<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722f569c7e80680e0c250ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/>An exhausting hour-long wait in line at the Kathmandu District Administration Office finally ends with a rude and unhelpful civil servant at the desk. Irritated with everything he has to attend to, he extends his hand and gestures for my citizenship certificate application.Disinterested, he scribbles lazily on my documents, examining them perfunctorily, and refers me to Desk 105 for the fourth time. He is bored, and he shows it.Civil servants, as the name implies, are supposed to serve citizens by making their lives easier. This man seems to think his job is to make things as inconvenient as possible. No wonder, Nepali youth today have little appeal for these paper-pusher jobs in government.Being annoyed and irritated, and going home grumpy is not an exciting job prospect. Civil servants like the one I encountered also do not set a very good example for the Nepali state, and its primary job of addressing the needs of citizens.In a competitive job market, there is a need to stand out in the crowd, and the definition of an attractive career has shifted from mundane nine-to-five jobs to one that is challenging and rewarding.But that is not what government jobs offer. What they do offer for the unscrupulous is to make a lot of money under the table.That said, today’s Nepali youth are also too easily discouraged. We put in the work, but we want results and we want them now. While this has fueled our distrust in government jobs, it need not be like that.Elsewhere in the world, the civil service is an important employer and can offer a fulfilling career of serving the people with pressing issues.Unfortunately, the most attractive part of a government job is also its most unsavoury aspect: ample opportunities to squeeze those seeking government services. The idea is to make it as difficult as possible to get the simplest things done so that desperate citizens will look for a short-cut – for a fee.To increase earnings from under the table deals, the strategy is to make the process of completing the simplest task as complicated as possible. The mismanagement is deliberate.Everything is still running on pen and paper, complaints of unintelligible handwriting and endless rants about loss of information in torn record books is all that seems to be going on in these offices.There is an easy solution to all of this through digitisation. But of course that would mean things are cleaned up, the process is more transparent, and the bureaucrats would lose their lucrative source of lucre.Impatient service-seekers and cranky service providers engage in loud quarrels. Information is purposely made inaccessible, confusion is sown, every task is done in slow motion. The idea is to make you so fed up that in order to get the job done, you will engage the service of a lurking middle-man who is cahoots with the officers at their desks.The promise of life-long job security, the luxury of having pension rolling in long after retirement, and the leeway to decide when and how much to work are the sole attractions of holding a government job. Once you get in, you never get kicked out.The waste and inefficiency of this is incalculable. The system lets laziness and errors slide easily, idleness and lack of output do not induce consequences. Corruption not just goes unpunished, but is accepted as standard operating procedure.Despite this, the <a href="https://psc.gov.np/assets/uploads/files/62th_Annual_report.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://psc.gov.np/assets/uploads/files/62th_Annual_report.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1657505249708000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2iMoKBXy5LptycrOgsOSnk">62nd annual report</a> of the Public Service Commision shows that the number of candidates recommended for permanent appointment last year hit an all-time-low. The pandemic might have a role to play in this, but it points towards an inescapable reality — new appointments to government posts are dwindling, weakening the civil service.What is feeding this trend? Part of it is that the current bureaucratic system largely runs on whim. Each step of the administrative process necessitates approval from a superior and the process is excruciatingly slow.For fast and furious youngsters, this system fails to impress, because not only does it not reward innovation, but inventiveness is constrained to pave way for the same old schemes and tricks — manual instead of digital, middleman-infested instead of autonomous.The government sector fails to offer one key appeal for young Nepalis: it lacks meaning. Doing it for the country is not reason enough for someone to sit at a desk and be showered with complaints all day long.Show us all that has been done, what is currently happening, the social impact government jobs are making, the lives they are changing. Give us a much-needed ‘why’? Give us a cause. And then we might be interested.We want risk, we want real-life experiences that shape our vision, that make us consequential as a people. We want to build, and to fail, and pick ourselves back up, celebrate ideas that we can call ‘ours’. This description sounds very distant from what a Nepal government job entails.The idealism of the youth is being stifled by the lethargy and ennui of government offices. It makes us angry, enraged, and determined to overhaul the system. It is only a question of time before Nepal’s young take over to give the civil service a makeover. A revolution is long-overdue.The UK's <a href="https://www.faststream.gov.uk/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.faststream.gov.uk/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1657505249708000&amp;usg=AOvVaw19cCdnl9t9qN4Lu8G9zFBl">Civil Service Fast Stream</a> is a government leadership development program that guides new graduates into the civil service, placing just one thing front and centre: to serve fellow citizens.By employing multiple schemes designed to fit youngsters interested in almost any field from finance and science to IT and commerce, it makes them feel valued. Serving the public is seen as an opportunity to make oneself better professionally, to learn, and excel.That is the premise of an ideal civil service sector. And that is the change we want to see here in Nepal.It is up to the Nepal government to ensure that young graduates are interested in entering the civil service. Just like the local elections this year stirred up interest in independent candidates and sent ripples of renewed passion for politics, the civil service needs a similar upheaval.After endless hours of waiting in line and being given the runaround, I leave the DAO office, hoping to never have to step back in there. But, of course, I will have to come back tomorrow because my citizenship certificate was not ready today.Yugeshwor Koirala is a student at St. Xavier’s College, Kathmandu. Read more:  <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Here-We-Go/Nepal%E2%80%99,75">Nepal's youth bulge</a>, Trishna Rana

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Literally, out of service

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101140/63720d709c7e80680e0b78c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/>Let’s face it, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-uncivil-servants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s civil service </a>is not held in very high regard by Nepalis themselves. But in the past seven years after the affirmative action policies of the new Constitution, there are signs that the bureaucracy is more <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/can-nepal-elections-change-its-male-stream-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">inclusive</a> and efficient.Take Manmaya Bhattarai Pangeni, who entered Nepal’s civil service as a junior branch officer in 2006. She rose up the ranks, serving as Chief District Officer (CDO) of Nawalparasi and is now secretary at the Gandaki Province Chief Minister's office.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101140/63720d739c7e80680e0b78c4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="331" height="332"><figcaption>Manmaya Bhattarai Pangeni</figcaption></figure>As CDO, Pangeni was committed to curbing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/drawing-a-line-in-the-sand/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">illegal sand extraction</a> and quarrying that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/hiding-their-head-in-the-sand/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">worsened floods</a> in the district. Serious crime, including violence against women, went down during her tenure. She completed stalled infrastructure projects.“My experience has taught me that no matter what professional capacity we might work under, it is possible to change our society for the better if us civil servants are seriously committed to transformation,” says Pangeni, who was one of five civil servants  to be honoured at the 'Integrity Icon Nepal 2021' last year.Indra Dev Yadav served as CDO of Sunsari and Rautahat, and was appointed a joint secretary under the Madhesi quota two years ago. Yadav was known in the districts for his <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-local-governments-lead-from-the-front/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">boots-on-the-ground approach </a>to get things done.Under Yadav, Rautahat climbed from the 60th position to 19th (and first place within Madhes Province) in the annual district performance appraisal of the Home Ministry.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/think-nationally-vote-locally/">Power to the periphery</a>, Sonia Awale“You don’t know much about what people need just by sitting behind a desk,” Yadav says, “I engaged with communities to learn about their concerns like being cheated by manpower agencies, security issues, etc.”Yadav is critical of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/business-bureaucracy-and-politicians-all-plundering-the-chure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s bureaucracy</a>, the red tape that makes it difficult for citizens to access services, and says he is determined to change that."The under-served and under-represented, including women and children, the elderly, the disabled, the Dalit community suffer disproportionately from an inefficient bureaucracy,” says Yadav. “It is our job to make the district administration more accountable to the people we are supposed to serve.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101140/63720d749c7e80680e0b78c5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="328" height="393"><figcaption>Indra Dev Yadav</figcaption></figure>Pangeni and Yadav would not have risen up the ranks of the bureaucracy without quotas for women or Madhesis in the civil service. There are now many others like the two.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/think-nationally-vote-locally/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Think nationally, vote locally</a>, Editorial<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101140/63720d759c7e80680e0b78c6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="446" height="417"><figcaption>Rudradevi Sharma</figcaption></figure>Quotas have ensured that there are increasing numbers of women, Dalit, Madhesi and indigenous people in the government service, and<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/women-leaders-set-example-for-rest-of-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> many of them proving their worth</a> with decisions that reflect the priorities of hitherto excluded communities.In Gulmi, CDO Rudradevi Sharma went house to house herself, to personally process the citizenship certificates of the elderly and the disabled. Gulmi ranked third among Nepal’s 77 districts in the Home Ministry’s performance evaluation. She is now CDO of Bhaktapur district.Dilip Kumar Singh began his civil service in 2017 after having worked as a journalist for a decade, ranking first in the Civil Service exams. Singh’s first posting was in Baitadi where he made it mandatory to include the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-waits-for-an-unequal-citizenship-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mother’s name on citizenship certificates</a>.“I urged both staff and those who came to get citizenship papers why it was important to include the mother's name in the ID,” says Singh. “It became standard procedure.”Singh was appointed under the Madhesi quota and is now an IT operator at the Immigration Department. But he is not happy that despite topping the civil service exam and his qualifications, he needed to rely on the reservation quota for his appointment.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101140/63720d789c7e80680e0b78c7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="307" height="391"><figcaption>Dilip Kumar Singh</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101140/63720d799c7e80680e0b78c8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="274" height="320"><figcaption>Shukra Devi Rai</figcaption></figure>Others like Shukra Devi Rai, however, may not have risen up the ranks of the bureaucracy if she had not been an indigenous woman. Rai has been the chief administrative officer of Chichila rural municipality in Sankhuwasabha district.“I am committed to serve the people not because I am a woman or because of my ethnicity,” explains Rai. “I feel a responsibility towards my job and to serving citizens.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/can-nepal-elections-change-its-male-stream-politics/">Can Nepal elections change its male-stream politics?</a>, Aditi AdhikariMaheshwari Bista entered the civil service 30 years ago and was posted to remote Dadeldhura as a Women’s Development Officer. She remembers taking her two-year-old child to work every day, and says she has witnessed the gradual socio-economic empowerment of Nepali women over the years.“At times, I had to donate my salary to women in need," says Bista, who is currently based at the Lalitpur Metropolitan City office. “Women's Development Officers like me played a big role in the social inclusion of women, and have helped many women stand on their feet.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101140/63720d7a9c7e80680e0b78c9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="440" height="528"><figcaption>Masheshwori Bista</figcaption></figure>The post of Women Development Officer was abolished under the 2015 federal Constitution, and the personnel were inducted into ministries, commissions and municipalities.However, there has been concern over the government’s failure to institutionalise the achievements made through these offices.Nepal began to appoint all-female teams to banking and law enforcement sectors in 2018 after the Attorney General's Office set up a model office in each province.Mona Singh led one such team at the Lalitpur Attorney General’s Office . Sushila Gyawali, who now heads the office that Singh headed, says women-led teams made it easier for issues of women and children to be resolved.Says Gyawali: “When women survivors of abuse encounter other women in a government office, they find it much easier to speak about what they have been through and find justice.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/all-politics-is-local/">All politics is local</a>, Sahina ShresthaTranslated by Shristi Karki from the <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/128704" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/128704&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1647234850433000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3X5wCB0yOd1NtccrMY0y1W">Nepali original</a> published in <a href="http://himalkhabar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://himalkhabar.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1647234850433000&amp;usg=AOvVaw02o4u8jEQ-dXvf5ceoQyRy">himalkhabar.com</a>

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Including the excluded in the bureaucracy

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110814110/636a539b9c7e80680e05235cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Photo: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>In the past three years, federal and provincial governments spent a massive Rs216.5 million on vehicles. If we add the budget allocated to vehicles this fiscal year, it adds up to more than Rs250 million, not including the budgets for cars of local governments and projects.All three spheres of government are ignoring their own declaration to minimise expenses, and are wasting money on frivolous items. And the irony of it all is that the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/SUV-nada-auto-show-2015,2586" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SUVs are driving along roads that are in advanced stages of disrepair</a> because the money has all gone for expensive cars.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=31531&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disrepair</a>Though the government has been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dangerous-driving/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slow to provide development and service delivery</a>, vehicle-related expenses have grown six-fold since 2013. The federal government is the biggest spender: provincial governments accounted for just Rs20 million spent on cars in the past three years.This fiscal year the federal government spent 2.45% of its development budget on vehicles. While it is perennially unable to fully disburse that budget, it spent four times more on vehicles than the amount allocated, even transferring money from other budget lines to do so.“Using <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-fatalistic-ke-garne-culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unspent development budget</a> to buy vehicles is just an unnecessary expense,” says former government secretary Purna Chandra Bhatttarai. Other experts say that it is not just elected representatives, bureaucrats are also draining state resources.According to the 56th report of the auditor-general, among the 800 vehicles in the 22 Singha Darbar-based ministries, only 622 are operational. Some are not being used even though they are in running condition — new vehicles are being bought before old ones are phased out. After an order from the PM’s office, 201 vehicles were handed over to various organisations this year, including many that were still in working order.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-shame/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No shame</a>“Buying new vehicles involves kickbacks, so the tendency to buy new vehicles is increasing,” says former finance secretary Rameshwar Khanal.Four new Scorpios were bought for deputy attorney-generals last July, not because they were necessary but because the existing five-year-old vehicles were considered too old. At the end of the last fiscal year, 16 Scorpios were purchased for the chiefs of the House of Representatives and National Assembly, displacing 10-year-old vehicles.The National Inclusion Commission bought five vehicles costing at least Rs4 million for its chief and 4 members. But to date the commission has only one member — the others have not yet been appointed. The vehicles are covered and stored on the office premises. Many other new commissions have already bought vehicles for their yet-to-be appointed members.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-klepto-republic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A klepto republic</a>, Editorial<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110814110/636a539c9c7e80680e05235djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="809" height="442">According to the auditor-general’s report, there are 1,323 officer-level officials in the Ministry of Agriculture, and 1,577 vehicles in operation. There are 174 vehicles for 90 officers in the Finance Ministry and 151 vehicles for 94 officials in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Many senior officials are accused of having separate vehicles for home and office use.According to a guideline issued by the Finance Ministry, new vehicles should be bought only for newly-established organisations. Other offices should buy new vehicles only every 15 years. This guideline is considered legally binding, so ministries and other bodies are actually breaking the law. Only officials at joint secretary level and above are supposed to get vehicles, but today deputy secretaries and even junior officers are riding in government vehicles. Some officials have even acquired the habit of buying a new vehicle immediately after they are promoted or transferred.Joint Secretary Binod Kunwar of the PMO says the office has made efforts to have an inventory of vehicles in working order, but hasn’t succeeded because of lack of cooperation from government entities.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-business-of-politics-undermines-nepals-democracy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The business of politics undermines Nepal's democracy</a>, Ramesh Kumar<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-has-to-curb-corruption-before-wooing-investors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal has to curb corruption before wooing investors</a>, Ramesh KumarThe Ministry of Finance does have guidelines on the capacity of vehicles that can be bought, but they are routinely ignored. Even money allocated to build public infrastructure is being spent on vehicles.Repair and maintenance of vehicles is another area full of irregularities, including money being allocated for the upkeep of vehicles that have been in storage for years. Kunwar says the vehicles have become a long-term burden on the state.The Ministry of Finance continues to dole out huge sums of money to keep officers happy, and the government has taken no steps to regulate it, despite the fact that the Finance Ministry has issued guidelines to reduce operating costs. This includes a rule that government vehicles should not have private license plates, but this is also ignored.The government also has a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/20-electric-by-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">policy of going electric</a>, but continues to buy fossil fuel vehicles. Former Finance Secretary Rameswhor Khanal, who himself drives an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/electri-city-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electric Kia Soul</a>, explains:  “There are fewer dealers of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-electric-transport-future-is-here/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electric vehicles</a> in the market, so there are less kickbacks in their purchase. Besides, you cannot make up fake bills of repair and maintenance of electric cars, which is why they are less popular.”

Driving Nepal deeper into debt

Who is accountable for teacher-student relationships?

Early on Monday morning, a bus from Pokhara to Kathmandu plunged off the highway in Dhading killing 19 passengers. Two weeks ago, another bus fell into the Tama Kosi in Manthali, killing 12. A few days before that a bus crash in Baitadi killed 13 people.&nbsp; In just the month before Nepal's election, more than 50 people have been killed in road traffic accidents. Most of these cannot be called 'accidents'. They are a direct result of poorly maintained highways and lack of enforcement of traffic discipline. Political parties in Nepal have rolled out their election manifestos, and voters are once again presented with a flood of promises. Page after page, these documents list megawatts and microcredit, highways and airports, jobs and investment. In these manifestos, growth is quantified, projects itemised, revenue forecast — and there are even threats to beat up contractors who do not finish their jobs. But when everything is declared a priority the stale promises are empty. The voter is left confused as to where the party’s loyalties really lie. Will any of these plans and pledges actually ever materialise and help Nepalis live longer, safer, healthier lives? The main job of any accountable government is to protect its citizens, not so much from foreign enemies but from domestic mismanagement. And this means the most basic test the new government should be made to pass is whether it can ensure basic well-being and protection for all its people. The problems of safety, health, and survival remain unresolved for most Nepalis, and are quietly eroding their lives. In the past year alone, the country’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/roadkill">roads and highways claimed more than 2,300</a> lives. An estimated 41,000 Nepalis die each year directly because of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-is-invisible-is-more-dangerous">air pollution</a>, and their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/air-pollution-killing-season-starts-early">lifespans are lessened by 3.4 years</a>.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/poor-health">Non-communicable diseases</a> now account for well over half of total deaths in the country. And even where survival has improved, deprivation remains. Chronic malnutrition continues to haunt communities in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mass-migration-from-muktikot">Nepal’s western mountains</a> despite progress in maternal and child health.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260223130240_4f4ef83a31c3c4ae36ecdffb33a355e2fa3de9e98244b840a895af2d95c35ac0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20260223130240_4f4ef83a31c3c4ae36ecdffb33a355e2fa3de9e98244b840a895af2d95c35ac0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="683" loading="lazy" alt="A life-first manifesto for Nepal NT"> </figure>  These are the lived realities of most Nepalis, and it is here that development can deliver its most immediate returns. A rising GDP, in and of itself, does not make roads safer, clean polluted air, or provide enough nutrition to children. Such outcomes demand intentional, granular policies that confront the specific, everyday problems shaping people’s lives.&nbsp; Macroeconomic growth, trade and investment are important, but these alone cannot guarantee improvements health and safety. The word ‘growth’, after all, is also synonymous with malignancy. Economic progress and human protection are correlated only when governance deliberately links them. Impact on life is the unit in which ordinary Nepalis calculate progress. What is needed, then, is a governing philosophy measurable in these same terms: a ‘life-first’ standard where every policy, budget, and reform can be understood and judged by its impact on protecting and extending human life. Such a ‘life-first’ approach would scrutinise three aspects of every policy. First, whether the policy prevents loss of life. A death is termed preventable if better, more coordinated response systems and regulations could have avoided it (vaccines, drugs, road safety, clean drinking water). A newly built six-lane highway <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/highway-accidents-are-no-accident-in-nepal">can be a death trap</a> due to poor design or lax enforcement of safety rules. If neonatal deaths continue in a district despite hospitals being present, or if malnutrition claims lives in predominantly agricultural regions, they too are failures. Preventable deaths also cluster where accountability is less direct. Just last year, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/suicides-a-pandemic-within-a-pandemic">Nepal recorded 6,866 suicides</a>, with nearly 20 lives lost every day, yet these deaths fail to prompt any serious examination of governance. The same holds for fatalities linked to domestic or communal violence, alcohol and substance misuse, or ‘natural’ disasters, which register as ‘tragedies without remedy’ rather than as outcomes policy can influence. But when avoidable loss of life recurs at scale, isolated incidents become patterns, and patterns reveal systemic neglect. Saving lives, however, is only the first step, and what matters just as much is the quality of years lived. Nepal’s life expectancy now stands at 71 years, yet many citizens spend years in avoidable disability, untreated chronic illness, or mental distress. A life- first government must ask not only whether people live, but whether they thrive. Are citizens able to pursue education, work, and family life without fear of preventable harm? Do communities have access to clean air and water, nutritious food, and basic healthcare? Can a teenager anywhere in Nepal imagine a future not foreclosed by premature marriage, or untreated depression?  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260223130240_157d72b80b82a07699b6bffbb30036b86f0f767a5674cc3db3d5c20343442940.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20260223130240_157d72b80b82a07699b6bffbb30036b86f0f767a5674cc3db3d5c20343442940" data-rendition-name="original" width="2529" height="1427" loading="lazy" alt="A life-first manifesto for Nepal NT"> </figure>  Thriving requires policies that prevent suffering and promote well-being in addition to ensuring survival.&nbsp; Finally, governance must consider graceful aging. Elderly Nepalis should not be left to navigate disease, poverty, or isolation alone. Social systems, healthcare, and community support must enable their continued participation and dignified well-being. Adopting this three-layered standard would gradually reorient how success of any new government is defined. Transportation would be judged by fatalities reduced on the roads. Electricity generation would be measured by whether households can switch from firewood dependence to smoke-free electric stoves.&nbsp; Increase in annual rice harvest must translate into better nutrition, reducing the prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes. Accountability must follow problems rather than stop at Singha Darbar. Only then will politicians and bureaucrats eventually recognise that their work converges on the same human endpoint. Critics will argue that economies are complex, trade-offs are inevitable, and that governance cannot be reduced to a single metric.But, as Acemoglu and Robinson show in their book <a href="https://ia801506.us.archive.org/27/items/WhyNationsFailTheOriginsODaronAcemoglu/Why-Nations-Fail_-The-Origins-o-Daron-Acemoglu.pdf">Why Nations Fail</a>, the key difference between prosperity and poverty lies in inclusive institutions that empower citizens and create broad incentives for well-being.&nbsp; Extractive institutions concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few while keeping the majority trapped in neglect. Nepal’s governance has remained a striking example of extraction. If lawmakers in the new Parliament continue to resist changes that would save and improve the lives of ordinary citizens, the same systemic rot will persist for generations to come. A life-first mentality can cut through this inertia by clarifying the moral centre of governance and reminding policymakers that behind every policy failure lies human cost. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-hunger">Every mother in Bajura</a> with a child going hungry at night, every farmer in the Madhes unable to afford medical care, and every family that has lost <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/saving-kidneys-to-save-nepal">a migrant son to kidney failure</a> understands the true <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/dirty-dangerous-difficult-and-dehydrating">value of a life saved</a>. Life is the one metric that transcends ideology, ethnicity, and region. Centering governance on this single, focused metric, can shift an election from a contest of rhetoric to a contest of evidence. Which party ensured access to safe water and basic healthcare? Which made work at home and abroad safer and less exploitative. Which measurably extended healthy years of life for ordinary citizens? Health is wealth. By improving the healthy lifespan of citizens economic prosperity would follow naturally. A ‘life-first’ governance model would therefore compel Nepal to address the underlying structural failures across all sectors, rather than merely alleviating their symptoms. The GenZ protest that toppled the government last September was, at its core, a demand for accountability and a rejection of politics as usual. But as the country edges closer to the polls, that clarity has started to dissipate. Parties are now echoing the language of reform, but the public discourse remains dominated by promises that feel disconnected from Nepal’s most immediate and basic priorities. Every preventable death, every hungry child, and every neglected elder becomes a direct failure of governance and a moral debt the state must answer for. It is how we can make sure we keep the next government in check. The writers are Nepali GenZ students of biomedical engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Nepal’s life or death election

Of the nearly 19 million eligible voters in next week’s election in Nepal, an estimated 5 million are abroad and cannot cast their ballots. Many others within Nepal must travel to their home districts, and might decide not to because of the cost.
Flights into Kathmandu these days are full of global Nepalis returning just to vote, but almost as many are leaving for overseas jobs. Most of those coming or going are in the 20-40 age group, and a majority want Nepal to see a change in leadership.
Bangladesh held an election this month in which citizens overseas could vote by mail.&nbsp;
“Bangladesh made maximum use of technology not just for campaigning but also for polling itself. We could have also managed this, so people within Nepal did not have to travel to their home districts to vote,” says Mohna Ansari, former head of Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission who was an election observer in Bangladesh.
A 3-day holiday has been declared so people can travel to their home constituencies to cast ballots. Even if there was not enough time to manage ballots for overseas Nepalis, it could have been done for Nepalis within Nepal.
Former Chief Election Commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel reckons that physical voting in countries with a large Nepali diaspora would have been a logistical nightmare, but in the PR system, using electronic voting machines or paper ballot could have been piloted in some places. It is not possible to manage the entire voting process until we introduce the internet voting system.
“First of all, there needs to be political will to bring the policy and be ready to undertake that level of investment and it is not a one-time cost,” Pokharel says. “A government formed by the GenZ could have atr least issed an ordinance ensuring this right, piloted out-of-country voting where possible, which could have built pressure for the future Parliament and the government. It would have given people hope. It is a lost opportunity.”
All major political parties called for voting rights for global Nepalis in their manifestos, but these very leaders blocked legislation allowing it despite a 2017 Supreme Court ruling out of fear that it would be anti-incumbent.&nbsp;
<h2>Why so late?</h2>
Bangladesh delivered election results in just one day, but the final results of Nepal's last local polls in 2022 including that of Kathmandu constituencies took nearly a month.
Acting Chief Election Commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari said this week that the results of the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) ballot counting would “likely” be published within 24 hours of the poll closing at 5PM on 5 March. But many are skeptical.
“I wonder if we lack the capacity or know-how to announce results as quickly as possible,” says Mohna Ansari.
Former Chief Election Commissioner Pokharel says manual ballot paper counting in Nepal is inherently slow because of the large numner of political parties and/or candidates on the ballot, the counting mechanism, the political behaviour of the candidates/parties and some managerial issues during counting.
“Our present policy is to count all the ballot papers at the returning officers' officies, located at the district headquarters. It requires collecting ballot boxes safetly first. This takes time, and there have been cases of ballot boxes being damaged or stolen during transport. In a few highly difficult, geographically remote polling centres, we use a helicopter or transport. But sometimes, accommodating the party and candidates' representatives remains challenging,” explains Pokharel. A solution could be counting ballots at the very booths where they are cast.
Another reason for the delay is simply the number of political parties, and the need for each ballot paper to be examined by booth representatives for consensus. In close races, the smallest difference can lead to tense situations, further delaying results, even though counting centres are protected by metal fencing so there is no disruption.
After this, then it is the turn of Proportional Representation (PR) ballots to be counted. Weeks pass by the time the results of candidates and parties are tallied and verified. But the most common delay is because election officers think ballot counting is a nine-to-five job.&nbsp;
“The efficiency of poll station officers is most important, and they are incentivised for this,” says Ansari, adding that counting can even start within an hour after voting closes.
In remote areas, local resources could be mobilised to make counting quicker, but there is a crisis of trust, adds Ansari.&nbsp;
That could be easily solved with electronic voting which the EC implemented in the 2008 polls but discontinued because political parties felt the machines could be hacked or manipulated.

Nepalis Select Who To Elect

On Saturday, Iran retaliated with missile strikes on Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar, a region where there are an estimated 2 million Nepalis working to send money home. In addition, thousands of Nepalis were preparing to board flights to Kathmandu from West Asian cities this weekend to vote in the 5 March election. Many are said to be stranded at various aviation hubs. A Qatar Airways flight from Doha took off just before the air space was closed, while Air Arabia and Kuwait Airways have diverted or cancelled flights. Nepalis in the West Asian region said things were relatively calm where they were, although some heard loud explosions at about noon local time. In Dubai, some thought they were Ramadan fireworks.&nbsp; In Kuwait, nearly 2,000 Nepalis working in the US military base as security guards and cleaners were evacuated before the strikes. In Bahrain where the US Fifth Fleet naval base is located and which was hit by two Iranian missiles, workers contacted by Nepali Times said the situation was under control and the authorities had told everyone to stay indoors and not use highways. The conflict also coincided with the beginning of Nepal’s trekking and mountaineering season, and tourists were either on their way or planning to leave European and North American cities for Himalayan hikes. Most of them transit through Doha, Dubai or Kuwait and all three airports are closed. Turkish Airlines flights via Istanbul are still operating.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260228130212_ab5e132d56da1df6a3fb1b6919648f845a168ad2c51d79f7587fb85a6e913b97.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260228130212_ab5e132d56da1df6a3fb1b6919648f845a168ad2c51d79f7587fb85a6e913b97" data-rendition-name="original" width="1864" height="826" loading="lazy" alt="Qatar and UAE airspace closed"> <figcaption>Qatar and UAE airspace closed. Credit: Flightradar24</figcaption> </figure>  However, the main impact for the world could be a spike in the price of petroleum products if the strategic Strait of Hormuz is blocked. China relies on Iranian oil for their refineries, and Nepal could be affected indirectly if the economies of its neighbours are hit. Nepal imports all its diesel, petrol, LPG and aviation fuel from India which sources it mainly from the Gulf, and until recently from Russia. Petroleum makes up 25% of the value of all imports, and that is more than Nepal earns from all its exports. Saudi Arabia this year overtook the UAE as the main destination for Nepali workers, with the number now totalling 400,000. There are said to be as many in the UAE, and another 350,000 in Qatar. There are another 100,000 mostly women in Kuwait, and 50,000 each in Oman and Bahrain.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260228130220_d24ae633ff84f283835434becdb2f1351f84c415ce87ca34378bd4e2669661b3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260228130220_d24ae633ff84f283835434becdb2f1351f84c415ce87ca34378bd4e2669661b3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="West Asia Iran conflict"> <figcaption>Iran retaliated with missile strikes on Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain and Qatar on Saturday.</figcaption> </figure>  Nepal receives nearly $11 billion a year in remittances from overseas Nepalis (not counting India) through official channels, although the total is said to be much more. &nbsp;This makes up more than a quarter of Nepal’s GDP equivalent — one of the highest proportions in the world. More than half of the overseas remittances to Nepal comes from its workers in the Gulf, and it is the mainstay of the country’s economy. Nepalis in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE alone send home more than $3 billion a year, much of that helping support their families back home. An average Nepali worker in the Gulf sends home nearly $2,500 a year, and this is spent mainly for household supplies, children’s education and healthcare. There are also an estimated 7,000 Nepali caregivers and healthcare workers in Israel, and most of them are women. The Nepal Embassy has asked Nepalis in Israel to take caution and move to bomb shelters.