<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016118/636d141e9c7e80680e0a9960jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="490"/><figcaption>The then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and rebel leader 'Prachanda' Pushpa Kamal Dahal signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Kathmandu on 21 November 2006. Photo: SAGAR SHRESTHA</figcaption></figure>The headlines for the past month have all been about the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/what-is-happening-to-nepals-supreme-court/">Supreme Court</a>, and whether or not Chief Justice Cholendra SJB Rana should be <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-lawyers-on-warpath-against-chief-justice/">impeached, or resign</a>, over past naughtiness.The controversy goes to the heart of Nepal’s governance failure and the erosion of the rule of law. Politicians have tampered with the doctrine of the separation of powers, and politically appointed justices have returned the favour.But there was a larger lapse of justice that went virtually unnoticed this week. It has been exactly 15 years after the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/justice-delayed-justice-denied-transitional-justice,3556">Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA)</a> was signed on 21 November 2006 between the Maoist commander Prachanda and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala of the Nepali Congress (NC).As per the provisions of the CPA, two commissions to investigate the disappeared and for truth and reconciliation were to be set up and given two years to do their job. This being Nepal, it took a full ten years for the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/truth-about-truth-commission,3565">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a> (TRC) and the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Who-doesn-want-a-TRC,2042">Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappearances (CIED)</a> to start their work.The United Nations, Nepal’s Western partners and international human rights watchdog groups were the driving force behind the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2014/08/18/justice-under-threat/">transitional justice process</a>, and if it was not for them it would have been unlikely that the country’s 14 prime ministers since 2006 would have made any moves to rake up wartime excesses.The rationale behind <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/truth-and-justice-for-relatives-of-murdered-and-disappeared,2122">transitional justice</a> is that until survivors and families of victims find truth and justice, there will be no closure, residual revenge will poison societal relations, and there will be a danger of the country slipping back into violent conflict.Justice denied also <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Legalese/Justice-in-transition,458">promotes impunity</a> in other arenas of national politics, as we see today. It is also important to keep the memory of the conflict years alive, and document the untold death and suffering it caused. Nepalis have to be reminded not to forget.Yet, memories fade, time moves on, people drift into everyday routines and try to get on with their lives. Transitional justice would have at least helped heal the loss for families of the victims, provided society with closure, and perpetrators of war crimes a chance for atonement.But, as with all other spheres of national life, the transitional justice mechanisms have been politcised from the word go. The leadership of the Maoist, NC and to a lesser degree the UML, all colluded to appoint yes men to the TRC and the CIED, extending their mandates over and over again with no hearings, trials or verdicts against those involved in heinous crimes.The toothless commissions collected tens of thousands of testimonies from families of victims and survivors, but the files are all mothballed in steel cabinets in their offices. Meanwhile, in the past 15 years, there has been plenty of lip service, blame game, scapegoating and tokenism. The two commissions have actually been used by politicians to prevent cases from moving through the regular courts.In fact, on the 15th anniversary of the CPA, Prachanda who has gone back to his peacetime name of Pushpa Kamal Dahal, vowed to complete the transitional justice process. In a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/justice-delayed-justice-denied/">statement</a> on 21 November and an English <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2021/11/20/the-nepali-peace-process-as-a-global-model">op-ed in The Kathmandu Post</a>, he termed Nepal’s peace process a ‘successful homegrown model’ for other post-conflict countries.‘Although the conflict was brought to an end, the task of investigating events that occurred during the war and to provide victims with transitional justice remains,’ Dahal said in his <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/justice-delayed-justice-denied/">statement</a>. ‘We are proud of what the revolution achieved, but we will probe wartime excesses.’The fact that most other political leaders did not even bother to acknowledge the CPA anniversary showed that Dahal knows the sword of justice hangs over his head. With Western backing for the transitional process not as vigorous as it once was, he knows he just has to keep on saying the right things.The CPA pledged to ‘investigate human rights violations and those involved in crimes against humanity’. With every year that goes by, it looks less and less likely that will happen. There are still more than <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16267#.YZxyclVBypo">2,000 people listed as missing</a>, and some of their families have waited two decades already to know whether they are dead or alive, or what happened to them.Many <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/1,334,3287">families of the disappeared</a> interviewed by this newspaper have said finding out the truth is more important than justice. This could also mean they do not expect the state to persecute known perpetrators, so they do not even ask for justice. But their anguish is heightened when they see war criminals in senior leadership positions, who never had to answer for their crimes.As Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/justice-delayed-justice-denied/">Human Rights Watch, said in a statement issued jointly with Amnesty International, the International Commission of Jurists and TRIAL International</a> on 21 November: ‘State officials’ reluctance to investigate and prosecute such serious crimes has exacerbated the suffering of victims, undermined the rule of law in post-conflict Nepal, and increased the risk of such violations in the future.’She went on to warn: ‘If justice is continually denied in Nepal, perpetrators of these international crimes committed during the conflict will be prosecuted abroad under international jurisdiction.’

original

674x448

610x380

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

Toothless Commissions

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad589c7e80680e077f8bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Nepali Times issue #1</figcaption></figure>The <a href="http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepalitimes/pdf/Nepali_Times_001.pdf">#1 print edition</a> of Nepali Times of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/1">19-25 July 2000</a> shows that even though much has changed in Nepal in the past two decades, a lot has remained the same. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Reports and op-eds published in that very first hardcopy issue are as relevant today as they were then. Most of the protagonists are the same.The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10979#.XxAi8KEza70">front page analysis</a> of the first edition looked at the impending state visit to India by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. Among the contentious issues he was going to take up with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee: the Kalapani territory occupied by India. The dispute flared again this year, and sank bilateral ties to a new low.Then, as now, the Indian media had been primed before Koirala’s visit with official leaks about alleged infiltration by Pakistani agents to ‘turn the Tarai into Taliban territory’. The allegations were included in an Indian intelligence report ‘Nepal Gameplan’, and our report said that Koirala’s challenge would be to use his personal chemistry with Vajpayee to convince him that Nepal would not allow any extraneous threats to India from its territory.Both Koirala and Vajpayee are long gone, but India-Nepal relations are still strained —this time over suspicions of growing Chinese influence. The same issue of Nepali Times had an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10983#.XxAjfqEza70">interview with UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal</a> on page 3 in which the opposition leader said: “What is surprising is that Koirala is the same person who said he would not visit India until Indian troops are withdrawn from Kalapani, and he is rushing there.”<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10980#.XxAjxaEza70">The Editorial</a> of the first print edition of Nepali Times laid out what would be the new paper’s mission statement: ‘A newspaper does more than hold a mirror to society. It becomes a mirror itself. There is a belief that literature is generally not read, and journalism is often unreadable. This newspaper will seek to be informal, lively, clear and direct.’In his column <a href="http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/nepalitimes/pdf/Nepali_Times_001.pdf">‘State of the State’, C K Lal</a> lamented the cynicism in Nepali society: ‘Despair hangs as thick as diesel exhaust in the Kathmandu air. Nepal’s nabobs of negativism hold forth in their nay-saying nooks. Cynicism is at least a reflection of exaggerated self-worth. Despair is much worse, it is a state of having lost all hope.’ Locked down for four months, Nepalis are once more drifting from cynicism to despair.The first issue also included <a href="mes.com/news.php?id=10990#.XxAk86Eza70">an investigation</a> into a scandal at the Kathmandu office of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in which an expat official was secretly sacked for embezzlement. Reporter <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10992#.XxAlC6Eza70">Hemlata Rai</a> wrote about how grassroots democracy was beginning to deliver health, education and other services.Another <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11001#.XxAlLqEza70">intriguing story</a> was about reports that underground Maoist leader Prachanda had visited UK on an Indian passport to attend a meeting of the Revolutionary International Movement (RIM). Water resources expert <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11082#.XxAlSKEza70">Dipak Gyawali</a> argued in a commentary that it made more sense for private power producers in Nepal to design projects to sell electricity for domestic value-added use than exporting it to India.COVID-19 is the main global health issue today, but 20 years ago it was HIV/AIDS, and the paper carried a report on anti-retrovirals not being affordable to people in poor countries.<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11090#.XxAmmqEza70">Manjushree Thapa</a> started her column Nepaliterature in which she profiled writers in the Nepali language with translated excerpts of their work. The July 2000 issue had these lines from Bimal Nibha:Comrade Baburam Bhattarai is busy leading the People’s WarI, dragging along my broken slippersAm wondering —as are many othersI’m an ordinary person who writes the news who writes poemsWho drinks tea and rushes offA worker who delights and weepsWith ardor and effort (nothing exceptional about me)Am I not also engaged in a people’s war, Comrade?Nepali Times also got rights to serialise chapters from <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11089#.XxAlmqEza70">Desmond Doig’s</a> book In the Kingdom of the Gods, and the first installment carried his description of Jang Bahadur’s Mughal-style Kal Mochan temple, which a western visitor once said was ‘too ugly to describe’.The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11099#.XxAmBKEza70">Funny Side Up</a> satire column became a fixture on the back page with the first one on legalising corruption. Taxing bribes and slapping 13% VAT on baksheesh, it was suggested, would be a good way to raise government revenue.From this week, the ‘10 Year Ago’ column in Nepali Times will be ‘20 Years Ago’. It will look at Nepal from two decades ago, and how the country was getting mired deeper in conflict, political disarray was eroding democratic gains, tourism was being affected by the uncertainty.The COVID-19 lockdown is a fitting time for a retrospective – when the media itself is facing a crisis of survival. The media in Nepal has historically been threatened by the extreme right and the extreme left. It had survived the economic crises during the earthquake and Blockade. Legacy media was trying to cope with the digital transition. But never  has it had to face such an existential crisis.  There are serious implications for journalism as well as for an open society.As the past two decades show, journalism is indeed history in a hurry. And those who do not learn from it are doomed to repeat it.The content of the past 20 years of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-grapples-with-bringing-workers-home/">Nepali Times</a> is available in a searchable archive. The ePaper can also be accessed by issue through the <a href="http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/journals/nepalitimes/">Digital Himalaya</a> site.

Kunda Dixit

500x500

1250x600

1084x550

20 years ago this week

Nepal has shut down dozens of social media platforms in a move that is widely seen as an effort to tax the revenue they generate in the country, and to control content critical of government. The sites were blocked as of midnight on Thursday, 4 September and affects all Meta products including WhatsApp and Messenger, Threads, and others. Although YouTube, Google and X are also on the government’s list, they were still working as of Friday midday.&nbsp; The government says it took the action after repeated warnings to the platforms to open offices in Nepal, a Cabinet decision last month setting a deadline, as well as a 17 August Supreme Court ruling also requiring them to register and pay requisite taxes. However, the Bill cited in the ban, ‘The Operation, Use, and Regulation of Social Media in Nepal’ has not yet been passed by Parliament. Some social media platforms which were already paying taxes in Nepal even though they are not officially registered, have also been blocked. The move is the latest in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/big-beautiful-bills" target="_blank">a slew of draft legislations</a> designed to undermine Nepal’s open society. A Bill amending the Print and Publications Act would allow district bureaucrats to shut down media. Another draft Bill would allow political appointees to head a new Media Council with the power to revoke the licenses of journalists.&nbsp; A counter-intelligence Bill would let just about anyone in government to arbitrarily tap phones, read emails and trail citizens. On Wednesday the government announced new immigration requirements that would allow it to track the movement of all foreigners in the country. Yet another draft Bill has been set to Parliament to dissolve the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10675" target="_blank">Social Welfare Council (SWC)</a> and move registration and monitoring of non-governmental organisations, nonprofits and charities to the Ministry of Social Welfare. Seen in this light, the blockage of social media platforms this week is seen as the latest government attempt to constrict freedom of press. Nepal is one of the few remaining open societies in Asia, and now appears to be drifting towards authoritarianism. The government’s sudden shutdown of social media has been greeted with howls of protest on platforms that still remain open, like Viber and TikTok, as well as in Nepal’s mainstream press. Even senior members of the ruling UML-NC coalition have sharply criticised the move, asking if the government is trying to “turn Nepal into North Korea”.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090508098_a2ab330e403e8418a7006cd5e915607382628dd6984524332bf7b99c74743656.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025090508098_a2ab330e403e8418a7006cd5e915607382628dd6984524332bf7b99c74743656" data-rendition-name="original" width="4280" height="5187" loading="lazy" alt="social media ban in Nepal"> </figure>  The Regional Director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Beh Lih Yi said in a statement: ‘Nepal’s sweeping ban on social media sets a dangerous precedent for press freedom. Blocking online news platforms vital to journalists will undermine reporting and the public’s right to information. The government must immediately rescind this order and restore access to social media platforms, which are essential tools for exercising press freedom.’ Besides undermining press freedom, blocking social media platforms will also hurt commerce and the economy since so many small and medium business trade through Instagram, Facebook and other platforms. Nepal’s vibrant social media has also been a boost or citizens to assert identity, build solidarity against injustice and play an adversarial role when the mainstream media does not do it. Social media platforms have also become the tenuous link for Nepali families scattered across the world to keep in touch with each other — its importance growing with the increasing size of the diaspora. The government wants social media platforms to register, pay taxes and remove posts on their sites that ‘undermine the national interest and Nepal’s territorial integrity, disturb social and religious harmony’.&nbsp; In response, rights activists have said while there is need for the government to regulate extreme content and hate speech, officials appear to be more intent on clamping down on free speech and trying to force platforms to share the revenue. On Friday, the government had allowed WhatsApp back online, but there were reports that it had instructed the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) to instruct mobile and internet service providers to block by Friday night all platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, Threads, Snapchat, Pinterest, Signal, Clubhouse, Rumble.&nbsp; Platforms that have registered and are allowed include TikTok, Viber, Nimbuzz, Popo Live, WeTalk, Global Diary and the Nepali portal Hamro Patro. TikTok was banned last year for ‘disturbing social harmony’ and it was lifted after the platform registered its office in Nepal. But even while it was banned, many users simply switched to VPN. Telegram was also banned for ‘financial crimes’ and it has since also been allowed back. NTA officials confirmed that some Asia-Pacific regional offices of platforms, including Meta had been in touch overnight inquiring about the registration process.&nbsp; Nepal is not alone in regulating social media. China bans most Western platforms, Russia and Turkey regulate their and require platforms to locate their data servers in the country. Gulf countries allow social media but keep a tight control on dissent.&nbsp; Experts have said even the government will not dare close down YouTube since so many Nepali individuals and companies make money with posts on that platform, and closing it would also impact on Google and Gmail. Facebook had also just launched a monetisation scheme for videos and reels, and Nepalis uploading content would lose revenue.&nbsp; Blocking the platforms has already hit content creators, influencers and cut small businesses from reaching customers. A survey of social media use in Nepal by Sharecast Initiative showed that 94% of those with smart phones used YouTube, followed by Facebook (92%) while TikTok was in the 50-60% range. X and Instagram were in the single digits. A YouTube ban will also hurt the mainstream media since up to 20% of the revenue of Nepal’s main tv channels came through YouTube. Some 11.1 million Nepalis watch YouTube content every day, the survey showed. ‘For global giants like Meta or Google, Nepal is a small market, and they may not even flinch — but for millions of Nepalis, these platforms are central to daily life, livelihoods, and connections across the world,’ wrote AI consultant Naresh Newar in a LinkedIn post. Some experts said the government’s sweeping ban on social media networks was untenable and the government would be forced to rollback sooner or later. Said editor Shiva Gaunle: “The platforms had given citizens a voice and broken the monopoly of the government, legislators, the courts and journalists over public opinion. This is an effort to reassert that monopoly, but Nepal can never be turned into a North Korea.”

Protest grows against Nepal’s social media ban

At least 15 were killed in a nationwide rally called by Nepal’s youth via social media on Monday to protest corruption and impunity in government. Hundreds of others have been injured in Kathmandu and other cities across Nepal. Fifty of them in Kathmandu are said to be in critical condition, and emergency wards of hospitals ran out of essential supplies to treat them.&nbsp; Two journalists, Dipendra Dhungana and Shyam Shrestha of Kantipur were among those injured as they covered the protesters trying to storm Parliament building. Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of protesters gathered at the Mandala intersection in Kathmandu for what was supposed to be a peaceful gathering to voice outrage against corruption. Rallyists were responding to a call via social media.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250908120948_2652b268dac74e9524a2ca11f320391a33d02233e212e21c1a8ed17210c19a96.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250908120948_2652b268dac74e9524a2ca11f320391a33d02233e212e21c1a8ed17210c19a96" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Gen Z protest"> </figure>  However, the rally soon went out of control of the organisers as public anger against the government boiled over because of unpunished corruption in high places, an unresponsive government, and the blockade of social media platforms on Saturday that shut down 26 sites, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X, and other messaging apps. That appears to have been the last straw, and public outrage over the social media ban spilled over into the streets. On Monday, protests turned violent after demonstrators stormed Parliament, set fire to one of its gates, and vandalised property.&nbsp; The police responded with tear gas and water cannons before Kathmandu’s Chief District Officer ordered them to open fire. The government has since imposed curfew in parts of Kathmandu until 10PM. “I didn’t expect the crowd to be this massive. I just came to observe,” said Sanchit Maharjan, a bystander caught in the middle of the violence. “I’m not even Gen Z, but I was hit by tear gas earlier. Still, it feels powerful to see young people standing up.” <div class="embed-block"><div style="max-width: 56vh;"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 177.7778%;"><iframe src="https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fshorts%2FTfzT9WjPOxM&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> Graphic images have since flooded the still functioning social media sites like TikTok: students in uniforms soaked in blood, protesters being carried to the nearby Civil Service Hospital, which itself was engulfed in teargas.&nbsp; Young people, some of them students in college uniform, had started gathering at Mandala as early as 9AM, flashing placards with slogans denouncing government corruption. Popular rapper OMG Spark was performing live music at one point. The GenZ protest is only the latest in a series of demonstrations against Nepal’s career leaders who are seen to be incompetent and corrupt. The international #Nepobaby trend on TikTok gave the protests momentum, and Nepalis used it to expose the scions of powerful politicians and politically-connected influencers who were exhibiting their flashy lifestyles on social media while citizens struggled with joblessness, corruption and poor service delivery.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250908120956_0f8ba149e43922fb551ebd63036701e646704dca4277a7e47c7ee4810c3c36ff.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250908120956_0f8ba149e43922fb551ebd63036701e646704dca4277a7e47c7ee4810c3c36ff" data-rendition-name="original" width="2576" height="1932" loading="lazy" alt="Gen Z protest"> </figure>  Young Nepalis on social media were posing questions such as: ‘Where does our tax money actually go?’ or ‘Why does the budget vanish into thin air?’ Public anger reached a tipping point when the UML-NC coalition led by Prime Minister &nbsp;K P Oli announced a sweeping ban on major social media platforms citing tax revenue, cyber security, and lack of content moderation.&nbsp; Netizens, civil society and media however saw it as the latest authoritarian attempt by the government to clamp down on free speech, increase surveillance of citizens and clamp down on Nepal’s open society.&nbsp; “Politics is everywhere,” said 22-year old student Susmita Khadka who was at the protest. “Gen Z has the most platforms, and we want a revolution. I believe as long as protests remain peaceful, they can be incredibly effective. But when it turns violent, it creates a Cobra Effect—where it actually makes it worse.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250908120948_cb24f18c947f13e5df9fb4f6ac28e77c7188f0eaa2390b57810b91cd8e66488a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250908120948_cb24f18c947f13e5df9fb4f6ac28e77c7188f0eaa2390b57810b91cd8e66488a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Gen Z protest"> </figure>  She added that the protests could have been more peaceful. “I wish there were more organised banners, collective sit-ins where people actually ask for our opinions and listen to our needs. Repetitive slogans and one-day marches won’t bring real change.” As the violence went out of control, the Nepal Army was deployed outside Parliament and a curfew was declared on the road leading to the airport. Organisers Hami Nepali requested demonstrators to go home, and said that those who stormed Parliament were not associated with them, hinting that the rally had been infiltrated by radical groups. Demonstrations have also erupted in major cities including Butwal, Chitwan, Pokhara, and Birtamode. The District Administration Office (DAO) in Kaski has imposed a similar curfew in Pokhara where the police have opened fire, injuring some protesters. Says Ronesh Pradhan of Hami Nepal who led the protest: “The voices of young people matter. We can’t keep being ruled by the same old men. Our generation is the future and if there are older leaders in government, they need to be competent and accountable. We are ready to lead this country forward.” <div class="embed-block"><div style="max-width: 56vh;"><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 177.7778%;"><iframe src="https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fshorts%2FTfzT9WjPOxM&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> &nbsp;

Nepal’s Gen-Z protest turns deadly

Unlike many countries, there is not much incentive in Nepal for the private sector to fund charities and non-profits. Donations and grants are not tax-deductible.
Yet there are corporate entities that have Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in their portfolio of activities through foundations that they have set up. Some do it loudly to gain public relations mileage, while others are quiet about their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/norway-supports-himalayan-climate-research?mdrv=www.nepalitimes.com&amp;=1">generous support</a>.
The CSR outlay of factories and manufacturing companies is regulated by Industrial Enterprise Act (IEA), while the Nepal Rastra Bank oversees grants banks and financial institutions contribute and requires them to set aside 1% of their net profit for CSR activities.
The guideline requires banks and financial institutions to donate to activities covering education, health, environment and financial literacy, among others. Recently, the Supreme Court directed the government to formulate a Bill in the parliament to standardise and regulate the private sector’s CSR activities.
“We receive guidelines from Nepal Rastra Bank and follow them,” says Pranisha Shrestha who heads the CSR Department at NMB Bank. “We have got a notice about updates on those guidelines, and we will adapt accordingly.”
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/greening-nepal-s-tourism">Environmental sustainability </a>is one of the important components of CSR for Nepali companies, and there have been many initiatives aimed at urban renewal. One of the most visible is of the telecommunication company Ncell, which is among Nepal’s largest taxpayers.
Five years ago, Ncell adopted a 6km stretch of the Ring Road from Ekantakuna to Koteswor-Kalanki, planting 12,000 saplings. They have now grown into<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/seeing-the-forest-and-trees-in-nepal"> a thick forest</a> along the embankment of the road.
Not only is the lush greenery in an overbuilt part of Lalitpur soothing to the eye, it also helps in reducing temperature within <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/in-the-heat-of-the-moment-5xcycyot">the urban heat bubble</a>, and also contributes to reducing air pollution and traffic noise.
“We started a pilot project along 600m of the Ekantakuna section of the Ring Road during the pandemic,” recalls Bishakha Lakshmi Khadka, Director of Corporate Communications and Sustainability at Ncell. “It went really well, and after that we extended the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-cities-with-trees"> tree planting</a> and upkeep to Kalanki.”
Sustainability also means making younger Nepalis aware of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/natures-fragile-gift-to-nepal">the value of nature </a>and environmental sustainability, which is why Ncell has also undertaken a Green School initiative in and around Kathmandu Valley. Besides its One-Tree-One-Youth and 1 Million Trees campaigns, the initiative also aims at behavior change about littering with its waste hackathon in schools.
“The young students can be catalysts with a multiplier effect beyond their schools to society at large, and it has inter-generational impact into the future,” explains Khadka.
Indeed, while <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous">Nepal has doubled its forest cover </a>in the past 30 years to 46% of the country’s area, urban centres like Kathmandu do not have much open spaces and greenery left. And that is where companies like Ncell, Jawalakhel Group of Industries, and others have focused on CSRs.
NMB Bank also runs financial literacy programs for youth where they can learn more about social media safeguards, digital payment systems, with a focus on safety and security. Such training not only helps build skills for the future but also protects young Nepalis from online crime.
“<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/protecting-children-from-anti-social-media">Threats to young minds through social media</a> use are growing as platforms feed algorithm-driven content,” says Shrestha. “We felt media and digital literacy are important in all seven provinces not just to protect young people, but also give them the confidence to use digital financial systems.”
The bank has a special focus on women in leadership programs, and provides scholarships provided in schools across Nepal on environment and sustainability in higher education. Health is another sector where private companies have worked with donating medical equipment, sponsoring health camps and conducting blood donation drives.
CSR or PR?
Other companies heavily involved in CSR include NIMB Bank which contributes to heritage conservation and education, Buddha Air helps farmers in Morang to increase productivity, VOITH with its motto ‘Little things We Do’ provides scholarships to students and has gifted &nbsp;vehicles to hospitals and nature conservation groups, Dwarika’s Hotel promotes organic farming and zero waste initiatives, heritage conservation and helps revive traditional handicrafts.
Although some CSR activities have been criticised for masquerading as PR and for greenwashing, many Nepali companies are actually contributing to improve the situation for individuals in need and underserved communities.
It also brings a sense of accountability to the corporate sector so they look beyond shareholder profit with greater involvement in the public good. In Nepal, where government delivery mechanisms are not up to speed in the social sector and environmental sustainability, CSR is a vehicle for public-private partnerships.
Collaboration with the government is an important aspect of these initiatives since that allows localised campaigns to be scaled up by showing what is possible. For example, the three Metropolitan Cities of the Valley and other private companies are trying to emulate what Ncell has achieved on the Ring Road.
“The Ring Road plantation project has been massively successful,” says Khadka “We were recognised by the Lalitpur Metropolitan City and the Forestry Department for adding greenery to what would have been just an asphalt strip.”

Corporates responsible to society

A rally organised by young Nepalis across the country against corruption, impunity and restrictions on freedom of expression on Monday turned into one of the deadliest days in the country's recent history. As of Monday evening, the death toll from the protest had reached 19, with 17 killed in Kathmandu and two in Itahari. More than 350 people were injured. Police have arrested more than 40 protesters. Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak of the Nepali Congress resigned, and there have been calls from opposition parties for the entire NC-UML coalition to step down and announce early elections. The protest followed a growing online movement led by young Nepalis exposing the ostentatious display of privilege by the offspring and relatives of politicians and other public figures, which had sparked discourse about nepotism, corruption and the wealth gap in Nepal. Confronted with joblessness and corruption, Nepali youth looked to the recent street movement in Bangladesh, where a student uprising against quota-based recruitment for government jobs expanded last year and toppled the autocratic Sheikh Hasina government. In Indonesia, public frustration with government apathy boiled over into a national movement last month after it emerged that elected officials and the political elite enjoyed perks while citizens faced a cost of living crisis. In the Philippines, as disaster mitigation-infrastructure projects failed to work, citizens began to question where the funds for such projects were actually going. This prompted social media users to look deeper into the lives of the politically-connected figures who flaunted their lavish lifestyles online. In Nepal public outrage has been building up against nepotism, corruption and impunity in government. Facing unemployment at home, nearly 10% of Nepalis, mostly youth, toil overseas or leave Nepal in search for better lives abroad. Meanwhile, the well-connected posted images online of themselves enjoying holidays abroad paid with the ill-gotten wealth of relatives in high places. Young GenZ Nepalis, frustrated with establishment politicians, had called for an anti-corruption, anti-government movement across the country. This coincided with the Nepal government’s decision on 5 September to ban 26 social media sites for failing to register and pay taxes in Nepal.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250908120956_53f97cf0de3ddc8d5c823686f56e71981df922d0ecd2989ad842245acdf71aa6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250908120956_53f97cf0de3ddc8d5c823686f56e71981df922d0ecd2989ad842245acdf71aa6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Gen Z protest"></figure>  Faced with the government's social media blockade, the protests took to the street. The movement was supposed to be apolitical, and focused against corruption. It garnered support from public figures and opposition leaders, some of whom conveniently forgot that they had been in government when the TikTok ban was imposed in Nepal in 2023. On Monday morning, protesters showed up at Maitighar with slogans and placards, many of them college students, even school children. The organisers had called for young Nepalis to join in their uniforms, believing that it would protect them from violence that might occur during the course of the day. By mid-morning, thousands of Nepalis had gathered at the Mandala intersection, playing music and chanting slogans. The mood was almost festive. Shortly after noon, however, a rally that had begun peacefully descended into violence after protesters broke the police barricade in Baneswor to storm Parliament. Police first began firing tear gas and water cannons, and then live ammunition at demonstrators. The Kathmandu district administration is said to have authorised full use of force against protestors who vandalised public property after protestors infiltrated the Parliament grounds.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090818090_84e4a5bdcf19aa3cbf03831140120c88d9f3fe5a12d47041588fea7409988e67.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025090818090_84e4a5bdcf19aa3cbf03831140120c88d9f3fe5a12d47041588fea7409988e67" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Gen Z protests"><figcaption>Photo: SUDIKSHA TULADHAR</figcaption></figure>  Organisers Hami Nepali had requested demonstrators to go home as the protests turned deadly, saying that those who stormed Parliament were not associated with them, hinting that the rally had been infiltrated by radical groups. But by that time, the demonstration had got too large to contain. In the ensuing violence, hundreds were left injured, including journalists, and 17 dead so far in Kathmandu. Nepal’s leadership and security forces do not seem to have learnt their lessons about managing mass protests after the pro-monarchy demonstrations in March in which two people were killed. The indiscriminate use of force against unarmed Nepalis turned into a massacre. The emergency wards in Kathmandu are filled with those with bullet wounds on their legs, arms and heads. Hospitals have called for blood donations. At the time of publishing, there has been no statement from the Prime Minister, who before the protest on Monday had belittled GenZ youth as being naive, wet behind the ears, and their movement being ‘led by provocateurs’. Oli has presided over a slew of Bills to constrain the press, social media, and civil society, he has silenced and mowed down competitors and critics within his own party. This week, the UML got rid of age and term limits for party chairmanship, effectively clearing the way for 74-year-old Oli to head the party for the foreseeable future. Also feeding into the anger in the GenZ protest was a CCTV clip of a young woman being hit on Saturday at a zebra crossing by the car of a provincial minister in Godavari. The video of the car speeding away without stopping went viral on TikTok, one of few social media platforms still functioning.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090818090_35799a98e5a7f5f865bb6f94633059d2baa66ec57ea0d396ab020f2f8f912387.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025090818090_35799a98e5a7f5f865bb6f94633059d2baa66ec57ea0d396ab020f2f8f912387" data-rendition-name="original" width="854" height="641" loading="lazy" alt="Gen Z protest"><figcaption>Photo: SANGYA LAMSAL</figcaption></figure>  Oli fuelled the outrage by dismissing the victim’s injury as “minor”, and accusing political rivals of magnifying the issue. Opposition leaders and members of civil society have called for the government to resign en masse, and the fourth-largest party in Parliament, the RSP, has called for a snap election. As per his agreement with the NC, Oli is supposed to hand over power early next year to its leader ’s Sher Bahadur Deuba. Some analysts have suggested that if Oli did the handover now, he could help defuse the situation and earn brownie points ahead of the 2027 elections. But such political calculation would belittle the tragedy that has befallen the families of the 19 who were killed on Monday. Nepal’s political leadership cannot think that just reshuffling its three-card prime ministerial deck will quell public anger now. Nepal’s next generation wants to uproot the rot of corruption from politics, governance, and the bureaucracy. It wants elected leaders to deliver services, provide jobs and raise living standards. Monday’s massacre has only made them angrier, and bolstered their resolve to lead from the front.

girija-prasad-koirala

Toothless Commissions

20 years ago this week

Protest grows against Nepal’s social media ban

Nepal’s Gen-Z protest turns deadly

Corporates responsible to society

Nepal’s 8 September massacre