<img width="800" height="356" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131144/637238989c7e80680e0c7394jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Edited excerpts from the 'Geopolitics and Economic Diplomacy' session during Kantipur Conclave 9-10 September with Swarnim Wagle, former vice-president of the National Planning Commission and development economist Prof Mahendra P Lama who is leading a team to prepare India’s North East Region Vision 2035. Swarnim Wagle: Let’s start with connectivity, which everyone is talking about in Nepal. Even in India, Narendra Modi has emphasised it. There are different forms of connectivity, physical, energy, digital, citizen-to-citizen connectivity.Mahendra P Lama: Connectivity is now of primary importance. China is building connectivity projects in Africa. India is also talking about connectivity. There are visible and invisible connectivity plans moving forward.Historically in Nepal, it was King Mahendra who first raised the issue of landlocked Nepal’s direct access to the sea during the 1964 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He repeated that in Kabul in 1970. India was angry that a subject of bilateral concern should be raised on the international stage, and blockaded Nepal in 1970. India only allowed the movement of milk, salt, medicines and kerosene across the border into Nepal.I accompanied Indian Prime Minister Indra Kumar Gujral when he visited Nepal in 1997. He opened the Phulbari corridor so that Nepalis could travel across India to Bangladesh. The Asian Highway is 25km away from Kakadvitta, from there, you can go directly to Dhaka, Chittagong, and the Indian north-east from Bangladesh’s ports.Similarly, the road to Shillong from Dawaki Tamabil in Meghalaya was also opened, as was the road to Akhora, Tripura and Bangladesh.The Indian government is now building a 'trilateral highway' to connect South-East Asia under the 'Look East Policy'. In two years you will not have to fly to Siliguri, Gauhati, Manipur, Burma and Thailand, there will be highway connections, opening up opportunities for business, tourism, healthcare and education.Eastern Nepal occupies 17% of Nepal's area with 14 districts, and a population of 4.5 million. East Nepal can have a corridor from Chiwa Bhanjyang to West Sikkim. Then from Gazing, Soren in West Sikkim, one can go directly to Taplejung from the north to Pathibhara. It will be beneficial economically as well as for pilgrims. Nepal has a chance to play a big role in this. Swarnimji, you have released the new book The Great Upheaval, which also talks about connectivity at the local and regional level. The idea is different in different parts of the world. What is the difference between their thinking, and our thinking here at the local and regional level?Swarnim Wagle: Connectivity is not just about economic development, but also involves geopolitics, the competition between China and India. Bangladesh has struck a good balance in this regard. When I reviewed China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), I found that it expanded first from the strategy of 'Going Out' in 1999. After 2013, it came out as the BRI concept with Xi Jinping. That was when China aggressively moved ahead and emerged as a kind of ‘power broker’.The global economic recession of 2008 was a 'trigger'. China invested all its trade surplus in American Treasury Bonds. After this, interest rates fell sharply, becoming negative. The 'surplus' was invested in BRI. China began producing cement, aluminum, glass, construction material, and the demand for these products from developing countries led to the rise of China.From 2008 till Covid in 2019, China's two major banks, Exim Bank and China Development Bank, had become institutions comparable to the World Bank. Looking at the 10-year figure, there was $462 billion in accumulated debt. In some years, these two Chinese banks invested more in loans than international financial institutions including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank. It reached a high point in 2016. Both banks alone had $75 billion in loan investments.The BRI was discussed in Nepal in 2017, but along came Covid-19. It is now on hold, but it looks like it will come in a new form, a BRI 2.0 with a focus on technology.Even if it is directly China, it can involve BRI multilaterally. This would reduce risk. After all, the main investors are these two banks. China does not have unlimited resources, but banks have non-performing loans. It was 5% in 2010 and now it is 65%. There were random loan investments which borrowers also abused, as seen in the Philippines.Maybe China will keep Pokhara Airport in BRI. Otherwise, we will be left out of this whole process. Now we have to join BRI 2.0, but on our own terms.Mahendra P Lama: You talked about BRI 2.0. BRI has a plan called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor from Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea to Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, Kashmir all the way to Gilgit, Baltistan, up to Xinjiang through Kashgar. By building this railway, China will influence the culture, agriculture and natural resources there. There is no other example of China entering other countries like this.In Xinjiang, there is trouble. There are militants in Pakistan, connectivity could also mean that China will be importing insecurity. Beijing is taking a calculated risk here, they think that the returns are big enough to take the risk. Most of the 55-60 CPEC projects that China is working on within Pakistan are related to energy like electricity, coal, oil.Could all this bring a new kind of nationalism to Nepal and Sri Lanka? In international relations, it is called 'resource nationalism'. African nations are saying that they will not allow anyone to take their water, forest, or coal. Nepal could be in a similar situation to Sri Lanka. What will China do?Swarnim Wagle: China came to challenge the western development model that was in place for more than a century. Initially the west did not pay much attention and called it 'neo-colonialism'. Recently Chinese workers have been chased away in Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia. China paused the entire BRI in 2019 to address the issues.We should also learn from the experience in the neighborhood. Let's leave Africa aside and take Sri Lanka. Chinese investment there was in the non-trade sector. When things went downhill with the bombings in Colombo in 2019, then the Covid-19 crisis, the Russo-Ukraine war, its foreign revenue plummeted, and they could not pay back loans. Added to that were policy mistakes and government arrogance.High cost loans are risky. As soon as there is a change in an external factor, whether Covid-19 or war, things can go south fast. Internal disorder can also make things difficult. We have to be aware of this.In Nepal, China is always looked at as a counterbalance to India, and people compare China and India. However, things are changing, the Nepali media has started to talk about the Tatopani border being closed. They are also talking about transparency in Chinese loans. The debate has started at a community level.On the good side, China seems to be taking these things in its stride and practicing covert diplomacy by gradually using its soft power, and then hard power. All this is a bit new for us.Mahendra P Lama: The biggest challenge for Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan is that China is working on geopolitics and economic diplomacy. On the other hand, all these countries have an established and close relationship with India, which cannot be compared with China. In India, we have Indian Gorkha troops, citizens of Nepal have gone to India and settled down and vice versa. So the big concern is how will Nepal balance all this with China.You have worked in the government of Nepal. How can Nepal strike that balance between its two giant neighbours?Swarnim Wagle: For that we need enlightened leadership.  There is an interesting anecdote in BP Koirala’s autobiography. While visiting China, he met Mao Zedong at 11 o'clock at night. Mao asked, How much is India giving you?BP said – About Rs200 millionMao said - Then we will give 160 million from our side. Since you need to maintain your relationship with India, we cannot give more than them.Even our neighbor China was thinking of what was best for Nepal. Now things have changed, of course. But we should be thinking of win-win relations.Multilateral relations with India should move forward, but China has advanced a lot in terms of infrastructure, new technology, and artificial intelligence. It is even ahead of the West in some cases. We are far behind, only ahead of Afghanistan in this region. China’s assistance is vital.Both the countries have their own strategic interests. But we should balance both of them and not put them against each other. B P Koirala managed it well. In the beginning, King Mahendra also struck a balance, although later, he tried to pit Delhi and Beijing against each other. Gyanendra tried to do the same thing, and it didn't work.Both are emerging powers, and we can move forward by keeping both their security concerns in mind. Mao thought of Nepal’s interest, but we need to have leadership in Nepal that is looking out for the national interest. My question to you is: Sri Lanka oscillates between India and China, as do the Maldivians, but Bangladesh has been able to maintain that delicate balance?Mahendra P Lama: Once, I was speaking to Ambassador Bhesh Bahadur Thapa. He told me about the instance when he accompanied Prime Minister Kirtinidhi Bista to China. On arrival at the airport, Mao Zedong gave the three of them an overcoat, hats and gloves. They were surprised. But when they came out of the airport, it was so cold that the clothes they brought from Nepal would have been of no use. Similarly, when Tenzing Sherpa climbed Everest, he was felicitated in India. When he met Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Tenzing told him that he had been invited to England.After the gala that night, Nehru handed him an overcoat, hat and gloves saying, “How can you withstand the cold in London in these clothes?”Diplomacy starts with such small things. Bangladesh did not look to anyone on how they could balance India and China. They followed a strategy that worked for them.In the 1990s, when Deng Xiaoping introduced the idea that "it doesn't matter whether a cat is white or black, as long as it catches mice”, what he meant was that it does not matter who comes, as long as they can take China out of economic stagnation.” The Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976 had pushed China off the cliff.  At that time their biggest enemy was Japan. But they brought Japan in, which in turn brought in investment, helping to reduce poverty. They did the same with the Americans. And it was only when China became economically strong that the rivalry started.  Look at India, on the one hand they support the Indo-Pacific alliance together with the US. On the other hand, they sidelined the Indo-Pacific during the war between Ukraine and Russia. What India needs is gas and oil, and they made their foreign policy accordingly.If India had not struck that balance, the petrol Nepal imports from India would by now have cost Rs400 a litre. Nepal should also learn from such a balanced diplomacy.India does not recognise BRI because China is treating Kashmir as a part of CIPEC without asking India. China created the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2016 to advance the BRI, and India also became its member. By 2022 India had brought in 20 projects worth $5 billion through AIIB. This is the kind of geostrategic balance where national interest is prioritised.When it comes to national interest, one has to go all in to reap the maximum benefit. Nepal should do that. Swarnim Wagle: The relationship between Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi also shows how mutual trust and respect between leaders can help advance bilateral relationships. Bangladesh was born in 1971 with the help of India, but for decades there was mistrust. It has melted away now. But Bangladesh is also bringing in investment from China, which in turn is benefiting India.India made the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka a big issue, and partly because of this there was regime change in Colombo and the downfall of the Rajapaksas. But Hambantota port built with Chinese loans is currently being used most extensively by Indian car companies. Neighbors can also benefit from infrastructure that we build in Nepal.Mahendra P Lama: Interestingly, China has adopted the same policy as the US to continue its hegemony in the world. The US gave foreign aid and invested heavily to make others dependent on them. They adopted the policy to threaten and fight when that dependence was challenged. We call it the dependency threshold. China is just doing the same.They made others dependent on them like in Sri Lanka and even India. When India’s trade deficit with China increased from $270 million in 1990 to $120 billion now, they attacked eastern Ladakh. Such games are played in international relations, some overtly, some covertly.Now my question, the model of development that we adopted in the hills has failed. Look at Darjeeling, what did farming tea for 160 years do? The world drank the tea every morning for Rs6, the tea plantation workers were paid Rs 230 daily. The owners jet around the world and the workers have no savings.Hydroelectric power is generated in the mountains. The water is ours, the displaced people are ours, the land is ours, the environment is ours, everything is ours, but the electricity is everyone else’s, the profit earned from electricity is someone else’s. Look at cardamom, traders sell it at Rs4,000 per kg whereas the farmers get Rs200 per kg. The further it gets from Sikkim’s border, the more costly cardamom becomes. You have been in the Planning Commission, what is Nepal’s take on this?Swarnim Wagle:  You were born in Sikkim and I was born in Gorkha so we both know the situation of the mountains. When Prime Minister Modi came to Nepal he said that ‘the mountains cannot hold water and youth”. Even today people in my village have to work 16 hours a day to afford two meals a day. People are leaving the hinterland in droves for better opportunities. We descended to Chitwan from Gorkha, then further afield because of malaria. Now 52% of Nepal’s population live in the plains.We had to walk for hours to get water in the hills, in Chitwan we had water in our backyard. Life was easier. But we need to think about the mountains too. There should be better education, healthcare, and more importantly connectivity. Why would I live in Kathmandu if I could go to Gorkha in half an hour?The per capita income of mountain villages from Ilam to Baitadi is now in the range of Rs1,200. When it reaches Rs3,500 to 4,000, middle-income Nepalis will climb the mountains in search of their second homes.We often say that the villages have been abandoned. But the 2011 census shows that there has been rapid migration in 21 villages, the number has increased in the recent census. Some 80% of Nepal's population lives along Mahendra Highway, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Dang and Prithvi Highway.While we think of the resources as our own, the truth is that capital and the market are outside. We should think about how locals can get maximum benefits like giving communities a share in hydropower.Mahendra P Lama: But it is also true that others have progressed using what is ours. Bangladesh was built with our stones. If you stand in the Phulbari Corridor, you can see trucks carrying stones from Himalayan quarries to Bangladesh. Why haven’t we been able to utilise our own resources? We have to buy stone and sand. India’s new policy is to generate electricity in the North-East and sell it all over South-East Asia. But why sell it at a cheaper rate, why not add value, and look for markets with higher profit? Currently Sikkim has the highest per capita income in India at Rs425,000. But we are not clear on things. We need to create a value chain for ginger, cardamom and tiger grass.Swarnim Wagle: You talked about organic products which require minimal infrastructure. But they are doing better than that: up to 25,000 youth are engaged in software development. In 70 years we have increased our exports to $1 billion, but we are earning more than that through the IT sector.Mahendra P Lama: Nepal should now give up its old identity. A nation sitting in the lap of Mt Everest, all smiling, bright-faced friendly Nepalis, brave Nepalis. All that's fine. But now Nepal needs to reposition itself. No other country can play the role Nepal has to play in the Himalayan region on the climate crisis -- Nepal should stand up and take charge of the knowledge, discussion, and concern. It can change Nepal’s image, make it an intellectual leader in the world.Read the <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/132137">excerpts</a> in Nepali at <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com">himalkhabar.com</a>.

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Nepal needs to rebrand itself

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

Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb?

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

SLAPPing Democracy

In 2023, northern India suffered record-breaking heat. In 2024, it broke its own record. In 2025, the Indo-Gangetic plains and the Nepal Tarai suffered a prolonged pre-monsoon heat wave and humidity, forcing closure of schools and workplaces. This week, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/europe-heat-wave-intensifies-as-fresh-warnings-issued/live-73108302">southern Europe is suffering the worst heat wave</a> since temperature records began. Football matches, tennis tournaments have been affected, and tourist sites have been closed off. Qatar has ordered a midday work curfew for Nepali and other migrant workers are the maximum temperature this week touched 45°C.&nbsp; Kathmandu Valley experienced its highest temperature in 25 years in May 2024 at 35.3°C. This year, the maximum temperature exceeded 30°C on many days — heat that till a decade ago would be considered unusual. Rains in early June also meant that towns in the mountains sweltered under high heat plus humidity.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250703090748_6975cfc2ad573f3a09ca301a299a9e92a420da7f1c5c90b8e4d061a2053dcd3e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250703090748_6975cfc2ad573f3a09ca301a299a9e92a420da7f1c5c90b8e4d061a2053dcd3e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1935" height="801" loading="lazy" alt="maximum average temperature in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Source: DHM</figcaption> </figure>  Measuring just temperature does not give a true picture of how hot it is. When humidity is factored in, the heat index this summer has been much higher in northern India and Nepal. Also, the hotter the air temperature the higher the concentration of water vapour in it. “We feel it is getting hotter, and our statistics back that up,” says Shanti Kandel at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, which issued two heat wave warnings this year, compared to 11 last year. “We need more research to analyse how humidity is make this situation worse.” <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/india-faces-alarming-30-rise-in-moist-heat-stress-over-40-years-affecting-wide-swath-of-country-imd-study/articleshow/109376863.cms?from=mdr">A recent analysis</a> by the Indian Meteorological Department has found that heat stress in that country has increased by nearly 30% over the past 40 years. Similarly, India’s Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) noted that cities like Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Lucknow have experienced a 6-9% rise in relative humidity in the last decade.&nbsp; It also states that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/majority-indian-districts-face-high-heatwave-risk-study-shows-2025-05-20/#:~:text=%22About%2057%20per%20cent%20of,usual%20number%20of%20heatwave%20days.">60% of Indian districts</a>, home to three-quarters of the country’s 1.3 billion people face a high to very high risk from extreme heat, with rising night-time temperatures and humidity. The heat index is also called ‘<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/north-indian-heat-wave-hits-nepal">wet-bulb temperature</a>’ and is a measure of how hot the human body feels when humidity levels are also high — usually much hotter than the recorded temperature. For example, a wet-bulb temperature of 35°C is considered the maximum limit of heat and humidity that humans can handle, beyond which the body cannot cool by perspiration, leading to death. One indicator of increasing humidity is a rise in average minimum temperature, and Nepal recorded the highest figure since 1981 last year, with a peak of 15.8°C. Higher minimum temperature denotes warmer nights, which in turn is an indication of heat stress caused by increasing humidity, which in turn is a result of global warming. Aside from higher average temperatures worldwide this year, what makes heat and humidity more unbearable is that cities are always hotter than their surroundings. This is due to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/preparing-for-kathmandu-s-heat-waves">urban heat island (UHI) effect</a> – for example the temperature inside Kathmandu’s Ring Road can be hotter by <a href="https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/what-are-heat-islands">up to 4°C during the daytime and by 1 to 3°C in the evening</a> compared to the outskirts. “Climate change is one reason for rising temperature, but there are other factors like increased heat in urban spaces due to concrete buildings and infrastructure, emissions from vehicles, industries, and home appliances,” explains urban planner Bhushan Tuladhar. He adds: “Much of this comes down to how we have developed our cities, not just our roads and buildings but also our water system, waste management, culture and customs as well as economy.” There is a feedback loop at work: as it gets hotter, more energy is used for fans, coolers, and air-conditioners which in turn add to the urban heat bubble. The way to reduce the UHI effect is to have more parks, tree-lined streets and water bodies to cool cities down.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212095525002093">A recent study published in the journal Urban Climate</a> by Nepali researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Tribhuvan University, University of Groningen, etc showed that even within Kathmandu, urban forests cooled neighbourhoods by as much as 1.2°C while ponds reduced the temperature by up to 0.85°C compared to nearby houses.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250703090748_e4de75dbdfb5fcfdeb0935eda364dc16b5dca8857ba335ab0f4586ebdc5093a9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250703090748_e4de75dbdfb5fcfdeb0935eda364dc16b5dca8857ba335ab0f4586ebdc5093a9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2580" height="1038" loading="lazy" alt="urban heat island in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Source: URBAN CLIMATE et al.</figcaption> </figure>  ‘Our results demonstrate that blue-green spaces provide significant cooling benefits across the Kathmandu Valley, with distinct patterns by type, size, design, and urban context,’ concluded the paper, whose lead author is Saurav Bhattarai at Jackson State University in the United States. The old towns in Kathmandu Valley with traditional brick and tile architecture, ponds and trees managed hot summers better. Compact houses around a courtyard gave people just the right amount of sunlight, and use of clay mortar and bricks insulated houses in winter while cooling them in summer. There were open spaces, fertile land along the floodplains for farming, and brick pavements that allowed for seepage. “Our cities were planned taking nature into account,” says Sangeeta Singh, a professor of urban planning at the Institute of Engineering. “Kathmandu Valley is now built up, but we can still reintegrate blue-blue spaces into town planning with vertical gardening, urban forestry, using local material and harvesting rainwater.”&nbsp; Kathmandu’s municipalities have by-laws controlling building design and structure, but strict enforcement of land use and zoning are missing. Extreme heat disproportionately affects the urban poor who may not have access to fans or air-conditioners, exacerbating poverty.&nbsp; Cities in the plains have it even worse. As heat and humidity rise simultaneously, it could <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/garmi-se-behal-chalo-nepal">reverse the current mass migration</a> of people from the mountains to the Tarai, where 53% of Nepal’s population lives. <a href="https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/92fbbbc6180238e18e7b239fad83e38a-0280032024/original/12-DHNT-Temperature-poverty-inequality-September-2024.pdf">A World Bank study</a> put the cost of a 1°C rise in temperature at 17.1% increase in poverty globally. Estimates put the total number of urban poor in developing countries exposed to the worst heat extremes at 26 million presently, this number is bound to grow to 215 million by mid-century, an over eight-fold increase. Meanwhile, 489,000 health-related deaths occur each year, 45% of them in Asia alone. “Heat has to be seen from a class perspective,” says Singh. “Those with money can afford gadgets and appliances to keep their homes and offices cool, but not day labourers or poor families living in cramped housing with poor ventilation.” Climate breakdown is going to widen the class divide in cities, as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/unthinkable-in-the-current-climate">summers become unliveable</a>. Says Singh: “We need policy intervention to address this class injustice. Our building by-laws and new town development must urgently integrate climate and energy efficiency elements.”

In the heat of the moment

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

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