Public health expert Aruna Uprety was flying from Dolpo to Nepalganj a few years ago when she struck up a conversation with a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/1-in-2-pregnancies-in-nepal-unintended">pregnant woman</a> who told her she was travelling to the city for a doctor’s appointment.&nbsp; Uprety’s initial happiness at learning that rural women were actively seeking <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/3-nepali-mothers-still-die-daily-at-childbirth">prenatal care </a>turned into shock when the woman, who had two daughters, said she would terminate her pregnancy if the ultrasound showed a female foetus.&nbsp; When Uprety recounted her conversation with nurses at a hospital in Nepalganj, they did not bat an eyelid, telling her that pregnant people came from all over the Karnali to get ultrasounds for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-missing-girls">sex-selective abortions</a>. &nbsp; This example, multiplied tens of thousands of times every year, is visible in the 2021 census data: there are significantly more male than <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/fatal-discrimination">female live births</a> in Nepal, giving the country one of the highest sex ratio at birth (SRB) in Asia. SRB indicates the number of boys born for every 100 baby girls. Globally, biological birth ratios are slightly biased towards male babies, and the theoretical or expected SRB is 105 males per 100 female live births. Higher values indicate much higher numbers of newborn boys than girls.&nbsp; According to the 2021 census, Nepal has a SRB of 112 males per 100 females, up from 106 recorded in the 2011 census. &nbsp;Dhanusa district bordering India has the highest SRB (133) while Mustang in the trans-Himalaya has 92 boys per every 100 girls born. The Madhes (118) has the highest SRB among Nepal’s provinces.&nbsp; Experts are worried that this trend could lead to long-term <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepals-demographic-window-is-closing">demographic disparities</a>, and say there has not been enough research into the drivers of this imbalance. “Nepal’s skewed <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/future-proofing-nepal-s-population-strategy?s=04">sex ratio</a> at birth is one of the most concerning demographic issues,” says Yogendra B Gurung of the Central Department of Population Studies at Tribhuvan University.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025030704034_17e79dea4ed359ae991a9be6a1c765538cebd2640dcb3075b7175ae3055404ac.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2025030704034_17e79dea4ed359ae991a9be6a1c765538cebd2640dcb3075b7175ae3055404ac" data-rendition-name="original" width="926" height="385" loading="lazy" alt="The slaughter of our daughters NT"> <figcaption>Source: 2021 NEPAL CENSUS </figcaption> </figure>  Contributing to this is gender-biased sex selection (GBSS) and other forms of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/quality-of-equality-for-women">discrimination and inequality </a>enabled by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/perpetuating-patriarchy-in-nepal">Nepal’s patriarchal</a>, socio-cultural, traditional structures.&nbsp; Gender-biased sex selection determines the outcome of a pregnancy, and can be postnatal or prenatal. Postnatal sex selection can be due to neglect, differences in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/covid-undermines-nepals-mother-child-gains">maternal nutrition</a> and child care, or infanticide of a girl child.&nbsp; Prenatal gender-biased sex selection occurs prior to or during conception, either by the selection of a particular sex during <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/freezing-a-future-family-IVF-embryo-surrogacy,3881">fertilisation</a>, or through termination of pregnancy when the sex of the foetus is determined. Across the world, GBSS is an outcome of a preference of sons over daughters.&nbsp; The census result proves that &nbsp;Nepalis are increasingly opting for sex selection and consequently, sex-selective abortions through the use of prenatal diagnostic technologies to determine the sex of a baby, even though the law prohibits clinics from revealing the sex of a foetus.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-nepali-mothers-on-mother-s-day">Saving Nepali mothers on Mother’s Day</a>, Naresh Newar “There are three detriments that enable gender-biased sex selection: our socio cultural norms, and the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/female-foeticide-to-football">preference of sons over daughters</a>, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/tech-and-transition-in-nepal">the availability of technology</a> that is able to determine the sex of a foetus,” explains Apekchya Rana Khatri at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Kathmandu. “We analysed the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-demographic-dividend">social and demographic trends</a>, and identified Nepal as one of the countries where GBSS prevails based on the prevalence of these three issues.” Many Nepali families prefer sons because they are still expected to solely carry forward the family lineage, provide economic benefit to the family and actively engage in society, take care of their parents in their<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/home-sweet-home-for-older-nepalis"> old age</a>, perform <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-quake-survivors-wait-for-kin-to-return">funeral rites</a>, and gain inheritance.&nbsp; Imbalanced sex ratio at birth is not just a problem in Nepal. The sex ratio at birth of countries in the region, including India and China reflect socio-cultural norms that ascribe more importance to boys. &nbsp; Sex ratio at birth in India (108) is mostly due to cultural factors, while in China (112) it is a legacy of the previous One Child Policy. The imbalance has actually begun to improve in the past years in both countries. However, in Nepal, the opposite has happened: SRB rose from 104 in 2001 to 106 in 2011 to 112 in 2021.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025030704034_824d9daf1f2b630bcdae6edba2a14733593c119f87b2fb5426103a8121907309.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="2025030704034_824d9daf1f2b630bcdae6edba2a14733593c119f87b2fb5426103a8121907309" data-rendition-name="original" width="894" height="542" loading="lazy" alt="The slaughter of our daughters NT"> <figcaption>Source: 1952/54-2021 NEPAL CENSUSES</figcaption> </figure>  The 2021 census also shows that sex ratio at birth in Nepal’s urban municipalities is 114 -- higher than rural municipalities (109). This is in contradiction to the belief that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4975">discrimination against girl children</a> is less among educated and better off city dwellers than in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health">rural areas</a>. &nbsp; Better <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-are-dying-because-they-are-poor">access to healthcare institutions</a> might also account for higher sex ratio at birth in urban areas. In the case of Madhes Province, access to both legal and unsafe abortion across the border could be why SRB is higher. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/1-in-2-pregnancies-in-nepal-unintended">1 in 2 pregnancies in Nepal unintended</a> “Nepal’s sex ratio at birth shines a light on the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/coping-with-patriarchy">deeply-entrenched patriarchy in our country</a>,” says demographer Gurung. “And it also clarifies the misconception that traditional and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/ill-fitting-in-nepali-society">conservative mindsets</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-s-caste-struggle">discriminatory practices </a>exist exclusively in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-rural-lifeline">rural communities</a>, because the data points to educated, economically well off people engaging in practices like GBSS.” Historically, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/nepal-s-remittance-villages">agrarian societies</a> like Nepal preferred to have many sons because men were considered better suited to physical work. Today, many Nepalis hope to have male children so that they can <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/making-overseas-migration-better">migrate overseas</a>, earn livelihoods, and support their families.&nbsp; “Although evolving political, legal, and social systems have given women more robust rights to education and rights to inheritance, and ensured their participation in the workforce, the implementation of interventions is another matter,” says Aruna Uprety. “Our cultural and especially <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/tolerating-nepal-s-religious-tolerance">religious practices</a> have continued to reinforce gender inequality.” Experts say they have been unable to collect relevant data from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/is-free-health-care-possible-in-nepal">medical and health facilities</a>.&nbsp; “Even when we identify the issues contributing to sex-selective practices, we are largely working on assumptions because there is no officially-backed data about sex-selective abortions through legal channels or unofficial and unsafe providers,” says Won Young Hong, UNFPA Country Representative for Nepal. “We need to obtain more data from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/healthcare-moving-from-hospitals-to-homes">hospitals</a>, clinics and the many other service providers so that we can conduct more extensive research.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025030704034_a8bfc315b27a4db412109a547d483e2d3b571957a67c6bf4e5e3cbd6debe403b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_31" data-image-id="2025030704034_a8bfc315b27a4db412109a547d483e2d3b571957a67c6bf4e5e3cbd6debe403b" data-rendition-name="original" width="925" height="584" loading="lazy" alt="The slaughter of our daughters NT"> <figcaption>Source: 2021 NEPAL CENSUS</figcaption> </figure>  Another dimension to sex determination, selection, and sex-selective abortion is that it is not always a pregnant person’s choice to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5884">terminate a pregnancy</a> if they find their child is female. Studies at local levels have revealed that husbands and mothers-in-law play pivotal roles in decision-making regarding prenatal sex determination. Nepal’s decreasing total fertility rate also contributes to a warped sex ratio at birth. Two decades ago, Nepal’s total fertility rate was 4.6, today a Nepali mother on average gives birth to only 2.1 children -- which is at replacement level. And since Nepalis are having fewer children, especially if they plan to have only one child, they want to make sure they have a son. Studies by the Center for Research on Environment Health and Population Activities (CREHPA) show that while neither women nor men have a preference for the sex of their child during the birth of their first child, having a female child first will lead to a preference for sons from the second birth, the preference increases in subsequent birth orders.&nbsp; Although Nepal’s sex ratio at birth is skewed towards boys, the country has more women than men, as differences in lifestyles contribute to a higher male mortality rate. The 2021 census shows that Nepal’s sex ratio is 95.6 males per 100 females. However, the male to female ratio from ages 0-19 has gone from 102 in 2011 to 107 in 2021, mainly due to rising sex ratio at birth. In the coming decades, the number of females above age 19 will decline.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025030704034_36447ddf5354ec42a8fdf566ba8ee1d0c8fc0c6b0fae798d2cc49beaa04d5c6d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_33" data-image-id="2025030704034_36447ddf5354ec42a8fdf566ba8ee1d0c8fc0c6b0fae798d2cc49beaa04d5c6d" data-rendition-name="original" width="852" height="679" loading="lazy" alt="The slaughter of our daughters NT"> <figcaption>Source: 2021 NEPAL CENSUS</figcaption> </figure>  The number of males under 20 being higher also proves that gender-biased sex selection has been going on in Nepal for at least the three decades, says Gurung.&nbsp; “Nepal’s sex ratio at birth could indicate a larger demographic shift in the long run where the male population outnumbers the female population,” he adds.&nbsp; This would in turn have an impact on fertility, male-female partnerships and marriage dynamics, the work force, and Nepal’s existing social structures as a whole. In particular, a population significantly skewed towards males might make women and girls more vulnerable to abuse, sexual exploitation and assault, trafficking, forced marriages, and other serious crimes, say experts.&nbsp; Studies have also found that birth registration right after the birth of a child is not common in Nepal, and some couples register the birth of sons and ignore daughters, which may be reflected in fewer recorded female live births.&nbsp; Cultural norms and practices do not change despite laws, and Nepal needs to do much more to change societal values, protect, and educate its women and girls. UNFPA, for example, in 2021 supported the Ministry of Health and Population to draft the first-ever national strategy to address gender-biased sex selection, its implementation already in place. The agency's Ruparantan program also equips adolescent girls with practical skills and knowledge on gender equality and decision-making.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250307040328_777fae9a19465a149ba0fd0b41cd0e6dde0d4a0f46128bf2a39191974a4b6cf2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_34" data-image-id="20250307040328_777fae9a19465a149ba0fd0b41cd0e6dde0d4a0f46128bf2a39191974a4b6cf2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1828" height="1254" loading="lazy" alt="The slaughter of our daughters NT"> </figure>  But for this to work, new policies and political will to implement them by the government are critical. Strong regulatory mechanisms to monitor prenatal sex determination technologies will also be required. In addition, Nepal needs systems in place to guarantee safety and security of its ageing population, so that there are less financial and socio-cultural pressure on sons to take care of their families, and less incentives for parents to opt for male children. &nbsp; “The state needs to prepare to provide adequate services for the elderly population, especially with the anticipation of the growth in ageing population,” says Won Young Hong at UNFPA.&nbsp; India has stricter regulations over the use of prenatal diagnostic technologies to determine the sex of a baby, as well as rigorous campaigning across state and national levels like the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao program that have helped address the country’s declining female births.&nbsp; Nepal also needs to address the drivers of its skewed sex ratio at birth while safeguarding the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/support-for-reproductive-health-of-nepali-women">reproductive rights of women</a> and the right to safe abortions.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025030704034_2631b558d26c555d1d2944e6837fd6447cad40da7ae5a1685c3c0ec44d895f5d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_36" data-image-id="2025030704034_2631b558d26c555d1d2944e6837fd6447cad40da7ae5a1685c3c0ec44d895f5d" data-rendition-name="original" width="637" height="696" loading="lazy" alt="The slaughter of our daughters NT"> <figcaption>Sex ratio at birth (2021) in selected Asian countries. Source: OUR WORLD IN DATA</figcaption> </figure>  Access to these services have contributed significantly to lowering the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-has-progress-in-saving-women-s-lives-stalled">maternal mortality rate</a>. Abortions are important for medical emergencies, for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/justice-eludes-many-rape-survivors">survivors of sexual assault</a>, for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/no-conceivable-reason-for-unwanted-pregnancies">family planning</a>, and to ensure the right of women to choose what to do with their own body. “Safe abortion is a right, and cutting off access to it will not stop gender-biased sex selection,” says Aruna Uprety. “Legality has no bearing on people’s decisions-- women were getting abortions in private facilities across Nepal and India even when it was not yet legal.” What is needed is a multi-sectoral approach that addresses existing socio-cultural norms, what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-goal-is-empowerment-and-independence-of-women">women need to be empowered</a> and linked to jobs, as well as policies that promote women and girls, giving them <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/sky-is-the-limit-for-nepal-s-women-scientists">opportunities</a>.&nbsp; Adds Uprety: “Socio-cultural interventions are just as important as legal and policy ones, and we cannot address society’s preference for sons unless we look critically at our patriarchal cultural practices. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/no-state-for-women">Gender discrimination</a> is a cross-cutting issue.” &nbsp; This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250307140328_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_46" data-image-id="20250307140328_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Shristi Karki

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The slaughter of our daughters

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1c5d9c7e80680e0af355jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1985" height="900"/><figcaption>Photo: RUBY KHAN/FACEBOOK</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Constitution envisions a society where women are liberated from the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/history-of-female-immobility-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bounds of tradition and patriarchy</a>. A society where all women are free to live dignified lives on their own terms, a society where violence and discrimination have no place.The Constitution envisioned a dream of a new Nepal, and laws have been enacted, policies formulated, commissions formed, to make this dream a reality and ensure security and justice for women.But <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/everyday-as-if-it-is-womens-day/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">women’s rights</a> have been reduced to mere words, and the journey to justice for women who have been wronged stops at the threshold of their homes, never to reach the police or courts.Indeed, girls continue to be barred from attending school, wives are beaten to within an inch of their lives by husbands who are never punished, young women are burned alive because their families did not provide enough dowry. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/justice-eludes-many-rape-survivors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rapists go free to rape again</a>.That is why we marched for three weeks all the way from Nepalganj to Nepal’s capital. We are back here this week, at a sit-in to demand justice for the death of two women in Banke district which the local administration is refusing to prosecute.Why did we have to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/non-government-of-nepal/">walk all the way to Kathmandu</a>? Because we were given the runaround in Nepalganj, officials in Kathmandu assured us last month that they would look into the cases, and we returned. But nothing happened. So we are back.It is as if in Nepal justice is a luxury, a showpiece for those who can afford it.We women are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/perpetuating-patriarchy-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">still treated like sub-citizens</a>, limited to taking care of the home, hearth and children. Patriarchy dictates that women have no place in society, and have to silently suffer abuse and mistreatment even within their homes. Or be silenced when we speak out for justice.Not a day goes by without a news item of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/republic-of-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a woman somewhere in Nepal being raped</a>, yet there are many more cases which never make it to the media. And even fewer where the perpetrators are caught, tried and punished.Physical, mental, or emotional violence against women is so commonplace in Nepali society that the public is desensitised. Nepali women themselves have been conditioned into believing that they must tolerate abuse, and accept it as their lot in life.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/corrosive-conduct/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Corrosive Conduct</a>, EditorialAnd even if women do seek justice, they are faced with countless <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/republic-of-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">societal and bureaucratic challenges</a> along the way. The process is familiar by now. It begins with blaming the victim, with accusations of lies and provocation. After that, if they manage to get through, police ask women to recount their traumatic experience again and again, they poke holes in their story while male policemen look on in amusement.Victims are “strongly advised” to stop trying to get justice because the men they are going against are “powerful” members of society. Indeed, the police and judges get phones from these high-up men to dismiss the cases.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/rape-rulings-in-nepal-follow-letter-not-spirit-of-the-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali justice mechanism</a>, with its complicated channels, has made it all but impossible for women victims to report abuse. They are now directed from the local government to provincial government, then to Kathmandu. If, by a stroke of luck, they do manage to get into Singha Darbar, they are referred right back to the local government.The chain of command is a vicious cycle which ensures that victims are so tangled in red tape that it becomes impossible to move the case on. The entire process is designed to hammer at a victim’s self-esteem and dignity until they finally give up.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/justice-delayed-justice-denied/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Impunity in Nepal</a> is now so entrenched that if a victim’s family does reach the police station to complain about an abuser, perpetrator have got there first to deflect it. The politics of justice is such that power and money prevail over the rule of law. The gap between the oppressor and oppressed has never been wider.All the while, women must think of their <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-one-nepali-mother-at-a-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">children, household responsibilities</a>, and families they have left behind in their journey for justice. Even while they are denied justice, women are judged by the media in the court of public opinion.This is why we are sitting on a street near Singha Darbar. We will speak up for oppressed Nepali women, armed with nothing but hope that one day there will be justice.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/using-numbers-to-fight-gender-based-violence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Using numbers to fight gender-based violence</a>, Lisa Honan<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Interesting-Times/Ruby-in-the-rough,205">Ruby Khan</a> was married at 14, and witnessed gender discrimination and violence from a young age. Now 34, she is a gender rights activist and was general secretary of the Banke chapter of the National Womens’ Rights Forum.

Vow against VAW

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161120/636d17689c7e80680e0ac765jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1701" height="1134"/><figcaption>Photo: KATE HOLT/IRIN</figcaption></figure>The spread of ultrasound clinics to detect the sex of babies is leading to a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/female-foeticide-to-football/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slaughter of daughters</a> in Nepal, sharply skewing the country’s gender balance.A recent survey has shown that 77% of expecting mothers undergo ultrasound scans, and 12% abort their babies after identifying their gender.For every 106 boys born, there are only 100 girls, and 12 of Nepal’s 77 districts are already reporting a widening gender gap. Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-holding-census-despite-covid-and-boycott/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">national census next month</a> is expected to reveal the true number of ‘missing girls’ in its total population.The study conducted by the <a href="https://crehpa.org.np">Center for Research on Environment, Health and Population Activities</a> (CREHPA) shows that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/everyday-as-if-it-is-womens-day/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deep-rooted patriarchal values </a> and preference of a boy over a girl child is entrenched in Nepali society.“Nepal easily tops the list of Asian countries that prefers a son over a daughter and the crime of sex-selective abortion continues unabated,” said Bandana Rana of the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx">Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women</a> (CEDAW).Despite prevailing laws, sex-elective abortion in Nepal is increasing, experts told a ‘Gender-Biased Sex Selection’ workshop organised by the <a href="https://www.sancharika.org/portal/index.php">Sancharika Samuha</a> media group in Kathmandu last week.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161120/636d176b9c7e80680e0ac766jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1080" height="524"><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q=census">Sex-selective abortion</a> is illegal in both Nepal and India, but the practice continues in both countries where sons inherit ancestral property and daughters are not considered worth the investment.Even if there is no clear preference in the first pregnancy, 44% of women in the CREPHA survey said that they would want a son the second time they are pregnant, and only 28% said they would like a daughter.Their reasons included persecution and hostility from husbands and in-laws for giving birth to a daughter, lack of control over their body, the economic dependence on their husband’s family, respect for having a son, among others.The practice is more prevalent in Hindu families, Muslims in Nepal’s Tarai and among the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/rihana-sheikh-dhaphali-victim-of-dowry-related-violence-nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">groups practicing dowry</a>. It is less common among Nepal’s indigenous groups, where the preference for boys is less pronounced.Many pregnant mothers are taken by in-laws to private clinics in the cities or across the border in India seeking ultrasound scans to find out the gender of their babies. Many then abort the baby if it is a girl, risking their health.Anyone identifying the gender of a baby with an intention of committing sex-selective abortion can face three to six months in jail. Those involved in sex-selective abortion can be served with up to additional 12 months of imprisonment.But the culprits are often not identified or prosecuted, claims advocate Sonali Regmi, adding that society’s denial of women's independent identity was the main reason for the abortions. Indeed, it is often not the mother that wants the abortion, but her husband or in-laws.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161120/636d176e9c7e80680e0ac767jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="285">“A woman still <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/child-marriage-in-nepal-eloped-at-13-mother-by-17/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">doesn’t have an identity</a>  apart from being someone’s mother, wife, daughter and sister. The biggest reflection of this is the fact that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-waits-for-an-unequal-citizenship-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">citizenship is still not issued in the name of mother</a>,” says Regmi.Abortion was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5338#.YVgZLS8w3u0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">legalised in Nepal in 2002 </a> nd as per the law, is legal up to 12 weeks of gestation, up to 18 weeks in case of rape or incest, and at any stage of the pregnancy if it poses danger to the physical or mental health of the expecting woman, or if the foetus suffers from a severe physical deformity.Prior to this, Nepal had a strict anti-abortion law, and women seeking the service were imprisoned. The practice of relatives accusing young daughters-in-law of abortion just to put them behind bars was prevalent.While legalisation of abortion gave an avenue for women to pursue safe services, it also led to the proliferation of ultrasound clinics across the country allowing parents to terminate pregnancies if they were girls.Activists estimate the number of ‘missing girls’ every year as high as 50,000 babies aborted after parents find out through ultrasound scans that they are girls. This did not include abortions carried out without parents knowing the gender of their babies.Speaking at the workshop, Sancharika Group's Nitu Pandit said the media had a role in spreading the message: “We need to continue raising awareness about sex-selective abortion, and push the state for corrective measures to reduce it.”

Anita Bhetwal

Nepal’s ‘missing girls’

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141132/636bac6c9c7e80680e077f2fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="780"/><figcaption>Himani Tharu is so frustrated with her job as the only female mahout in a Bardia National Park elephant camp that she mustered the courage to speak to a journalist. Photo: MUKESH POKHREL</figcaption></figure>Himani Tharu may be the first female elephant mahout serving in Nepal's national parks, but her story is hardly inspirational.Instead, it exposes a system that is unable to welcome gender inclusivity. She faces double discrimination: first because she is a woman and second for belonging to an indigenous community.Harassed by her lower-level co-workers, and ignored by senior staff, Himani says she hopes no one will follow in her footsteps and become a female mahout.“I wouldn’t wish this much suffering upon anyone,” she says.Born on the outskirts of the Bardia National Park, Himani Tharu, 27, grew up close to elephant sanctuaries, and was familiar with both elephants and the people who cared for them.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/3-4th-of-the-sky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">3/4th of the sky</a>, EditorialDespite that, Himani did not really want to become a mahout. She had plans to graduate from school and get a regular office job. But ten years ago, the Public Service Commission put out a notice for the position of a female mahout, and her family encouraged her to apply because it supposed to be a stable government job.Himani struggled to keep up with the demands of her new profession: she had to learn to take care of elephants, collect grass, take the elephants out to graze, constantly feed them, and clean up after them. She was also required to ride the elephants on the Nepal Army’s jungle patrols.She loved the elephants, especially a baby one, and made friends with them. It was her human co-workers who were unhelpful, disrespectful and ordered her around.“Sometimes they would leave me alone in the middle of the jungle and I would get lost. Other times they would lead my elephant into the river and leave it there,” she says.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-better-halves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s better halves</a>, Anil ChitrakarAs the only female among 30 mahouts at the national park, she is often targetted for bullying and harassment, but there is no one she could talk to because of the park's hierarchy.“Had there been about three or four of us women, they would not have dared misbehave but I am the only woman,” says Himani, recalling how her colleagues would deliberately make loud obscene conversations when she was around. When she told them to stop, they scolded her instead.Himani faced constant attacks on her character and integrity. Every time she even spoke to a fellow-mahout or asked for help from a male co-worker, she would subject to vicious teasing.“One of the senior male mahouts used to help me, but after other men in the camp started associating us he was intimidated and stopped coming near me,” says Himani.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/betterforbalance/">#BalanceforBetter</a>, Namrata SharmaAll complaints to senior officers at the camp were ignored, and Himani felt there was no point reporting her colleagues anymore when they engaged in lewd conversation when she was around.The whole system is gender-blind. The elephant camp does not have separate quarters for women, and she has to sleep in a dorm with 15 other men. It is worse when she had to go on overnight jungle patrols in Bardia National Park.Fed up with the treatment and frustrated with her job, Himani mustered the courage to speak frankly to a journalist. She said she had packed up to quit her job many times, but was always persuaded by her relatives and friends to stick it out.She says: “I am determined to find another job, and finally resign during this lockdown. I have put up with everything for so long, I don’t know how long I can take this.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/epidemic-of-online-sexism/">Epidemic of online sexism</a>, Shusma Barali<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Online-violence-against-women,2915" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Online violence against women</a>, Sahina Shrestha

Don’t follow my footsteps, says female mahout

Nepal’s former king Gyanendra was greeted by flag-waving supporters as he arrived at Kathmandu Airport on Sunday afternoon from Pokhara after attending pro-monarchy rallies in various parts of the country. Gyanendra and his family were escorted from the airport by supporters to his residence at Nirmal Niwas, where his family has been living since 2008 when the Constituent Assembly abolished the monarchy. The 2015 Constitution then turned Nepal into a federal democratic republic. The deposed monarch had been on a two-month long tour of religious sites and local communities across western Nepal, ending in a two-week stay in Pokhara. After staying out of controversy, Gyanendra made a statement on Nepal’s Democracy Day last month in which he said he was willing to play a role in “saving the country”. There has been a surge of pro-monarchy posts and videos on social media, where the country’s previous kings have been glorified as being nationalists who were respected by the international community.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_07b324fee8d082ed3f8566544e24d45fcd600bbb122374fc39c7a94ce3d044f2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250309120340_07b324fee8d082ed3f8566544e24d45fcd600bbb122374fc39c7a94ce3d044f2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1914" height="1276" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_769f688f3a5eb3602f4c24c350ba1caa6965a171c079d783e28db0f746b810d0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250309120340_769f688f3a5eb3602f4c24c350ba1caa6965a171c079d783e28db0f746b810d0" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>  Nepal’s monarchists, which include Gyanendra’s backers, several pro-monarchist parties and other anti-government figures, think <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/new-year-same-difference">public disillusionment </a>with the country’s ageing and ineffective leaders and institutions is at breaking point.&nbsp; There is also disappointment with elected leaders and technocrats from new parties like the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), with its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rabi-s-detention-churns-nepali-politics">leader Rabi Lamichhane under investigation</a> for his alleged involvement in a scandal involving diverting funds from cooperatives. One of the staunchest backers of Gyanendra’s comeback as king is former BBC journalist Rabindra Mishra, who has been active on social media platforms posting videos and text extolling the monarchy. He has referenced recent street uprisings in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Syria, cautioning Nepal’s mainstream leaders not to dismiss support for the monarchy. ‘Support for a return to monarchy is increasing even though the mainstream parties may dismiss it,’ wrote Mishra. ‘Like the leaders of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, they should not try to suppress the voices on the streets.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_d8758f6b7474c9f3aea3661ccd60955d8553971cb0d799039bbfd232aa1a0691.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250309120340_d8758f6b7474c9f3aea3661ccd60955d8553971cb0d799039bbfd232aa1a0691" data-rendition-name="original" width="1890" height="1260" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_63613759744c0fac33ff3eabc298079c3e525063882f4b3760954bbc0833b5cd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250309120340_63613759744c0fac33ff3eabc298079c3e525063882f4b3760954bbc0833b5cd" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>  But for all their bluster, Nepal’s mainstream politicians who have rotated leadership of the country between themselves, seem worried about the crowds on the streets in support of the monarchy. The TikTok ban last year, which the government said was to ‘maintain social harmony’ was put into effect to prevent pro-monarchy groups from organising on the platform. The ban on TikTok has now been lifted, and supporters of the monarchy have mobilised platforms to fan nostalgia of the golden age of royalty, and to brand former kings Mahendra and Birendra as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/a-past-foretold">nationalists who upheld Nepal’s sovereignty during the Cold War</a> and commanded respect worldwide. Archival video clips of Mahendra being received by President Eisenhower in 1960 and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">Birendra </a>by President Reagan in 1983 have been liked by thousands. Comments contrast this to the incompetence and poor standing of Nepal’s current prime ministers.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_7dab05f5703e17a82da73277f0b39bf178c1005e0758aa50077ffe1a037f4af6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250309120340_7dab05f5703e17a82da73277f0b39bf178c1005e0758aa50077ffe1a037f4af6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1810" height="1206" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_1ab38cdccfd076babd78579fa345520a7b2fa9c838322226a259540c8c290437.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20250309120340_1ab38cdccfd076babd78579fa345520a7b2fa9c838322226a259540c8c290437" data-rendition-name="original" width="1812" height="1206" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>  While most of the people present at the demonstration included the older demographic, younger people have especially used social media to express their support for the monarchy. Young Nepalis, disillusioned with leaders who have been prime minister multiple times since the mid-1990s, are attracted to the idea of reinstating the monarchy as a form of anti-incumbent protest, but also because they have little to no memory of living under an authoritarian absolute monarchy. ‘Those who say the monarchy is paramount today are the ones who did not live through it in the past, and are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs,’ wrote Guna Raj Luitel, Chief Editor of Nagarik Daily, in an op-ed in the newspaper on Sunday.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_720d0059207b9918def39e983d9b5c114b6afb4e7ac0ed1dadd2cba2f20f9aa6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250309120340_720d0059207b9918def39e983d9b5c114b6afb4e7ac0ed1dadd2cba2f20f9aa6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_bfe50ebd413d1b177ebd02df5f837038d8a04c9d343afe39be1ebcde36db893a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250309120340_bfe50ebd413d1b177ebd02df5f837038d8a04c9d343afe39be1ebcde36db893a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>  He added: ‘For those of us who have spent parts of our lives under the rule of the king… we have not yet forgotten those days, when the institution was unable to do any useful work, a disheartening period characterised by Nepalis being unable to speak freely.’ Commentators have especially been pointing to Gyanendra’s military coup in 2005 when he dissolved parliament, and tried to take the country back to the time of absolute monarchy, just like his father Mahendra did in 1960. Gyanendra became king after his brother and most of his family were killed in the royal palace massacre in 2001. Many Nepalis still seem to believe that Gyanendra was responsible, and some of this is reflected in comments on monarchist social media posts. As the monarchist rallies spread, Prime Minister K P Oli said last week that if Gyanendra really wanted power, he should form a political party and run in the next elections in 2027. Other leaders have urged the former king to honour the 2008 Constitutional Assembly decision to abolish the monarchy, as well as Nepal’s 2015 Constitution.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_978ef979c7774312ac00d3192803d974ea57ec45d704f89663b301f4f0cc9704.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250309120340_978ef979c7774312ac00d3192803d974ea57ec45d704f89663b301f4f0cc9704" data-rendition-name="original" width="1832" height="1221" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250309120340_d11276de0161d258f135e8fba4d3eb37d0a9e579b06a4819c6609b4ecdbbe51e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20250309120340_d11276de0161d258f135e8fba4d3eb37d0a9e579b06a4819c6609b4ecdbbe51e" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;In response, royalist leaders including Kamal Thapa, Rajendra Lingden, and Rabindra Mishra have responded that the monarchy is above the electoral system, calling for the reinstatement of a constitutional monarchy in which Gyanendra would be a figurehead. “There is no question of the king contesting an election, that is our job,” said RPP-Nepal chair Kamal Thapa in a tv interview. “The monarchy is a custodian of the nation, it is an institution above electoral politics.” However, there does seem to be a disagreement between hardline royalists who want a return to absolute monarchy in which Gyanendra would actually hold executive powers, and those who favour a ceremonial one. Gyanendra recently visited Bhutan, where he was given a royal welcome, and has made several trips to India where there is some support for reinstating Nepal as the world’s only Hindu kingdom.

The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal

Kathmandu was once a lake inhabited by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/snakes-on-plains">serpents</a>, until Manjushree visiting from present-day China saw a fluorescent lotus in the water. To reach it, the sage used his flaming sword to cut a gorge <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/dry-port-at-chobhar-faces-resistance">at Chobhar</a>, draining the lake and turning it into a fertile valley. The Manjushree Trail Race (MTR) is inspired by this legend. There are five categories along a near-circular route around the rim of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/bringing-silicon-valley-to-kathmandu-valley">Kathmandu Valley</a>: 10k, 30k, 50k, 100k, and one that is 100 miles that is 157.7km (map, right). The 100 miles category starts at 8AM on 14 March, and runners have 52 hours until noon on 16 March to complete it. Arjun Kulung Rai’s 26:52:56 is the current record, set in 2024. “<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17327">The Manjushree legend</a> and the perfect loop make the race very meaningful, and I wanted to do it,” says participant Dong Sheng from the northern Chinese city of Harbin who started running in 2016 with 5k until he accomplished a 100 miler in 2022. “<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/first-edition-ultra-trail-kathmandu,1050">Running </a>is spiritual, as you are always trying to overcome what you could previously do.” Sheng is one of 131 international runners who have signed up for the Manjushree race, where there are a total of 502 participants this year, 94 of them women. The first edition of the race only had 7 runners total. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-trail-running-champions">Nepali trail running champions</a>, Preeti Khattri “A reason this race is popular is because it is a good mix of rural and accessible,” says Jimmy Oostrom, a Dutch runner. “Often, 100-milers are way out of the way. Here, the start is only a short drive after landing in Kathmandu.”&nbsp; The 100 mile and 50km are now qualifier races for the Asia Trail Masters, an international series of trail races based in Hong Kong. Last year, a Nepali team competed and won in the Asia Trail Master Championship series in Borneo. The 100-mile category starts and finishes at Single Tree on Nagarjun, other distances have different start and end points. On the winning team was Rashila Tamang, who is part of Trailmandu that implements logistics for the race, such as recruiting and training volunteers, and marking the route. “Nepal has great <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=9938">geography</a> for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mira-rai-racing-to-help-other-runners">trail running</a>, but it is still very hard to make it your career,” says Tamang.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025031219034_98b83aa3d42c7d5e8a2ef2f80dc03512374413e31eb55441234cd075bea7e113.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2025031219034_98b83aa3d42c7d5e8a2ef2f80dc03512374413e31eb55441234cd075bea7e113" data-rendition-name="original" width="1244" height="598" loading="lazy" alt="Manjushree Trail map "> </figure>  The MTR has a guidebook detailing the categories, route, checkpoints, rules and what is available at each stop.&nbsp; “If we say we’re going to start at 8, we’re going to start at 8,” says Narayan Acharya, the man behind naming the race ‘Manjushree’. “People tried to sign up after the deadline, we had to tell them no.” Acharya who builds <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/foundations-for-sustainable-buildings-in-nepal">traditional rammed earth houses</a> through his company Sustainable Future Nepal, has been long involved with promoting trail running in Nepal, and hailing from Jumla himself, mentored <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/run-sunmaya-run">Sunmaya Budha</a> also from Jumla, now a trail running star in and outside Nepal. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/sunmaya-budha-stays-in-the-running">Sunmaya Budha stays in the running</a>, Vishad Raj Onta&nbsp; The organisers are sponsoring up to 50 runners from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/portrait-of-a-photographer-in-rural-nepal">rural Nepal</a> who may not afford the Rs6,000 entry fee to participate. “It is hard to get sponsors to give us money because Nepal is still a pretty small market,” says Oostrom, currently on crutches due to an ACL injury. “We also have to take the necessary precautions to make sure we can quickly help a runner in trouble.” The logistics of an ultra trail race are more complicated than a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1223">marathon</a>. Marking and maintaining the trail requires careful work, especially as signs often get lost. The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-steadfastness-of-a-long-distance-runner">long distances </a>also require runners to run through the night.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025031219030_19111e03939541b8980007437c89966dc7a8fd6246b8407440694503bf7890a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025031219030_19111e03939541b8980007437c89966dc7a8fd6246b8407440694503bf7890a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="2250" height="1501" loading="lazy" alt="Manjushree Trail "> </figure>  A <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/business/buddha-air-gets-state-of-the-art-flight-tracking-system">live tracking system </a>would ensure a runner’s safety as well as prevent cheating, but for now organisers are relying on vigilant volunteers and fellow runners to find runners needing help. There are strict rules for the race, and breaking them can result in significant time penalties or even disqualification. Get food or drink assistance outside of the checkpoints and you get a penalty of 15 minutes. Miss any pieces of mandatory gear and an hour is added to your time. Take some sort of shortcut or cheat using a vehicle, and you are disqualified. There are dangers like cliffs <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/cantilever-trail-nepal">along the trail</a>, lightning on exposed ridges, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/disasters-in-nepal-come-in-waves">landslides caused by earthquakes</a>, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/trekking-to-save-nepals-snow-leopards">leopards</a>, and hornet swarms. Ultra running takes a massive toll on the body. The brain may shut off certain areas to be able to keep going, so volunteers watch runners carefully.&nbsp; “After mile 50, your body starts digesting itself,” says Oostrom.&nbsp; Alongside Acharya and Oostrom, the organising crew is made up of race director Ashish Mishra, and Jeevan Lama and Rashila Tamang from Trailmandu. “We can execute this race well because we are all passionate runners ourselves,” says Acharya. The team has taken measures to make the race safe and comfortable for female participants. ‘Run freely, speak openly, and wear what makes you feel comfortable in our races,’ says the guidebook. Prize money is the same for male and female winners, across categories.&nbsp; Lately, Nepal has been steadily building itself as a destination for<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/taking-the-high-line"> adventure sports </a>such as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-pushes-mountain-bike-tourism">mountain biking</a> and trail running. And with the Manjushree race, enthusiasts have hopes to set the standard for other trail races in the country. Sheng has been part of big races in China. “The better the economy, and more money people have, the more they can get involved in such pursuits,” he says. “But I have to say, for the scale of this race, everything has been done very professionally.”&nbsp;

Around Kathmandu in 100 miles

Generative <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship">AI models</a> such as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/chatgpt-news-about-nepal">ChatGPT</a> and Sonnet are trained on massive amounts of data that have over time enabled them to answer general questions. But they do not perform as well on narrower domains, even hallucinating or making things up.
Now here comes <a href="https://www.anthromind.com/">Anthromind</a>, a startup developed by a 28-year-old Nepali engineer Pratik Karki in the tech-womb at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-in-the-decade-of-ai">Silicon Valley</a>, which develops datasets to improve the performance of AI models in specific areas.
Large<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-bhasa-on-google-translate"> language models </a>are ‘distilled’ by running them on smaller, higher-quality data. AI is first used to assist with labelling or generating data. After that, human experts look at the responses and explain how they are wrong, helping tune the model just right.
Karki got the idea while working at Google, where he saw that while companies were trying to create their own models, they failed because the data was of low quality. In 2024, he left his lucrative job and took a risk by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-can-create-a-business-friendly-environment?fb_comment_id=2995148037177314_6370548419637242">setting up a business </a>that could make real impact.
It has not been easy. At Google he was one of over 100,000 employees, but after launching Anthromind, Karki has had to do sales, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4323">marketing</a>, and recruiting, as well as leading a whole new team.
“At some point in your career, everything turns into sales,” Karki told us by phone. “You need to sell <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/why-invest-in-nepal">potential investors</a> on your vision, and you get a million no’s before a yes.” The connections he made at Google helped, and he even managed to poach a few and others became <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-has-to-curb-corruption-before-wooing-investors">investors</a>.
Karki studied in Biratnagar before moving to Kathmandu to do his A-levels where he did business courses. He remembers those formative years and credits his teachers in Nepal for encouraging him to put himself out there and to speak up when needed.
He then went to Grinnell College in Iowa where he studied computer science and statistics, and realised that he liked to code: “I especially got a high debugging a program until it worked.”&nbsp;
He went on to pursue a Master’s in Computer Science and describes the course as a pure program with some very difficult machine learning courses.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/tech-and-transition-in-nepal">Tech and transition in Nepal</a>, Ashutosh Mani Dixit
Karki was recruited to Google from a highly selective early career program and got to work closely with the companies that were then building the generative Large Language Models that have since taken the world by storm. He worked on essential training infrastructure, including data warehousing and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=9825">computing </a>needs.
“Internally, we all knew about this<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/makeshift/addressing-nepals-digital-divide"> technology </a>and how disruptive they would be,” says Karki. “But I also saw its limitations.”
Karki took a calculated risk in setting up his own company, knowing fully well that for Anthromind to succeed he would need a very obsessive and disciplined mindset.&nbsp;
“Every Friday evening I look at weekly data, and what worked and what didn’t, especially in terms of getting customers,” he says. “I had to be very deliberate with everything I did.”
Karki attributes this discipline and frugality to growing up in Nepal, which he misses dearly, especially his family and the community. His best friends in California are Nepalis, they meet often and have already made plans to celebrate the approaching <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/new-year-same-difference">Nepali New Year</a> with home-made <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/adventures-of-a-little-dumpling-named-momo-and-other-books">momos</a>.&nbsp;
Karki sees a lot more potential in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/it-is-it">IT industry in Nepal</a>, at the moment saturated with service-based companies when ideally new businesses should focus on products.&nbsp;
He explains how companies that provide offshore <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/tech-away/nepal-s-health-tech-industry-is-here-to-stay">tech services </a>operate in a ‘default:alive’ state, where they can carry on even if they only have one client.
The alternative is a company whose success depends entirely on the quality of the product it puts out, a ‘default:dead’ state. This forces programmers to adopt an urgent, disciplined mindset. While a lot harder and riskier, it also has higher returns.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/people-power/nepal-as-an-ai-power-bank">Nepal as an AI power bank</a>, Bikash Pandey
Karki is in a cohort of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/let-s-listen-to-nepal-s-young-changemakers">young Nepalis</a> in the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/it-is-all-about-it-in-nepal,3887">IT industry</a> who have proven that serious tech innovation can come out of Nepal. Pukar Hamal of SecurityPal was recently featured in Forbes, while Sameer Maskey’s FuseMachines has been listed on NASDAQ.
Financially independent since 18, Karki says <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/1-in-5-nepal-families-lack-food">Nepali families</a> should encourage their children to make such moves. Nepal’s education system should reward curiosity, instead of quelling it, to promote <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/business/kesha-kumari-damini-awarded-by-norwegian-business-for-peace-foundation,1356">entrepreneurship</a>.&nbsp;
He says, “Students should be rewarded for thinking individually and speaking out, like I was.”

Kathmandu Valley to Silicon Valley

Throughout human history, civilisations have been named after the rivers along which they flourished: Indus Valley, Nile, Tigris-Euphrates. Many of these cultures later collapsed, partly because they could not manage their water needs properly. Three recent books about Himalayan rivers look at their history and geography, and how they nourished civilisations downstream. The rivers gave birth to the world’s major religions, their waters and the mountains from which they sprang were revered. Mythology and geology converge in High Asia. Mt Kailash is holy to the Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Bon faiths as the centre of the world and the abode of the gods. Indeed, from its vicinity emerge Asia’s great rivers: the Indus and Sutlej, Ganga and the Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) and Karnali (Mapcha Tsangpo).&nbsp; Legend has it that Kathmandu Valley was once a primordial lake drained by Manjushree who cut a mountain with his flaming sword. There is scientific evidence that the paleo lake was indeed emptied in stages starting 40,000 years ago after a tsunami unleashed by a major earthquake epicentred in Langtang. The Bon faith describes the Tibetan Plateau being pushed up from a roiling primeval sea, confirming current evidence about the orogenesis of the Himalaya. In local lore, supernatural lha (animal deities) and lu (serpents, naga) moved from sea to land, just as the theory of evolution explains the emergence of early amphibians and land creatures. In <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Rivers-of-the-Asian-Highlands-From-Deep-Time-to-the-Climate-Crisis/Gamble-Tan-Xu-Beavis-Maurer-Pittock-Powers-Wasson/p/book/9781032490595?srsltid=AfmBOopjkpgcN1_7t1jTI_Z1_27yRthBTbdHA15OWcE9Ge3S409jhUX3">Rivers of the Asian Highlands: From Deep Time to the Climate Crisis</a>, Himalayan historian <a href="https://scholars.latrobe.edu.au/rgamble">Ruth Gamble</a> and co-authors begin by tracing the genesis of the Himalaya, citing evidence that the Tibetan Plateau pre-dated the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates 50 million years ago. Asia’s main rivers co-emerged with the mountains, their waters cutting canyons through rocks as they were uplifted. The gigantic pileup acted as a moisture trap for the proto-monsoon, the rain and ice sculpting peaks as they rose. But so strong were tectonic forces that the uplift outpaced erosion on the Tibetan Plateau. These dynamic processes are still at work, but in many places across High Asia there is a new factor at play: modern infrastructure (like haphazard road-building in Nepal) is increasing erosion faster than the uplift rate.&nbsp; ‘This is an example of human action overcoming tectonics,’ write the authors in Rivers of the Asian Highlands, in which the chapters look at Himalayan rivers from a planetary scale, their socio-cultural histories, to present-day engineering to regulate them. An ongoing dam-building spree and anthropogenic climate breakdown combine to bring about the most rapid change the Himalaya and their rivers have seen for millions of years. One example is the Medog Hydropower Station being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo at a bend on the Brahmaputra before it enters India. The river drops 2,000m within a 50km stretch, the gradient allowing it to generate 60,000MW — the biggest single hydroelectric plant in the world. Gamble and the authors of Rivers of the Asian Highlands highlight the Gravitational Potential Energy (GPE) of the Himalaya that allows falling water to be converted into electricity. But GPE also unleashes landslides, rockfalls, avalanches, Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) and Landslide Lake Outburst Floods (LLOFs), the risks posed by them magnified by climate change and seismicity. <blockquote>The Asian Highlands’ abundance of Gravitational Potential Energy (GPE) can support the region’s energy transition, but it needs to be produced in much less hazardous and less environmentally and socially impactful ways. The best means of doing this is through off-river, pumped-storage hydropower stations that back up solar and wind energy generators. Smaller projects such as this would also involve less risky tunneling and displacement.</blockquote> Rivers of the Asian Highlands: From Deep Time to the Climate Crisis by Ruth Gamble, et al. There is geological evidence that megafloods on Himalayan rivers are more responsible than mass wasting in weathering down the mountains. One big LLOF, for example, could ‘move 1,000 times more sediment than would otherwise be transported over millions of years’. Permafrost melting in the Tibetan Plateau and inside moraines caused recent back-to-back GLOFs in Chamoli in the Indian Himalaya, Melamchi in Nepal, and the South Lhonak in Sikkim — all deadly disasters that together destroyed billions of dollars worth of infrastructure downstream. Rivers of the Asian Highlands travels from deep time to the present climate crisis, taking readers through neatly divided chapters titled Mountain Rivers, Climatic Rivers, Frozen Rivers, Living Rivers, Human Rivers, Territorializing Rivers, Agricultural and Pastoral Rivers, even NGOs and Rivers.&nbsp; Although the book’s title is about the ‘Asian highlands’, it <a href="https://www.himalmag.com/comment/eastern-himalaya-cradle-ethnogenesis">focuses mainly on the Dri Chu (Yangtse)</a> and Yarlung Tso (Brahmaputra). Readers looking for references to Nepal’s rivers will be disappointed, although there is quite a bit about Bhutan. This is surprising because 70% of the annual flow in the Ganga is from tributaries in Nepal, some of them rivers like Karnali, Arun or Bhote Kosi that traverse the Tibetan rimlands. As demand for water and energy grows in the large and increasingly affluent population of north India, and climate breakdown melts Himalayan glaciers, storing monsoon runoff on reservoirs in Nepal is going to be the geopolitical issue of the next decades.&nbsp; The chapter on NGOs and Rivers also fails to cite the work of Nepal’s civil society groups like the Alliance for Energy that built international solidarity in 1995 against the Arun III project on a river that starts in Tibet and flows into Nepal. Ultimately, the World Bank pulled out of the project and the Nepal government invested in smaller decentralised plants. Today, a cascade of power plants are being built by Indian companies on the Arun which do not seem to have taken into account the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads2659">2023 Sikkim GLOF</a> that swept away the $1 billion dollar Teesta III and destroyed other infrastructure. The World Bank itself is back with the Upper Arun project located directly below expanding glacial lakes in Tibet.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250222020256_f2b33e60e6b386308bdf59b58b59e116e90e2e4466a06200faf76fd851f53505.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250222020256_f2b33e60e6b386308bdf59b58b59e116e90e2e4466a06200faf76fd851f53505" data-rendition-name="original" width="5712" height="3213" loading="lazy" alt="Teesta"> <figcaption>The Super Trisuli project in Nepal has ruined the most scenic and ecologically sensitive part of the river to generate just 100MW of power. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  Despite geographical gaps, Rivers of the Asian Highlands reads like an encyclopedia of Himalayan rivers. The authors look at them not in isolation but as interconnected systems which need a multidisciplinary approach to study the geological, religio-cultural, infrastructure, climate and ecosystem services aspects of catchments.&nbsp; Mt Kailash (Kang Rinpoche) is a case in point. It is fascinating to think that it was part of a mountain range even before the collision of the continents that formed the Himalaya, and was probably buried in ice 3km thick till 15,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025022203020_23c02ec4671f5c3c561fa6b450c1f209720a25794e067b9bb5db0f4649b1b6dc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2025022203020_23c02ec4671f5c3c561fa6b450c1f209720a25794e067b9bb5db0f4649b1b6dc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Mt Kailash"> <figcaption>Mt Kailash. Photo: NABIN BARAL</figcaption> </figure>  Lake Mansarovar and Mt Kailash are also the subject of the new Nepali language book छालबाटो (Road by the Waves) by environmental journalist <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-and-china-to-study-trans-himalayan-railway">Ramesh Bhushal</a> in which he walked, rafted and drove from the source of the Karnali in Tibet, right through 500km of western Nepal, and on to India <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/dancing-with-the-river">where the river meets the Ganga</a>. In his entourage is activist, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/rivers-fighting-back,993">Megh Ale</a>, who is on a campaign to stop dams and infrastructure on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/dams-and-dreams-a-journey-down-the-karnali">Nepal’s longest and only free-flowing river</a>. The book profiles his lonely upstream struggle to conserve the country’s rivers. “We worship rivers, but we don’t love them,” laments Ale. Bhushal’s book is as much about the landscape of this transboundary river as it is about the people he meets along the way, and their relationship with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-denial-in-the-himalaya">a river that most regard as a curse </a>keeping them poor because they believe it flows out of Rakshas Tal (Lagngar Tso) in Tibet, regarded as a lake of demons, unlike the sacred Mansarovar nearby. The expedition is out to prove that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/a-karnali-portrait">Karnali River</a> actually starts in the mountains 50km southwest of the Mansarovar (Mapamyu Tso) at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ9Za5QDkvY">Peacock Falls (Mapchu Khambap)</a>. The Indus is called Sengge (Lion), Sutlej is Langchen (elephant) and the Brahmaputra is Tamchok (horse), all starting within 60km of Mansarovar but flowing out in different directions. <blockquote>“I have visited hundreds of rivers around the world, but for some reason I have never seen a river as beautiful as the Karnali. One day I would like to visit its source.”</blockquote> River conservation activist Megh Ale quoted in छालबाटो by Ramesh Bhusal. But all this reverence for the mountains and rivers may not be enough to save the region from the impact of climate breakdown. Heat stress in the Subcontinent will coincide with a shortage of water in the coming decades.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/01/opinion/himalayas-mountains-dams.html">Sunil Amrith</a> in his 2019 book, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-monsoon-and-nature-s-arithmetic">Unruly Waters: How Mountain Rivers and Monsoons Have Shaped South Asia’s History</a> takes a broader look at how geotectonics, geopolitics, colonialism and nationalism have determined the relations between human beings and rivers. The Himalayan water cycle starts from monsoon moisture that precipitates with orographic uplift along the mountains, atmospheric rivers unleash cloudbursts, ground water emerges from springs that join up to flow down to rivers and the ocean. The Third Pole is the biggest repository of fresh water stored as ice after the polar regions. But it is a hotspot both because of the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions, which impacts on river basin cooperation, early warning data sharing, and ultimately in mitigation of greenhouse gas emission and planning for new risks faced by infrastructure. After independence, India adopted the colonial extraction model for rivers. Inaugurating the Bhakra-Nangal Dam in 1953, Jawaharlal Nehru called it “a temple of &nbsp;modern India … worthy of worship’. Gamble also alludes to this in her book about the European attitude about rivers as a resource to be ‘enclosed, extracted, scrutinised, commodified’. <a href="https://dialogue.earth/en/water/review-unrully-waters/" target="_blank">Amrith</a> profiles the work of Sir Arthur Cotton who was building canals linking rivers in British India at about the same time his contemporaries like botanist <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/republic-of-nepal-s-animal-kingdom" target="_blank">Joseph Dalton-Hooker </a>were exploring the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kangchenjunga" target="_blank">Teesta and other rivers</a> in the Himalaya to catalogue new plant species. India's current National River Linking Project that would join 37 rivers with 9,000km of canals builds on Cotton’s early work. <blockquote>If there is one consistent lesson in Unruly Waters, it is that water management never has been, and can never be, a purely technical or a scientific question; neither can it be addressed on a purely national scale … the battle continues to understand the monsoons and mountain rivers that shape Asia.</blockquote> Unruly Waters: How Mountain Rivers and Monsoons Have Shaped South Asia’s History by Sunil Amrith And in Nepal, hydropower has become the holy grail as the government unveiled an Energy Development Roadmap to generate 28,500MW by 2035 at a cumulative cost of nearly $50billion. This means no river in Nepal will be left free-flowing. The Trisuli along the Prithvi Highway is being dammed for only 100MW of power, destroying the most scenic part of a river that has rapids famous internationally for white water rafters. Even before it was completed, the dam site suffered Rs200 million in damage in last September’s flood.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025022203020_d9610a11bccb593d32bf4d214479caa17dfbdd6cdfe5e8c38fdcb8eb752fc0ec.jpg" data-media-id="editor_18" data-image-id="2025022203020_d9610a11bccb593d32bf4d214479caa17dfbdd6cdfe5e8c38fdcb8eb752fc0ec" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="Trisuli"> <figcaption>Boulders and sediment 80m deep were brought down by the Teesta after a GLOF destroyed the $1 billion Teesta III plant in Sikkim in 2023. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  In Sikkim, there is strong <a href="https://india.mongabay.com/2025/02/political-stir-follows-expert-panels-approval-to-rebuild-teesta-dam-in-sikkim/">local opposition to rebuild Teesta III</a> but investors are looking at the huge economic windfall from the river as it drops from 5,000m below Kangchenjunga to 300m within 80km — one of the highest Gravitational Potential Energy of any river in the world. Besides Nepal and Bhutan, the ‘watersheds’ of the Himalaya are turning into ‘powersheds’ as India and China compete for hydro-hegemony. India is said to be planning to dam the Brahmaputra to offset the disruption caused by China’s Medog Dam upstream (see map, below).&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025022203024_37c60bd2a45a32cd23928c900615b6c7045b2e0265050c4761c3749361181999.png" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025022203024_37c60bd2a45a32cd23928c900615b6c7045b2e0265050c4761c3749361181999" data-rendition-name="original" width="1918" height="668" loading="lazy" alt="Himalayan rivers map"> </figure>  The thread running through all three books is the need to recognise the ecosystem services that the inhabitants of High Asia provide by protecting our rivers. Not all rivers need to be monetised, conserving rivers and the cultures they retain protects a nation’s natural wealth into the future as the humans of High Asia try to survive climate breakdown. The highlands will be under even more pressure in the coming decades as people in the plains migrate en masse to higher latitudes or higher altitudes to escape deadly heat and ocean expansion.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025022203028_524a74bf65111db3826bfd246576329c45cd4bd0a48b15024b6a520582bbf05a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025022203028_524a74bf65111db3826bfd246576329c45cd4bd0a48b15024b6a520582bbf05a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="River of Asian Highlands cover"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025022203028_20c17a9b92b11c8bb33df5f2fc2781498464288533c310ccd61e1245e709d99c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="2025022203028_20c17a9b92b11c8bb33df5f2fc2781498464288533c310ccd61e1245e709d99c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Unruly waters cover"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250222030212_649cc2ba02e806da2b128fccaf5de2e5c830e10646ba0b43d56da39f65a70f9f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250222030212_649cc2ba02e806da2b128fccaf5de2e5c830e10646ba0b43d56da39f65a70f9f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Chaalbato cover"> </figure>

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