<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141132/636cfdc29c7e80680e0a0c01jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="661"/><figcaption>Photo: TOH EE MING / NEPALI TIMES</figcaption></figure>The one-size-fits-all regulatory policy does not seem to work for savings and loans (S&amp;L) cooperatives in Indonesia, and the country could benefit from Nepal’s experience with small and medium enterprises.In Indonesia, a small S&amp;L cooperative which has less than Rp10 million (approximately $690) of assets has to complete on the same accounting report structure as larger institutions with more than $690 million of assets. To give context to the figure, an average labourer in 17 essential sectors in Indonesia makes about $290 a month.If we are to enforce the same regulation and supervision for all the S&amp;L cooperatives, the smaller businesses would not survive. On the other hand, if the rules are too lenient, they could undermine market discipline with middle and large savings and loans cooperatives taking advantage of it.Indonesia needs to learn from the success stories of the cooperatives’ movement in other countries, notably Nepal, with its similar culture and socio-economic conditions to that of Indonesia.According to a 2013 Kathmandu University study by Nav Raj Simkhada ‘Problems and Prospects of the Cooperative Sector in Nepal for Promoting Financial Inclusion', more than three decades after the first cooperative was established in Nepal in 1956, the country saw minimal progress in the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises.Nepal’s <a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&amp;p_isn=39064&amp;p_country=NPL&amp;p_count=118" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Cooperative Act 1992</a> however specified that the government would no longer directly promote cooperatives, shifting its strategy from a top-down to a bottom-up approach. Additionally, it also prevented cooperatives from any political interference, they are forbidden from making a donation or providing financial assistance to organisations working for a political party, religion or community.This allowed for the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/cooperatives-replacing-money-lenders,1172" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> independent growth of cooperatives in Nepal</a>. There are now over <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18437#.YSJP4y1w3OQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30,000 small, medium and large cooperatives </a>in Nepal with over 45 million members.The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18430" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">role of women</a> was particularly crucial in developing credit cooperatives in Nepal. For example, Women Awareness Centre Nepal (<a href="https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/build-women-savings-and-credit-cooperatives-nepal/updates/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WACN</a>) has successfully established 41 microcredit organisations consisting of 30,000 women members.Another study conducted by Nepal Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation Ltd (<a href="http://asia.procasur.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2.-Khairhani.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NACCFL</a>) shows that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Nepal-land-of-our-daughters,2901" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">empowerment of women </a>through cooperatives had benefited not only the individuals but their families and communities, financially as well as socially.Indonesian small S&amp;L cooperatives should similarly focus on building community-based members only, instead of giving in to the temptation of rushing to expand the business.A few reliable members who know each other well can better manage the cooperative than thousands of those who are virtually strangers. Moreover, a large number of members create a large span of control wherein self-control and self-regulation are difficult to achieve.As a collectivist culture, Indonesians would choose to deal with their S&amp;L co-operative where they are comfortable and are treated as a family rather than with commercial banks. Members could become loyalists if they have a voice and are heard. This is fundamental for an S&amp;L cooperative to grow sustainability.Grants and direct subsidisation by authorities often create a beggar mentality and increase financial dependency, which is at the heart of the problem.Irsyad Muchtar in his recent book Indonesia’s 100 Largest Cooperatives revealed that some large cooperatives tend to avoid publishing results, and are closed to the press -- worried that it will shine a light on their tax evasion.<a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2021/06/23/who-should-supervise-savings-and-loans-cooperatives-in-indonesia.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Thus, the concept of </a>a two-tiered rules and supervision institutional framework for S&amp;L cooperatives is more suitable for the Indonesian context. In the first tier, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) should regulate and supervise medium and large S&amp;L cooperatives at the national level to protect large members from any potential fraud by managements and create sound business competition among credit institutions to avoid regulatory arbitrage.In the second tier, the small S&amp;L cooperatives should not be supervised prudentially by OJK. They need more empowerment programs conducted by the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs and local governments. The policy aims to increase opportunities for those to graduate to a level where they can compete with other financial institutions. We understand that small S&amp;L cooperatives exist because they serve mainly the poor who have little or no access to formal financial services, especially since they lack collateral and a stable income.However, the empowerment programs from the government should not be financial aids or subsidies. Robby Tulus, the former regional director of Asia Pacific International Co-operative Alliance, says that when initiating a business, the source of seed money is often the starting point for people.In the case of Indonesia, their first choice is to look for special subsidies from the government. This is in line with some Asian governments favouring direct control and subsidisation to the small S&amp;L cooperatives.Tulus suggested that cooperatives must learn to focus on their competencies and deliver the best services to their members, instead of setting up the business only to get financial aids from the government and make quick money from the members.The Indonesian government can still play an important role, it can provide continuous and intensive support programs to cooperative members, such as training on management and entrepreneurial skills, risk management, bookkeeping standards and intellectual property rights. It can also promote micro-entrepreneur members of small S&amp;L cooperatives to potential customers as well as Indonesian-made products to empower micro-enterprises.While undertaking these strategies collectively, Indonesia can learn from Nepal to gradually cut down on financial schemes such as interest subsidies, credit guarantee funds, and grants to small cooperatives and their members.This will in the longer term empower the cooperatives while also reducing their dependency on the second or third parties.<a href="http://whistleblowing-indonesia.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bitra Suyatno</a> is a senior policy analyst at Indonesia's Ministry of Finance focused on financing service business issues. Currently, he is a team member on formulating Draft Law on Development and Strengthening of Financial Sector. The views expressed are personal.

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Indonesia can learn from Nepal’s cooperatives

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf459c7e80680e078040jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="610"/><figcaption>Konjuk Lama was named in numerous seizures of tiger parts in Nepal and India, and was finally caught in Kathmandu on 25 June. But like high profile smugglers caught in the past, he may be released soon by Nepal’s courts.</figcaption></figure>Despite being the first tiger range country to claim last year that it has met the target of doubling its big cat population, a new report shows that Nepal remains an important corridor for trafficking of tiger parts from South Asia to China.More worryingly, there is evidence that ringleaders of smuggling networks who have been caught in Nepal smuggling tiger skin, teeth and other organs to China have either used political connections to get light sentences, or have jumped nominal bail.On 25 June, Nepal’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) finally arrested in Kathmandu the notorious wildlife smuggler Kunjok Lama, who had been in the crosshairs of police in India and Nepal for two decades.His name was mentioned by traffickers arrested in every major seizure of tiger and other wildlife contraband in Nepal and India in recent years and investigation agencies in both countries as well as Interpol had been on the lookout for him.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/wildlife-smuggler-caught-in-kathmandu-after-15-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/wildlife-smuggler-caught-in-kathmandu-after-15-years/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596070388900000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFTmSggscMdXOjKyyPi8SBExPEtBw">One of the biggest hauls 15 years ago</a> in Rasuwa yielded five tiger pelts, 36 leopard skin and 113kg of tiger bones. The Nepal Army arrested five smugglers who were trying to take the contraband to the Chinese border concealed in a cargo truck, and handed them over to the Langtang National Park.The seizure made international headlines and was cited in The Handbook on Wildlife Enforcement in India as the most important haul of endangered species in South Asia. The accused were sentenced to seven years in jail and fined Rs100,000 each. All were released 2012 after completing their jail time. All five mentioned the name <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/wildlife-smuggler-caught-in-kathmandu-after-15-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/wildlife-smuggler-caught-in-kathmandu-after-15-years/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596070388900000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFTmSggscMdXOjKyyPi8SBExPEtBw">Kunjok Lama</a> (aka Kunjok Tsering Tamang) as being the ringleader of the smuggling operation.Kunjok Lama’s name had also popped up in successive seizures in India of wildlife contraband in Ghaziabad near New Delhi in 1999, in Uttar Pradesh state in 2000 and in Madhya Pradesh in 2008. He was named by those caught as the main ringleader in smuggling operations, and India’s Central Investigation Bureau and Wildlife Investigation Bureau had named Kunjok Lama as being behind the smuggling of at least 600 tiger pelts over the years.He had since then been in the Interpol dragnet for the past 20 years until his arrest in Kathmandu last month.Originally from Namkha village of Nepal's Humla district, Kunjok Lama has now challenged the Rasuwa District Court’s decision to keep him in custody at the Patan High Court, saying he has been framed and should be freed. In his appeal, Lama says he is illiterate and could not have signed the confession documents, and that he is not the person implicated by traffickers caught in Rasuwa in 2005 — even though police have mobile records from those caught which link Lama directly to the smuggling operation.On 14 July, Judge Rajan Prasad Bhattarai of the Patan High Court wrote to the Rasuwa District Court asking for the files on the case. According to sources, the Patan High Court could call a hearing in the case within a day or two of the documents arriving, and decide whether Kunjok Lama should be kept in detention or not.“If he is released on bail, even if the court ultimately decides he is guilty, he will disappear,” predicts a police source in the CIB’s Wildlife Pillar in Kathmandu. “And unless he is put on a travel blacklist, he will go abroad just like other smugglers we have caught before.”Indeed, Lama has travelled extensively on ‘business’ in and out of Kathmandu even after he was implicated in the 2005 raid, and immigration records show he has been to the United States twice since then.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf489c7e80680e078041jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1936" height="2592"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>A 2018 <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-tigers-now-number-235/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-tigers-now-number-235/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596070388900000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHwj-646nf-HWk2cS1o2E8sBGUQaQ">census in Nepal </a>showed that the country had 235 wild tigers in national parks, which is double the population in 2009. This made Nepal the first country among tiger range countries that had given themselves the target of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-many-tigers-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-many-tigers-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596070388900000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFqr5HwzSGOpRu3NmEj40REFMszGw">doubling the number of tigers by 2022.</a>Nepal has one of the strictest laws on smuggling of endangered animals like tigers, rhinos, leopards, pangolins, or wild elephants among South Asian countries, with up to 15 years jail terms and/or up to Rs1 million fines for those found guilty. However, court records show that no one has ever received this maximum sentence even after being caught for major smuggling operations like the one in 2005. The perpetrators have either used legal loopholes to be released, or have received the minimum sentences.Conservationists say political patronage, corruption in the judiciary and poor prosecution are the reasons why the provisions for hefty penalties for wildlife smugglers have never been implemented, and why many end up free to resume their smuggling activities.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf4b9c7e80680e078042jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="585"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Another high profile smuggler who has escaped prosecution is Lodu Dime (pronoucned ‘dee-may’), who was arrested in 2012 after a cargo truck driving from Kathmandu to the Chinese border in Rasuwa was apprehended. Hidden behind sacks of rice were five tiger pelts and six large sacks with 512 pieces of tiger bones, skulls and claws and 122 fangs. Conservationists calculated that the contraband must have come from at least 31 dead tigers.The driver and truck owners were arrested, and they named Lodu Dime of Boudha in Kathmandu as the person who hired their truck for Rs100,000 to take the rice to Rasuwa. Police raided Dime’s house and confiscated a large haul of wildlife contraband, eight passports and Rs4 million, as well as Indian, Chinese, Bangladeshi and Indonesian currency.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf4e9c7e80680e078043jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="486"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Lodu Dime fled, but returned to get himself cleared by the courts after paying a nominal Rs100,000 fine, and his wife who had been arrested was also freed. However, the Appeals Court sentenced him in absentia to five years in prison. Despite this, records show that Dime kept travelling freely back and forth between India and Nepal.With help from Interpol, Dime was finally caught in New Delhi in 2017 after the Indian CIB found he was  involved in poaching tigers in Madhya Pradesh. He was extradited to Nepal in 2018 and sent to the District Jail in Nuwakot to serve his five year sentence. But Dime appealed at the Supreme Court where the bench of Justices Mira Khadka and Dambar Bahadur Shahi decided to release him on only Rs45,000 bail. Dime then disappeared.“The bail amount was negligible compared to the cash value of the contraband, the court never put a travel ban on him, and after jumping bail he was back to his smuggling activities,” a Nepali CIB official involved in the investigation told Nepali Times.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf519c7e80680e078044jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="726" height="680"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Police have now uncovered links between Lodu Dime and Kunjok Lama, and found that they sometimes worked together to make Nepal a collection point for wildlife smuggled from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to be transported to China through Kodari, and later Rasuwa checkpoints.In the past five years alone Nepal’s CIB has caught red handed 73 tiger smugglers in 31 raids. Among them are nine Indians and two  Chinese. Just in the past five years, the seizures have included 28 tiger pelts and 139kg of tiger bones. Although many of the tigers were probably poached in India, two tigers were found to have been killed in Nepal, one was poisoned and other electrocuted.The nine Indians arrested in Nepal are from the Babriya forest-dwelling community in India who have skills in wildlife tracking. One of them was Ramjas Banjara, who served as the link between poachers in India and smugglers in Nepal who trafficked the wildlife parts to China.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf539c7e80680e078045jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="456"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Banjara was caught in Bardia with one tiger pelt and 15kg of tiger bones, and was handed the minimum sentence by law of five years in jail by Nepalganj Court, and was released in April after serving his term.“Notorious smugglers get only the minimum five years in jail, and a whole lot of Indian smugglers in Nepal’s jails who are part of the smuggling network are now in line to be released,” says Police Sub-Inspector Birendra Johari, who have been involved in numerous sting operations against wildlife smugglers.Of the six other Indian smugglers caught in a CIB sting operation in Kailali in 2015 that seized two tiger pelts and 40kg of bones, five were released on bail after paying Rs100,000 each and immediately escaped to India. This was the first time that so many Indian smugglers had been caught in one operation in Nepal, confirming the involvement of Indian poachers in Nepal.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf559c7e80680e078046jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1494"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Babriya also knew how to kill tigers without a gun which ends up damaging the pelt with bullet holes, and reduces its sale value. Since every part of a tiger can be sold in China and Vietnam, there is hardly any evidence if a tiger has been poached. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/7-musk-deer-killed-by-poachers-during-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/7-musk-deer-killed-by-poachers-during-lockdown/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596070388900000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH2JXpDHOaKpU23YzeciJONKmU18A">Wildlife smuggling has increased</a> during the COVID-19 lockdown.A report by the <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/wildlife/2020/World_Wildlife_Report_2020_9July.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/wildlife/2020/World_Wildlife_Report_2020_9July.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596070388900000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHHOfQN9EhwKrHJu8JMc3d-VxfmtQ">UN’s World Wildlife Crime Report 2020</a> says that there has been a marked increase in the poaching of tigers between 2007 and 2018, mainly in India and Thailand. But it notes that smuggling is also rife in Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.‘All parts of the tiger are traded and used for traditional (Chinese) medicine, but the bones are generally most sought after,’ the report says. ‘Consumer demand has shifted in recent years with tiger product buyers purchasing these goods as a sign of wealth rather than for their health. The most popular bone-based products appear to be tiger wine and tiger glue/paste. The trade has shifted to online sales through social media and messaging apps.’<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf599c7e80680e078047jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="581"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The trafficking in protected species report by the Vienna-based UN Office of Drugs and Crime investigated 600 incidents of tiger smuggling and found that parts of South Asia have become hotpots of tiger poaching and smuggling — especially using Nepal as a transit point to China. The Handbook On Wildlife Enforcement in India also cites Nepal as a main corridor to China for smuggling of tigers killed by poachers in India. (See map)The report also notes that besides the threat to biodiversity and national security from criminalisation, there are also serious health implications of illicit wildlife trade:  ‘The illegal trade in wildlife, which by definition does not go through proper sanitary and phytosanitary controls, can potentially lead to the spread of zoonoses, such as SARS-CoV-2 that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.’The reputation of the court system in Nepal which was already under scrutiny for corruption, has been tarnished even more this month by the Supreme Court Chief Justice and another judge freeing a senior police officer sentenced to life imprisonment for brutally murdering his wife and burning her remains.There has also been intense media spotlight on another bench of the Supreme Court which this month released on bail a member of a prestigious family who had killed a woman while driving under the influence of alcohol last year.<a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/wildlife/2020/World_Wildlife_Report_2020_9July.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/wildlife/2020/World_Wildlife_Report_2020_9July.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596070388900000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHHOfQN9EhwKrHJu8JMc3d-VxfmtQ">World Wildlife Crime Report</a>Trafficking in protected species 2020UNODC, World Wildlife Crime Report 2020, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna<a href="http://www.unodc.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.unodc.org&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1596070388900000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHVQlpoBfUNOR5IU9lRB9-aPPs9UA">www.unodc.org</a>134 pages<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141144/636baf5b9c7e80680e078048jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="798" height="1132">

Lax laws make Nepal haven for tiger poachers

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a64ce9c7e80680e0598fajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1203"/><figcaption>Photo: MANISH PAUDEL</figcaption></figure>They ate rats with rotten rice, were ravaged by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-mosquito-that-changed-nepals-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">malaria</a> and beaten by their Japanese captors. Only four of the 300 Nepali prisoners of war captured in Singapore and transported to camps in Indonesia survived. Bal Bahadur Basnet, now 98, was one of them.The British <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/the-gurkhas-an-interactive-timeline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gurkha</a> defending Burma from Japanese invasion during the Second World War had to flee to Malaya, and were captured as Singapore fell. Those who refused to surrender were executed.First they were taken to Java, where the white soldiers were put in one camp, while the Indians and Nepalis were kept in dirty, insect-infested cells with little food.“On empty stomachs we were made to work carrying heavy loads, and had to bury the bodies of our friends,” Basnet recalls, adding that punishment for disobedience was to have nails hammered into their foreheads in front of fellow prisoners. Soon, the Japanese crammed the soldiers into vehicles and ships and took them to Java, then five months later to camps in New Guinea, where hundreds of prisoners survived eating coconuts and even grass. Many contracted malaria, while others died with painful boils all over their body.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2030#.XejsHpMzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ex-POWs get  £10,000</a>, Ramesh Poudel<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5987#.Xejs9ZMzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"War is the worst of all things"</a>, Nepali TimesOnly four Gurkhas who were brought to New Guinea survived. “The dead were the lucky ones, those who were alive worried that there would be no one to bury them after they died,” remembers Basnet.Basnet (pictured, left, and with a knife that survived the war, above) was good with scissors, so the Japanese made him the camp barber. He talked to his captors in broken English while he cut their hair, and remembers the Japanese were confident they would win the war.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a64d09c7e80680e0598fbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="402">“They told me they would conquer the world, and Nepal would soon be a part of Japan. But one day there was panic in the camp, the Japanese started melting away,” Basnet remembers. He found out only later that the Americans had bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.“The atom bomb saved my life,” Basnet says.Basnet’s platoon had 1,300 members at the start of the war, but only 300 remained when they were captured. Among them, 200 were wounded and could not walk, so they were left behind to die. Only 100 remained in New Guinea at the end of the war, and of them only four were Nepalis.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDeAg8i3ryI&amp;t=9sA month after the Japanese left in 1945, Australian soldiers arrived and took the POWs to Darwin, where they were given Australian Army uniforms and $20 each for their trip to Bombay. After that it was a long train journey to Gorakhpur, where they were reunited with other Gurkhas who had survived the war.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2529#.XejuxZMzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A bahun Gurkha</a>, Nepali TimesBasnet hiked over the mountains to his home in Galkot of Baglung. After four years, his family and friends had given him up for dead. It was a surprise homecoming, and everyone was ecstatic.But peace did not last. The Gurkhas were given a choice to join the British or Indian Armies. Basnet opted for the Indian Army, to be closer to home. And soon, India was at war with Pakistan and Basnet’s platoon had to go to Ambala from Dehradun. Again, Bal Bahadur Basnet lost many friends from the Gurkha brigade in the battles in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/kashmir-and-kathmandu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kashmir</a>.After that war, the Gurkhas who had served more than 15 years were given a choice to stay or retire with pension. Basnet says he raised his hand and quit the army.“By then I was pretty tired of fighting other people’s wars.”

The atom bomb saved my life

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111156/636a369c9c7e80680e04831ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>RENEWABLE TRANSPORT: Symbolic gestures like President Bidya Devi Bhandari using an electric limousine, and more practical tax breaks for EVs have won Nepal international praise for a proactive energy policy. However, reforms are still needed to encourage electric public transport. Pic: THE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE</figcaption></figure>Residents of Kathmandu by now know that they breathe some of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/every-breath-you-take-air-pollution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dirtiest air in the world</a>. But unlike elsewhere, that awareness has not created the public opinion pressure to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/open-air/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">force politicians to act</a>.Up to 35,000 Nepalis lose their lives annually due to diseases caused by air pollution. One in every 10 people in Kathmandu suffers from chronic lung diseases like COPD, bronchitis and emphysema. The average life expectancy of Nepalis <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/air-pollution-decreases-life-span,3999" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is reduced</a> by over two and one-half years because of air pollution.“We have seen that electric public transportation <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/public-transport-is-equal-to-public-health,844" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can improve public health by reducing pollution</a>,” says Sajha Yatayat Executive Director Bhushan Tuladhar. “Recent advances in electric transport provide the solution. What is sorely lacking in Nepal is political will, long-term commitment and strategic planning for electric mobility.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=25485&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Life in the time of tornados</a>, Ajaya DixitIndeed, Nepal’s policy makers no longer have an excuse to do nothing about air pollution: they can follow the example of China and India and announce a national campaign to switch to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/cleaner-air-with-greener-buses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electric public transport</a>.India is rolling out 7,000 electric buses this year. The Delhi Metro is now powered by solar energy and plans to go fully solar by 2021.All 16,000 public buses in Shenzhen are electric. China has replaced all its petrol two-wheelers with electric motorcycles and scooters.Global demand for electric vehicles is rising rapidly, and manufacturers are having a hard time meeting demand, mainly because of the shortage of lithium ion batteries. The sale of electric vehicles overtook fossil-fuel cars in Norway last month.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/electri-city-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Electri-City Cars</a>, Sikuma Rai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/20-electric-by-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">20% electric by 2020</a>, Om Astha RaiHere in Nepal, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/electri-city-cars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electric cars</a> now make up 10% all of all new sales. The first 40 Hyundai Kona EV sold out as soon as they arrived, and the next batch of 40 are already booked. In fact, Hyundai launched Kona in Nepal before it did so in Australia and the US. The Korean car-maker listed Nepal as a top priority market in the Asia- Pacific because of tax breaks for electric vehicles here.“We were able to convince the manufacturers that Nepal was ready to go electric because of our hydropower potential and the tax difference between electric and non-electric vehicles that showed a strong government commitment,” explained Nirakar Shrestha of Laxmi InterContinental, which represents Hyundai in Nepal.While the retail price of petrol and diesel reaches up to 261% above the cost price, electric vehicles carry just a 10% tax on the purchase price.  Electric cars are exempt from road tax, which can be Rs30-50,000 per year for fossil-fuel cars. Nepal is the only country in the world with such a huge relative tax difference.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-a-fossil-past-to-an-electric-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From a fossil past to an electric future</a>, Om Astha Rai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/cleaner-air-with-greener-buses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cleaner air with greener buses</a>, Bhushan Tuladhar<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111156/636a369f9c7e80680e04831bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>However, there are still challenges to overcome before electric vehicles gain greater public acceptance, including the lack of charging stations, undependable electricity supply, and inadequate parking lots. A fast-charge electric station costs a minimum of $30,000 and can charge only 25 vehicles a day. Establishing one requires a government subsidy as well as a regulator to permit the charging of different EV models.Kathmandu Valley alone has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/poisoning-the-air-we-breathe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">750,000 motorcycles</a>, which are a major source of toxic gases like carbon monoxide and ozone. Introducing tax incentives for bikes and scooters similar to those for private cars could be a pivotal move. Also, at the moment there is no registration policy on electric two-wheelers, discouraging buyers.In October last year, Prime Minister KP Oli unveiled an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/20-electric-by-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">electric mobility action plan</a>, proposed to transform at least 20% of the fleet of public vehicles into battery-operated ones by 2020. Amidst much fanfare he inaugurated the first five Chinese, BYD electric buses inducted by Sajha Yatayat. President Bidya Devi Bhandari herself has a BYD electric limousine.Last year, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mayoral-airs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathmandu Valley’s 18 mayors gathered for a workshop</a> organised by ICIMOD to discuss an air pollution reduction strategy. Since then, beyond lip service little has been done to establish electric public transport and make emission tests for fossil vehicles more effective.Local and provincial governments have shown an interest in providing financial support to develop electric public transport, but the plans are sketchy and ad hoc. A case in point is the confusing and conflicting proposals for electric bus rapid transit, monorail and light rail transit along the Ring Road. The proposals are restricted to speeches and slogans, but nothing concrete has been done.One reason is the high investment cost of electric public transport, which requires government to step in with subsidies.Over the years, revenue from the Petroleum Tax has grown to a whopping Rs5.2 billion. Some of this could be invested in a clean-energy electric transportation strategy.The Seoul-based Global Green Growth Institute (<a href="http://gggi.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GGGI</a>) has been helping the central government with just such a strategy on electric mobility, and to find potential investors. General Director Frank Rijsberman was in Kathmandu last week to sign an agreement to implement e-mobility in Nepal. GGGI is keen to help Nepal with its first purchase of 300 electric buses for cities across Nepal.  (See interview below)“Operating an electric transport fleet is more complex, requires higher initial investment and more infrastructure than traditional buses, but in the longer-term, renewable energy sources are not only ecologically but also economically viable,” said Rijsberman. “We believe that it is not only the right thing to do but also the best way of growing in the 21st century. In the coming years we hope to see a breakthrough and electric buses on the streets of Kathmandu.”Electric vehicles are now a necessity, not just an environmental statement. Neighbouring India and China have committed to manufacturing only electric automobiles by the year 2030. This means Nepal will be forced to go electric since most vehicle imports are from those two countries.Said Bhushan Tuladhar of Sajha Yatayat: “Like it or not, Nepal will have to go all electric in about a decade. So we may as well start planning for it. That way, the transition will be much smoother, efficient and advantageous.”<h2>Investing in renewables</h2><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111156/636a36a29c7e80680e04831cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="799"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Frank Rijsberman of the Korea-based <a href="http://gggi.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Global Green Growth Institute</a> was recently in town to sign an agreement with the government and Sajha Yatayat on electric mobility. Nepali Times asked him about the future of electric public transport globally and in Nepal.Nepali Times: Why is your Global Green Growth Institute so involved in electric mobility around the world?Frank Rijsberman: We are a young intergovernmental organisation set up in 2012 with 32 member countries and 20 more in the process of becoming members, like Nepal. We help governments plan green growth, a model of economic development that is both more environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. In Nepal, we helped the government develop a national electric mobility strategy, and we have also helped members mobilise $1 billion in climate finance.We are also working to make cities greener by managing water, sanitation and solid waste. I met with Nepal’s minister of forests and environment and he asked us if we could start working on forests as our next priority. We have done similar work in Indonesia and Myanmar, and that is likely to be our next priority here.Do you see Asian countries moving towards renewable energy?It is challenging to switch from big investments in coal and nuclear energy, because all those investments have become stranded assets. China and India are making enormous progress in renewable energy. Many other Asian countries are a bit behind — Vietnam is still planning to build 25 new coal fire power plants. We are working with governments to introduce large-scale renewable energy sources. The private sector will invest only if the government has the right policy, so we work with governments for that.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/from-playing-victim-to-proactive-leadership-on-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From playing victim to proactive leadership on climate</a>How can Nepal mitigate on carbon, while adapting to climate change?Adaptation is still very much the number one priority for Nepal but it must grow to middle-income status by 2030, without increasing emissions, by investing in renewable energy. This is now the cheapest form of energy and decentralised solar energy is a much easier way to reach remote communities that were very poorly served by a centralised grid.So I would call it adaptation with mitigation co-benefits. It may well be possible to trade those emissions with countries that should reduce more but cannot on their own. You can have mitigation measures too, but the first priority for countries like Nepal that rely on agriculture is to make sure that society is no longer vulnerable and is more resilient to climate change.Also, many governments still want growth. But the quality of growth really matters; it should be environmentally sustainable. It used to be the right thing to do, but being sustainable is also commercially attractive.What progress are other Asian countries making to become low-carbon economies?China has become a real leader in electric transport. Shenzhen is the first city in the world with an all-electric fleet of buses. Beijing has also taken big steps in curbing air pollution. India has also made considerable progress in renewable energy. The next big thing will be energy efficiency in buildings.What are the prospects for electric public transport in Nepal?We have done electric bus projects in a number of countries and while it is more expensive initially, and also for infrastructure like charging stations and batteries, its operational cost is much cheaper. We are helping the Nepal Government find interested investors, and hope to see a breakthrough in coming years with electric buses on the streets of Kathmandu.

Sonia Awale

Nepal’s electric transport future is here

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714118/636903449c7e80680e037cb0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="885"/>After being hunted nearly to extinction, Nepal’s tiger numbers  surged in recent decades thanks to a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Conservation-and-tourism-Chitwan-National-Park,2957" target="_blank" rel="noopener">successful conservation program</a>. But with Nepal committed to double its tiger numbers, there are questions about whether some of the country’s national parks are becoming too crowded.At the World Tiger Summit in 2010 in St Petersburg, 13 tiger range countries <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16820#.W2wXGtUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">committed to doubling tiger populations by 2022</a>. Nepali officials are confident the country’s total wild tiger population can be increased to 242 to reach that goal.“Nepal will be the only country to meet the target, and we will be releasing the total figures of the recent census soon,” said Man Bahadur Khadka, Director General of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/sun-striped-shadows/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sun striped shadows</a>, Lisa Choegyal The census result, synchronised with a count in India, was supposed to be announced on World Tiger Day on 29 July. But it was suddenly postponed, fuelling speculation the tiger count had decreased from the 2013 total of 198, with 120 of the tigers in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nation-quality-control-in-tourism,471" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chitwan</a> National Park.Some experts say the number could have gone down, because male tigers have been getting into fights over territory. Eleven tigers died in the past three years in Chitwan, five of them so far this year."Animals have been known to limit their own numbers by social mechanisms to avoid depleting prey in their natural habitat. Tigers are territorial, and space is limited to match natural population growth, so this could be what is happening in Chitwan," one international tiger expert told us.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/clouded-future-for-the-clouded-leopard/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clouded future for the Clouded Leopard</a>, Yadav GhimireyKhadka denied withholding the announcement because of the total was less than in 2013, saying enumerators were taking longer than expected to go through camera trap images. Every tiger has to be recognised by its stripe pattern, which are as individual as human fingerprints.“We have no need to hide the figures, we just want to be accurate with the count, and there are other factors like reconciling individual tigers with camera trap images from <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3126#.W2wXMNUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India</a>,” Khadka added.However, delaying the announcement has raised fears Nepal may not increase the tiger total by 50 tigers in the next four years.“Someone, somewhere seems to want to cook the data. If so, this will hurt Nepal’s credibility in the global conservation movement that has so far praised Nepal’s effort to protect the tiger,” said the expert.Even if the target is met, however, tiger numbers could exceed the carrying capacity of protected areas, especially <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12200#.W2fawWaB1TY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chitwan</a>.Habitat destruction, human encroachment along wildlife corridors, new highways, transmission lines, irrigation canals and new  railroads <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/habitat-destrcution-of-tiger-in-Tarai,3423" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disturb the ecosystem of which the tiger is at the top of the food chain</a>.If Chitwan has reached saturation, tiger numbers may need to be boosted in Bardia, which has 50 tigers, but has area to sustain double that number. National parks in Banke and Parsa can also accommodate more tigers if the prey base is increased.There have always been questions about whether Nepal should have committed to doubling tiger numbers, when protected space is so limited and prey numbers are shrinking. When tiger territories overlap, there is fierce competition between individuals as well as with other predators, like leopards, for prey.An average tiger needs to make at least one kill of a deer-sized animal a week – that makes 12,000 kills per year. Chitwan has a lower large prey density than Bardia, and conservationists doubt if it is sufficient to sustain so many tigers.The tall grass along floodplains and oxbow lakes of the Narayani and Rapti Rivers are the ideal habitat of the tiger, but these are threatened by invasive mikania vines, disturbance due to mass tourism, and annual grass-burning. Chitwan’s wetlands, favourite watering holes for tigers, have also been going dry because of the dropping water table in the Inner Tarai due to over-extraction.The sharpest increase in tiger numbers in recent years has been in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/bardiya-beginnings-Lisa-Choegyal,1085" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bardia </a> National Park, with the population going up from 18 in 2009 to 50, four years later. But even for Bardia to take more tigers, its grasslands and water courses need to be protected so prey can thrive.Man Bahadur Khadka says the government will now announce the official tiger tally on National Conservation Day on 23 September, adding: “We are not doctoring the numbers, we are just trying to be accurate as possible.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCtyrTtZRLQ<h2>WWF video</h2><h4>Tigerman Leonardo DiCaprio</h4>For the past decade, Hollywood actor <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000138/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leonardo DiCaprio</a> has been <a href="https://www.leonardodicaprio.org/protecting-wild-tigers-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supporting the WWF campaign</a> to double wild tiger numbers through his philanthropic organisation.<a href="http://www.wwfnepal.org/what_we_do/wildlife/tiger/tx2.cfm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The initiative</a> funds tiger conservation in 13 tiger range countries, including Nepal, to boost the numbers of wild tigers to 6,000 by the next Year of the Tiger, 2022. Currently there are 3,900 tigers in the wild all over the world, up from 3,000 eight years ago, with most of the increase in Russia, India, Bhutan and Nepal.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714118/636903479c7e80680e037cb1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="931"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In Nepal, DiCaprio has donated nearly $7 million to WWF to boost tiger numbers. The resources were used to set up more than 400 community anti-poaching groups in areas bordering national parks and wildlife corridors, and to help reduce human-tiger conflict.DiCaprio visited <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/bardiya-beginnings-Lisa-Choegyal,1085" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bardia National Park</a> two years ago to inspect anti-poaching initiatives and to set up camera traps (right). He said after the visit: “I am proud of the work being done here. Tigers are some of the most vital and beloved animals on Earth. I am optimistic about what can be achieved when governments, communities, conservationists and private foundations like ours come together to tackle global challenges.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714118/6369034a9c7e80680e037cb2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="850" height="541"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>WWF has also been trying to re-invigorate the tiger grassland habitat by constructing and upgrading wetlands and waterholes, establishing firelines against forest fires, and installing solar-powered electric fences.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/habitat-destrcution-of-tiger-in-Tarai,3423" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Allow tigers to roam more freely</a>, Om Astha Rai<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Conservation-and-tourism-Chitwan-National-Park,2957" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conservation and tourism</a> , Kristjan Edwards<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/Tigerman-tiger,930" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tigerman</a> , Lisa Choegyal<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-cantankerous-conservationist/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The cantankerous conservationist</a> , Lisa Choegyal

Kunda Dixit

How many tigers in Nepal?

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

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

Nukes in the neighbourhood

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

Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village

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