Philanthropy will never replace<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/uk-aid-for-nepal-s-covid-affected-mp4ab6lw"> public aid</a>, but it can be a powerhouse if we use it right. With global development funding under strain, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/e75-million-eu-aid-to-nepal-for-covid-19-ckmyfbkq">European aid</a> budgets being redirected toward defence and rearmament, and the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/how-usaid-cut-affects-nepal">United States rethinking foreign assistance</a> altogether, the aid community has been left scrambling.
The reactions so far have been of two kinds: calls for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/philanthropy-in-the-time-of-pandemic">philanthropy</a> to fill the gap, and moralising statements shaming governments for stepping back. Unfortunately, the first is unrealistic, and the second is ineffective.&nbsp;
Private donors cannot solve systemic <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/our-uncommon-future">global challenges</a> alone, and telling politicians that they are morally bankrupt generally does not bring them around to your side. Instead, we need to meet policymakers where they are, sharpen our arguments, and focus on what actually works. The hard truth is that most <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/foreign-aid-policy-to-balance-infrastructure-investment-with-social-sector-investment">government aid</a> is not even designed for effectiveness, because it prioritises processes over results. Nor has philanthropy been immune to this impulse.
In early years at the Eleanor Crook Foundation, we funded holistic, multisectoral programs that tried to tackle all causes of malnutrition simultaneously. But the results were underwhelming. The approach looked good on paper, but produced no measurable improvements in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-epidemic-of-hunger">malnutrition</a>. So, we learned from that failure and changed course. Now, we direct our funding where the evidence is strongest and the results most immediate.&nbsp;
At the recent Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in Paris, we announced a $50 million commitment, alongside $200 million from other donors, to scale up one of the most cost-effective interventions in global health: prenatal vitamins – known as multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS). This funding will go toward a $1 billion roadmap to ensure access to MMS for pregnant women no matter where they live.
The science on this issue is unequivocal. MMS replaces outdated iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets still given to many pregnant women in low-income countries. With MMS, women receive 15 nutrients, instead of just two, leading to a dramatic reduction in maternal anemia, stillbirth, and low birth weight. The estimated economic returns are $37 for every $1 invested while infant mortality is reduced by nearly one-third.
The global inequities in maternal health are profound. In London, a pregnant woman routinely has access to comprehensive prenatal vitamins. In Lagos, she might receive IFA, or nothing at all. The difference reflects a gap in will, not knowledge. Ending such disparities does not require a scientific breakthrough, just greater investment in already proven solutions.
More than two decades of research, three Lancet studies, and multiple World Bank investment cases have identified roughly ten nutrition interventions that are consistently underfunded despite their proven efficacy. These are not flashy, multisector, utopian initiatives. They are targeted, evidence-based programs that can be implemented immediately to deliver measurable results.
Solutions like breastfeeding support, Vitamin A supplementation, prenatal vitamins, and ready-to-use foods for severely malnourished children belong to a package of interventions that could save at least two million lives over five years if scaled up in nine high-burden countries. Such life-changing results would cost just $887 million per year.
Malnutrition is now the leading driver of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16505">child mortality</a> globally, contributing to some three million deaths in 2023 alone. These are not mysterious tragedies. They are predictable and in many cases cost little to prevent. In a world that routinely sends tourists to space, we obviously can afford to ensure that all <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-one-nepali-mother-at-a-time">pregnant women</a> have access to a $2 bottle of vitamins.
This year’s N4G Summit may be the last of its kind. It was part of a summit series linked to the Olympics, which will next be hosted by the US. With the current <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/trump-s-second-coming">US administration </a>already signaling that it will not continue the tradition, recent commitments made in Paris have gained new urgency. Vague pledges and political posturing will no longer do.
We are not asking governments to spend like they used to. Rather, we are urging them to look at the evidence and use their remaining budgets for official <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/small-is-bountiful?fbclid=IwAR0wRoEdhgYO9qATGiukFQvK2fE6N8rCDZ4CBJBdkTC6_Es-6_mdVHldlic">development assistance</a> to scale up proven, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/small-is-still-possible">cost-effective solutions</a>. A modest investment in MMS – representing less than the cost of one week of G7 countries’ defense spending – could save 600,000 lives.
Even with constrained budgets, we have a chance to save millions of lives. But only if we stop trying to do everything, and focus instead on what is the right thing to do.
William Moore is the CEO of the Eleanor Crook Foundation and Chair of Stronger Foundations for Nutrition.

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Philanthropy in an era of declining development aid

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131120/636ced0a9c7e80680e09ad9fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="658"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Covid-19 crisis has figured in a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, where members heard USAID officials, and urged a more urgent response.Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he was concerned that the situation in Nepal was even more serious, after India stopped the export of vaccines.Meanwhile the first US legislator of Nepali-origin Harry Bhandari from Maryland has started a signature campaign calling on President Joe Biden to rush urgent medical aid to Nepal.Responding to the queries from senators at the hearing, Jeremy Konyndyk of USAID admitted the situation in Nepal was serious, that the high positivity rate meant there was an urgent need for more testing.Last week, the group <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621001079983000&amp;usg=AFQjCNExp09ZvwY7OX2ArKmLNmcLJlnyLw">The Covid Alliance for Nepal</a> wrote to the US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry to urge him to help secure the AstraZeneca vaccine from the US stockpile. Nearly 1.3 million people in Nepal who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine are waiting for the second dose, amidst uncertainty after India banned its export.Meanwhile, US Indo-Pacific Command announced on Thursday that it is giving Nepal $2.85 million to acquire oxygen plants, cylinders and storage tanks, as well as PPE, isolation centre equipment and other gear. USAID also announced that it had given various agencies of the Nepal government nearly $51 million to fight the pandemic.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131120/636ced0e9c7e80680e09ada0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1176" height="1080">Also on Thursday, deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokhrel called US Ambassador Berry asking for urgent help with AstraZeneca vaccines. Pokhrel said Berry had assured him that he was also urging Washington about the need for vaccines, and that he would keep the Nepal government informed.In return Berry also requested Pokhrel, who heads the Covid-19 Control and Management Committee (CCMC) to restore two flights a week from Kathmandu to evacuate its nationals stuck in Nepal to return to the United States. All international and domestic flights in Nepal have been grounded till 31 May, and the lockdown in Kathmandu has been extended till 27 May.In a separate development, the European Union is also extending €2 million in humanitarian funding to Nepal that will be used to monitor home isolated cases through tele-medicine services and rapid referral to hospitals, national emergency medical teams deployment and international emergency medical teams mobilisation facilitation as well as procurement of oxygen equipment including oxygen concentrators, cylinders, home care kits, diagnostics including antigen test kits and PPE.Nepal has also activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, and Finland is the first member to offer more than 2 million surgical masks, 350,000 FFP2 masks, 52,500 pairs of vinyl gloves and 30,000 isolation gowns."We stand in full solidarity with Nepal in its fight against the pandemic and are quickly mobilising emergency support with initial €2 million funding, and we stand ready to provide further assistance,”  said EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič.

International help for Nepal picks up

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111144/636b84ec9c7e80680e0677c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="658"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Covid-19 crisis has figured in a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, where members heard USAID officials, and urged a more urgent response.Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he was concerned that the situation in Nepal was even more serious, after India stopped the export of vaccines.Meanwhile the first US legislator of Nepali-origin Harry Bhandari from Maryland has started a signature campaign calling on President Joe Biden to rush urgent medical aid to Nepal.Responding to the queries from senators at the hearing, Jeremy Konyndyk of USAID admitted the situation in Nepal was serious, that the high positivity rate meant there was an urgent need for more testing.Last week, the group <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/vaccines-are-the-only-solution/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1621001079983000&amp;usg=AFQjCNExp09ZvwY7OX2ArKmLNmcLJlnyLw">The Covid Alliance for Nepal</a> wrote to the US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry to urge him to help secure the AstraZeneca vaccine from the US stockpile. Nearly 1.3 million people in Nepal who have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine are waiting for the second dose, amidst uncertainty after India banned its export.Meanwhile, US Indo-Pacific Command announced on Thursday that it is giving Nepal $2.85 million to acquire oxygen plants, cylinders and storage tanks, as well as PPE, isolation centre equipment and other gear. USAID also announced that it had given various agencies of the Nepal government nearly $51 million to fight the pandemic.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111144/636b84ef9c7e80680e0677c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1176" height="1080">Also on Thursday, deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokhrel called US Ambassador Berry asking for urgent help with AstraZeneca vaccines. Pokhrel said Berry had assured him that he was also urging Washington about the need for vaccines, and that he would keep the Nepal government informed.In return Berry also requested Pokhrel, who heads the Covid-19 Control and Management Committee (CCMC) to restore two flights a week from Kathmandu to evacuate its nationals stuck in Nepal to return to the United States. All international and domestic flights in Nepal have been grounded till 31 May, and the lockdown in Kathmandu has been extended till 27 May.In a separate development, the European Union is also extending €2 million in humanitarian funding to Nepal that will be used to monitor home isolated cases through tele-medicine services and rapid referral to hospitals, national emergency medical teams deployment and international emergency medical teams mobilisation facilitation as well as procurement of oxygen equipment including oxygen concentrators, cylinders, home care kits, diagnostics including antigen test kits and PPE.Nepal has also activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, and Finland is the first member to offer more than 2 million surgical masks, 350,000 FFP2 masks, 52,500 pairs of vinyl gloves and 30,000 isolation gowns."We stand in full solidarity with Nepal in its fight against the pandemic and are quickly mobilising emergency support with initial €2 million funding, and we stand ready to provide further assistance,”  said EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič.

<img width="1229" height="717" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109151116/636bb6a49c7e80680e07bc74jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>A combination of rampant corruption, wayward planning, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16530#.X3RCOMIzaUk">donor interest</a> and an utter disregard for intended beneficiaries has delayed Nepal’s multilateral development projects, and wasted scarce resources. Infrastructure projects, poverty alleviation schemes, initiatives to improve education have all been leaking billions of rupees over the last two decades, and budgets are continuously disbursed despite huge costs over-runs and little progress. Middlemen, consultants, contractors, extortion and excessive employee benefits have diverted much of the money meant to uplift Nepal’s most under-served regions and people living there.The World Bank funneled Rs5.1 billion into the Project for Agriculture Commercialisation and Trade (PACT) was designed to improve the farming business and raise rural income. Instead, much of the budget was spent lining the pockets of middlemen and ‘fake farmers’, the World Bank’s own investigation found. The Bank has sent a letter to the government urging legal action against the perpetrators who siphoned off the money.Equally notorious is the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded High Mountain Agribusiness and Livelihood Improvement Project (Himali) with a budget of Rs2.62 billion. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/economic-cost-of-5-months-of-nepal-lockdown/">Economic cost of 5 months of Nepal lockdown</a>, Nepali TimesLike PACT, Himali required farmers to submit written proposals to get access resources, when much of Nepal’s farming population is illiterate. As a result, proposal-writing rackets sprang up and fraudulent ‘farmers’ took away most of the money. Farmers who were genuinely in need were not even aware of the aid offer.“Projects in Nepal have been designed with the interest of donor disbursement quota in mind,” explains former secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Suroj Pokhrel, “they do not take into account the government’s delivery capacity and the reality on the ground.”The School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP) funded by a consortium of donors spent a mind-boggling Rs3 trillion from 2009 to 2015, but most of it went to building facilities, with little attention to improving the quality of instruction. Without learning lessons from it, the government is now working with another donor-funded follow up: the School Sector Development Plan (SSDP).“Development assistance to Nepal will never benefit the target group if it does not take into account their fundamental needs,” says public policy analyst Suryaraj Acharya. “The prime motivation for development funds has been in the donors’ interest rather than the overall development framework of the country.”  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-unveils-covid-19-budget/">Nepal unveils Covid-19 budget</a>, Nepali Times <img width="1492" height="763" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109151116/636bb6a69c7e80680e07bc75jpeg.jpg" alt="">Foreign assisted projects are also conditional on hiring expensive consultants for tasks that Nepalis with much more extensive local experience already have. The ADB and World Bank-funded agriculture projects spend up to a quarter of their entire budgets on consultants, a report has shown, with others spending even more. “Project costs are massively inflated by consultant fees, so there is very little trickling down to the target beneficiaries,” Pokhrel alleges. For example, the ADB-funded Melamchi Drinking Water project has spent a quarter of its budget on consultants, yet it remains incomplete two decades after work began. Bridge construction on the Mugling-Narayangad expressway also remains incomplete, even after spending Rs400 million on consultants. To be sure, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/why-nepal-is-stuck/">official corruption that borders on extortion</a> within the Nepal government machinery is also to blame for the high costs and delays. But analysts say donors often get off the hook for their refusal to look at consultant fees driving up costs.Much of the leakage is also due <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19592">to administrative costs and inefficiencies</a> within the Nepal government. Billions are spent on employee benefits, bonuses and expenses, but the projects get the green light from donors nevertheless.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/survive-2020-revive-in-2021-and-thrive-in-2022/">Survive 2020, revive in 2021 and thrive in 2022</a>, Alisha Sijapati<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/save-farms-empower-farmers-nepal-citizens-appeal/">Agriculture and livestock development</a> has been a key area of aid for the World Bank, ADB and IFAD (International Fund for Agriculture Development). The Ministry of Agriculture has got help from them for the past decade to work on a dozen projects of which eight have been completed.Of those still ongoing, the Livestock Sector Innovation Project that is funded partly with a $80 million loan from the World Bank. Although agriculture is a vital sector of the economy, even the Agriculture Ministry’s own evaluation has shown that all the resources poured into increasing production have not yielded expected results. Better off people with political connections in the districts have benefited more than the really needy farmers.The World Bank has supported Nepal’s Poverty Alleviation Fund for the past 15 years, but a third of its budget was spent on administrative work, and the whereabouts of the remaining remains unknown. Some critics say much more poverty would have been alleviated if the cash was just doled out to the poorest Nepalis.<a style="outline: 0px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/thinking-out-of-the-box-to-rescue-nepal/">Thinking out of the box to rescue Nepal</a>, Prem Jung ThapaAnother World Bank funded Rs5.17 billion project to improve food production and nutrition in the western mountains was also found to have benefited only a third of the farmers it was intended for. Documents obtained by Nepali Times show that 47% of the total budget for the 6-year Agriculture and Food Security Project was spent on administrators, consultants, and travel.  ­­Not only did the project not help <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-agro-imports-at-all-time-high/">subsistence farmers increase production</a>, most of the money got siphoned off by well-connected locals. It spent Rs 1.4 billion was spent just on training and workshops. Towards the end of the project, employees spent Rs20 million just on junkets to Vietnam, Korea and Australia. The report also show outright stealing from the procurement budget.In its own report, the World Bank declared PACT as a ‘moderately unsatisfactory’ project, which might have been a polite way of saying it did not deliver the goods. But no action has been taken on its conclusions. Vice-President of the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency Ethiopis Tafera concluded that there had been irregularities in the project’s financial records, but there has been no follow-up.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/a-covid-19-third-wave-in-the-third-world/">A Covid-19 third wave in the Third World?</a>, Ed HoltPokhrel says the only way out of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/when-will-nepals-future-ever-arrive/">Nepal’s donor dependency syndrome</a> is to set up an Agriculture Projects Bank where Nepal’s aid agencies can pool their aid. However, he says donors have opposed the plan. He adds that donors try to replicate development models that have worked elsewhere, but they have not been successful in Nepal because the conditions here are different.Acharya is even more critical. He says Nepal has to break out of the habit of accepting aid for activities that the country is capable of carrying out itself. He does not agree with the oft-repeated excuse that projects failed due to poor implementation and not wrong policies. He says it is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Knowing-how-to-ask-for-help,1348">faulty policy itself</a> that leads to poor implementation.Acharya supports the bilateral assistance models adopted by China, South Korea and Japan during their early phases of development. They required donor countries to help out in projects the governments themselves formulated as per their own long-term development strategies.    A former employee of the Finance Ministry’s Foreign Aid Coordination Department says: “In my whole career I have not seen a single foreign-funded project that has been completed in time, or has provided promised benefits.”

Aid rarely aids agriculture in Nepal

The monsoon has got bad press because Nepal’s tourism operators actively told visitors to avoid <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/managing-the-monsoon?%2F">the rainy season</a>. It is time to change that. The reason can be found right here in the vast alpine meadows of Central Nepal where this time of year you can walk on velvet grass of pastures abloom with delicate pink, red and yellow flowers as the mist rolls up the valley. There is no sound except the hum of bumble bees. &nbsp;&nbsp; There are dozens of places across high Nepal called Chaurikharka, which means yak pasture. But this particular Chaurikharka in Rukum East located at an altitude of 4,000m stands out for its serene beauty, rustic charm and bucolic setting. There is just the occasional chime of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">yak bells</a> in the distance, and the sharp whistle of herders corralling sheep. &nbsp;&nbsp; The grass shoots are so fragile that one hesitates to step on them, the rounded ridges appear and quickly vanish in waves of mist. With the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/before-the-next-monsoon"> arrival of monsoon</a>, these meadows are a soothing shade of green dotted with millions of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-anatomy-of-a-flower?%2F=">multi-coloured flowers</a>. Until very recently, it took a week or so to hike up to places like Chaurikharka, but with the expansion of the road network even to these far-flung mountains in the lap of Dhaulagiri, they are much more accessible. It is just a three-hour uphill from the Mid-Hill Highway on the border between Baglung and Rukum East.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250802130828_a0b06b494d751b2144ffbbf10894ea64b29e8aed844bc8c66171783abfaf4e16.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250802130828_a0b06b494d751b2144ffbbf10894ea64b29e8aed844bc8c66171783abfaf4e16" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="Visit Nepal in the monsoon"> </figure>  Purists would say that such easy access devalues the sanctity of these remote high meadows, but it also means more people will be moved to treasure the experience, appreciate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/natures-fragile-gift-to-nepal">the value of nature </a>so they can take steps to protect it.&nbsp; To be sure, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/deadly-monsoon-in-nepal-turns-deadlier">monsoon season can be challenging for road travel</a>. The roads are rough even at the best of times, and in the monsoon they become muddy and treacherous, often blocked by<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/monsoon-deluge-in-nepal"> landslides</a>. But that could be precisely the kind of adventure that the more intrepid visitors crave. Improved road connectivity has already made Chaurikharka and places like Badimallika &nbsp;and other sacred lakes in the mountains of western Nepal popular with domestic tourists. What is driving this traffic is the urge to go to exotic new places and share videos and selfies on social media. Several of Nepal’s travel vloggers have visited Chaurikharka and popularised the place, enticing followers on TikTok or YouTube to retrace their footsteps. But even as they become more popular, these fragile and once-remote places should be protected from over-tourism.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250731110736_f97110b7cdc3e7f80d5877690948fc9f4c95a09c583deb23b07355491e6c5446.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250731110736_f97110b7cdc3e7f80d5877690948fc9f4c95a09c583deb23b07355491e6c5446" data-rendition-name="original" width="1083" height="699" loading="lazy" alt="Visit Nepal in the monsoon NT"> </figure>  <h2>INCREASING FOOTFALL</h2> Chaurikharka is located in Bhume Rural Municipality of East Rukum, near the scenic valley of Dhorpatan in Baglung district. Even in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/monsoon-culture">middle of the monsoon</a>, there is a steady stream of Nepali hikers trooping to these high pastures – especially during festival days like Saune Sankranti which this year was on 17 July and actually marks the auspicious beginning of the monsoon here. “This year the rains have not been as heavy and there have been some clear mornings when we could see everything from Dhaulagiri to Machapuchre,” says Khageswar Bhandari, who trekked up here from the road. “The flowers, the greenery and the snowy mountain views make this an incredibly unique place.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250802130824_1b9e26f2e9853fdfe69154bb42a7c9ea6da4bf4940efc1da99b304dcfbd7d3d9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250802130824_1b9e26f2e9853fdfe69154bb42a7c9ea6da4bf4940efc1da99b304dcfbd7d3d9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1152" loading="lazy" alt="Visit Nepal in the monsoon"> </figure>  Chaurikharka is worthwhile to get to in any season, but it has a different charm during the monsoon. Word has spread and because it is now easy to get to from Baglung or even Pokhara, people have been flocking here.&nbsp; “Holidays and Saturdays see the largest crowds, with up to 500 visitors every day,” says ward chair Mankaji Pun of Bhume.&nbsp; There was a time not too long ago when local herders brought sheep, goats, cows, buffaloes, horses, and mules to graze here during the monsoon. Although there are still livestock around, animals have been replaced by visitors taking selfies. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-monsoon-and-nature-s-arithmetic">The monsoon, and nature’s arithmetic</a>, Tom Robertson Ward Chair Pun says infrastructure development is his main priority. A foot trail to Chaurikharka was built last year by the Tourism Division Office in Kohalpur, but access via the Raniwas-Koipa road section still remains challenging.&nbsp; “If we get more budget, we can improve the road and facilities to make Chaurikharka the main tourist attraction of this region,” says Bhume Municipality Chair Hom Prakash Shrestha. “After that, we hope to promote Chaurikharka as a top tourist spot.”&nbsp; Economic activity is also picking up with the arrival of visitors, but there seems to be a need to manage the makeshift sheds made of corrugated sheets that spoil the beauty of the place. Tea shops and lodges are also available but facilities are basic. Kuldeep Neupane took a three-day trip from Ghorahi in Dang to visit Chaurikharka recently, and says: “This is an ideal trip to make a quick getaway and let nature recharge your mind and body. And it is much more fun with a tent, to watch the sunrise over the Himalaya or the mist blowing in.”

Visit Nepal in the monsoon

The final investigation report on the crash of a Saurya Airlines jet on 24 July 2024 at Kathmandu airport has revealed flaws in the carrier’s technical operation procedures, poor monitoring by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) and gaps in the airport’s emergency response. Eighteen people including a child were killed, and only the captain survived as the plane plunged seconds after takeoff, crashing within the airport perimeter. This was the latest in a series of aircraft accidents in previous years, and further tarnished Nepal’s already poor aviation safety record and contributed to the country being retained in the EU’s air safety list. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The circumstances in the Saurya crash were different from the Yeti Airlines crash in Pokhara in January 2022 that killed all 72 on board, and two Tara Air crashes in February 2016 and May 2022 on approach to Jomsom that together claimed 45 lives. However, all four tragedies were a result of negligence of carriers and crew, failure to follow procedures, regulatory slackness, and overconfidence. The Saurya crash, especially, was a glaring example of how an ailing airline broke its own rules to allow passengers, including non-employees, a joy ride to Pokhara on a maintenance ferry flight. CRASH REPORT The Final Investigation Report prepared by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission and released on the first anniversary of the crash last week carried a long list of rules that were ignored or broken, and of regulatory failure. The first mistake was to cram spares, tools and inflammable chemicals needed for the aircraft’s C-Check in Pokhara into the cargo hold flouting its own ground handling procedures.&nbsp; There was no check-in of passengers, some of whom were not even employees – even though regulations say only flight and maintenance crew should be on board a maintenance positioning flight. Many brought their own luggage into the plane and stored it unsecured in the cabin. There was no flight attendant to give a safety briefing to passengers. The load and trim charts given to the flight crew were rough estimates, and the total takeoff weight of the plane was 18,300kg plus or minus 200 kg. That would still have been all right, but there was a glaring mistake in the speedchart Saurya pilots were using to calculate the minimum takeoff speed (known as VR), and it had been wrong ever since the 21-year-old aircraft entered service with the airline in 2017. FAULTY DATA&nbsp; The Commission probed Flight Data Recorder inputs from previous takeoffs of the Canadian-built CRJ200-LR in 2023-2024 and found that the undetected error in the speedchart had caused the plane to pitch up at an abnormal rotation rate at least 18 times on previous takeoffs.&nbsp; Any rotation rate more than 3°/sec is regarded as unusual. But on at least two occasions, this aircraft with tail number 9N-AME had rotation rates of 5.8°/sec and 5.5°/sec, the second one was when the pilot who survived was flying in March 2024.&nbsp; On this particular day, the plane’s rotation rate was 6.5°/sec, causing it to go into a deep stall soon after takeoff, the Commission report said. Essentially, the plane was not flying fast enough down the runway to take off safely.&nbsp; It is not yet clear whether excess weight, unsecured luggage, wrong centre of gravity were also factors, but relying on a faulty speedchart for the given takeoff weight, the captain flying pulled back on the yoke before the plane had reached takeoff speed and at a pitch angle that was too steep. The investigation report says the plane then went into a deep stall and started banking right with the stick shaking. At this point, the flight officer on the right hand seat is heard on the cockpit voice recorder saying: “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sir, Sir, Sir…” It then banked left before the pilot flying turned the plane sharply to the right again in an evasive action to avoid the parking aprons of the international and domestic terminals. Had he not done so, there would have been a disaster of a much greater magnitude at Kathmandu airport that day. The plane scraped the runway with its right wingtip, collided with a container having helicopter spare parts, and plunged into a gully east of the runway, exploding in a fireball. The investigation also noted that the impact forces seemed to be survivable for some occupants. The fire trucks took unnecessarily long to reach the site even though it was inside the airport perimeter. The absence of an ICAO-standard runway strip, inadequate rescue drills, lack of training, and a blocked emergency service gate leading to the crash site were cited as other factors. &nbsp;&nbsp; <h2>Timestamp of a Disaster</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250731110724_39cdd04693994ce6e55a5b302905c0fa4884fe85bed21ff0779bb1439f3a5725.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250731110724_39cdd04693994ce6e55a5b302905c0fa4884fe85bed21ff0779bb1439f3a5725" data-rendition-name="original" width="778" height="826" loading="lazy" alt="Flouting rules caused Saurya tragedy NT"> </figure>  11:10:34 - The Saurya Airlines CRJ200 on the takeoff roll from runway 02. It had a takeoff weight of about 18,300kg, but the pilot’s speedcard had a previously undetected mistake about the minimum takeoff speed. 11:10:55 -The plane with tail number 9N-AME goes into deep stall soon after takeoff because it does not have enough speed to lift its weight. The plane also has an abnormally steep nose-up attitude.&nbsp; 11:11:03 - Without enough speed to generate lift, the plane banks right, then left and right again in CCTV photos taken from the domestic apron (below). If it had not banked right, it could have hit the aprons and terminal buildings. Seen parked is Saurya’s other CRJ200 with tail number 9N-ANM.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250731110732_608132f7225c649125cca2691dd6a6bf930984c5b359e888d7ad9e5eacce3afd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250731110732_608132f7225c649125cca2691dd6a6bf930984c5b359e888d7ad9e5eacce3afd" data-rendition-name="original" width="770" height="555" loading="lazy" alt="Flouting rules caused Saurya tragedy NT"> </figure>  11:11:08 - The plane scrapes the runway with its right wingtip, and falls into the gully. The captain is thrown off the left side of the cockpit and survives. 11:11:15: Plane explodes in a fireball inside the airport perimeter. Firefighters take time to reach the site because of lack of access road and a blocked gate. Read the full investigation report <a href="https://www.tourism.gov.np/files/9N-AME%20AIC%20Final%20Report.pdf">here</a>.

Flouting rules caused Saurya tragedy

French citizen Louis arrived in Nepal for the first time earlier this year, planning to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-abcs-of-a-winter-trek-in-nepal">trek the Annapurna Circuit </a>before heading down to Bardia to hopefully catch a glimpse of some<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-counting-its-tigers"> tigers</a>. Before he began his journey from Besisahar, Louis (who only revealed his first name) had imagined breathing crisp mountain air, and following the melodious gurgle of the Marsyangdi.&nbsp; Instead, he had to breathe fumes and dust all the way to Chame. Louis says he masked his face with a handkerchief: “It was not what I expected, this is not right.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025080304080_f03fce1527cf8a63178e4e82589a1a7096c8cfa28893ca4a5f7fe82d91a6e38a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025080304080_f03fce1527cf8a63178e4e82589a1a7096c8cfa28893ca4a5f7fe82d91a6e38a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2419" height="1814" loading="lazy" alt="Manang trails NT 1"> </figure>  Many other trekkers are similarly disappointed as roads have been built along what used to be <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/a-walk-back-in-time-chandragiri-hatiban">walking trails</a>. Manang and Humla are the last remote regions in the Himalaya to be connected to the national road network. &nbsp;Construction of the 87km Besisahar-Manang road began in 1994, but was stalled during <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/14-years-after-conflict-no-closure-in-nepal">the Maoist conflic</a>t, and finally finished in 2012.&nbsp; Most of it has not yet been blacktopped, and sections have been carved out of vertical cliff faces, making them treacherous. But it has allowed road access to Manang, a journey that previously took a week on foot.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025080304084_32b3ca875a0df9f1dd42dbe915e6f6a2cd4f2e53f1cf2d3ee5cbdb3435905000.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2025080304084_32b3ca875a0df9f1dd42dbe915e6f6a2cd4f2e53f1cf2d3ee5cbdb3435905000" data-rendition-name="original" width="2400" height="1505" loading="lazy" alt="Manang trails NT 1"> </figure>  While the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-road-out-of-nepal">road has improved access</a>, it has impacted on<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/trekking-in-the-time-of-climate-change"> trekking tourism </a>— the mainstay of Manang’s economy. The number of tourists visiting the scenic valley behind the Annapurnas grew from 21,245 in 2023 to 30,866 in 2024. The Annapurna Circuit is known for unique sights like <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=9194">Tilicho</a>, one of the highest lakes in the world, the Thorong La pass that connects Manang to Mustang, and the valley’s own rich cultural heritage. Thorong La at 5,416m is the highest hiking pass in the world, and was used by locals for trade with Mustang before it became a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/lift-restrictions-on-upper-mustang">popular trekking route</a>. &nbsp; “For guests, the excitement of reaching Thorong La is now overshadowed by their disappointment of having to journey through dusty roads to get there,” says Manang lodge-owner Ongma Gurung. “That is the complaint we get the most.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/tourism-that-treads-lightly-on-the-land">Local tourism </a>operators are trying to get the government to build alternative foot trails. But there have been delays due to a lack of budget.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025080304084_c5f76e398182785bb17846a148e3ca89de5687b4623580f8e2d725a7a287edfa.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="2025080304084_c5f76e398182785bb17846a148e3ca89de5687b4623580f8e2d725a7a287edfa" data-rendition-name="original" width="2419" height="1762" loading="lazy" alt="Manang trails"> </figure>  The Naso Rural Municipality has identified other routes along the Annapurna Circuit in Chyamche, Tal, and Khotro so trekkers can bypass heavy vehicles involved in the construction of the Manang-Marsyangdi Hydropower Project. “But the local government cannot do everything,” admits the chair Dhan Bahadur Gurung. “And for leaders in Kathmandu, Manang is out of sight and out of mind.” Munindra Jung Gurung represents Manang in the Gandaki Provincial Assembly, and says he has raised the issue in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/pokhara-s-tourism-woes">Pokhara</a>. He is hopeful there will be a hearing. To be sure, the road is not all bad news. Locals benefit, the number of visitors has grown, and trekkers can now also save time and use it to explore <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5960">side valleys in Manang</a>, visiting the villages like Nar and Phu. Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) chief Rabin Kadariya concedes that the road to Upper Manang was crucial to connect the remote region with the rest of Nepal, but adds: “We have built an alternative trail connecting Talgaun, and we will consult local communities about their priorities on other hiking trails.”&nbsp;

Trailing off in Manang

American artist Peter Makela was in Nepal in 2022 on a Fulbright scholarship when he experienced the Matya festival in Patan in which devotees made the rounds of the city’s shrines.&nbsp;
He joined the procession, walking through 2,600 stupa and 140 bahal of the town. That immersion left a lasting impression.
As part of Gallery Mcube’s international residency program in Patan, he put his inspiration to canvas in the exhibition Yala Yatra: Walking, Working, Worshipping. The exhibition also coincides with this month’s Matya festival.&nbsp;
Makela has visited Nepal often in the past 11 years but he mostly stayed in and spent his time around Boudha. “This time I stayed in Patan, put the sites I wanted to visit on my map, and off I went,” he tells us. “Each of my artwork is inspired by the stupas and shrines in Patan that I visited.”
The stupa and Ganesh are recurring motifs in his watercolours, and the elephant gods are located in chaityas — reflecting the interplay and blending of the Hindu and Buddhist faiths in Kathmandu Valley.&nbsp;
The stupas and Ganesh are painted in vivid red, yellow, blue and green against abstract backgrounds meant to represent the sky.
“I use the sky as a backdrop because the sky has no border,” says Makela. “The four colours represent the four elements, the different Buddha families and also lights bouncing off of a rainbow.”
The use of just four colours for all the artwork stands out, and combined with the absence of heavy canvases, frames or stands render Makela’s art striking in its simplicity.&nbsp;
The Ganesh is always holding something and the art also portrays the elephant god’s sacred vehicle, the mouse.
While his vibrant stupas and Ganesh reflect the tangibility of Patan’s tradition and heritage, it is as if the backdrops with their shades of grey and red and yellow capture the soul of the city’s shrines.
“If you look closely, there is a sense of form and formlessness at the same time,” he says.&nbsp;
Makela walked 108 kora around the shrines during his exploration of the town, and in the process developed a spiritual connection with Patan’s heritage and traditions.&nbsp;
The exhibition connects with visitors on a deeper, more spiritual, level as well. And with it, they feel a sense of pride as well as the need to urgently preserve Patan’s heritage for future generations.
“Peter’s inclination and approach towards Nepali art and culture is fascinating, and it reflects in his work,” says Mcube curator Manish Lal Shrestha, whose international artist residency program promotes Nepal’s cultural heritage. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Yala Yatra: Walking, Working, Worshipping
1-5 August&nbsp;
10AM-7PM
Gallery Mcube, Patan

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Trailing off in Manang

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