguity), the beauty and the depth of the lines, and I knew I had to learn this language,” he recalls. Under UT Austin’s <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/asianstudies/news/hindi-urdu-flagship-student-wins-two-prestigious-awards" target="_blank">Hindi-Urdu Flagship programme</a>, he along with six other students lived for a year in India in 2009, travelling and immersing themselves in Urdu language and culture. Kharel interned with an organisation in Lucknow working to raise the standard of living and education for Muslim women in India.&nbsp; He believes that poetry has the power to heal and inspire, and often turns to Urdu verses to make sense of life’s mysteries.&nbsp; In the car, he recites lines from Faiz Ahmed Faiz by heart: “Chale chalo ke woh manzil abhi nahi aayi.” (Let’s keep going, we have yet to reach the destination.) Abdullah Zahid is a student of mass communication at the University of Karachi.<a href="https://twitter.com/abdullahhzahid?s=21&amp;t=Yib5Dr6ZPTJCb9WElKcEJQ" target="_blank">@AbdullahZahid</a>. This article was first published in <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/category/sapan-news-network/">Sapan News</a>.

Nepali doctor's love for Urdu poetry

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01229c7e80680e0a3614jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="637"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Nepal Rashtra Bank’s (NRB) tightness on share collateral, signs of a lack of liquidity and the opening up of other investment avenues post-lockdown are some of the factors behind the share market’s sharp decline of late.On Sunday, <a href="http://www.nepalstock.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse)</a> recorded the highest-ever fall in its history after the market dropped by 5.03% in just the first two hours of trading. A 40-minute long circuit break was imposed, as 60 companies saw their share values decline by 10%, and the Nepse index to 2782.52 points.A slight recovery was soon posted, but Nepse still fell by 3.7% from the previous day, losing 108.26 points from 2928.8 points to an end-of-day total of 2811.16 points. By day’s end, 31 companies lost up to 10% value on their shares.Despite the fall in the index, there were as many if not more people trading shares and the volume of transactions were unaffected, with 23 million 79 thousand shares of 223 companies clocking in Rs11.24 billion in turnover.The current dip in the share market is in sharp contrast to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/despite-politics-nepals-stock-market-is-bullish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">boom during the lockdowns and prohibitory orders</a> when other investment sectors remained shut, allowing big and small investors to trade from home with the online trading system flourishing unabated.Bank interest rates also fell as the investment sector shrunk during the closures. As demand for credit in other sectors began to decline, banks also increased their investments in equity securities. As a result, the stock market traded at a record high with a turnover of Rs19.55 billion and Rs21.64 billion on 14 May and 15 July respectively.However, since then with the reopening of other sectors, the demand for bank loans has increased. There are indications that the lack of investment capital will be repeated. As such, banks are preparing to raise interest rates.The share market’s decline has been particularly concerning over the last week, falling from 3044 points to 2817 in five days. This has resulted in a loss of Rs1.5 trillion, down to Rs39.44 trillion on Sunday from last week’s Rs40.89 trillion.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01249c7e80680e0a3615jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="623" height="351"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Sunday’s fallout also prompted the Capital Market Reform Struggle Committee, led by investor Ram Krishna Dhakal, to demand the resignation of NRB governor Maha Prasad Adhikari for activities that have negatively influenced the share market.The committee has put forward 15-point demands including the limit of Rs120 million on margin loans brought by the central bank through monitory policy to be scrapped, the cap on dividends distributed by microfinance companies to be removed and the provisioning be modified.As per the NRB’s new stricter monetary policy, banks and financial institutions are allowed to give a maximum loan of Rs40 million to an individual or institution on the security of shares. Similarly, an investor can take a loan of only Rs120 million by pledging shares.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/instability-to-cost-nepal-dear-in-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Instability to cost Nepal dear in 2021</a>, Ramesh KumarThe NRB didn’t only tighten its monetary policy, but all subordinate banks were also placed under strict restrictions, effectively banning them from share trading.To be clear, the NRB’s austere policies have caused the market correction by dislodging the confidence of large and institutionalised share traders, says share market analyst Mukti Aryal.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/insider-trading-taints-nepal-capital-market/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sarbottam Cement share scandal</a>, in which Nepal Securities Board Chairperson Bhishma Raj Dhungana and Nepse CEO Chandra Singh Saud engaged in insider trading on IPOs, had recently dented confidence in the fledgling stock market.But the only way forward is for the NRB to examine its restrictive policies, adds Aryal: “The tightening of stock pledges is the chief reason for the market’s decline. Pledging one’s own assets as securities for trading should not be restricted.”However, instead of agitating against the regulatory bodies, investors themselves must adopt careful share-trading practices, says a share broker, adding that it is natural for the market to fall after being propped up by companies that very recently had bad portfolios.“If investors had invested in companies with solid portfolios, none of this would be happening,” he says. “Instead of investing smartly in profitable companies, investors hedged their bets on hydropower projects, development banks and finance, following the market rumours rather than prudent investment.”Translated by Kaustubh Dhital from the <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/125732?fbclid=IwAR1n22ltLRWRA6Yi8Lg23aGzl8ZLzgKvIlBx_UTy1R_3m9GZlgogZ9Y4F80" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali language original</a> in Himal Khabar.

Inside Nepal’s biggest stock market tumble

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfdc29c7e80680e0a0c01jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="661"/><figcaption>Photo: TOH EE MING / NEPALI TIMES</figcaption></figure>The one-size-fits-all regulatory policy does not seem to work for savings and loans (S&amp;L) cooperatives in Indonesia, and the country could benefit from Nepal’s experience with small and medium enterprises.In Indonesia, a small S&amp;L cooperative which has less than Rp10 million (approximately $690) of assets has to complete on the same accounting report structure as larger institutions with more than $690 million of assets. To give context to the figure, an average labourer in 17 essential sectors in Indonesia makes about $290 a month.If we are to enforce the same regulation and supervision for all the S&amp;L cooperatives, the smaller businesses would not survive. On the other hand, if the rules are too lenient, they could undermine market discipline with middle and large savings and loans cooperatives taking advantage of it.Indonesia needs to learn from the success stories of the cooperatives’ movement in other countries, notably Nepal, with its similar culture and socio-economic conditions to that of Indonesia.According to a 2013 Kathmandu University study by Nav Raj Simkhada ‘Problems and Prospects of the Cooperative Sector in Nepal for Promoting Financial Inclusion', more than three decades after the first cooperative was established in Nepal in 1956, the country saw minimal progress in the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises.Nepal’s <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&amp;p_isn=39064&amp;p_country=NPL&amp;p_count=118" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cooperative Act 1992</a> however specified that the government would no longer directly promote cooperatives, shifting its strategy from a top-down to a bottom-up approach. Additionally, it also prevented cooperatives from any political interference, they are forbidden from making a donation or providing financial assistance to organisations working for a political party, religion or community.This allowed for the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/cooperatives-replacing-money-lenders,1172" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> independent growth of cooperatives in Nepal</a>. There are now over <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18437#.YSJP4y1w3OQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30,000 small, medium and large cooperatives </a>in Nepal with over 45 million members.The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18430" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">role of women</a> was particularly crucial in developing credit cooperatives in Nepal. For example, Women Awareness Centre Nepal (<a href="https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/build-women-savings-and-credit-cooperatives-nepal/updates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WACN</a>) has successfully established 41 microcredit organisations consisting of 30,000 women members.Another study conducted by Nepal Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation Ltd (<a href="http://asia.procasur.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2.-Khairhani.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NACCFL</a>) shows that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Nepal-land-of-our-daughters,2901" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">empowerment of women </a>through cooperatives had benefited not only the individuals but their families and communities, financially as well as socially.Indonesian small S&amp;L cooperatives should similarly focus on building community-based members only, instead of giving in to the temptation of rushing to expand the business.A few reliable members who know each other well can better manage the cooperative than thousands of those who are virtually strangers. Moreover, a large number of members create a large span of control wherein self-control and self-regulation are difficult to achieve.As a collectivist culture, Indonesians would choose to deal with their S&amp;L co-operative where they are comfortable and are treated as a family rather than with commercial banks. Members could become loyalists if they have a voice and are heard. This is fundamental for an S&amp;L cooperative to grow sustainability.Grants and direct subsidisation by authorities often create a beggar mentality and increase financial dependency, which is at the heart of the problem.Irsyad Muchtar in his recent book Indonesia’s 100 Largest Cooperatives revealed that some large cooperatives tend to avoid publishing results, and are closed to the press -- worried that it will shine a light on their tax evasion.<a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2021/06/23/who-should-supervise-savings-and-loans-cooperatives-in-indonesia.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Thus, the concept of </a>a two-tiered rules and supervision institutional framework for S&amp;L cooperatives is more suitable for the Indonesian context. In the first tier, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) should regulate and supervise medium and large S&amp;L cooperatives at the national level to protect large members from any potential fraud by managements and create sound business competition among credit institutions to avoid regulatory arbitrage.In the second tier, the small S&amp;L cooperatives should not be supervised prudentially by OJK. They need more empowerment programs conducted by the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs and local governments. The policy aims to increase opportunities for those to graduate to a level where they can compete with other financial institutions. We understand that small S&amp;L cooperatives exist because they serve mainly the poor who have little or no access to formal financial services, especially since they lack collateral and a stable income.However, the empowerment programs from the government should not be financial aids or subsidies. Robby Tulus, the former regional director of Asia Pacific International Co-operative Alliance, says that when initiating a business, the source of seed money is often the starting point for people.In the case of Indonesia, their first choice is to look for special subsidies from the government. This is in line with some Asian governments favouring direct control and subsidisation to the small S&amp;L cooperatives.Tulus suggested that cooperatives must learn to focus on their competencies and deliver the best services to their members, instead of setting up the business only to get financial aids from the government and make quick money from the members.The Indonesian government can still play an important role, it can provide continuous and intensive support programs to cooperative members, such as training on management and entrepreneurial skills, risk management, bookkeeping standards and intellectual property rights. It can also promote micro-entrepreneur members of small S&amp;L cooperatives to potential customers as well as Indonesian-made products to empower micro-enterprises.While undertaking these strategies collectively, Indonesia can learn from Nepal to gradually cut down on financial schemes such as interest subsidies, credit guarantee funds, and grants to small cooperatives and their members.This will in the longer term empower the cooperatives while also reducing their dependency on the second or third parties.<a href="http://whistleblowing-indonesia.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bitra Suyatno</a> is a senior policy analyst at Indonesia's Ministry of Finance focused on financing service business issues. Currently, he is a team member on formulating Draft Law on Development and Strengthening of Financial Sector. The views expressed are personal.

Indonesia can learn from Nepal’s cooperatives

<img width="1400" height="934" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151112/636d07729c7e80680e0a5fbfjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>In one of his moves to shore up public support, former Prime Minister K P Oli <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/govt-not-employers-responsible-for-employees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">launched his much-vaunted Social Security Fund (SSF)</a> in November 2018 amidst much fanfare.  The government bought full-page ads in the national media, and Oli’s face was on SSF posters all over the country. Oli was trying to ride a populist wave <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/social-insecurity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ahead of the 2023 elections</a>, and pushed a project actually designed under a previous government.  The SSF was billed as a ‘birth of a new era’ while promising the ‘protection of the working class’.  Now, with Oli no longer prime minister, the future of the scheme has been thrown into doubt. Most of its supposed beneficiaries are not convinced about it, the private sector is taking a wait-and-watch approach, and there have been few takers.  Earlier this month, trade unions of 22 commercial banks filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court demanding a repeal of mandatory listing in the SSF, citing that it was less beneficial to workers than existing welfare funds.   “We have been receiving government-set assistance from appointment to retirement, it makes no sense to opt for SSF, slashing our current benefits,” says Padmaraj Regmi of the Financial Institutions Employees Union Nepal (FIEUN). The employees argue that they have been in service before the implementation of the Labour Act 2017 and hence are covered by the regulations of Section 133(1) of the Bank and Financial Institution Act 2017. Moreover, they add that banks and financial institutions have also set up a separate welfare fund for their employees, which they find more beneficial and practical.  On 9 April, SSF issued a notice to the employers who had missed the listing for compulsory registration by mid-July. The fund had similarly written letters to the Nepal Bankers’ Association on 16 March and 31 May calling for their registration. While banks and employers were willing to take part, the backlash and workers’ agitation have made them reconsider. Says CEO of Sanima Bank and chairman of Nepal Bankers’ Association Bhuwan Dahal: “Legal arrangements, government plans and policies are on our side, and we work within government guidelines. However, we cannot move forward knowing that our employees have doubts about it.”  Banks and employers in fact stand to gain from the SSF, as compensation in a case of a death of a worker would then be solely managed by the fund.  <img width="1050" height="700" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151112/636d07759c7e80680e0a5fc0jpeg.jpg" alt="">When Sanaj Khatiwada of Sunrise Bank died in August 2020, his family approached the SSF for compensation. The fund ordered the bank to pay Rs4.3 million in restitution, derived from 60% of the employee’s monthly salary as decreed by the Social Security Scheme Operating Procedures 2018. Global IME Bank was also ordered to pay Rs10.5 million to a victim’s family in a similar case in March. Both banks were not part of the SSF at the time and bore full financial responsibility. SSF spokesperson Bibek Panthi claims that the fund was designed with workers and employees at its centre, and that no benefits will be stripped away upon joining it. “The SSF was set up to ensure that workers couldn’t be exploited and to secure post-retirement life. All benefits outlined in Article 178 of Labour Act 2017 are enshrined by SSF,” he says.However, upon closer inspection of the provisions, one can see why the workers and businesses are up in arms. Entirely contribution-funded, 31% of the basic salary of each employee (11% by workers and 20% by company) must be deposited into the SSF, but some companies are making workers deposit up to 20% out-of-pocket. These are significant financial undertakings in times of slashed income due to the pandemic-induced economic collapse and job losses.When inflation and interest are taken into account, subscribers will in fact lose money. Even so, one must wait until age 60 to receive monthly pensions, but any amount accrued before 60 cannot be withdrawn post-retirement. Monthly accumulations cannot be withdrawn all at once post-retirement, either.Also, funeral costs, accident insurance and medical coverage are not covered after three months of retirement. Moreover, the dependent spouse will receive only 50% compensation if the employee dies after 15 years of receiving the pension. “Saving 30% of salary in the current economic climate is difficult for many, people must have the freedom to choose when it comes to safeguarding their money,” says the former chief of the investment department of Employees’ Provident Fund Arjun Gautam. “It is counterproductive to force customers to leave government-run funds and join another one.” There are also doubts about whether the government can handle sole responsibility for the social security of private workers, especially as the informal sector has not even been factored in. The government plans to cover over three million social taxpayers with the SSF. But as of now, only 14,738 employers and 257,817 contributors are registered from an estimated 923,000 private institutions across the country. With current contributions standing at Rs6.65 billion, experts fear the fund may be financially incapable of handling the tenfold increase in outlays and deposits if and when the informal sector is roped in.  In fact, the SSF is serving the same purpose, but only worse, that existing government schemes provide. The Citizens’ Investment Fund and Employees’ Provident Fund provide hybrid and public sector coverage respectively, with the former already offering 11 service pensions and insurance schemes.  <img width="723" height="398" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151112/636d07789c7e80680e0a5fc1jpeg.jpg" alt="">“So far no one has come to us to close their accounts and move to the SSF,” says Managing Director of Citizens’ Investment Fund, Raman Nepal. The SSF has issued dozens of notices and extended deadlines for listing multiple times since 17 July 2019 until now, but to no avail.   Private institutions however have no alternative but to sign up for it, says spokesperson Panthi, who blames misinformation and rumour-mongering for the scheme’s failure to meet the expectation.   “The government created this scheme for the workers’ benefit, but they themselves are finding excuses to not join and be at a disadvantage,” he adds. To be sure, there are some progressive clauses in the SSF. In the event of a workplace accident, it will provide full coverage on treatment costs. The SSF also covers occupational hazards and illness as well as monthly funds for the education of dependent children of a deceased employee.  However, the SSF is complicated and unattractive for the general public. It is split into the medical treatment, health and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/who-will-save-nepals-poor-new-mothers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">maternal care</a> plan, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-plans-to-reintegrate-returning-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accident and disability protection</a> plan, dependent family protection plan and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-future-is-older/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">elderly </a>protection plan. Contributors who have deposited for three months can cash in on the healthcare and maternal plan, which lasts for three months from the most recent deposit date, but can only be claimed by one spouse.   The dependent family protection plan is further split into education funds, spousal retirement funds, elderly parents' support and final rites expenditure. No matter the cause of death, the subscriber’s spouse is guaranteed to receive monthly stipends of 60% of the deceased’s basic salary. However, if the claimant has alternate sources of income, they are not eligible. This applies to the deceased’s spouse and elderly parents.  The accrued amount and returns from the SSF deposit are added then divided by 180 to be handed out as monthly pension, for which the subscriber must be above 60 and should have contributed for at least 180 months (15 years). Experts say that this time period is too long and impractical, especially when money cannot be withdrawn at will.  It is clear that the planners designed the SSF without taking the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/not-just-social-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">economic reality and situation of the country</a> into account, say experts, but nonetheless there is a space for improvement. Says Gautam: “We copied a foreign product without considering our economy and quality of public education and health facilities. As it may erode public faith in similar schemes, the fund must be restructured, made more competitive and optional, which will then attract workers.

Nepalis insecure about new Social Security Fund

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd90a9c7e80680e092e77jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="497"/>Almost two decades have passed since the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7600#.YFb5li2B3-Y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Income Tax Act</a> came into effect in Nepal. But complications abound for taxpayers, even if they have paid their taxes on time and have a legitimate claim to overpaid tax refund.The Act provides for taxpayers who register more than the liable tax amount to be refunded by the government. The taxpayer is supposed to receive the refund amount within 60 days of application.However, barring exceptional cases, this rarely happens. The contradiction in implementation is an interesting one—a government that fines <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11068#.YFb5ri2B3-Y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the taxpayer</a> for delayed tax payment itself does not pay back the refund.When approached on the matter, a government officer responded by saying that it is not possible to refund from the ongoing fiscal year's budget, and thus the amount could only be refunded in the upcoming year.This is a common rhetoric heard in the tax offices, whenever a taxpayer approaches the government for a refund, even if the request is made within the stipulated 60 days.The Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce Industries (FNCCI) tax expert and entrepreneur, Ashok Kumar Todi says, “It is very, very difficult to get a refund. Actually, it is almost impossible.”The Income Tax Act 2058 underlines that <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6342#.YFb5lC2B3-Y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the taxpayer</a> must pay the due amount for the running year based on estimates within the Nepali months of Poush (December-January), Chaitra (March-April) and Asar (June-July). If the total estimated amount is 100% then the taxpayer has to pay 40% in advance in the month of Chaitra and the remaining 30% in the month of Asar.In addition, if the paid tax based on an estimate is less than the actual amount, then the taxpayer is liable to be fined. If such tax is paid on installment in theory, and if it so happens that the estimate is greater than actual, then the over-paid amount should be refunded easily.Income Tax Act Clause 113 and Income Tax Rules number 36, both say that the tax must be refunded. However, in practice, the overpaid tax amount is being withheld by the tax officers, without any explanation.“The overpaid tax amount must be refunded, but in practice, it is not happening,” confirms tax expert Bhavanath Dahal who says that Gyanendra Shah while still king of Nepal had received a refund for overpaid taxes for his Soaltee Hotel— but only after it was vetted by the Cabinet. There are a few other exceptions in which the taxpayers got their overpaid tax refunded, but the processes were mostly cumbersome.Tax expert and entrepreneur Todi says that the tax administration should return the overpaid tax at least within the current year. However, in practice, the overpaid tax is passed on the next fiscal year under the heading of ‘government reserve’.This process repeats itself year after year, leading to the overpaid tax amount being transferred to the next fiscal year on a continuous basis—at the cost of entrepreneurs.“We pay taxes by taking loan from banks, and the overpaid tax amount just gets accumulated in the government reserve fund. It is impossible to get a refund,” ays a businessman who requested anonymity.A high level Tax System Review Commission six years ago recommended improvement in the refund process, but it was never enforced. Internal Revenue Department (IRD) officers themselves admit that returning the income tax is very difficult.IRD spokesperson Arjun Dhakal says the tax amount overpaid by the taxpayer cannot be directly paid back by the IRD itself as the applications are forwarded to the Finance ministry.“The process to get the overpaid income tax back is a very lengthy and difficult one and as a result, there are very few instances of taxes actually being refunded,” he admits.Entrepreneurs say that the total amount that the government owes to taxpayers as overpaid tax refund has now accumulated to astronomical amounts. Even IRD Tax Refund Department director Devnarayan Poudel has no idea how much it is.The IRD has introduced a new process to ease the refund of overpaid taxes, regarding which a circular has been sent to the tax office, but entrepreneur Todi is skeptical.According to law, if the tax officer makes an overestimate of the tax to be paid then the taxpayer can go to the Revenue Judiciary of Nepal and the taxpayer will get back the amount overpaid. But that is only in paper.Anyone choosing the path of litigation ends up losing even more. In order to process the litigation for administrative review, the overpaid tax payer has to deposit one-fourth of the disputed amount. If the taxpayer is still not happy with the administrative review, one can deposit 50% of the disputed amount and file a lawsuit to the Revenue Judiciary for further review.The caveat however, is that it may take several years before a settlement is reached by the Revenue Judiciary. As a result, a large amount of taxpayer’s deposit is accumulated in the government reserves.Even if the court rules in favour of the taxpayer, by the time the decision comes through, the taxpayer would have been seriously overburdened with the loan and interest. On the other hand, if the taxpayer loses the lawsuit, the government will charge the individual or the firm, an interest on the disputed amount since the beginning or the initial date of the filing of the lawsuit and the disputed amount will not be deducted.“In some cases, even if the taxpayer has won, the government has refused to return the disputed amount along with interest,” says Arun Raut, a tax expert.FNCCI Chair Shekhar Golcha, however, says that even though the process of getting back overpaid taxes is difficult, it is not impossible. According to him, since the overpaid tax amount from the previous year is adjusted in the tax payable the next year, it is automatically sorted out.He says that last fiscal year the total claim amount for overpaid tax refund was Rs6.67 billion, but the IRD refunded only 57% of that amount. In the earlier fiscal year the amount to be refunded was Rs3 billion of which Rs2.26 billion was refunded.Even so, tax expert Dahal says the non-refund has affected Nepal’s business environment. He says: “It is the right of the taxpayer to get a refund of his overpaid taxes. But the problem is not limited to this. It is a systemic problem.”

Taxing process of fund reclaiming in Nepal

<figure><img width="620" height="366" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111148/636cd7bc9c7e80680e092dfdjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Aside from second-guessing what will happen in the restored Parliament on Sunday, the major past-time of urban Nepalis these days is to speculate about the country’s violatile stock market.Dring the past six months, the <a href="http://www.nepalstock.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali Stock Market (NEPSE)</a> has soared, which immediately begs the question: is a fall imminent?The NEPSE Index is at a record high market capitalisation, which is the total value of shares listed in the stock market. Daily turnovers have started crossing the Rs10 billion mark, invetors seem to be raking it in.All this has happened at a time when the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/instability-to-cost-nepal-dear-in-2021/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">economy is being battered by the impact of the pandemic</a>, which has led to heated debates over whether the market is in a bubble and likely to crash, bringing ordinate ionvestors down with it.  Current highs are the combination of several factors:<ul><li>Low interest rate (see figure 1)</li><li>High liquidity in the banking system</li><li>Dematerialisation (conversion of physical certificates to electronic units) of shares</li><li>Restrictionof ‘kitta-kaat’ in real estate</li><li>Fear of missing out (FOMO)</li></ul>Low share prices between 2017-2019 have been attributed to the appointment of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/calendar-of-economic-change/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Yubraj Khatiwada as finance minister</a>. He famously (or infamously for investors) once remarked that investing in stocks was “not productive”. <figure><img width="953" height="560" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111148/636cd7bd9c7e80680e092dfejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>One factor that has gone relatively unnoticed but has been a game-changer is the advent of ‘online trading’. The possibility to make transactions through the online banking system has ushered in a new breed of investors. Online trading has made the Nepali stock market easily accessible to the public, who can now trade from their living room instead of going to a broker office or bank to make a payment.This trend was starting to be reflected in the data before Covid-19 gripped the country (figure 2). From October 2019 to February 2020, the number of monthly share transactions doubled from an average of 200,000 to 400,000, which pushed the NEPSE Index to the 1,600s, despite relatively higher interest rate hovering above 11%. <figure><img width="961" height="541" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111148/636cd7bf9c7e80680e092dffjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Following Covid-19 restrictions, the number of transactions further increased and reached a whopping 1.1 million per month in recent months. This reflects the unprecedented entry of retail investors who, with a click of a mouse, can invest money that otherwise would be sitting idle, earning savings account interest rates. This increased participation and diversification of the investor base is also reflected by the data on stock market penetration. DEMAT accounts have increased from 800,000 in mid-July 2017 to 1.4 million in mid-July 2019, and is currently estimated at 2.5 million -- about 8% of Nepal’s total population. More than 1.5 million Nepalis applied for the recent IPO of an infrastructure finance company. Compare this number with India, where around 2% of the country’s population invest in the stock market, while in China this number is estimated to be around 7%. But, online trading also brings a host of new challenges. Asymmetric information, poor advisory services and buying shares based on rumours are big concerns. Investors can lose money in the share market if they overpaid for stock or if their investment horizon is not long enough. However, by not investing they can also ‘lose’ potential gains. So, investors need to understand and be aware of cognitive biases that limit investing success. It is as much about human psychology as it is about finance and economics. The importance of diversifying across different companies and sectors, having a long-term investment horizon and personal finance management are even more important these days, but these are severely lacking in Nepal. An investor’s main motto always has to be: buy a diversified set of companies, invest regularly, keep track of the company’s financials and hold for a long period of time. Crucial reforms now await Nepal’s stock market, these can include: <ul><li>Increased participation of companies in manufacturing, agribusiness, etc</li> <li>Strong regulation on insider trading</li> <li>Better trade settlement systems</li> <li>Increasing the limitation of 50 brokers</li> <li>Creation of index funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs)</li> </ul>The NEPSE Index jumped more than 100% in the past year. You could argue that its current level is a bit high, but just because it has gone up by 100% it does not mean that it is overvalued, and vice versa. The cumulative annual growth rate of the NEPSE between 2001 and 2021 is around 12%, which is in line with the 10% return of the S&amp;P 500 (which tracks 500 of the largest US companies) in the same period. During these 20 years, there have also been periods where the NEPSE fell as much as 75% (between August 2008 and June 2011) and soared over 500% (between June 2011 to July 2016). Stock markets are cyclical by nature. Corrections, and subsequent rises, are bound to happen. In this apparently chaotic environment of ups and downs, one thing is here to stay: a fundamental shift and dynamism thanks to a new breed of investors trading online. This will have short-term disruptions, but it is likely to stabilise the Nepali capital market for years to come. Santosh Pokharel, CFA works in development sector. Sudyumna Dahal is Doctoral candidate at CAMA, <a href="https://cama.crawford.anu.edu.au/">Australian National University.</a>

Despite politics, Nepal’s stock market is bullish

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba76b9c7e80680e073781jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: AJAYA UPADHAYAYA</figcaption></figure>As serious as the rapid spread in Nepal of the novel coronavirus looks, even more frightening is what the lockdown meant to prevent it will do to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-economy-already-weak-takes-direct-hit/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-economy-already-weak-takes-direct-hit/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598352647267000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHMB3uRxLtXPB1J9V0PQdJF-f6E6w">country’s economy</a>. The health impact of the virus may pale in comparison to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-plans-to-revive-economy-hit-by-covid-19/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-plans-to-revive-economy-hit-by-covid-19/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598352647267000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHZ73Q3ug57-h3IKB7NUBfuqD8LyQ">long-term damage</a> to the country from a prolonged lockdown that enters its sixth month today.It is difficult to make predictions on how Nepal’s economy will fare till the end of the year because that will depend on how the virus behaves. But all indications are of that SARS-CoV-2 is here to stay, and that it will resurface with added virulence in winter.On 21 July when Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada triumphantly announced that the pandemic in Nepal had peaked, and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-ends-covid-19-lockdown/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-ends-covid-19-lockdown/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598352647268000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEfmOWpPyfs0PHIzdD4yHmecUC6hg">lockdown had been lifted</a>, traders, businesses and industries were cautiously optimistic. But since then there has been a surge, with cases and fatalities more than doubling in the past three weeks.Aside from essential food and other items, business transactions are down by more than half since 24 March when the restrictions were first announced. Even when the lockdown was eased last month, the people’s purchasing capacity had gone down and businesses did not really pick up.The Rastra Bank estimates that it will take at least nine months after the lockdown is fully lifted for the economy to come back to previous levels. This means Nepal is not going to see a recovery this fiscal year. The central bank says 22.5% of those employed in the country have lost their jobs in the past five months of lockdown.The central bank expects Nepal’s economic growth rate to plunge from 6.9% last year to less than 1% this year. But the World Bank is even more pessimistic, it says the growth rate may even go into negative 2.8% if the crisis continues.“Everything is at a complete standstill, there are no transactions taking place except people buying food from day to day,” says Shekhar Golchha of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI). “The question is how long before businesses run out of cash to pay salaries, and families run out of savings.”Factories along the Itahari-Biratnagar and Simara-Birganj corridors have been hardest hit not just by the plunge in demand but because workers who had returned from India after 21 July started falling sick.One of those hit was Jagadamba Steels, whose Sahil Agrawal says: “The sale of steel rods had picked up somewhat after the lockdown was lifted, but after workers tested positive, the local administration closed the factories. Now, with the lockdown everything is closed.”Even worse hit is the tourism and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/domestic-flights-need-to-resume-so-the-economy-can-take-off/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/domestic-flights-need-to-resume-so-the-economy-can-take-off/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598352647268000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHQz5xiYmnvrrNu2XXeOqvI6eqyXQ">aviation sector</a> where revenue is zero for the past five months. Banks had given loans worth Rs1.1 trillion for hotels and restaurants, and had lent Rs40 billion to the transport sector. They are not in a position to replay even the interest, let alone the capital.Imports are down 20%, from Rs1.7 trillion in the first half of last year compared to only Rs85 billion in the same period this year. That should be good news, but it means the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-unveils-covid-19-budget/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-unveils-covid-19-budget/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598352647268000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEHmYyroAVpq5ZVmt1E9zdYH6duUQ">government’s tax revenue</a> has gone down by more than half.The middle class has been hit hardest with incomes falling. Of the 923,000 registered businesses in Nepal, nearly all are small and medium enterprises employing less than ten people. As a result, house and property transactions have gone down by half last month compared to the same period in 2019.“Except for mobile phones, motorcycles, fast moving consumer goods, nothing else is moving,” says Golchha. “Even when they do shop consumers are buying cheaper items, which is an indicator of a drastic fall in income.”Even the sale of alcohol products are down by up to 80%. Bhat Bhateni Supermarket’s Panu Poudel says turnover in the nationwide chain had picked up after 21 July, but was still down by a third, but now it is back to zero again.But the real barometer of just how bad the crisis is can be felt in the banking sector where on the one hand liquidity is overflowing because of reduction in loan disbursement, but collection has also shrunk because of defaults. The print editions of the Nepali language press in the past month are full of bank notices for auctions of collateral property. However, even if the property is up for auction, they may be no buyers.In the whole of July-August the banks collected Rs34 trillion in loan repayments, but they lent only Rs28 billion. “The reason is that it is difficult enough just to survive for businesses, and they are in no position to take a loan to invest,” says businessman Pashupati Murarka.The government had told borrowers they had a grace period till December to repay bank loans without being put on the defaulters’ black list, but it is looking like even that is being optimistic.One ray of hope for businesses was that public spending would increase in the run up to Dasain, which this year falls at the end of October. But most businessmen have given up on a Dasain-Tihar revival this year. Car sales used to go up at this time, but the Nepal Automobile Dealers’ Association has cancelled its annual auto show, and its chair Krishna Dulal says: “This year we are just trying to get by, there is no hope for sales.”With revenue down, the government will be forced to borrow. But the state borrowing already makes up 37% equivalent of the GDP, and it could go up to 51% by the end of this fiscal year. Economist Govinda Bahadur Thapa says the government may run out of money if the current trend continues. He says: “We have brought the economy to a standstill to save lives, but we need to save the economy as well. It is a very difficult balance.”Former finance secretary Rameshore Khanal is not as pessimistic. Although he does not discount the seriousness of the crisis, he thinks what could save Nepal is that it is still largely a subsistence economy and families have coping mechanisms to get by in times of extreme hardships. For example, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/cash-flow-crisis-for-migrants-and-families/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/cash-flow-crisis-for-migrants-and-families/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598352647268000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEYYoLn_p_-ES3VLLcSEZMh_J0QPQ">remittances from Nepalis working overseas</a> have not gone down despite predictions it would drop drastically.He says the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ways-nepal-can-rebound-from-covid-19/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ways-nepal-can-rebound-from-covid-19/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598352647268000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH425REk3c_X8wnX5A6WbreQBdGKw">crisis also presents opportunities</a> for the government. “We can have a pro-active policy to channel unemployed Nepalis to the jobs 1.5 million Indian workers used to do before they went home, and this would be the time to flood the market with liquidity in order to inject cash and raise purchasing power.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ways-nepal-can-rebound-from-covid-19/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ways-nepal-can-rebound-from-covid-19/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598352647268000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH425REk3c_X8wnX5A6WbreQBdGKw">Ways Nepal can rebound from Covid-19</a>, Bikash Pandey

Economic cost of 5 months of Nepal lockdown

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022112911110/6385d8579c7e80680e0cc75ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="900"/>After every global crisis in history, human society has been able to come up with big breakthroughs that improve lives, and turn the world into a better place.This could be another such time, but only <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/thinking-out-of-the-box-to-rescue-nepal/">if we think outside the box</a>.The crisis has telescoped time, and brought forward the adoption of innovations and trends that would otherwise have taken decades. It is a watershed moment to address other global challenges like the climate crisis, North-South inequity, over-exploitation of natural resources, air pollution, etc.At more local levels, drones are being used to deliver medicines during the lockdown, and they fly into the hospital wards to disinfect beds using ultra violet light. Restaurants have brought forward plans to use robotic are waiters.It is all about our willingness to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/change-dont-just-adapt-to-covid-19/">re-imagine the world</a> we want to live in and the world we want to leave behind for the future. Here in Nepal some still believe that the solution to the country’s woes is to launch a pop song for any crisis. Others still try to convince us that importing more chocolate is good for the economy, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-post-pandemic-green-revival/">electric cars are bad</a>.Nepal’s health workers lack personal protective gear, but policemen seem to have access to plenty of gowns and masks. For governments, nurses are clearly less important than policemen. While states have no problem spending on ‘law and order’, public health usually takes a back seat. The Army has been deployed for medical imports and quarantine services, not the Department of Health. This could also explain why health sector needs foreign assistance while Home Ministry does not.Some local governments like Minneapolis in the US now want to disband their police departments altogether, and create a whole new system for safety and security. The idea is to end the kind of policing the world is used to. Defunding the police is another idea that is being taken up seriously and could change the way protection of people will look like in future. We simply cannot rely on the police for everything from crowd control to solving crimes and enforcing physical separation. Even more radical: go the Costa Rica way and cut the military as well.The challenge has always been to get people to open their minds, explore their own creativity and capabilities, and above all launch their new big idea. World history has shown us again and again that there is nothing more powerful than the will of a free person.Recent demonstrations, all over the world against racism have seen the power of the camera in our phones and the ability to upload images of police brutality on a real-time basis. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/social-movement-through-social-media/">Nepal’s youth, driven by outrage</a> over government incompetence, have taken to the streets. These are really big ideas.Last week, inventors unveiled a new battery that could operate for 16 years and power vehicles for over 1million km. The cost is only 10% over batteries currently available in the market. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-takes-3-steps-back-on-e-cars/">Electric cars and mass transit</a> are the future of mobility, and between utility level solar stations like <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-biggest-solar-power-plant/">Nepal’s biggest in Nuwakot</a>, better battery, COVID-19 and Zoom, the world is changing for many.The good thing about big new ideas is that they can come from anywhere in the world, no place has a monopoly on them. During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale is credited with starting a whole new profession called nursing. She did not go to nursing school, but saw the need and came up with a new big idea. During the COVID-19 pandemic peak in London, the UK government built a new temporary hospital and named it after Florence Nightingale.Pasteurisation is another great idea that came from the need to protect and increase the shelf life of food for soldiers during war. We take many of these big ideas for granted today without realising that each was the result of human creativity when faced with a global crisis. Necessity is the mother of inventions, after all.The demand for electric power has gone down significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. USA oil at one point last month was being sold at minus $37 a barrel. The UK has stopped using coal for over two months. This monsoon, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-electric-shock-to-nepals-energy-future/">Nepal will have surplus hydropower</a>. These are all signs of things to come that may become big idea to change our common future for the better.Photocopiers replaced carbon paper, 4G replaced 3G, the fax machine was replaced by digital attachments. During times of crisis many people are in a state of denial and sit back hoping everything will become ‘normal’ again. There will be a new normal, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-future-normal/">but will it be a better normal</a>?  Will it include the products and services you use? How many will become obsolete like a Kodak film roll.Barbers have to worry about their jobs, now that we have learnt how to trim our own hair. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-lockdown-chance-for-self-sufficiency-in-veggies/">Kitchen gardens and roof top vegetables</a> are here to stay. All these changes also mean that the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-chance-to-green-its-budget/">Ministry of Finance</a> will have to think new and think big to get over this crisis by expanding the economic pie with incentives to invest in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/saving-energy-to-survive-post-pandemic-nepal/">renewable energy</a>, sustainable growth, and stop relying on taxing the destruction of nature.With tax revenue plummeting, how is the government going to pay civil service salaries, more expensive vehicles for itself, new carpets for the president? It must learn that taxing people to please political masters is no longer a viable option. Anil Chitrakar is President of <a href="http://www.siddharthinc.com/">Siddharthinc</a>

Anil Chitrakar

Our uncommon future

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121112/636b8b9c9c7e80680e06b2afjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHHETRI</figcaption></figure>The COVID-19 pandemic has caught the world off guard, with enormous repercussions for Nepal’s economy because of its reliance on overseas migration and tourism.Nepal’s three week lockdown has been extended till at least 27 April. Flights are not going to restart till mid-May at the earliest. The country’s remittance-fueled, consumption-led economy, low manufacturing capacity, unemployment, huge trade deficit, high reliance on import-based consumption have been pre-existing challenges even before the lockdown. The pandemic has made everything more difficult.Tourism is the hardest hit, especially the hotel industry which is most vulnerable due to the fixed cost associated with not only salary and wages but also regular maintenance well as loan servicing obligations. Tourism is cash flow sensitive, and its oxygen supply has come to complete halt. It will take at least till 2021 for travel and tourism to revive, or rebound. Priority rescue measures are urgently required.Transport is another sector that needs urgent attention. Once the lockdown situation improves, transportation will kickstart itself. But till then, the industry needs support to manage maintenance and financial obligations.Aviation witnessed a quick rebound after the double whammy of the earthquake and Blockade, particularly for domestic movement. The situation is different this time. The high cost of grounded aircraft due to leasing, fixed and variable costs will pose a major challenge. Big ticket loan exposure and interest expense may just kill some operators. Most airlines have equipment on ‘Dry Lease’ that carry certain fixed costs ranging from $100-150,000 per month for smaller aircraft. Dollar fares for expats and tourists have been a major revenue earner for operators, and with tourism down this will dry up.Finance industry including the banking sector are operating at bare minimum, and only offering basic services such as cash operation including remittance services and basic trade finance. New book creation has virtually stopped as no loan processing is being carried out. <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/also-keeping-financially-healthy-in-a-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Also keeping financially healthy in a lockdown</a>, Siddhant Raj PandeyLiquidity has been a problem that predates the pandemic. Nepali BFIs have  been long plagued by liquidity crunch, particularly after the real estate crash of 2009. After the earthquake, the industry faced a major credit crunch. The capital hike, reconstruction demand, a stable government all led to a surge in loan demand. But an unstable liquidity supply was a chronic threat.If prolonged, this could lead to assets price burst and real-estate could take the plunge. Banks would have to revalue risk assets, as most are backed by real estate collaterals. In short, non-performing assets need to be closelh monitored.  Remittance-dependence has fuelled consumption growth, and this could be affected by coronavirus outbreaks in destination coutnries for Nepali migrants like Japan, Malaysia, Korea and the Gulf. In addition, there is now <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/commercially-important-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">uncertainty about labour demand</a> because of the global downturn. Annual remittances could take a nosedive.Construction could pick up as soon as the lockdown is lifted. But big ticket projects, particularly ones with foreign contractors, in hydro, airports, highways could slow down and costs could overshoot. Banks with guarantee exposure in the construction sector could also be hit. The non-funded instrument could see ‘Willful Claim’ capitalising on grey area of force majeure, currently under discussion at the Nepal Rastra Bank and the banking sector. Trade may rebound quickly because of Nepal’s import-based consumption patterns. However, the dent in purchasing power capacity due to loss of business and employment could be a matter of concern.The Health Sector ironically may see a slowdown during the pandemic. The banks carry significant exposure in medical care in heads like working capital, term loan and fixed assets. Balance of Payments could be a major concern as remittances drop. Tourism is another forex earner that is hit hard. Exports were always negligible, but even that will be slowed further with the lockdown.  Revenue Collection could dry up due to shortfall in revenue targets.  This could limit spending and development in infrastructure projects, creating problems in multiple areas from employment, base level economic activities, consumption amongst others.Small and Medium Enterprises are key economic enablers and yet largely out of formal sector reach. This impact assessment could be bit tricky and may require a deep dive into both formal and informal source of borrowings.Perhaps linkage to cooperatives could be one way to establish the relationship so as to gauge the depth of the impact. The critical focus here should be on employment generation, domestic production and revenue collection. GDP has 15 main sectors contributing to it. It may be wise to run a predictive analysis of each critical sector that may impact employment, value chain, economy amongst others.These are trying times for the economy, and we must be strategic about pressing the right buttons to speed up the rebound. Sanjib Subba was until recently the CEO of Nepal Banking Institute.

Unlocking the economy post-lockdown

Nepal’s only international aviation gateway, at Kathmandu airport, will cut night-time operation hours to allow construction of taxiways, and airlines have been told to curtail flights. This is expected to lead to more than normal chaos during the height of peak autumn and spring tourist seasons at an airport that is congested even at the best of times. The airport will close from 10PM to 8AM from 8 November-31 March 2025. The taxiways will now connect to the thresholds at both ends of the runway, making the airport more efficient in handling higher frequencies of landings and takeoffs. The parallel taxiway extension will allow international flights to land every 4 minutes instead of the current every 7 minutes. At present planes have to wait to land until a plane taking off backtracks along the runway.&nbsp; Kathmandu is Nepal’s only airport with international operations, and it has only one runway that is only one way in from the south over the mountains. With the taxiway improvement, the airport will be able to handle 42 aircraft landings and takeoffs per hour — double the current capacity.&nbsp; The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has been trying to entice international airlines to also start flying to and from the other two international airports at Pokhara and Bhairawa (Lumbini) by slashing landing and handling charges. But so far only Nepal Airlines operates a weekly flight to Bhairawa from Kuala Lumpur.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32" data-rendition-name="original" width="2356" height="1134" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport expansion"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Airport Expansion plan with extension of taxiways to the thresholds of runways 02 and 20 that will limit airport operations from 8 November 2024 - 31 March 2025. Areas in blue are existing structures, including the international terminal which in future will be the domestic airport, and the new international terminal near the north end of the runway,</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1353" height="1328" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport NT"> </figure>  CAAN has reportedly told international airlines to cut their flight frequency to Kathmandu citing the shorter operation hours and has told budget airlines to shift some of their flights to Pokhara or Bhairawa, or face cuts. Many airlines currently operate regular flights to and from Kathmandu between 10PM and 8AM: Air Arabia to Sharjah, Fly Dubai to Dubai, Jazeera Airways to Kuwait, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Singapore Airlines, several Nepal Airlines flights, and one of four daily flights by Qatar Airways to Doha. Jazeera Airways, FlyDubai, and Thai AirAsia have applied and got permission from CAAN to begin regular flights to Bhairawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport. Starting 9 November, FlyDubai will start making a stopover in Bhairawa before flying on to Kathmandu. Immigration, customs and security are all fully functional in Bhairawa. In Kathmandu, the next phase of the airport upgrade includes converting the current international terminal for domestic operations, the construction of a new international terminal where the domestic departure area is now, as well as moving the hangars and the Nepal Army Air Wing to the eastern side of the runway. The apron area will also double its parking space for widebody jets. This is part of a Airport Capacity Enhancement Project that was initially funded through a $80 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the entire masterplan is expected to cost $800 million. This project is the latest upgrade to Nepal’s only international airport since it saw its first flight in 1949. The current international and domestic terminals are too small to handle the current annual traffic volume of 8.5 million passengers a year that is growing at 20% a year.

Kathmandu airport to cut flight hours

As Kathmandu becomes more congested and polluted, and with remote online work becoming the norm, many professional Nepalis are planning to retire in Pokhara, or move there.&nbsp; With its stunning mountain panorama, balmy winters and proximity to a profusion of wilderness areas, builders are responding to this demand with new townhouses, housing development and apartments. One such block of flats is the 10-storey <a href="https://sungavaapartment.com/">Sungava Apartment</a> located at Phulbari above the Seti River, near the point where it flows into and under Pokhara. The imposing structure near Manipal Hospital is almost complete, and on a recent visit the site was strewn with huge boulders unearthed while digging the foundation.&nbsp; The Seti brought down these boulders during a gigantic flood that geologists estimate happened 800 years ago when a chunk of Annapurna IV broke off and ploughed into the glacier below. Today, Sungava (means ‘orchid’) sits safely on a high terrace, 100m above the blue-green Seti and commands a view of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Machapuchre, Annapurna III and IV.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2016" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  The soil here is conglomerate that has solidified like concrete, and the boulders were extracted by heavy earthmovers. It is intriguing to think that these metamorphic rocks as big as cars, rounded by glacial grinding, were once a part of a much higher Annapurna IV. Even for those with little interest in geology, Sungava is an ideal place to contemplate the tectonic forces that pushed these peaks into the sky to be sculpted into delicate shapes by wind, snow, earthquake and avalanche over millions of years. The view of the Himalayan panorama from Sungava’s many balconies are breathtaking when not obscured by clouds, or the haze that drifts in from across the southern border. On most days, just watching the towering pyramid of Machapuchre (Tamu name: कतासुँ क्लिको) play hide and seek with the clouds is mesmerising. There are rocks aplenty at Phulbari, and it is probably the flowers that grew along the flat terraces e that gave the place its flowery name. The boulders will hopefully be turned into a rock garden while landscaping. An nearby restaurant complex is making the best use of the stones in its design, using flat rocks as outdoor benches and tables. Sungava was designed by the husband-wife architect team of Deepak Sherchan and Jyoti Joshi of <a href="https://thedarkmermaidamarbshrestha.blogspot.com/2013/12/creative-builders-collaborative-cbc.html">Creative Builders Collaborative (CBC)</a>, which also built Heritage Plaza, Indreni Apartment and numerous other projects in Nepal. Sadbhavana retains CBC’s trademark Newari-style masonry and here it borrows from the orange brickwork of the old town of Pokhara, integrating it with modern design elements. A few of those heritage houses are still standing in Ganesh Tole and Ram Krishna Tole in Pokhara’s old quarter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1362" height="595" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  About 400m from the apartment past a bend on the river, and down below three tiers of terraces in the canyon is a suspension bridge. Below it, the Seti is still swollen with post-monsoon flow as it tumbles away in a hurry to head down south.&nbsp; Back at the apartment, it is quiet, far away from the hubbub of Lakeside a 15 minute drive away, and in the lap of greenery. There are 52 units at Sungava and it already has a close-knit prospective community of professionals, including doctors, publishers, engineers, and businesspeople from the renewable energy and IT sectors.&nbsp; Some residents say they opted for a second home in Pokhara to make it a ‘base camp’ to explore the Annapurnas with its many hiking trails made newly accessible with new roads. With the NRN citizenship law, overseas Nepalis can now also buy the flats. &nbsp; The floor plans include options for north and south-facing 3-bedroom apartments with verandas, and the facility has underground parking has EV charging, heated pool, sauna and gym. There are still some unsold apartments with panoramic views of the mountains and one can imagine oneself at the kitchen with its huge window, humming a ditty while preparing breakfast: “खाना पकाउँ हिमाल हेरेर...”

High living below the Himalaya

When the United Nations held its Summit of the Future at its headquarters in New York in September, many world leaders, including Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli, highlighted the effect of climate breakdown in increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. What did not get as much attention was the long term impact of the climate crisis on food production. In fact, heat stress, weather extremes and the consequences on rain-fed agriculture is already being felt worldwide, undermining the chances of the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> being met by 2030.&nbsp; The SDG’s 17 targets commit countries like Nepal to reduce poverty and inequality, end malnutrition, protect the natural environment, and ensure that citizens all enjoy health, justice and prosperity without leaving anyone behind.&nbsp; However, besides the impact of climate breakdown on agricultural production, in Nepal the area under cultivation is impacted by urban expansion, falling productivity and the need for expensive inputs like fertiliser and pesticides.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62" data-rendition-name="original" width="999" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Kathmandu's urban sprawl is eating into its fertile cultivable lands. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  Now, a new study led by Nepali researcher Prajal Pradhan at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands looks at how urban agriculture may offer a solution to falling food production and meeting SDG targets. The researchers evaluated 1,450 publications exploring the contributions of urban agriculture with both positive and negative effects, and published their findings in the journal Cells Report Sustainability. Urban agriculture can help achieve 17 SDGs, positively influencing 81 targets. However, it could also undermine 51 goals.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-vanishing-land">The vanishing land</a>, Taylor Mason “Urban agriculture offers immense potential for sustainable development, but realising this potential depends crucially on adopting practices that minimise its adverse effects while maximising its benefits,” Pradhan explains. Urban agriculture can substantially enhance urban food security, provide employment to the urban poor, serve as ground water recharge in built-up areas, and preserve open spaces that can serve as safe havens during disasters like earthquakes. However, it also presents problems like the potential health risks from contamination and the need for expensive inputs. &nbsp; “Urban agriculture plays a definitive role in advancing the SDGs, but achieving this requires tailored, context-specific solutions that address the unique challenges of different regions,” says Yuanchao Hu of Wuhan University in China and who is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “But it needs equitable access and rigorous management of environmental risks.”&nbsp; Rapid urbanisation is eating into Nepal’s most fertile agricultural land, which means farming in remaining open spaces inside cities can be a viable alternative, especially as food prices rise.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>A vegetable patch in between new houses in Thimi. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  “The conversion of Nepal’s most fertile land into cities is a severe problem,” Pradhan told Nepali Times. “Crop cultivation, horticulture, agroforestry, beekeeping, livestock rearing, or aquaculture can all be farming activities within and around cities.”&nbsp; The study makes recommendations for sustainable practices that build on the positive aspects of urban agriculture while mitigating the downsides, thereby promoting more resilient cities in future. Research shows that urban agriculture has been helping many countries attain SDG targets by enhancing food security and biodiversity while helping education and preservation of open spaces.&nbsp; Indeed, many farmers from the hinterland who have settled in Kathmandu Valley or other urban areas of the country have been practicing urban agriculture, leasing neighbourhood patches or cultivating roof gardens both out of necessity because of inflation and falling income to grow their own food, and also as a fulfilling hobby. Saurav Dhakal, a sustainability advocate with Story Cycle and now research fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, says there are socio-economic and environmental benefits of urban agriculture. “It provides benefits to all urban dwellers, regardless of their income status,” says Dhakal, “families get fresh food, and there are many other benefits like water retention, heat regulation and biodiversity. These are all public goods, so special government incentives may be needed.” It is not unusual to see vegetable patches and even paddy fields within inner city Kathmandu where an older generation of farmers are using available fertile land and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rooftop-gardens-kathmandu,1415">roof gardens to produce fresh, nutritious food </a>to reduce their dependence on food items that have to be bought after being trucked in from large distances.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>An older generation of farmers are using any available fertile land to continue farming but it is getting more and more difficult. Photo: TAYLOR MASON </figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s urban population grew rapidly from only 3.6% in 1991 to 25% today. There is large outmigration from the mountains to peri-urban areas of the Tarai, to Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara, with many young men then moving abroad for work. Kathmandu Valley’s population has swelled to nearly 3 million, and is growing at 6.5% a year. Dilip Shrestha, 71, used to work for Nepal Food Corporation, so he knew firsthand about inflation, shortages and vegetables with pesticide residue. So, when he designed his new house in Kathmandu, he built a spacious roof where he grows cucumber, ginger, garlic, coriander, onions, tomatoes, chili, beans, okra, pumpkin and lettuce. His family eats healthier, and he has reduced dependence on the market.&nbsp; The co-author of the Cell Reports Sustainability journal article, Daya Raj Subedi who is a PhD candidate at Beijing Forestry University, says urban agriculture also promotes inclusion and psycho-social wellbeing.&nbsp; He says, “A crucial finding of the study is the identification of opportunities and challenges associated with urban agriculture, it can promote sustainable transformation of society.” In Banepa, 55-year-old Bijaya Manandhar in her lifetime has watched the fertile farms of her neighbourhood that used to supply vegetables to Kathmandu, now completely built up with no open space left. The pandemic lockdown prompted her to turn to the family’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world">ancestral livelihood by growing food</a> not on terrace farms, but on the roof terrace. Manandhar is now a part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world%5C%5C">कौसी खेती र करेसाबारी क्रान्ती</a> (Rooftop Farming and Garden Revolution) which has an online membership of 52,000, and awards annual prizes to women who excel in urban agriculture.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="736" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Rooftop farming is gaining popularity as a form of urban agriculture. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> </figure>  Pradhan says the challenge now is to upscale such examples of successful urban agricultural practices so they support Neal’s efforts to meet SDG targets. He adds, “Crop cultivation around cities can be protected by land use plans and regulations. Promoting community-based agriculture, including rooftop gardens, requires community engagement and public-private partnerships across the food value chain.”&nbsp; Such support would accelerate the popularity of existing rooftop farming and community gardens in Kathmandu Valley, or kitchen garden initiatives in Pokhara, and building on traditional farming practices that are preserved and integrated into urban settings like in Bhaktapur and Banepa. In Lalitpur, the Women Entrepreneurship Facilitation Center promotes urban farming enhancing both sustainability and empowerment.&nbsp; Another co-author of the report, Yuanchao Hu from China says followup research of the team will aim to identify good practices in local urban agriculture practices. He adds, “There are examples of urban agriculture that optimise sustainability, ensuring that it remains a viable solution for cities globally while countries try to meet SDG targets.” Prajal Pradhan, Daya Raj Subedi, Kshitij Dahal, Yuanchao Hu, Prakriti Gurung, Sijal Pokharel, Sagar Kafle, Biplav Khatri, Sudeeksha Basyal, Monika Gurung, and Aruna Joshi. Urban Agriculture matters for sustainable development. Cell Reports Sustainability, 1:100217, 2024. [DOI: 10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100217] Prajal Pradhan (<a href="mailto:p.pradhan@rug.nl">p.pradhan@rug.nl</a>) 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/20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Back to the land in the cities

The 700-year-old Lakshmi Narasingha temple in Bhaktapur houses a rare half-lion and half-human incarnation of Lord Vishnu carrying the Goddess Lakshmi. The temple was destroyed in the 1934 mega earthquake that killed 10,000 people and destroyed many monuments in Kathmandu Valley. It was rebuilt by a German project in the 1980s, but as a single-storey structure instead of its original two-tier pagoda design.&nbsp; With new findings from in-depth research, Bhaktapur municipality began re-restoring the temple in 2021, preserving its original architecture.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “Our temples and heritage sites hold deep meaning. It is disheartening to witness how often they lose their original elements, whether by design or accident,” explains Kumar Chawal of the Consumer Committee of Bhaktapur. “There is a need to preserve our architecture and protect its historical value for future generations. Otherwise, we risk losing a vital part of our identity.” The Laksmi Narsingha restoration is similar to the Bhai Dega temple in Patan Darbar Square which also collapsed in 1934, but was rebuilt with a Moghul-style dome by the Rana government at the time. Only two months before the 2015 earthquake, heritage conservationists had started to rebuild Bhai Dega as the original three-tier based on early photographs. But priorities shifted when four other temples in the square were brought down by the 7.8M earthquake on 25 April 2015.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  This showed how damage to monuments in Kathmandu Valley spanned from one earthquake to the next. Bhai Dega restoration remains half-complete to this day because money for its restoration ran out.&nbsp; Whereas Bhai Dega restoration was done by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust with grants from western embassies and international foundations, in Bhaktapur it is the municipality itself that allocated the Rs30.7 million needed to restore the Lakshmi Narasingha temple. The expected date of completion is early 2025. The municipality and local communities are focusing on two main aspects: preserving the past and promoting localisation. The restoration team has designed a blueprint for the temple by using historical photographs and insights from older generations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="560" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “At first, the Lakshmi Narasingha temple had only one entrance, but during the demolition process, we uncovered the foundations of four doors. Now, we are restoring all of them. This is an example of how our ancient structures have changed over time, often without our knowledge,” says Chawal. “Constructing temples is not like building houses. They carry historical and spiritual values, which is why they hold a special place in our hearts,” he adds. By replicating ancient design elements and rebuilding the temple as accurately as possible to its original form, the team has stayed true to Bhaktapur’s soul. But the restoration also revived ancient techniques that were in danger of being forgotten, generating employment for woodcarvers, masons, and contractors. The community of Bhaktapur’s Gahiti neighbourhood near the famous Nyatapola Temple has also set aside specific days for locals to volunteer in the reconstruction work. This has encouraged young people to take pride in ownership of their heritage. Families have also supported the effort by donating funds for bells, the temple pinnacle, and other structural features to the temple.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “I feel at peace knowing I have contributed my sweat to restoring this temple,” said one volunteer. “It is our duty to preserve our temples and heritage. The Nyatapola area will look magical once this temple is completed.” Community mobilisation is a long-standing tradition in Bhaktapur. In the past, locals have actively participated in the restoration of other temples in the city, such as Bhairav and Nyatapola fostering a strong sense of ownership. This collective engagement has not only been crucial in preserving the city's historical monuments but also in strengthening the bond between local communities and their heritage, says officials at the municipality. While securing funding is essential, and the municipality showed it values heritage conservation, the Lakshmi Narasingha restoration is proof that active involvement and sense of responsibility of the local community is as important, if not more. Local involvement also means that the monuments will be cared for into the future, When locals take ownership of these efforts, the restored monuments are not only protected in the present but are also cared for in the future.