<figure><img width="816" height="612" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1df69c7e80680e0af3e3jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Aakash KC finally flew to Korea on 13 December to rejoin his job after being stranded in Nepal for two years. Photo: AAKASH KC</figcaption></figure>When Aakash KC flew to Kathmandu from Seoul in February 2020, he was looking forward to a three-month break in Nepal from his job in South Korea. Little did he know that he would be stranded for almost two agonising years in Nepal due to the pandemic. KC finally flew back to Seoul on Monday after months of uncertainty because of confusing information on Covid, flip-flopping rules. “As per Korean law, I had to come to Nepal for three months before resuming with same employer for another five years,” KC said as he prepared to leave. KC is part of the much-coveted <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Korea-treating-Nepali-migrant-workers-right,2813" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Employment Permit Scheme (EPS)</a>, a government-to-government partnership between Nepal and Korea to supply workers, and is luckier than most other Nepali migrants because he had an employer who waited to have him back. KC had to renew his Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance (CCVI) multiple times with help from his Korean employer. He said: “I used to feel anxious when co-workers from Sri Lanka had returned to their jobs in Korea whereas my future was uncertain.” KC’s employer was not just patient, he even sent him financial help during the early months of the pandemic. It is a testament to the hard work and trust that Nepali workers like KC have built with their Korean employers that they are willing to do that.  <img width="455" height="286" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1df89c7e80680e0af3e4jpeg.jpg" alt="">KC did not look for any other options during the past two years, although he was tempted to prepare for Nepal’s civil service exams. He has retained his language skills, and earlier this week was excited about returning to Korea. To be sure, not everyone is as lucky as KC. Sunita Gurung worked on a farm in Korea, and received her CCVI for continued employment. But her employer cancelled because the process dragged on for too long, leaving her heartbroken and helpless. “I understand why he did that,” Gurung said. “How long can an employer wait when I could not confirm when I could return?” For over 10,000 other Nepalis who passed the competitive Korean language and skills exams, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/labour-mobility/crossborder-virus-and-nepali-migrant-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pandemic has been a roller coaster ride</a>. They were too far along the process to let go of lucrative job opportunities in Korea that guarantees high wages and a secure future.  <figure><img width="960" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1dfa9c7e80680e0af3e5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Nepali workers boarding a Korean Air flight in Kathmandu this week after being stuck for nearly two years. Korea is opening up cautiously to see if there is another Covid surge. Photo: AAKASH KC</figcaption></figure>The workers saw the Gulf and Malaysia opening up after the lockdowns, and could not understand why Korea was still closed. Some workers were under pressure from their families to take up whatever overseas job was available. “When my family saw others from the community headed to Gulf, they asked why I could not do the same. They don’t understand,” said one worker. All the uncertainty and false alarms over the past year and a half has taken a toll on the mental health of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Korean-kafala-migrants-in-Korea,4025" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">aspirants for Korea</a>. The lack of clear information also means confusion about whether the delay was due to Covid-19 restrictions in Nepal or Korea, vaccine status, or the result of insufficient diplomatic lobbying by the Nepal government.It has not helped that for almost three years, there has not been a Nepali ambassador in Seoul. Junior embassy staff do not have the same access and influence as an ambassador, and the country’s labour diplomacy has suffered as a result.“We knew it was due to public health concerns and the Korea government was using similar criteria to all EPS partner countries to assess whether to allow workers or not, but our government was also not being proactive,” said Askash KC who <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/delayed-dreams-for-korea-bound-nepalis/">took to the streets</a> earlier this year to put pressure on the Nepal government to lobby with the Koreans.  <figure><img width="2048" height="1536" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1dfc9c7e80680e0af3e6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Trilok Pant finally flew to Korea in October after waiting for nearly two years and is back at his job. "Work has started in full swing," he says. Photo: TRILOK PANT</figcaption></figure>The EPS Struggle Committee met government officials, including all five labour ministers in the past two years. A running joke within the Struggle Committee was that one labour minister who lasted only a few days in office earlier this year asked the members who had gone to appeal to him: “What is EPS?”The South Koreans had set three criteria for the corridors to resume: the presence of direct, regular flights to Incheon, all migrants buy Covid-19 insurance, and workers pay for ten-day quarantines on arrival in Korea. All these criteria were met, and despite the added cost to the workers, Nepalis finally started flying to Korea in October. Trilok Pant was among the first lot that went to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/dead-end-of-the-korean-dream/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Korea</a> in October after spending 22 months here. “There was so much excitement among the 48 Nepalis who went on the first flight,” he said on the phone from Korea. “Work has started in full swing now.”Like KC, Pant was also lucky to have a kind employer who sent him money during the pandemic, and waited for him as he renewed his CCVI four times because it only had six-month validity. “On my first day out of quarantine, he took us out for dinner,” Pant recalled. “It was a happy reunion.” <figure><img width="2048" height="1536" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1dff9c7e80680e0af3e7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Trilok Pant with his co-workers, including Nepalis, in Korea pre-pandemic. Photo: TRILOK PANT</figcaption></figure>In the 22 months that he was stranded in Nepal, Pant did not do any work because of the uncertainty about Korea. But Korean employers, too, have faced problems because their workers could not get back. Nepalis mostly are on jobs that locals will not do, especially not for the salaries for migrant workers. “Nepalis have a reputation for hard work and honesty, which worked to our advantage this time as our employers waited for us patiently amid all the uncertainty and inconvenience,” Pant added. For now, only a small proportion of those waiting have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-long-wait-before-flight/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">able to rejoin jobs</a>, and the Koreans appear to opening up cautiously to see if there is a Covid surge. Only if all goes well in the coming months will more workers be let in. And there are thousands of Nepalis waiting to fly out.

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Long wait over, Nepalis return to Korea

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01e39c7e80680e0a364fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1178" height="1476"/><figcaption>More than 7,000 Nepali migrant workers sat for an English exam on Monday for openings in 1,000 caregiver jobs in Israel.</figcaption></figure>More than 7,000 Nepalis sat for English language exams at 16 test centres across Kathmandu on Monday. No, this was not a college exam, but one to determine eligibility for 1,000 caregiver jobs in Israel.The tests are part of a selection process under an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/demand-grows-for-nepali-caregivers-in-israel/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/demand-grows-for-nepali-caregivers-in-israel/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631624430377000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHFN_reE6ZnyZ6cf_O_QIhMoWLq0Q">agreement between the governments</a> of Israel and Nepal in September 2020, and an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/4-days-4-scenes/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/4-days-4-scenes/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631624430377000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHXBGT6aXZQhRnDoHZogxAKC4bJZw">implementation protocol signed</a> in January.The program initially targeted 500 caregivers, but was later expanded to 1,000, and 70% of the openings are meant for women with salaries of as much as $1,600 per month governed by Israel’s strong labour laws.Over 26,500 people initially created user IDs in the online application for the openings, but only 7,009 completed the application process and were eligible for the exam. Although 70% of jobs are set aside for women, Dambar Bahadur Sunuwar of the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) said that only 47% of the test takers were female.Many of the candidates and their families waiting for the exams at Durbar High School in Kathmandu appeared nervous not just about the exam, which will be competitive, but about whether the process is fair.“It is all luck and hopefully luck will favour us,” said the husband of a woman waiting to give her exam. “In a country where everything is driven by ‘settings’, we are worried that Israel will not be an exception. All we can do is try our luck and give the exams, with the hope that it will be fair.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01e69c7e80680e0a3650jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1178" height="966"><figcaption>Test takers and families outside Darbar High School in Kathmandu, one of the 16 exam centres.</figcaption></figure>Another applicant, who also did not want her name used, says she wants the process to be merit based since her family cannot afford high recruitment costs. “We are cautiously optimistic that the selection process will be fair,” she shrugged.She is a mother herself, has been taking care of her mother-in-law in Nepal, and feels she has the right experience to be a caregiver in Israel in addition to the formal training she took. “I will still be taking care of others, the only difference is that in Israel they will pay me,” she said.Sunuwar says the DoFE has taken measures to ensure the process will be conducted fairly and in a transparent way, and used the directive for the civil service exam as the basis for this test.“To minimise interference and curb any cheating, we created a Foreign Employment Recruitment Management System so all documents were submitted online and details regarding exams and interviews are also being shared online,” Sunwar told Nepali Times. “It will be conducted fairly and we once again urge migrants not to fall for intermediaries who approach them with false promises.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01e89c7e80680e0a3651jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1182" height="1130"><figcaption>There will be 2,000 applicants shortlisted for the interview round, and Israel will chose 1,000 candidates from among 1,400 names forwarded by the DoFe.</figcaption></figure>Despite these assurances, and given past experience, migrant family members waiting outside Durbar High School had misgivings about the process.“For those of us without insider connections, our worst fear is that this exam and the interview were just for show and everything is pre-determined to a select group of people who have the resources and networks,” said one waiting family member. “We have invested money and time for the preparation, with the hope that it will be carried out fairly. That is all we can do. Let us wait and see.”Earlier this year, the Israel agreement faced criticism for setting a $1,600 upfront recruitment cost to be borne by the migrant workers before they leave Nepal, most of it on airfare. Critics slammed the agreement for not following the employer pays principle.Government authorities have defended the fee. Nepal’s ambassador to Israel, Anjana Shakya says the pre-departure costs will be much less than Rs167,000 because the air fare is not going to be as much.“It will be up to the worker to choose the airfare that is cheapest for them,” she told Nepali Times from Tel Aviv. DOFE also agrees that the cost is only an upward estimate, and will probably be less.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01ec9c7e80680e0a3652jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="936" height="784"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Apart from waiving visa costs, Israel has not agreed to Nepal’s request for employers to pay recruitment costs such as airfare. But Israel has a zero-tolerance policy for illegal recruitment costs, which was one of the reasons it had banned Nepali migrant workers in the past.It is the illegal costs under ‘settings’ that many migrant workers are worried about rather than the required expenses because they want merit and performance in the exams to determine their selection for an already very competitive given the limited quota.These fears are further heightened by social media and conversations in Israel exam preparatory classrooms where migrants are told that quotas are pre-determined, fueling fears about the selection process being unfair. Some reported being approached by agents outside training centres offering guaranteed placement in Israel if they paid up to Rs1.1 million because they had connections in high places.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01ee9c7e80680e0a3653jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2060" height="1116"><figcaption>Nepali migrant workers sitting for mock tests earlier this year.</figcaption></figure>Nepali Times also met up with migrants who said they have little faith in the system and are willing to pay because “money makes more money”.“I am ready to pay up to Rs120,000 for a job in Israel, but only if I am given a receipt and guaranteed the job. Even if there is cost to getting the job, it will be worthwhile because I can recuperate the costs within the first year, and send money home to my family,” says one migrant worker.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141148/636d01f19c7e80680e0a3654jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1794" height="1216"><figcaption>Nepal's Ambassador to Israel Anjana Shakya signs the bilateral agreement to recruit 1,000 Nepali caregivers to Israel.</figcaption></figure>After the exam, a relieved migrant worker said: “The exam went okay but could have been better. I am not sure if I will be selected for the interview round, perhaps yes, if it is fair.”She is applying for the job in Israel because her clothing business failed, but would have stayed on in Nepal and invested in her trade if she had the Rs100,000 that some of the others were willing to pay for the job. If she passes the test, she will be one of the 2,000 who will move on to the interview round. Of them, 1,400 will be selected and this roster will be shared with the Israeli side for the final quota of 1,000 workers.In 2009, Israel stopped recruiting Nepalis after migrant workers were found to be paying hefty fees to recruiters for lucrative job opportunities. It was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/08/07/israel-calling/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/08/07/israel-calling/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1631624430377000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF1i1vJyoZlbJ0Vw43oLAsJDxk6_Q">reopened in 2015</a> under a pilot Nepal-Israel government-to-government agreement that was not able to send even the 250 workers as agreed.

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Nepali caregivers sit for Israel job exams

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121152/636ce6cb9c7e80680e096787jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Suresh Teli and his father Purna Teli at the Tribhuvan International Airport. Photo: UPASANA KHADKA</figcaption></figure>On January 20, Prabhu Nath Teli in Kapilvastu received a call from Krishna Chaudhary in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-and-malaysia-rewrite-rules-for-migrant-labour/">Malaysia</a>, a co-worker of his 24-year-old son Suresh. The two had worked together at D&amp;Y Textile for the past three years, and Suresh had been seriously injured after jumping off the first floor of his hostel.Only three days before, Prabhu had spoken with his son who had sounded distraught after not being able to come home despite months of trying.  Suresh now has a serious spinal injury following the jump, which along with his erratic behaviour was a result of the severe mental pressure he was under.“My son wanted to come home but his employer was not willing to let him return,” says Prabhu, adding that his son’s supervisor had called the police on him when they got into a disagreement over his absence. “This scared Suresh, and in an attempt to escape he jumped off the first floor of his hostel and got severely injured.” On the one hand, his employer was unwilling to let him go. On the other, personal family issues were piling up over the three years he had been away. To make matters worse, Suresh had a history of mental health problems. “He was suffering from depression before going to Malaysia, but he responded well to treatment. He got better over the years and was doing well in Malaysia,” recalls Prabhu. “But not being able to return home was a trigger, and his mental health problems re-emerged.” Jay Kumar Teli, Suresh’s uncle, who was in Kathmandu to help with his nephew’s repatriation and recovery, questions how the Malaysian employer could keep hard-working migrants against their will.  “They need to understand that their workers are human beings with personal problems and obligations. Not disposable commodities without emotions,” he says.  <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121152/636ce6ce9c7e80680e096788jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>But Suresh is not an isolated case.  “The ban on the recruitment of new foreign workers in Malaysia due to Covid-19 means employers are unwilling to let their workers leave” explains Deepak Dhakal, Labour Counsellor at the Nepal Embassy. “During the pandemic, there have been delays in the issuance of check-out memos which are like exit permits required for a worker to leave the country and many employers use this as an excuse to keep workers back. It doesn’t matter if workers want to return due to personal emergencies or because their contracts finished.” Dhakal adds.  This, in addition to increased workload due to labour shortages, pressure from families back home for financial support and strains in transnational relationships can take a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/in-the-minds-of-nepals-migrant-workers/">psychological toll on them. </a>“Mental health issues among migrants who face pressure from both the employers and families back home are rampant and need to be systematically addressed,” says Prakash Panthi, Labour Attache at the Nepal Embassy in Malaysia. While responsible employers in Malaysia and elsewhere take care of their workers, this is often not the case. Even in situations when workers need hospital-based medical care, they are kept in hostels with only very basic medication. But the most vulnerable are undocumented migrants, some of whom are brought to the embassy in Kuala Lumpur by Nepali volunteers when their situation has deteriorated without timely attention. Regularisation schemes like the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-in-malaysia-to-gain-from-amnesty/">Malaysian government’s Recalibration Program</a> that allows undocumented workers to change their legal status could benefit undocumented migration, Dhakal notes.  <figure><img width="854" height="384" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce6d19c7e80680e096789jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Coordinated rescue effort  Following his fall, Suresh received care in the orthopaedic ward of a Malaysian hospital for his spinal injury and was kept under psychiatric observation before being transferred to a nursing home.  Suresh was scheduled to fly to Kathmandu on 5 February after pressure from hundreds of Nepali employees at the company. But the airline refused to fly him because of his health condition. Says Labour Attache Panthi, “The employer reached out to us to make agitated Nepali employees understand that the delay in Suresh’s repatriation was due to his health condition and not the employer’s apathy.”There was also pressure on the employer to bear all medical costs till Suresh recovered.  His condition subsequently improved and he was deemed fit to fly but either a doctor or a nurse had to accompany him, which was too costly.Eventually, he was approved to fly with a non-medical personnel, a co-worker who was returning to Nepal.In Nepal, Suresh’s father Prabhu had to make five trips to Kathmandu over the last few months. “The agent in Kapilvastu said he could help if I paid him Rs100,000. The recruiter Al Rahim says he is taking the case up with the authorities. That is a lie, he has no clue that my son is already coming home,” Prabhu says.In a desperate plea, Prabhu and his wife appealed to MP Arjun KC to help bring their son home. Says KC, “It was just one case, but the amount of coordination needed was tremendous. We had to directly or indirectly engage with the Foreign Employment Board, the Nepal Embassy, Nepal Airlines and the hospital here for his repatriation and further recovery. One weak link and it would not have happened.”Private airlines were hesitant to accommodate a stretcher but Nepal Airlines agreed. The Nepali mission put pressure on the employer to bear the medical and travel costs. Without financial support from the employer or from the Foreign Employment Board, the only option would have been to rely on personal donations that would have further delayed the repatriation. Among many stories of an uncaring state, there are stories like that of Suresh Teli where different agencies of the state came together, surpassing the expectation of the people who are conditioned to not expect too much from the government.  <figure><img width="540" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce6d49c7e80680e09678ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The long road to recoveryIn many ways Suresh was lucky. He survived the fall when he could have been one of the many coffins that arrive at Kathmandu airport every week. His medical costs in Malaysia and air tickets were borne by the employer. His family recognises these positive aspects and is happy their son is finally coming, but is also cautious of what lies ahead: the long road to recovery, from physical and mental wounds, from unpaid loans and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/wage-theft-of-migrants-during-pandemic/">foregone earnings</a>, and from personal relationships <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/far-from-home-during-a-pandemic/">strained by distance.</a> The Teli family has only a tiny piece of land, and it has to pay Suresh’s medical bills by borrowing from local lenders. Formal support is unlikely to come through. The recently signed <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-future-is-older/">Social Security Agreement</a> (SOCSO) between Malaysia and Nepal only applies to work-related injuries, illness, or death. Suresh’s family is hopeful that the Foreign Employment Board will provide injury compensation via the Welfare Fund, but even this is unlikely given uncertainties around his labour permit status as he has been away for three years.  <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce6d69c7e80680e09678bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Arrival The evening of 23 April, Suresh was being pushed in a wheel-chair out of the arrival area at Kathmandu airport and put into an ambulance with the support of the medics and his father. As they waited for the rest of the family to join them before heading to the Trauma Centre, the medic in the ambulance held his hands and asked him questions about his health and the travel. He responded willingly, a marked progress from the initial phase of the injury. When his mother, Urmila Teli finally climbed into the ambulance, Suresh glowed and broke into a wide smile. Despite the discomfort due to his injuries and the support from the Jewett brace, he leaned aside from the stretcher to touch her feet. He was finally home.   <figure><img width="640" height="1055" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce6d99c7e80680e09678cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/labour-mobility/crossborder-virus-and-nepali-migrant-workers/">Crossborder virus and Nepali migrant workers,</a> Upasana Khadka

Upasana Khadka

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Mindful of migrants' mental health

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5af9c7e80680e096724jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="448"/><figcaption>DoFE sting team after a successful raid in Dhumbarahi. December 22, 2020.</figcaption></figure>The Nepal government transfers civil servants regularly, sometimes as routine rotation, but also because of unmet vested interests. The heads of the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE),  which is the regulatory arm of the Labor Ministry, have recently seen short tenures. With its inter-governmental aspect, and the interests of migrant workers and private sector, overseas labour demands a steep learning curve. But once heads of the DoFe get a grasp of the issues they are transferred. Momentum is lost. Priorities change. Unfinished businesses remain unfinished. Relationships and trust need to be re-established. Progress is delayed. The Director General (DG) of DoFE, Kumar Dahal (pictured below) was recently transferred and spoke to Upasana Khadka at Nepali Times about his 14-month tenure, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/labour-recruiter-netted-in-sting-raid/">sting operations</a> of ‘manpower’ agencies last year that he helped organise which led to the suspension of the licenses of four recruiters found illegally interviewing and charging workers exorbitant fees for jobs in the Qatar Police. This suspension was quickly revoked by Labour Minister Gauri Shankar Chaudhary. Excerpts of interview:Nepali Times: Your transfer was a bit abrupt? Kumar Dahal: Look, rotation are part of the bureaucratic process, especially at the senior level. My 14-month tenure is actually considered quite long. The foreign employment sector has many stakeholders with varied interests, which don’t always align. Unwillingness to engage or cooperate in certain activities can make rotations more likely.Having said that, it would be better if people doing good work are allowed to continue for at least two years to achieve tangible results. Change is not easy in a sector where malpractice like overcharging workers or buying visas are entrenched.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5b39c7e80680e096725jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="639">Earlier they were isolated events, but soon they became habit and now, they have become a<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/why-has-zero-cost-migration-not-happened/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> part of the culture</a>. Our regulatory oversight has been insufficient and the situation has deteriorated over the decades. Even migrants are convinced that paying hefty fees and high interest rates are part of the recruitment culture and they comply, often questioning it only when it is too late. The players are able to make easy money without much effort, time or investment, exploiting the desperation of our youth. Changing this will take time. It depends on bold, visionary leadership, which is lacking.As a regulatory agency DoFe has to adopt restrictive policies, but you don’t want to deprive migrants of lucrative overseas opportunities. How do you balance the two?The category of migrants we are dealing with need help navigating the system. They are vulnerable to cheating, so regulations are needed. We first need to accept that most <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kleptocrats-of-kathmandu-and-kualalampur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">problems faced by migrants begin in Nepal</a> and sometimes, even problems abroad are byproducts of activities here. Every time we received a tip-off from migrants regarding possible malpractice, there has always been something illegal going on which made our sting operations successful. Recruiters have to abide by business ethics, but they often don’t, which makes regulation necessary. Ideally, they should be responsible for workers they send abroad, but that often does not happen.The private sector is driving this industry, and our role as regulators would be hands-off and minimal if their work was transparent. But it isn’t. Just a few days ago, our inspection of 45 pre-departure orientation training providers showed that 30 were giving out certificates without training. Then there are other types of problematic migration: via individuals, education consultancies or traffickers, or on wrong visas, such as visit visas.We in government also need to be responsible, which isn’t the case always, either. The question for both the government and the recruiters should be whether the migrant worker is satisfied with the services and protection being afforded. Currently, I am afraid they are not.We can do better with facilitation support. For starters, we can simplify the approval process of job demands in destination countries and explore opportunities in markets like Europe where there is a potential demand for Nepalis. A foreign employment business fund has been set up for welfare tasks, funded by interest from the Rs20 million escrow deposit of each manpower company parked at commercial banks. A guideline is being drawn up jointly by recruiters and the government.What are some of the lessons from the pandemic?First, we need to be more proactive in our decision-making. Even in instances when the governments or employers offered to send migrants desperate to get home at their own expense last year, we did not allow it due to blanket rules about flights.Second, our embassies need to be strengthened significantly to handle grievances better. The staff size at embassies is not proportionate to the numbers of Nepali workers there.Third, our governance system isn’t prepared to handle undocumented workers. The documentation status of migrants does not determine incoming remittances, so we should support all stranded migrants during a crisis.Fourth, recruiters should have been involved more during repatriation.On the bright side, the pandemic forced us to expedite technology adoption. Migrants can now renew labour approvals from anywhere in the world, and we have also started recording data on returnees.Read Also<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-overseas-toil-through-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali workers overseas toil through the pandemic</a>, Upasana Khadka<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-overseas-toil-through-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Crossborder virus and Nepali migrant workers</a>, Upasana KhadkaWhat was your experience at DoFE with the free-visa-free-ticket policy?<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/zero-sum-game-in-zero-cost-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Free-visa-free-ticket</a> is a populist policy implemented without considering the migration ecosystem. It isn’t being implemented and we don’t have the capacity to do so in today’s context. This has also larger implications like the government losing a high amount of tax revenue and workers not having the receipt of actual payment made.Revising the cap on services from Rs 10,000 to first month’s salary as demanded by recruiters is reasonable in cases where employers are not providing service fees--provided the penalty for overcharging workers is increased. This reform will also be meaningless if diplomatic efforts are not ramped up to get governments of destination countries and employers on board. I have heard anecdotes of Nepali recruiters paying Rs250,000 to bag jobs that pay only Rs50,000. Our recruiters do not have direct access to employers but operate through agents abroad. Most employers or foreign agents are also not ethical, so the costs trickle down to workers.We have not been able to get into the crux of the issue and some policies are merely populist. Sting operations are insufficient. The number of recruiting agencies in Nepal at 853 is too high. Incentives to facilitate mergers or regulations to drive out the bad apples are needed so that monitoring is easier. For that we need a strong governance system and bold leadership free of manipulation, political interference and corruption.And the ban on overseas household workers?The domestic work sector is problematic, especially in West Asia. Those in Japan, Cyprus and Turkey are not facing such systemic problems. It is not just Nepal that implements the ban which signals that there are problems in this sector. I get desperate calls from domestic workers in transit in Sri Lanka, Oman, Jordan and Saudi Arabia pleading for rescue support. I am not in favor of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lift-the-ban-on-female-domestic-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lifting the ban</a> completely but to have approaches specific for each country, especially domestic worker-specific bilateral labour agreements with countries that also have in place strong domestic worker specific regulations. A key criteria is that embassies and families should be able to reach domestic workers when necessary.What are three of your priorities that you hope your successor will continue?The way to minimise corruption is via faceless service so recruiters and bureaucrats do not have to meet in person. We are almost there with the current online system. The remaining kinks need to be immediately ironed out so everything can be done digitally. Eventually, we also need to go to a one-door system, so migrants don’t have to go to different offices for migration-related services.There is a high demand for workers in Europe but we don’t have active diplomatic presence in many European countries and demand attestation, market exploration, worker protection etc become a problem. Otherwise we either lose opportunities, or migrants take circuitous routes with high recruitment costs.Finally, we lack understanding on the skills profile of our youth or a systematic way to monitor labour opportunities abroad. What skills or training do they have, what is needed abroad?Overall, we have a robust foreign employment management architecture with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/a-few-good-agents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dedicated agencies</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-plans-to-reintegrate-returning-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">policies</a> which is something to be optimistic about. Our singular focus should be on its implementation.Read Also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/commercially-important-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Commercially important people</a>, Editorial

Why are labour officials transferred frequently?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171144/636bd93b9c7e80680e080200jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="844"/><figcaption>Nepali Times Archives/Om Astha Rai</figcaption></figure>Nepal has set a positive image in the region for adopting a ‘employer pays’ principle that removes the cost burden on its overseas migrants. The reality is that it has remained just that: a principle.Only a negligible number of Nepali workers have benefited from the free visa and free ticket policy – even under bilateral agreements with some Gulf countries and Malaysia that require employers to pay the costs.The issue of recruitment costs has resurfaced with the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/demand-grows-for-nepali-caregivers-in-israel/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/demand-grows-for-nepali-caregivers-in-israel/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1601892756901000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF4sMxqHE6wL_TK2WWv0yxqKiRe8w">Israel-Nepal agreement</a> for caregivers signed last week. Early indications are that the recruitment fees may not be zero, and workers will have to bear costs such as air travel and pre-departure training.Nepal has bilateral agreements with other countries which do not have the employer pays model. Korea has signed Employment Permit Scheme (EPS) with 15 countries for employment in five sectors. Japan has Specialised Skilled Worker program with 10 countries for employment in 14 specific sectors. The agreement between Israel for 500 more Nepali caregivers is similar to the ones it has with Georgia and the Philippines.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-stuck-in-no-mans-land/">Nepali workers stuck in no-man's land</a>, Nepali TimesIn all cases workers have to bear some of the cost of recruitment, all countries have specific quotas. And they are often the only legal pathway for Nepalis to get jobs in those countries. The criteria of these overseas worker programs uniformly apply to the sending countries.Nepal’s agreements with the Gulf states and Malaysia, however, are different. They are generic and not part of any specific overseas worker employment program with criteria that apply to all sending countries. The provision in the agreements are outcomes of country-specific negotiations, there are no quotas, and jobs are not tied to any sector. With or without MoUs, Nepali workers continue to migrate legally to those countries.While there is more leeway in the negotiations of such generic agreements, it is difficult for Nepal to be a sole fighter for the employer pays principle in specific bilateral labour programs such as those with South Korea and Japan.Average recruitment costs also vary widely across sending countries (see figure). For example, the Philippines allows an equivalence of one month’s salary as recruitment fee. South Korea is not going to have a flagship bilateral labour scheme for Nepal that says ‘workers from 14 countries will pay $700 but Nepalis will pay 0’.There are therefore limitations to what labour diplomacy and negotiations can achieve. A zero-cost or bust strategy may deprive Nepali workers from benefiting from the most attractive opportunities overseas with guaranteed returns.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171144/636bd93e9c7e80680e080201jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="954" height="551"><figcaption>Average recruitment costs and monthly earnings (2016) of Nepali workers. SOURCE: IOM/KOICA</figcaption></figure>It would help if all sending countries adopted a single voice on common issues such as recruitment costs. Regional platforms like the Colombo Process for cooperation between sending countries have very little to show for now. Instead, each sending country’s priority is the size of the quota it can bag for its workers in South Korea or Japan.Recruitment costs also need to be considered not just on their face value but in terms of their equivalence to wages. There is a vast difference in the returns to employment across countries. Some are more attractive than others in terms of returns and in our case, Japan, Israel and South Korea are relatively better despite room for improvement in worker treatment.The difference between job opportunities in Israel/South Korea versus the Gulf/Malaysia may be an inter-generational social mobility jump versus just sending enough remittances to make ends meet.EPS workers in South Korea have three advantages: they are charged the same amount, there is a transparent breakdown of costs involved that apply equally to all, and they will be able to recoup this cost within a month.On the other hand, workers headed to Malaysia face a completely different reality, even if there is a zero cost pact between the two countries: they are arbitrarily charged <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/brokers-going-for-broke/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/brokers-going-for-broke/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1601892756901000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGVwF9oATSp2EVcyePLm9CY65x_2A">as per the recruiter’s demand</a>. There is no certainty when they can recoup costs, usually it will take many months.  If workers headed to Malaysia knew that they would be able to recoup recruitment cost within a month of arrival, as in the case of South Korea, they would likely see it as a blessing considering the status quo.<a href="http://nepalitimes.com/opinion/zero-sum-game-in-zero-cost-migration/">Zero-sum game in zero-cost migration</a>, Upasana KhadkaNepal’s bilateral schemes with Korea, Japan and Israel have evolved to address high recruitment costs. The EPS itself is remodeled after its predecessor, the Industrial Trainee Scheme, under which workers paid as much as $10,000 for their jobs, and the process was rife with malpractice and exploitation.The Israel market was shut down for Nepali caregivers in 2012 when recruiters started charging up to $8,000 each. Removing intermediaries in these programs is an attempt to reduce costs for workers. In the quest for the ideal ‘employer pays’ model in which workers pay nothing, we disregard the achievable progress in government-to-government schemes like the most recent Israel-Nepal agreement.While Nepal may have signed agreements with employer pays provisions for visa fee and air tickets, there are no mechanisms to ensure its implementation. These principles are only as good as the impact they bring to migrants.In the past few years since it was set up, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/brokers-going-for-broke/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/brokers-going-for-broke/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1601892756901000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGVwF9oATSp2EVcyePLm9CY65x_2A">Ethics Practitioners Association of Nepal (EPAN),</a> an umbrella organisation of recruiters committed to ethical recruitment including no cost for workers, has been able to mobilise zero workers. The only reason they are surviving is because they have alternate businesses in other sectors.There are some positive signs. Glove factories in Malaysia are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/global-glove-makers-compensate-nepali-workers/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/global-glove-makers-compensate-nepali-workers/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1601892756901000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE4L3qB7b5YW3AoiKNQQl9UGlYvCw">reimbursing recruitment fees of workers</a> from all nationalities – not just workers from Nepal with which Malaysia has signed a zero-cost pact (see figure). This move was not due to the goodwill of employers or the Malaysian Government, but pressure from the United States after their exports faced a ban from CBP (Customs and Border Protection) and a potential damage to their reputation from profiting during the pandemic.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171144/636bd9419c7e80680e080202jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="965" height="472"><figcaption>Recruitment costs (Months of earnings at destination) SOURCE: World Bank</figcaption></figure>This calls for a more strategic approach to bring real change alongside non-binding, soft commitments, or moral agreements on zero-cost migration that get all the media attention. Another unintended consequence of focusing only on the principle of no-cost migration is that more practical solutions may be disregarded.One of the biggest downsides of financing recruitment costs for Nepali workers is that they are slapped hefty interests by informal lenders that add up significantly. Financing collateral free, low interest loans, as was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/zero-sum-game-in-zero-cost-migration/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/zero-sum-game-in-zero-cost-migration/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1601892756901000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGtkqeNW-PNxTlOIsFKLrrB3Sp62A">implemented by DfID in Province 2</a> before the lockdown, is an example of a more practical short-term approach to ease the burden on migrants.Is it fair to deprive them of low cost financing solutions knowing that workers are paying to go abroad regardless of whether it is to a country with which we have signed a zero-cost pact or not,Nepal’s well-intentioned policies have failed to deliver, but anyone who cares about migrant welfare will champion the employer pays principle. The bosses of migrants, often migrants themselves but referred to as ‘expats’ for being in a higher position, are not only exempted from recruitment costs but also get compensated for relocation. It is counterintuitive that those in the lowest rungs of the ladder who cannot afford the costs are being made to borrow to pay exorbitant fees just to get the jobs.Nepal’s implementation capability and whether policies are practical in the current context, the incentives for those involved, regional dynamics, and the diverse situation of worker treatment across countries, all have to be taken into account.Turning this aspiration to reality is a long game, and we would be remiss to disregard a whole range of shorter-term, practical alternatives en route.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171144/636bd9449c7e80680e080203jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="95" height="105">Upasana Khadka writes the column Labour Mobility every month in Nepali Times analysing trends affecting Nepal’s workers abroad.

The theory and practice of zero-cost migration

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb50a9c7e80680e07bbddjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1040" height="780"/><figcaption>After being stranded in Kathmandu for six months, 147 Nepali workers who had been on home leave before the lockdown finally fly out to rejoin their jobs in Bahrain on 16 September.</figcaption></figure>The plight of thousands of Nepali migrant workers stranded overseas gets a lot of media attention, but there are also many who have been stuck in Nepal and unable to join their jobs abroad for the past six months. After regular flights from Kathmandu <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-to-open-regular-flights-from-1-september/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-to-open-regular-flights-from-1-september/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600520816227000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHaPw3K35V8aIiZh2uQwWH6ptIUYQ">restarted on 1 September</a>, many of them are finally able to fly out.Among them were 147 Nepalis who had been on annual leave from their employment in Bahrain, who could finally fly out from Kathmandu last week. The process had to be closely coordinated to see if the Nepali still had their jobs, requirements for exit and entry processes for PCR reports, as well as quarantine requirements.“We shared the list of those who had registered to return with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with copies of their residence card so they could verify their details as well as the validity of their employers since many companies had closed down after the pandemic,” said Nepal’s Labour Attache in Manama, Damodar Dahal.Even with PCR negative reports before boarding the Nepalis had to undergo two rounds of tests in Bahrain: one on arrival and again after a week of home quarantine. All 147 passengers were required to download an app that ensured they followed quarantine protocols, and had to test negative again before allowed back to work.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb50c9c7e80680e07bbdejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="718"><figcaption>Nepali domestic workers in Lebanon finally flying home last week from Beirut.</figcaption></figure>Ekraj Rai, who has lived in Bahrain since 2005, had come to Nepal in February on home leave but had been stuck since. He was full praise for the Nepal Embassy in Manama which facilitated the return of workers like him.“The impact was sudden and unanticipated, and luckily our employer was patient and we had renewed our visas and labour approvals before coming to Nepal,” Rai said.Another worker said he paid Rs52,000 for the air fare and additional fees for a hotel in Kathmandu while waiting for the flight, as well as two tests. “It was almost as expensive as leaving Nepal for the first time for work,” said one worker. “But I am glad to be back at my job in Bahrain.”On 8 September, eight Nepalis who work for Qatar Police flew back to Doha on a nearly empty plane after being unable to fly out for six months.They need a PCR before boarding, and another two tests on arrival in Doha. Because they worked for the police, the tests and quarantine were free. One of them, Uttam Bhandari who has been working in Qatar for ten years, said: “The facilities in the quarantine centre were very good, and will be back to work in a few days.”There are other bright spots in the migrant saga. Nepali female workers stranded in Lebanon because of the economic crisis and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-caught-up-in-beirut-blast-recount-horror/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-caught-up-in-beirut-blast-recount-horror/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600520816227000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGBa2iljaHbGg3DsDt1t_1lA_6x6w">Beirut blast</a> finally made it home this week after their return kept getting rescheduled.Thirty-four Nepalis, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/homes-away-from-home/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/homes-away-from-home/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600520816227000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF9PhnlK3ZhEWAULe97KznLvsrsdA">mostly female domestic workers</a>, finally returned home on 16 September. Many of them were undocumented, or without a job because employers were themselves in economic distress because of the devaluation of the Lebanese currency, and fear of Covid-19.“To survive, we had to rely on our friends who had work and the church,” said Roja, who is now back home in Sarlahi. “I am glad to be finally home do not plan to leave Nepal again. I packed 10 years of my life in a 30 kg suitcase.”

Nepali workers rejoin jobs overseas

India and Pakistan are twins separated at birth. Tensions between them have been at a hair trigger ever since independence and has erupted into full scale conflict at least four times in the past 80 years.
The 22 April terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed 25 Indian tourists and a Nepali citizen, threatens to escalate tension between the two nuclear-armed nations. India has squarely blamed Pakistan for the attacks, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his military “operational freedom” to respond. Pakistan has said it has credible intelligence of an Indian military strike and its officials have promised a “full spectrum” response — a code for a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/thinking-the-thinkable">nuclear retaliation</a>.
For Nepal, the killing of its national in the Pahalgam attack comes as another stark reminder that in conflicts from Afghanistan to Iraq, from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-to-agree-an-armistice-in-ukraine">Ukraine</a> to Israel, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">Nepalis are getting caught in the crossfire</a>. The last time full-scale fighting broke out between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/peacemongers-at-india-pakistan-border">India and Pakistan</a> on Kargil in 1999, at least 22<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-trial-by-fire-for-soldiers-from-nepal?%27%5C%22="> Nepalis fighting for the Indian Army</a> were killed in action.
Three of Nepal’s immediate neighbours (China, India, Pakistan) have nuclear weapons, and they do not have good relations. With China supplying weapons, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/war-and-warming">missile technology</a> and other support to Pakistan, this triangular friction could set off a regional conflagration.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0" target="_blank">Research at Rutgers University</a> has calculated that even a week-long tactical nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would throw up so much smoke and debris into the atmosphere that it would block out the sun for years, and lead to a collapse of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/grow-nourish-sustain-together-world-food-day">global food system</a>. This does not take into account the radioactive fallout that prevailing winds would blow up to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">the Himalaya</a>, contaminating glaciers that are the sources of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">Asia’s main rivers</a>.
The impact of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>on High Asia was already ringing alarm bells about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">shrinking ice cap</a> reducing the dry season flow of water downstream. Water was going to be the next strategic commodity, geopolitical experts warned, and the next wars in Asia would be over water.
That water war is already happening. India retaliated to the Kashmir attack by suspending the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/world/asia/india-pakistan-indus-waters-treaty.html" target="_blank">Indus Waters Treaty</a> of 1960 mediated by the World Bank that has withstood at least three wars between India and Pakistan. The treaty gives India control over the three eastern tributaries of the Indus (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beas_River" target="_blank">Beas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_River" target="_blank">Ravi</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlej" target="_blank">Sutlej</a>), while Pakistan got water from the Indus and two of its western tributaries (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River" target="_blank">Indus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_River" target="_blank">Chenab</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhelum_River" target="_blank">Jhelum</a>.
Pakistan was assured of 70% of the annual flow, and India could use a reasonable amount of water for<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15231"> irrigation and hydropower</a>. &nbsp;Within days of its threat, India stopped water flowing down to Pakistan from the Chenab river and is reportedly preparing to do the same on the Jhelum.
The sabre-rattling has reached a crescendo. Besides threats and counter-threats there are also symbolic drills, with the Indian Air Force practicing landing on an expressway in Uttar Pradesh by its Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar fighter jets to demonstrate ‘operational readiness’. In response Pakistan test-fired its Abdali ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of 450km.&nbsp;
The danger is that with ultra-nationalist rhetoric and the beating the war drums by both sides, India’s government and Pakistan’s military may have to ‘do something’ to appease domestic public opinion. But any tactical strike, an artillery exchange, or territorial incursion could quickly escalate out of control.
Expecting an Indian retaliation for the Pahalgam killings, Pakistan is using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/interfaith-collaboration-for-nuclear-disarmament"> nuclear deterrence </a>and warning of “catastrophic consequences”. The two neighbours came close to a nuclear exchange in 2019 after an attack on the Indian military in Kashmir, and prompt international intervention led by the United States cooled tensions.&nbsp;
This time, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trump-shock-wave-hits-nepal">Trump administration</a> is too distracted and not as engaged. Pakistan has denied it was responsible for the terrorist attack and called on Washington to stop a possible Indian retaliation. India and Pakistan have stopped overflights by each other’s airlines, and some international carriers have even stopped flying over Pakistan fearing an air war.
Washington, Beijing, the UN and the EU have all urged restraint. Iran, which has good relations with both India and Pakistan has sent its foreign minister to urge both countries not to go into a tit-for-tat war. Iran has its own nuclear flashpoint to worry about with tensions in Israel, &nbsp;Yemen and Syria.
India and Pakistan both share similar problems of joblessness, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-nepal-s-poverty-rate-is-stuck">poverty </a>and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-change-new-threat-to-nepal-s-rhinos">environmental threats</a>. Neither side needs the threat of a senseless war, and we in the neighbourhood do not need it either.&nbsp;
Kunda Dixit
This Editorial 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.

Nukes in the neighbourhood

The streets of Patan are alive this month with lavender jacaranda trees under rain-washed skies as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-red-god-rises-again-in-patan">the chariot of Rato Matsyendranath</a> is pulled across town. This is the festival of the rain god, and inevitably the heavens opened up and pre-monsoon showers pelted the chariot as it started being pulled in Pulchok last week. Thousands of devotees, onlookers and the chariot procession organisers thronged the streets on the first day last week. The rhythmic cymbals and drums exuded a vibrant energy as the enormous four wheels turned and the chariot lurched.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  The<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Red-rain-god,3141"> red rain god</a> has Hindu and Buddhist antecedents, alternatively called Bungadya and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-gravity-defying-chariot-festival"> Karunamaya</a> — reflecting Kathmandu Valley’s syncretic mixture of the two religions.&nbsp; “Bungadya is a profoundly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/marketing-the-intangible">intangible form of heritage</a>,” explains heritage expert Monalisa Maharjan. “It embodies traditional knowledge,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/reviving-nepal-s-craft"> artisanal skills passed down through generations</a>. Local communities and specific families have specified roles in being custodians of the heritage, ensuring their survival over the centuries.” There are many legends and stories about this annual tradition. Lichhavi king Narendra Dev is supposed to have brought Rato Matsyendranath from Assam to Kathmandu Valley to convince Guru Gorakhnath to lift a spell that created a two-year drought in Kathmandu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1503" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Matsyendranath was Gorakhnath’s mentor, and upon seeing him, the serpents were released, unleashing the rains. The chariot festival honours the return of this life-giving rain. The deity is seen as an icon for thriving agriculture, t<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/before-the-next-monsoon">he arrival of monsoon</a> showers, and the welfare of the community. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-reign-of-the-god-of-rain">The reign of the god of rain</a>, Vidhu Prakash Kayastha Till this day, the Rato Matsyendranath festival is no ordinary celebration. Patan does not sleep for a month as the chariot is pulled through various neighbourhoods. It unfolds at a state level with the president (formerly the king) attending the climax of the Bhoto Jatra in Jawalakhel later this month.&nbsp; The intergenerational transmission of tradition is unique in the world, and the reason the festival is one of the most vibrant cultural expressions that thrives despite inroads of modernity. The other unique aspect is that it is a transnational festival, binding Patan with Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  “Unlike Nepal, where the deity commands grandeur and devotion, many in Assam are unaware of Rato Matsyendranath,” says Khagen Sharma of Gauhati University, which convened <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-assam-connection-revived">a symposium in February in Guwahati on the rain god</a>. Attending was a delegation led by Lalitpur Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan, organisers of the festival, and builders of the chariot. After the symposium, a committee was formed to explore and revive the tradition in Assam as well. Although the team had planned to visit Nepal this month, logistical challenges delayed the trip. Still, there are plans to build a Guru Matsyendranath statue in Assam to reestablish regular worship practices in the Guwahati shrine.&nbsp; The vines used to build the chariot in Patan are sourced from the jungles of Assam. But Sharma notes that in recent years unclear regulations have blocked the official import of the vines, although they are still brought to Nepal informally. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/makers-of-machhindranath,2204">chariot making</a> has also had a taste of modernisation in recent times. In the past, even a single nail or piece of steel was avoided. But over time, the wooden structure, particularly the shaft between the wheels, has been replaced with bronze. When that too proved unstable, metal clamps were introduced, which have become a pragmatic compromise.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="998" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Another welcome change is the focus on safety. Builders climbing the chariot’s tower now wear harnesses and there are efforts in crowd control. The most visible change in recent years has been the involvement of Patan’s enthusiastic youth in the festival — the tradition is now passing to a new generation. Says Matsyendranath expert Vidhu Kayastha: “There is more energy, the young people in red t-shirts this year were very organised, these modern touches aren’t diluting our culture, they’re keeping it alive in new forms.” He adds, “We are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home">reconnecting with our roots</a>, we have more resources, more awareness than ever before. We must not be swept away by western values that may not serve us, and in some ways, cause more harm than good. We must revive our own culture.”&nbsp;

Divine chariot

In 2025, two seemingly disconnected acts of violence shattered the illusion of stability in the region. In March, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/16f7f947-1e96-4206-9844-891378adc683" target="_blank">militants hijacked a passenger train</a> near the Bolan Pass in Balochistan, executing soldiers in cold blood. A month later, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/world/asia/kashmir-terrorist-attack.html" target="_blank">gunmen in Kashmir’s</a> Pahalgam Valley massacred tourists. 
In both Islamabad and New Delhi, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/25/were-cursed-kashmiris-under-attack-across-india-after-pahalgam-killings" target="_blank">the reaction was reflexive:</a> condemn the violence, <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/04/22/india-and-pakistan-could-come-to-blows-over-kashmir" target="_blank">blame external enemies</a>, declare the situation contained. But South Asia’s leaders are not fighting terrorists alone. They are fighting the consequences of their own betrayals.
Across <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26272897" target="_blank">Balochistan</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-11693674" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/india/346-finding-way-out-festering-conflict-indias-manipur" target="_blank">Manipur</a>, and beyond, decades of <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/projects/enforced-disappearance-in-south-asia/" target="_blank">enforced disappearances</a>, broken promises, and brute militarisation have hollowed out the social contracts meant to hold these nations together. The grievances that drove rebellions from the 1940s through the 1990s – demands for dignity, recognition, and political agency – were never meaningfully addressed. They were buried beneath asphalt and propaganda, paved over by development projects and security checkpoints.
States may claim victory. But their victories are mirages, dissolving the moment anyone looks too closely. South Asia’s unfinished wars are not relics of a violent past. They are live ammunition, loaded into the future.
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/24/he-only-wanted-revenge-the-bloody-insurgency-in-balochistan-gaining-lethal-momentum" target="_blank">Balochistan</a> has been at war with Pakistan for most of its modern history. Rich in gas, minerals, and coastline, the province has been plundered for decades under the language of national development. 
Projects like the <a href="https://eastasiaforum.org/2020/11/26/pakistans-three-evils-cpec-and-good-governance/" target="_blank">China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)</a> promise progress but deliver exclusion: minerals are mined, ports are secured, but Baloch homes are raided. 
The insurgency endures not because of foreign conspiracies, as Islamabad endlessly insists, but because the Pakistani state remains incapable of seeing its <a href="https://thebalochistanpost.net/2025/01/enforced-disappearances-in-balochistan-in-december-2024-tbp-report/" target="_blank">Baloch citizens</a> as anything other than a security problem to be managed.
In <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ranisingh/2016/07/12/kashmir-in-the-worlds-most-militarized-zone-violence-after-years-of-comparative-calm/" target="_blank">Kashmir</a>, the Indian government claims to have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/world/asia/kashmir-village-defense-committees.html" target="_blank">“normalised” the valley</a> after revoking its autonomy in 2019. It <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-between-india-and-pakistan" target="_blank">looks a lot like occupation</a>. Soldiers outnumber local leaders, dissent is criminalised, internet shutdowns suffocate public life. Tourism campaigns and investment summits cannot erase a generation raised under curfew and surveillance.
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66260730" target="_blank">Manipur’s descent into ethnic bloodshed</a> in 2023 exposed another fault line Delhi prefers to ignore. Long-simmering tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities erupted into violence that shattered any illusions of northeastern integration. The central government’s delayed, politicised response made clear what many Manipuris had always suspected: they are citizens of India only when convenient.
Even the <a href="https://msf.org.au/rohingya-worlds-largest-stateless-population" target="_blank">Rohingya, stateless and exiled from Myanmar</a>, find themselves entangled in South Asia’s ethnonationalist calculus. Fleeing genocide, they are criminalised anew in Bangladesh and India – trapped between the countries that reject them and the memories that refuse to let them go.
South Asia’s states have excelled at suppressing rebellion. But failed at extinguishing the reasons rebellions rise in the first place. And the wars South Asia tries to forget at home have found new life abroad.
Across <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-17/modis-indian-government-accused-of-spying-silencing-critics/103974414" target="_blank">Canada, Australia, Britain, and the United States</a>, diasporic communities have become memory-keepers and, increasingly, <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/khalistan-supporters-hold-protest-outside-indian-consulate-in-vancouver-123092600087_1.html" target="_blank">the agitators</a> for the struggles their home states would rather erase.
Khalistan flags fly outside Indian consulates in Vancouver and <a href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/perturbed-over-waving-of-khalistani-flags-at-an-event-in-melbourne-india-warns-australia-of-khalistan-separatists-and-their-links-with-terror-groups-458320/" target="_blank">Melbourne</a>. Tamil activists march through London, demanding accountability for the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/19/grim-reminder-sri-lankas-tamils-mark-15-years-since-end-of-civil-war" target="_blank">massacres in Mullivaikkal</a>. Kashmiri protests in Washington and New York refuse to let India’s crackdown slip into diplomatic amnesia.
For host countries, these movements pose uncomfortable questions. Freedom of expression collides with fears of extremism. Clashes erupt between communities carrying wounds that their new homelands.
Meanwhile, South Asian states pursue their adversaries across borders. India faces allegations of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/canada-says-india-home-minister-ordered-campaign-against-sikh-activist-rcna177972" target="_blank">targeting Sikh activists for assassination in Canada</a> and the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/10/27/g-s1-29561/sikh-separatist-assassination-india" target="_blank">United States</a>. Pakistan continues to court Kashmiri separatists abroad while crushing Baloch dissent at home. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-tamils-civil-war-dead-5b372b0bba567837c5a4d94250040e7d" target="_blank">Sri Lanka</a> lobbies furiously to brand Tamil diaspora organisations as fronts for terrorism, even as it stonewalls investigations into its own wartime atrocities.
The old insurgencies have not been defeated. They have been globalised. South Asia’s governments have long mistaken silence for stability.
In Punjab, India broke the back of the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/06/india/india-canada-sikh-khalistan-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html" target="_blank">Khalistan insurgency</a> through brute force. The fields grew green again, the trains ran on time. But the wounds were never closed, the <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-indias-khalistan-separatist-movement-on-the-rise/a-65081729" target="_blank">movement’s heart beats</a> not in Amritsar but in Brampton and Surrey.
In Sri Lanka, the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4738983/The_Man_Who_Destroyed_Eelam" target="_blank">military crushed the Tamil Tigers</a> with <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/17/death-of-the-tiger" target="_blank">overwhelming brutality in 2009</a>. <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264148/we-want-our-children-back-sri-lankan-families-still-demanding-justice-their-missing-loved-ones" target="_blank">Tamil families still search for their missing</a>, still mourn their dead – and still organise across the diaspora for justice that remains undelivered.
In Kashmir, Delhi boasts of new <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/2/4/kashmir-is-bleeding-its-economy" target="_blank">highways and investment corridors</a>, showcasing the region as a trophy of unity. But when the visitors leave and the cameras are packed away, <a href="https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-134/from-domicile-to-dominion-indias-settler-colonial-agenda-in-kashmir/" target="_blank">the checkpoints, the raids, and the quiet despair remain.</a>
Victory parades fade. Grievance endures. Suppressing insurgency may end battles. It does not end the ideas that fueled them. In a region where <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/world/asia/kashmir-attack-india-pakistan.html" target="_blank">history is rarely past</a>, and memory is rarely voluntary, states that rule through repression are only ever buying time. And often, not very much.
South Asia’s unfinished wars are not accidents. They are the inevitable consequences of states that confuse conquest with consent, and erasure with reconciliation. They cannot legislate memory out of existence.
Every <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15qyyzz89lo" target="_blank">disappeared son in Balochistan</a>, every <a href="https://medium.com/the-wvoice/the-half-widows-in-kashmir-fef80c6b88e9" target="_blank">half-widow in Kashmir</a>, every <a href="https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/what-we-do/focus/rohingya-refugee-crisis" target="_blank">refugee child born stateless in a Rohingya camp</a> carries forward the memory of betrayal – a memory that outlives soldiers, politicians, and peace accords alike.
The region’s future will not be decided by GDP figures or infrastructure projects alone. It will be decided by whether its governments can summon the political courage to face the truths they have long suppressed – or whether they will continue down a path <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-is-using-the-g20-summit-to-further-its-settler-colonial-ambitions-in-kashmir-205166" target="_blank">where forgetting is demanded</a>, and rebellion becomes inevitable.
Shyam Tekwani is a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. This <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/nexus_articles/ghosts-at-the-border-south-asias-unfinished-wars/" target="_blank">article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://dkiapcss.edu/security-nexus/" target="_blank">DKI APCSS Security Nexus.</a> The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of DKI APCSS, the Department of Defense, or the US Government. The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) of the linked websites, or the information, products, or services contained therein. DoD does not exercise any editorial, security, or other control over the information you may find at these sites.

Balochistan to Kashmir

Most Nepalis thought they had seen the last of it after <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/11-56-25-april-2015-wkc9q2an">the 25 April 7.8 magnitude </a>earthquake ten years ago. But the Himalaya had more surprises in store. On 12 May, another 7.3 magnitude tremor that some said was an aftershock, but was strong enough to itself be a major earthquake, struck Dolakha.&nbsp; Not many people had heard of Singati till then — a cluster of houses by the Tama Kosi River along a narrow gorge that is the roadhead to Rolwaling Valley.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  It was here that dozens were killed on 25 April in the first earthquake. Hundreds of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati-rising-from-rubble-rebuilding,3703">Singati survivors</a> had lined up for food and relief supplies in the morning of 12 May when the second earthquake triggered a rock slide that buried a nearby camp. At least 50 people were killed. &nbsp; Three hours later, a US Marine Corps UH-1Y Venom helicopter landed in a nearby cornfield to pick up the wounded, and flew off. The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control in Kathmandu and its wreckage was located high on Kalinchok four days later. Six American servicemen, two Nepal Army soldiers, and five wounded civilians from Singati were killed. Today, Singati bears little physical scar of the multiple tragedies that struck the town ten years ago. Most <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/bungamati-builds-back">houses have been rebuilt</a> as urban-style concrete structures, and Singati has become an economic hub on the road leading up to several hydropower plants and a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/off-the-beaten-trek-in-nepal"> popular trekking destination</a>.&nbsp; The town looks less like a village and more like a suburb of the Dolakha district headquarter of Charikot, 47km away.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  “The demand for construction material, cement, iron rods and bricks peaked after the earthquakes,” says Suresh Khadka, who owns a hardware business here and now supplies material to the 456MW Upper Tama Kosi hydropower project that is undergoing repairs after it was damaged by a landslide last year. The demand for cement boomed since most residents believe, not necessarily correctly, that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">cement houses are safer</a>. Although Khadka did well selling construction material after the earthquake, he worries that most new structures do not follow seismic-resistant building codes.&nbsp; The construction boom financed by bank loans has in turn forced many from Singati to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/making-overseas-migration-better">migrate overseas for work</a> so they can service their debt.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Suresh Khadka</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Phu Doma Sherpa (right)</figcaption> </figure>  “My family had no choice but to borrow money to rebuild our home since the government compensation was not enough, and ten years later we are still paying off the loan,” says Phu Doma Sherpa, 60. Because of the shortage of qualified masons and proper seismic engineering, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/structural-problems">many of the buildings are of questionable building standards </a>and the traditional architecture has been abandoned, admits Kul Bahadur Budathoki, deputy chair of the municipality. “But these buildings were more expensive than what the government grants could cover, many people here are heavily in debt and the men have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/every-day-is-closer-to-pay-day">migrated to the Gulf to pay their loans</a>,” Budathoki says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480" data-rendition-name="original" width="1501" height="1079" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Kul Bahadur Budathoki</figcaption> </figure>  Singati is in a multi-hazard zone. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati,3091">12 May 2015 earthquake </a>could have led to the collapse of Nepal’s largest glacial lake, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/stairway-to-heaven">Tso Rolpa</a>, upstream. Due to global warming, the glacier has turned into an expanding lake 3.5km long, and its collapse would have unleashed a catastrophic Himalayan tsunami down the Tama Kosi Valley, with Singati directly in its path. Singati has literally risen from the ashes of 2015, with its residents beginning to recover from the trauma and financial toll. But it is not out of danger as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>magnifies the risk from future earthquakes.

foreign-labour