<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfdb39c7e80680e0a0bfcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000"/><figcaption>Photo: WWF NEPAL</figcaption></figure>As the Covid crisis pushes <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">millions of Nepalis back below the poverty line</a> affecting their nutritional status, the UK government is funding supplemental food for mothers and children affected by the monsoon and Covid-19 pandemic in Nepal.The additional £788,000 (Rs130 million) will allow the World Food Programme (WFP) to support 100,000 mothers and children with specialised nutritional supplement 'super cereal' for two months in eight districts in Province 2, Sunsari in Province 1, Jajarkot in Karnali and Kanchanpur in Far West. Mothers in target areas will also receive counselling on Covid-19 and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/hunger-for-governance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nutrition</a>.“Natural hazards affect marginalised communities disproportionately, including women and children. Protecting the health of the Nepali people is a top priority for the UK Government,” says Nathanael Bevan, Director of Development at the British Embassy in Kathmandu. “The UK is glad to be supporting WFP’s efforts to make sure vulnerable Nepalis, especially mothers and children, receive proper food and nutrition.”The Covid crisis has reversed Nepal’s gains in poverty reduction and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-epidemic-of-hunger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">childhood malnutrition</a> achieved in the past ten years.Children as well as pregnant and breastfeeding months in rural Nepal are among the hardest hit by the pandemic. Currently, over 15% of households in Nepal are food insecure, while around 39% of children between 6 to 23 months do not meet minimum dietary requirements.A WFP report earlier this year found that Nepal had up to 1.84 million pregnant and lactating women who were malnourished. This in turn affects the growth of their children as they receive <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-pandemic-of-hunger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">inadequate nutrition</a> even before they are born.And as newborns they get mothers’ milk lacking in nutrition, leading to a greater risk of dying before the age of five. More than one-third of children under five face stunted growth.Many of the older children also relied on school lunches for a nutritious meals but <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prolonged school closure</a> means that they are also deprived of this.In addition to reduced food intake, children and young mothers have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/children-are-collateral-damage-in-nepal-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unable to access health services and immunisation facilities</a> for the better part of the last year and a half due to restrictions of the movement.“The pandemic and its socio-economic impact have put unrelenting pressure on Nepali families’ food security. Between December 2020 and June 2021, the number of households experiencing income loss has doubled – from 21 to 45% – making food increasingly out of reach for many,” says WFP Nepal Country director Jane Pearce. “This aid will enable us to reach the most vulnerable mothers and children whose lives have been made harder by Covid and now the monsoon.”Since the start of the first nationwide lockdown on 24 March 2020, and the subsequent widespread disruption to normal economic activity, Nepalis have faced increased strain on household income, directly <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/quarter-of-nepalis-still-hungry-during-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">impacting their food intake</a>.In fact, they have reported increased job losses and a reduction in income over the past year and a half. While in December 2020, 5% of households reported job loss, it was nearly 14% in June 2021. Similarly, 21% of households reported a reduction in income in December 2020 while it was 45% in June 2021.But most families have received <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/half-of-nepalis-lost-jobs-in-past-month/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">little to no support from the government</a> to tide them over the long months of pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.Moreover, Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/disasters-in-nepal-come-in-waves/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">natural calamities and the impacts of climate change</a>, tens of thousands of people are displaced by the floods and landslides every monsoon in lack of timely preparedness.A part of the contribution will also go to help WFP conduct a new round of cross-country household food security surveys. This funding is in addition to the £4.49 million (Rs678 million) WFP received from the UK Government in December 2020 towards the agency’s response to Covid-19.

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UK aid for Nepali mothers and children

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0c24b0ad905ca02f02djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1130" height="899"/><figcaption>Photo: UNICEF NEPAL</figcaption></figure>Results from a recent nationwide survey show that more than half of Nepali households are at risk of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rise-in-poverty-due-to-covid-19-to-affect-children/">falling back into poverty</a> because of loss of jobs and income during 2020 due to the pandemic. And it is the children who are affected the most.This newspaper has been tracking the outcomes of these surveys that were conducted in May, July, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-impact-on-food-and-school-in-nepali-children/">August</a> and October. It is a sobering reminder that while the national leadership is engrossed in a fight to the finish in Kathmandu, the state has left Nepalis (especially the most vulnerable) to fend for themselves in dealing with the health and economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis.The surveys were conducted by <a href="https://www.sharecast.org.np/">Sharecast Initiative</a> for <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nepal/sites/unicef.org.nepal/files/2020-08/UNICEF%20Child%20and%20Family%20Tracker%20Survey.pdf">Unicef</a> and the last one in October involved a representative sample of 6,558 households with children all over the country.The most striking finding was that 42% of households in Nepal have no earnings at all, and a further 19% have a combined monthly family income of less than Rs10,000. This means the official figure for Nepal’s population living below the poverty line will need to be drastically revised.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0c54b0ad905ca02f02ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="763" height="491">The National Planning Commission’s 2014 survey of the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Nepal-%20Multidimensional-Poverty-Index,4115">Multidimensional Poverty Index</a> showed that the incidence of poverty had fallen from nearly <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/schooling-and-nutrition-poverty-in-nepal,1098">60% in 2006 to 28.6% in 2014</a> – largely because household incomes rose due to remittances. With the Covid crisis, Nepal’s poverty rate may have climbed back to the level 15 years ago at the end of the conflict.The Unicef survey shows that the incidence of household poverty during the Covid-19 crisis is spread unevenly through Nepal. For instance, the majority of those who remain in the ‘no earning’ category this year are from rural parts of Sudurpaschim and Lumbini Provinces. A quarter of them tend to be female-led households and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/the-face-of-hunger-debt-malnutrition,3604">10% were Dalit families.  </a>The survey shows a clear correlation between the pandemic-induced loss of income across Nepal. For example, the survey in May had shown that there were zero households with no earnings, or those making less than Rs10,000 a month. Strikingly, this figure went up to 49% in July, and even climbed to a high of 64% in August (See graphs).By October it had fallen to 42%+19% with income below Rs10,000 a month, and it is likely even lower for December. However, 45% of households were still reporting loss of income, and even those with jobs were earning less.The data shows that except for Karnali, all six other provinces reported a decrease in job loss from May to October, 2020. Province 2 showed a consistently high level of those who had lost livelihoods, and there was little improvement from August to October.  Bagmati and Lumbini Provinces had the lowest percentage of respondents reporting job losses since August.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0c74b0ad905ca02f02fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="772" height="530"><figcaption>Loss of jobs in May, July, August and October.</figcaption></figure>The coping mechanism for most of those slipping into poverty was to borrow, dig into savings, cut household expenditure, migrate, or rely on remittances. Disaggregated data showed that 61% of Dalit families were forced to borrow to survive, while only 48% of non-Dalit families had to borrow money to run the household, revealing that caste differences can also mean a class gap.Increased indebtedness will lead many households to fall deeper into poverty. Female-led households tend to borrow less, depend more on savings and remittances, the findings show.Nepal’s children bore the brunt of falling household incomes by being deprived of adequate food, health care and education. In August, 34% of parents cited ‘food’ among the top three needs of their children, and by October this had dropped to 30%, while children’s education rose from 35% to 45%.One in five families still say they have to struggle to feed their children. This proportion has remained the same since August, and hunger was more prevalent in Provinces 1, 2 and Lumbini. Inflation, and loss of income were cited as causes.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0c94b0ad905ca02f030jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="911" height="606">To a certain extent, educational needs of children appeared to be met in October with 81% of households saying that their children were involved in some form of studying – most of them at home. Less than 15% were attending physical classes, 22% were online. However, in Sudurpaschim and Province 2, a quarter of families said their children were not attending school at all.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191124/636bf0cc4b0ad905ca02f031jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="504">Survey results tend to be dry and impersonal. But behind each of these numbing numbers are untold stories of families and children abandoned by an uncaring state. Is it too much to hope that in 2021, Nepal’s rulers will take steps to reverse this neglect?

Pandemic of poverty

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636be9dd9c7e80680e0878e4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1130" height="899"/><figcaption>Photo: UNICEF NEPAL</figcaption></figure>Results from a recent nationwide survey show that more than half of Nepali households are at risk of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/rise-in-poverty-due-to-covid-19-to-affect-children/">falling back into poverty</a> because of loss of jobs and income during 2020 due to the pandemic. And it is the children who are affected the most.This newspaper has been tracking the outcomes of these surveys that were conducted in May, July, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-impact-on-food-and-school-in-nepali-children/">August</a> and October. It is a sobering reminder that while the national leadership is engrossed in a fight to the finish in Kathmandu, the state has left Nepalis (especially the most vulnerable) to fend for themselves in dealing with the health and economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis.The surveys were conducted by <a href="https://www.sharecast.org.np/">Sharecast Initiative</a> for <a href="https://www.unicef.org/nepal/sites/unicef.org.nepal/files/2020-08/UNICEF%20Child%20and%20Family%20Tracker%20Survey.pdf">Unicef</a> and the last one in October involved a representative sample of 6,558 households with children all over the country.The most striking finding was that 42% of households in Nepal have no earnings at all, and a further 19% have a combined monthly family income of less than Rs10,000. This means the official figure for Nepal’s population living below the poverty line will need to be drastically revised.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636be9df9c7e80680e0878e5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="763" height="491">The National Planning Commission’s 2014 survey of the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Nepal-%20Multidimensional-Poverty-Index,4115">Multidimensional Poverty Index</a> showed that the incidence of poverty had fallen from nearly <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/schooling-and-nutrition-poverty-in-nepal,1098">60% in 2006 to 28.6% in 2014</a> – largely because household incomes rose due to remittances. With the Covid crisis, Nepal’s poverty rate may have climbed back to the level 15 years ago at the end of the conflict.The Unicef survey shows that the incidence of household poverty during the Covid-19 crisis is spread unevenly through Nepal. For instance, the majority of those who remain in the ‘no earning’ category this year are from rural parts of Sudurpaschim and Lumbini Provinces. A quarter of them tend to be female-led households and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/the-face-of-hunger-debt-malnutrition,3604">10% were Dalit families.  </a>The survey shows a clear correlation between the pandemic-induced loss of income across Nepal. For example, the survey in May had shown that there were zero households with no earnings, or those making less than Rs10,000 a month. Strikingly, this figure went up to 49% in July, and even climbed to a high of 64% in August (See graphs).By October it had fallen to 42%+19% with income below Rs10,000 a month, and it is likely even lower for December. However, 45% of households were still reporting loss of income, and even those with jobs were earning less.The data shows that except for Karnali, all six other provinces reported a decrease in job loss from May to October, 2020. Province 2 showed a consistently high level of those who had lost livelihoods, and there was little improvement from August to October.  Bagmati and Lumbini Provinces had the lowest percentage of respondents reporting job losses since August.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636be9e19c7e80680e0878e6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="772" height="530"><figcaption>Loss of jobs in May, July, August and October.</figcaption></figure>The coping mechanism for most of those slipping into poverty was to borrow, dig into savings, cut household expenditure, migrate, or rely on remittances. Disaggregated data showed that 61% of Dalit families were forced to borrow to survive, while only 48% of non-Dalit families had to borrow money to run the household, revealing that caste differences can also mean a class gap.Increased indebtedness will lead many households to fall deeper into poverty. Female-led households tend to borrow less, depend more on savings and remittances, the findings show.Nepal’s children bore the brunt of falling household incomes by being deprived of adequate food, health care and education. In August, 34% of parents cited ‘food’ among the top three needs of their children, and by October this had dropped to 30%, while children’s education rose from 35% to 45%.One in five families still say they have to struggle to feed their children. This proportion has remained the same since August, and hunger was more prevalent in Provinces 1, 2 and Lumbini. Inflation, and loss of income were cited as causes.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636be9e49c7e80680e0878e7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="911" height="606">To a certain extent, educational needs of children appeared to be met in October with 81% of households saying that their children were involved in some form of studying – most of them at home. Less than 15% were attending physical classes, 22% were online. However, in Sudurpaschim and Province 2, a quarter of families said their children were not attending school at all.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181156/636be9e69c7e80680e0878e8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="504">Survey results tend to be dry and impersonal. But behind each of these numbing numbers are untold stories of families and children abandoned by an uncaring state. Is it too much to hope that in 2021, Nepal’s rulers will take steps to reverse this neglect?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a26ec9c7e80680e043a41jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="902"/><figcaption>Bikram Rai</figcaption></figure>It may seem like a contradiction: Nepal’s poverty rate has dropped from 42% to 21% in two decades, but the gap between the richest and poorest Nepalis has widened considerably.While remittances from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/bargaining-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepali workers abroad</a> has helped reduce overall poverty, 10% of rich Nepalis now own property worth an astounding 26 times more than the 40% of the poorest. The income gap has also become wider: earnings of the top 10% of richest Nepalis has grown three times more than the poorest 40%.These and other statistics are part of Fighting Inequality in Nepal: The Road to Prosperity report released last month by Oxfam Nepal, Humanitarian Accountability Monitoring Initiative and South Asia Poverty Alleviation Forum.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/mind-the-gap-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mind the Gap</a>, Editorial<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=21822&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Some are more equal than others</a>, Anil Chitrakar<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/gadfly-opinion/removing-poverty-with-jobs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Removing poverty with jobs</a>, David Seddon<a style="background-color: #ffffff; outline: 0px; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.01em; font-size: 15px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/its-a-rich-mans-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It’s a rich man’s world</a>, Ramesh Kumar“The findings are very worrying, it is dangerous for the rich to keep getting richer and poor to remain poor,” says economist Dilli Raj Khanal.To be sure, it is impossible to make everyone rich, and there will always be inequality in society because of individual capacity and ability. But an unnatural imbalance in wealth and income can lead to resentment, and be a precursor to social <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/peace-on-a-war-footing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conflict</a>.Nepal’s Maoists waged an <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/revisiting-maoist-demands,2860" target="_blank" rel="noopener">armed struggle</a> from 1996-2006 arguing that the ‘objective conditions’ for revolution were ripe due to inequality, social injustice and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/disastrous-discrimination-earthquake,3667" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discrimination</a>. However, 13 years after the war ended, and with the former guerrillas having been elected to government multiple times, Nepal is more unequal than ever.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a26ef9c7e80680e043a42jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="687"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a26f19c7e80680e043a43jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="546">Nepal’s Gini index (see graph) was 0.43 in 1996 and increased steadily to 0.48 by 2011. Economic professor  Kamal Raj Dhungel warns: “If Gini exceeds 0.5 it means a society is in an explosive state. We are nearing that tipping point.”Indeed, as far back as 2001 the then South Asia head of the World Bank Meiko Nishimizu in an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6696" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with this paper had described Kathmandu as ‘an island of prosperity in area of poverty’. The only change since then is that gap between rich and poor has got wider. The last livelihood survey in Nepal conducted in 2011 shows that the benefits of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/calendar-of-economic-change/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">economic growth</a> has flowed to a few already-privileged sections of society.According to the report, only 5% of Nepalis saw their income increase in the period between 2003-2011. Urban dwellers enjoyed double the income of the rural population. The top 20% of Nepalis own 56% of the wealth, and the bottom 20% own only 4%. In fact, the gap in ownership of land and property is even starker than income disparity between rich and poor.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a26f39c7e80680e043a44jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="395" height="411">There are many reasons why Nepali society is becoming more and more unequal. Some of it is historical: since the feudal <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-rana-reign-a-recap-of-history,3751" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rana</a> period royal families and their courtiers divided up the spoils among themselves, leaving little for the others. This inequality is still reflected in the gap in ownership of land. Oxfam also blames the neoliberal economic policy of governments since the 1990s that weakened regulatory interventions to keep inequality in check.Even though two-thirds of the population is still dependent on agriculture, nearly half of Nepal’s farmer families own less than 0.5 hectares of land. Only 3% own land more than 3 hectares. There are 300,000 landless families, and nearly half of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nothing-to-lose-but-their-chains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dalits</a> in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/east-west-city/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tarai</a> have no land at all.Although the reduction in poverty has brought down <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16200#.XG5ydKIzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">malnourishment</a> among children by half in the past 15 years, a third of children are still stunted and one in every ten children shows signs of wasting due to lack of food.Land rights activist Jagat Deuja says at the root of Nepal’s inequality is unequal <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15154#.XG5yuqIzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">distribution of land</a>. “Those who owned lots of property had most of the opportunities to study and earn income, while the descendants of those who had no land became poorer and poorer,” Deuja says.Rising real estate value and the land price bubble in urban areas have fuelled inequality as the already rich have cashed in big time through property speculation and investment in prime real estate. The chaotic growth of Kathmandu Valley, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pokharas-shrinking-lakes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pokhara</a>, and other urban areas is an indication of this trend. Nepal used to import 4,000 private cars a year till a decade ago, today that figure has soared to 14,000 vehicles.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/trickledown-corruption/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Corruption</a>, impunity, political instability have added fuel to the fire. Collusion between business, the bureaucracy and politicians have created a hydra-headed monster that means any attempt to distribute wealth and opportunity is fiercely resisted. Corruption in the agency created to curb corruption is a vivid indication of this nexus. Nepal dropped two points this year to rank 124 among 180 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.Sociologist Pitambar Sharma says the state’s emphasis on economic growth must go hand-in-hand with distribution. “Prosperity does not mean a few people get rich, it means lifting those who are left behind. Social development and stability are at risk if we continue to ignore economic inequality while talking about prosperity.”<h2>Measuring Inequality</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101152/636a26f49c7e80680e043a45jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="531">The chief index used to measure economic inequality is the Gini Coefficient, named after an Italian economist, that compares the income or wealth distribution within society. A score of 0 would mean a society that is totally equal, while 1 represents complete inequality. Nordic countires, for instance, are below 0.3 and are some of the most egalitarian in the world. The country with the biggest gap between rich and poor is South Africa with an index of 0.63. The United States is the wealthiest country in the world, but also among the more unequal with a score of 0.45. Nepal's Gini Coefficient has been getting steadily worse, and is now at 0.49.The other indicator is the Palma Index, which is the ratio of the richest 10% of the population's share of gross national income (GNI) divided by the poorest 40%'s share. When the poorest 40% of Nepalis earned Rs 1, the richest 10% earned Rs 3.32.

Nepal's great income divide

Recent outrage in Sikkim over an Indian Army expedition climbing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kangchenjunga">Kangchenjunga</a>, the world’s third-highest peak, has spiked attention to the need to balance mountaineering jobs with indigenous reverence for sacred landmarks. Kangchenjunga (8,586m) is not a peak as much as it is a mountain range with 16 peaks above 7,000m on the border between India and Nepal -- the word itself means ‘five treasures of the snows’ in Tibetan. Some of the highest prominences like Kangchenjunga West and Kangbachen are in Nepal, while the Main, Central and South Peaks are on the border. Climbing the peak from the Indian side has been banned since 2001 because the indigenous Lepcha community there regard the mountain as the abode of Dzoe-nga, the patron deity of Sikkim, which was an independent Himalayan Kingdom until it was annexed by India in 1975.&nbsp; Buddhists in Sikkim say their saint, Padmasambhava, recognised the mountain as a protective spirit. The state has declared the base of the mountain Kangchenjunga National Park, which covers an area one-third of Sikkim. ‘The act of scaling this sacred peak is not only a matter of serious concern but also a violation of both the prevailing legal provisions and the deeply held religious beliefs of the people of Sikkim,’ read a letter from Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) to Amit Shah, India’s Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation.&nbsp; Tamang continued: ‘We further request Your Honour to take up the issue with the Government of Nepal to ensure that no future expeditions are permitted on the sacred mountain, in deference to the deeply held beliefs and cultural values of the people of Sikkim.’ Kangchenjunga was climbed for the first time exactly 70 years ago by a British team who told King Tashi Namgyal, the Choegyal of Sikkim, that they would not set foot on the summit. Since then, there have been about 532 successful climbs of the peaks and 52 have died while trying.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628060616_5c268e08cf49f36b79ef9b31933fc2d9bf9a6f65414e7ca06dd028bf04e7ccc1.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250628060616_5c268e08cf49f36b79ef9b31933fc2d9bf9a6f65414e7ca06dd028bf04e7ccc1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1782" height="1178" loading="lazy" alt="Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb NT"> <figcaption>Indigenous communities in Sikkim held purification ceremonies following the Indian expedition to Kangchenjunga. Photo: THE VOICE OF SIKKIM / FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/peak-climbing-season-2025-s4abrxny">This spring climbing season</a> alone, there were 70 climbing permits for foreigners issued for Kangchenjunga by the Nepal government, and made it to the top while one French climber died.&nbsp; One of the expeditions this year was an Indian Army team led by Col Ranveer Jamwal, who has summited the highest peaks on all seven continents, and Mt Everest thrice. Jamwal’s team was on the final leg of a ‘<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/nimas-summits-mt-kangchenjunga-concludes-historic-har-shikhar-tiranga-mission-successfully/articleshow/121341315.cms?from=mdr">Har Shikhar Tiranga</a>’ (The Tricolour on Every Peak) mission to plant the Indian flag at the highest points of each of India’s 28 states. Kanchenjunga was the last peak they had left, and the hardest, but the expedition put five climbers on the summit. What seems to have incensed the Sikkimese is that while it has banned climbing the mountain from its side, it was an Indian military expedition that went to Nepal to climb the mountain. After news broke of the climb in May, the Sikkim Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association asked people to observe purification ceremonies in temples across the state. Mayalmit Lepcha of the association acknowledged that the Sikkim government was also partly at fault: “I don’t think such an expedition could have gone forward without the state government being informed, so it could have done something to intervene. It shows weakness. What’s done is done, all we can do is carry out these sanctification ceremonies.”&nbsp; In 2000, one year before Sikkim’s ban, the state allowed an Austrian team to attempt Kanchenjunga’s northeast face for a fee of $20,000, on agreement that they would stop 10m before the summit. Despite this, there was outrage over the expedition on the grounds that it violated Indian laws regarding the defiling of religious sites and Sikkim’s rights to maintain its culture after merging with India. The Indian Army expedition was also seen to have circumvented Sikkim’s law and violated religious sensibilities by going through Nepal. While the team may have thought they were respecting Sikkim’s beliefs by finding a way to complete the mission, the people of Sikkim saw it as defilement.&nbsp; The somber mood of the Sikkim people at the ritual contrasts sharply with Jamwal’s sense of accomplishment. “Without a doubt, the most difficult summit of my life,” he told reporters after the climb. “It tested every ounce of our will.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628060616_ccfe079c78dab788d19fe2080ee8a5d5dcb11de4157316f6d94e5964da097157.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250628060616_ccfe079c78dab788d19fe2080ee8a5d5dcb11de4157316f6d94e5964da097157" data-rendition-name="original" width="787" height="377" loading="lazy" alt="Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb NT"> <figcaption>Prayer flags along the Sikkim-Kangchenjunga trekking route. Photo: TREKKINGININDIA.COM</figcaption> </figure>  The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">controversial Nepali-British mountaineer Nirmal Purja</a> was also on Kangchenjunga this spring the mountain, on a mission to summit all 14 8,000m peaks for a third time. He echoed Jamwal about the tough conditions: “The conditions above camp were extremely tough, with deep snow and challenging terrain—more crevasses than usual.” Nepal’s government has not said anything publicly, but it is unlikely that it will ban climbing on Kangchenjunga, since it is becoming popular with expeditions because of its technical challenges, and overcrowding on Mt Everest. Nepal does have bans in place for some of its mountains out of respect for local beliefs. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/to-open-machapuchre-for-mountaineering-or-not">Mt Machapuchre</a> (6,990m) the imposing pyramid that looms over Pokhara, for example, is seen as an icon of purity by the Gurung people and a symbol of Vishnu by the Hindu communities who live at its base. A strict climbing ban has been in place since 1957, when a British expedition led by Col Jimmy Roberts stopped 45m short of the summit – either because the last bit was too difficult or out of deference to local sentiments.&nbsp; Khumbila that stands above Namche Bazar is only 5,761m high, but like Kanchenjunga is considered the protector deity of the Sherpa people. Gauri Shankar on the Nepal-China border, called Chomo Tseringma by the local community, was off-limits between 1965 and 1979 due to its association with Lord Shiva and Gauri, his consort. Although expeditions are now allowed, there are not too many takers. In Tibet, climbing Mount Kailash is prohibited by the Chinese government because it revered by the Hindus, Buddhists and followers of the Bon faith. Even Mt Everest is regarded as sacred, and its Sherpa name is Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the Earth.&nbsp; Economically, climbs on Kanchenjunga bring in decent revenue. This climbing season, the 41 permits, at $1,800 each, brought in $73,800. This is somewhat comparable to Makalu, Lhotse, and Annapurna I, but these numbers are dwarfed by the $4 million in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-everest-industry">Everest permits</a>. Revenue from Kanchenjunga climbing permits is something Nepal could potentially forgo if necessary, but the expeditions also provide jobs to hundreds of high altitude guides, porters, base camp support staff and other logistical costs.&nbsp; As the third highest mountain in the world and the tallest in India, there will always be significant motivation to climb it from the Nepal side, especially as climbers are drawn by the technical climbing at high altitude.

Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb?

The debate about who is less accountable to the public: politicians or bureaucrats is as old as Nepal’s democracy itself.
Some blame politicians for being beholden to the businessmen who finance their electoral campaigns, and are forced to return the favour with contracts and kickbacks when in power.&nbsp;
Others say it is civil servants who are neither civil nor servants, and know the inner workings of the system to exploit loopholes – they then teach ministers, MPs, mayors, or ward chairs which juicy projects can be squeezed. And everyone gets their share.
In reality, it is probably not a case of either, or. Both have their hands deep in the honey pot. Corruption is now such a given that yet another exposé in the mainstream press, like the latest visit-visa scam, does not raise eyebrows anymore.
We may have to edit Lord Acton’s famous quote to say that in Nepal we do not even need absolute power to corrupt absolutely. The ruling cartel has divvied up the spoils, so that no one ever faces charges. The three parties all know about the skeletons rattling in each other’s closets, and they cancel each other out.
Politicians and bureaucrats get all the blame for taking bribes, but what of the givers of bribes? In this crony capitalism, businesses invariably need political patrons in an elaborate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-only-growth-industry-private-sector-corruption" target="_blank">national network of give-and-take</a>.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-only-growth-industry-private-sector-corruption" target="_blank">Politicians and businesses work hand-in-glove</a> so that conflict of interest in contracts, insider trading, cartelling, and non-performing assets of banks become the norm. Our survey after the 2017 local election showed that out of the 753 newly-elected local government chairs, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/elected-contractors" target="_blank">nearly 300 were contractors</a> involved in sand-mining, quarrying, or transportation syndicates.
Nepal’s tycoons have discovered that instead of donating to election war chests of politicians, it is a much surer return on investment to spend the money to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-business-of-politics-in-nepal" target="_blank">become legislators and politicians themselves</a>.
In democracies, there are checks and balances to control corruption when it becomes endemic. The Nepal Police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are supposed to do the detective work without political interference. The courts are required to be independent in dispensing justice and punishing crooks.
But the less said about the judiciary the better. A writ petition in the Supreme Court last week accused our sister magazine <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/" target="_blank">HimalKhabar</a> of contempt of court for two stories: one about how high courts have been overturning a majority of verdicts of district courts in cases of rape, and another about the Biratnagar High Court clearing a self-proclaimed holy man, Krishna Bahadur Giri, of rape despite police presenting physical evidence.
The doctrine of the separation of powers stipulates that it is when the other three pillars in a democracy are compromised that the role of the free press becomes even more vital. The world over, as soon as populist autocrats are elected to the executive, their first order of business is to co-opt the legislature and the judiciary. Then they buy off, intimidate, or neutralise the media with Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP).
Nepal’s officialdom seems to be taking midnight Zoom lessons from other despots on how to gag the media. Last month, popular talk show host Dil Bhushan Pathak was served an arrest warrant by the Kathmandu District Court for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CntsnTrtG8" target="_blank">a YouTube explainer</a> about the alleged involvement of the son of Foreign Minister Arzu Deuba Rana in a reported purchase of Kathmandu’s Hilton Hotel.
The Lalitpur District Court ruled that Pathak could not be arrested without fair trial, but this week the Kathmandu District Court filed another case against the journalist based on a complaint by the Cyber Bureau, and put him on a fugitive list.&nbsp;
Without going into the veracity of Pathak’s explainer, it is deeply problematic that the Electronic Transaction Act has been invoked – proof that politicians are getting the courts and investigating agencies to make an example of a high profile journalist.&nbsp;
The intention is to silence media investigations into the fake refugee scandal in which the main partner in the ruling coalition is implicated, and in which one of its former home ministers was jailed last year.
The Kathmandu High Court has been mysteriously active in targeting journalists these days. <a href="https://bizmandu.com/" target="_blank">Bizmandu</a> and <a href="https://nepalkhabar.com/" target="_blank">Nepalkhabar</a> were served a notice last month <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/no-freedom-after-expression-y4inku06" target="_blank">to withdraw a story they did</a> on the Chair of the <a href="https://www.sebon.gov.np/" target="_blank">Security and Exchange Board of Nepal (SEBON</a>) Santosh Narayan Shrestha allegedly demanding kickbacks from hydropower investors.&nbsp;
Incredibly, the court even asked the two portals not to report on the subject anymore – a ruling so absurd that the Patan High Court overturned it a week later.&nbsp;
The allegations against Shrestha were made in a public meeting of the <a href="https://www.ippan.org.np/members/3060/bungal-hydro-ltd" target="_blank">Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN)</a>, and MPs demanded a <a href="https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/parliament-demands-probe-into-sebon-chairman-over-alleged-commission-demand-40-32.html" target="_blank">Parliament inquiry</a> into the regulator. <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/144523/santosh-narayan-shrestha" target="_blank">HimalKhabar</a> reported this week that while Shrestha was reportedly demanding commissions from private investors for IPOs, he cleared primary share sales in Bajhang’s 10.75MW <a href="https://www.ippan.org.np/members/3060/bungal-hydro-ltd" target="_blank">Bungal Hydro</a> in which his family members have investments, company records show.
And then just on Monday, bureaucrats hoodwinked MPs by deleting references in a bill requiring a two-year ‘cooling off’ period under which retiring civil servants could be barred from holding constitutional positions for two years.
The contest for who is more corrupt: bureauacrats, politicians, or the private sector is on.
Kunda Dixit

SLAPPing Democracy

The monsoon this year arrived on time, and brought life-giving rain — irrigating paddy terraces, recharging groundwater, reviving springs, and increasing electricity generation.
But Nepal has to deal with either too much water or too little. On a clear April day before the monsoon, the hills of Sindhuli district were parched, and there were wildfires burning out of control. There had been no rain for the past six months.
And that has been the perennial crisis for Nepal’s farmers: that 85% of the rainfall occurs during just four months of the monsoon with little rain for the other eight months.&nbsp;
The water crisis is related to the powerful changes sweeping the mid-hill region of Nepal. With better roads, higher incomes and more exposure, many residents now aspire to have the kind of water supply seen in urban homes. They want hot or cold water at the turn of a tap, showers and flush tank toilets.&nbsp;
To meet this rising demand, many local and provincial governments are investing in large water supply projects often by lifting water from rivers hundreds of metres down the mountain. But these new systems may not be sustainable in the long run.
Many villages in Sindhuli are switching from local springs to piped systems, and even in rural homes, overhead tanks are becoming common.
But this new convenience comes with big challenges. Lifting water from rivers far below requires long pipes, electric pumps, and constant maintenance. These systems are costly, and the streams themselves often shrink to a trickle in the dry months. Big water-lifting schemes look impressive, but there is doubt if they can meet growing water demand.
A much more sustainable solution would be what some communities are doing: restoring old ponds or build new recharge systems. But those villages are exceptions, in most places traditional ponds and wallows are being filled up to be turned into sports fields, or make way for buildings.
Where there are new ponds, they are sometimes in the wrong places or without proper design. Roads and drains are not engineered properly and have increased landslides and erosion. Water management in hilly areas is not just about building things, it is about building in the right way, in the right place.
Traditional water systems were based on nature. They were not perfect, but they used the land wisely. Ponds used to hold rainwater and slowly refill springs which supported families, farms, and forests.&nbsp;
Not everything worked well in the past, but we can learn from traditional water management practices. Across Nepal, some rural municipalities have launched campaigns to store monsoon runoff — either in tanks, ponds or by recharging the aquifers.
But not all efforts have been successful. Some ponds are built without any hydrological study. Some are rushed to meet deadlines rather than real needs.&nbsp;
Now, the Muhan initiative hopes to revive springs to make households more resilient and help farmings. With the financial support of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, research is being done to understand how springs work and how they are affected by changes in rainfall, land use, and development.&nbsp;
Instead of just building pipes and tanks, the project maps the entire springshed so we can understand the root cause of water shortage. In Sindhuli, the problem is not the amount of rain, but the loss of natural systems that store it and the social systems that manage water.&nbsp;
Nepal’s towns and villages now face a major challenge: how to manage water all year round as demand rises with people’s living standards. Depending only on river-lift systems is not a sustainable solution.&nbsp;
We need a mix of approaches that help store water from the rainy season to make it available for the rest of the year, whether by directly harvesting rainwater, restoring ponds, managing springsheds, or smart management of demand.
Rural Nepal is also seeing dramatic depopulation. Much of the outmigration can be stemmed if there is easier water supply for agriculture and household use. Across the mid hills, villages are emptying because springs are going dry. Government policy needs to catch up with the reality on the ground, and support solutions that work for people and nature. Every water supply plan should include recharge structures. Every road or building project should consider water flow and erosion. Local governments need more than budgets: they need training, tools, and data.
Ngamindra Dahal is with the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation, Kathmandu. Hemant Ojha collaborated in this piece and is associated with the Australian National University.

Water for Life

<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-last-of-the-kusunda">The Kusunda</a> are among the last remaining hunter-gatherer communities left in Nepal, and it has only one fluent speaker left of a language that is not related to any other language group in South Asia.&nbsp; The Kusunda call themselves the King of the Forests ((गेम्येहाक़ in Kusunda,वन राजा in Nepali) and used to have a nomadic lifestyle till recently. But decades of exclusion from mainstream society and modernity have forced the Kusunda to assimilate. &nbsp; Today, most Kusunda live across Nepal’s mid-hills and western plains, choosing to identify themselves as Thakuri and adopting names like Sen, Shahi, and Khan to avoid ostracisation. Over time, inter-ethnic marriages between the Kusunda and other communities became increasingly common.&nbsp; However, the assimilation with other communities also meant that almost no one from the Kusunda community can speak their mother tongue – considered by linguists to be a ‘language isolate’ not related to any other language group in the world, and lacking set rules of grammar that are foundational to other languages. There are no words for ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in Kusunda, nor are there words to signify direction. There are 23 languages with less than 1,000 speakers listed in Nepal's 2021 census, with Kusunda being the language with the least number of speakers. The number of people who identified as Kusunda has decreased with each subsequent census. Only 253 individuals identified themselves as Kusunda in the last National Census of 2021, down from 273 in 2011.&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><iframe src="https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/raithane-bhakha/embed/episodes/Kusundas---the-last-of-the-forest-kings-e23ge6p/a-a9peei1" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></div> The government’s decision to provide a social security stipend to the community for the past few years has prompted many from the Kusunda community to reclaim their identity and in the process, explore their culture and language. Kamala Sen Kusunda, who lives in Dang, is the only fluent native Kusunda speaker alive, although there are now other Kusunda and non-Kusunda people learning how to speak the language. By the time Kamala Sen Kusunda was born in 1975, her family had settled in a village in Rolpa. Although she did not experience the nomadic life of her forebears, she still roamed the forests freely as a child and many of the values and socio-cultural practices of her community were instilled in her and her siblings.&nbsp; This meant that Kamala grew up speaking Kusunda with her family. But by then, the Kusunda had increasingly begun to interact with people beyond their community, and inter-ethnic marriages had become a norm.&nbsp; Kamala herself married at 18 to a 52-year-old man from the Chhetri community. She would go on to have four children, but they were brought up with her husband’s culture and community rather than her own, and teaching them her mother tongue seemed impractical.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628030648_afaa298bf8ea3b7086e2ed086b11eab463ef2b20a82a4aad74df3dd2e922a4c3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250628030648_afaa298bf8ea3b7086e2ed086b11eab463ef2b20a82a4aad74df3dd2e922a4c3" data-rendition-name="original" width="855" height="641" loading="lazy" alt="Kusunda NT"> <figcaption>Gyani Maiya Kusunda with Kusunda youth in 2015.</figcaption> </figure>  “If I had spoken my language to them when they were children, they would have learned,” she tells us ruefully. “But they were growing up in a different community, so I never pushed, and they never expressed interest.” At the time, she had other things to worry about, such as earning a livelihood and sustaining her family. To find work, Kamala and her family moved to Shimla in India, where she worked at an apple orchard for six years.&nbsp; Over the next years, Kamala and her family moved back and forth between India and Nepal for work, and Kamala was not actively conversing in the language of her people or being able to connect with members of her community now scattered across Nepal.&nbsp; Had she not forgotten her language after all those years? “How could I forget the language of my ancestors?” she replies. “Not speaking it did not mean that it ceased to be a part of me.”&nbsp; Kamala had been working at a brick kiln in Thimi seven years ago when the National Language Commission tracked her down, offered her a paid position as a Kusunda language consultant and source person for basic language training in Dang.&nbsp; It was there that Kamala met her cousin Gyani Maiya Sen Kusunda, the only other person able to speak Kusunda fluently, who had been working with the Commission to conserve Kusunda language and culture. It was also where Kamala met language researcher and lexicographer Uday Raj Ale. Ale had been in the middle of his research into the Tharu language and community 15 years ago when he met Gyani Maiya Kusunda’s son, who told him that his mother was one of the few people who spoke Kusunda, but that no one had shown an interest in studying and preserving the language and culture. Ale met Gyani Maiya, spending time with her learning and researching Kusunda. By 2017, Ale had collected enough words to put together a Kusunda dictionary. The Kusunda vocabulary currently comprises 2,000 words. His research into the Kusunda language and culture has taken him to every known Kusunda household in Nepal. Although the census puts the number of Kusunda at 253, Ale reckons there are only 158.&nbsp; “Kusunda language is endangered due to its lack of use in everyday life, literature, and religious and socio-cultural practices, as well as the prevalence of inter-ethnic marriages,” explains Ale. In 2019 the Language Commission began its language transfer programs for youth from indigenous communities. Since then, the Commission has completed multiple phases of Kusunda language classes in Dang facilitated by Uday Raj Ale. The classes have 20 students, not just from the Kusunda community, but also interested non-native students.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250626120632_c6c378bc00af450f2b7f0cf17af1c3b2b6f7b7226927c458c3e01ec389869d33.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250626120632_c6c378bc00af450f2b7f0cf17af1c3b2b6f7b7226927c458c3e01ec389869d33" data-rendition-name="original" width="1485" height="1535" loading="lazy" alt="Kusunda NT"> <figcaption>Students learning Kusunda with instructor Uday Raj Ale (second row, left)</figcaption> </figure>  Khamba Rokaya, who worked as a caretaker for young Kusunda children in Dang, became interested in learning the language as she sat in with the children during their lessons, and for the last few years has been among the few non-native Kusunda language learners in Dang. “I am not from the Kusunda community, but now that I have learned the language, I hope to do my part to carry on the work and share my knowledge with as many people as possible,” she says. “One way to ensure that we preserve this language is to extend its speaker base, both within the Kusunda and non-native communities.” Ale and Kamala have continued to work together since Gyani Maya’s passing in 2020, expanding the Kusunda vocabulary and creating appropriate curricula to fit the needs of the students as their knowledge of Kusunda expands.&nbsp; But without any documentation of Kusunda history, the community’s traditions, stories, values and language were at risk of being lost to time. “The loss of an ethnicity, language or culture in a country is akin to losing a vital organ, and a unique perspective of looking at the world,” says Ale. Which is why Archive Nepal in collaboration with the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund and the UK’s Department of Culture, Media, and Sport in February launched a book of creative writings in the Kusunda language titled पिन्डा (meaning ‘The First’ in Kusunda): A Compilation of Kusunda Literature. The book is a collection of informative essays about the Kusunda language and culture, short stories that explore themes from nomadic life to universal Nepali experiences of poverty and migration, letters to loved ones, as well as conversational pieces by five Kusunda students ranging from ages 16 to 30. The works in the Kusunda language are also translated into Nepali and English.&nbsp; “Language is an important part of ethnic identity, and our indigenous languages cannot evolve or be conserved unless they are spoken or taught,” said Ale during the launch of the book earlier this year. “But most importantly, language exists as long as there exists literature in that language.” Kamala was in Kathmandu for the launch of the book, and smiled proudly as she looked at the young writers who had contributed to the collection. She said: “I’m glad the young people have chosen to learn and preserve Kusunda. Otherwise, our language would have died with me.” &nbsp;

income

UK aid for Nepali mothers and children

Pandemic of poverty

Pandemic of poverty

Nepal's great income divide

Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb?

SLAPPing Democracy

Water for Life

Saving the Kusunda language from extinction