<img width="1050" height="794" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/6372216b9c7e80680e0c02b7jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Harka Sampung was a migrant worker in the arid mountains of Afghanistan. He dreamt of returning to Dharan’s lush forests to uplift his hometown. The main parties did not give him the time of day, the media ignored him.
He persevered, showing he meant business. He was always there, draped in Nepal’s national flag to remove garbage, manage bus schedules, and improve water supply to neighbourhoods. Citizens took notice, his dedication and integrity went viral on social media, and he was elected mayor.
Now, the national media cannot have enough of Mayor Sampung. Together with new independent candidates in Kathmandu, Dhangadi and other municipalities across the land, their message is clear — you do not need a ticket from a political party anymore <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/counting-every-vote/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to be elected</a>.
Still, the future is a challenge. The multiple crises these cities face took a long time to accumulate. It is the result of structural failures in governance over decades. 
Problems like solid waste management, air pollution, toxic rivers, lack of water, decrepit roads cannot be solved overnight. But public expectation of these mayors from the public is high, and the main parties are waiting to prove them failures.
The wins of Harka Sampang in Dharan, Balen Shah in Kathmandu and Gopal Hamal in Dhangadi were natural, almost predictable. Public disenchantment with the established parties was so great that many defied the traditional <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/coalition-calculation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vote blocks</a> they commanded. 
Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/kathmandus-balen-phenomenon/"> Kathmandu's 'Balen Phenomenon'</a>, Sarala Gautam
Even since the Panchayat and the constitutional monarchy days, Kathmandu is used to expressing its disapproval of the status quo by casting ‘protest votes’ for unlikely or upstart candidates. By electing Balen Shah and Harka Sampung, voters were also rejecting the other choices, ignoring party loyalty or ethnicity as ballot criteria.  
The local election campaign and reaction to results showed two types of disillusionment: political leaders within parties like the NC being convinced that their leaders took the wrong turn and undermined their party, and candidates not affiliated to any party that cashed in on the non-performance of established parties.
What the independents have shown is that a candidate no longer needs a party ticket to contest and win elections — at least for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-local-election-gives-power-back-to-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local governments</a>. 
Balen Shah has got all the media spotlight, but there are many other municipalities across the country where independents have won because they convinced voters that they can deliver better services.
Public opinion surveys in the past have repeatedly shown that at the urban or municipal level, most voters do not care which party a candidate is from as long as they show a capacity to tackle every-day problems of city life. 
How these three independents as well as other municipal chairs and deputies handle the mountains of mess they have inherited from predecessors will be evident in the months ahead, especially as mainstream parties lock horns again <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-local-polls-a-rehearsal-for-federal-elections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in the run-up to federal and provincial elections</a> in November.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/making-kathmandu-great-again/">Making Kathmandu great again</a>, Nepali Times
Already, there is talk within the Nepali Congress (NC) that the party paid a price for supporting Maoist-Centre and CPN Unified Socialist candidates. A rough calculation shows that the NC may have actually won more than 400 of the 753 municipal posts if it had fielded its own candidates instead of backing those from coalition partners.
Maoist and Unified Socialist wins in cities like Bahartpur, Pokhara and Hetauda put those two parties in a strong position for national polls in  November. Now, there is talk of the Communist parties forging another electoral alliance for federal and provincial elections to undercut the Congress. 
Despite the relatively good job she has done in Bharatpur, it is questionable if Renu Dahal would have been re-elected <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/coalition-collision/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">without Congress votes</a>. Despite coming second in the municipal counts, the opposition UML did so despite having to run against five parties. 
What Balen Shah, Harka Sampung, Gopal Hall and others are selling is the hope of Nepalis everywhere for better governance. They won because they promised proven delivery. Most candidates from the big parties have nothing to show for themselves. 
The mayors who got re-elected in Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, were rewarded for their performance over the past five years. In the end, that is what democracy is all about, and we need to scale that up to a national level. 
Looking at November, the Congress can benefit from the split in the Communist vote, but only if the<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-deal-breaker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> coalition is intact</a> and the left does not unite. If they do not learn from the rise of the independents, they could suffer a collective setback.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-alt-right-falls-off-the-map/">Nepal's alt-right falls off the map</a>, Nishnu Thing

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Rise of the independents

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZq9PMPzTrg&amp;feature=youtu.beIt has been one year since Nepal wrapped up all <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/elections-in-instalments,3776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">three rounds of local elections. </a>There was great hope that devolution would take governance to the grassroots, improve service delivery, and dilute Singha Darbar’s monopoly on power. It did not even take a year for the euphoria to evaporate. There is growing disenchantment with village chiefs, mayors and provincial governments. In some municipalities and villages, people have hit the streets to protest against huge increases in local taxes and t<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bulldozing-democracy-in-nepal,4184" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he awarding of contracts to construction companies owned by elected officials. </a>Others have been too slow to get things done, and there is growing impatience with elected local leaders. Krishna Prasad Sapkota, a former DDC Chair and a vocal advocate of decentralisation, admits that most mayors and village chiefs have not lived up to the people’s expectations. But he says it is not entirely their fault. “There is a mismatch between the capacity of local governments and the people’s expectations,” Sapkota told Nepali Times. “People have had to wait a long time for local governments but the mayors and village chiefs lack capacity and resources to fulfil their own promises.” Local governments enjoy 22 exclusive rights under the new Constitution, but Kathmandu still delays and obstructs disbursements. Education and Land Revenue offices are still controlled by the Centre. Worse, the federal government is planning to bring local offices under its jurisdiction, stripping local governments of their constitutional rights to manage forest, education, health and agriculture sectors. Last week, the sixth national convention of the Municipalities Association of Nepal (MuAN) slammed the Centre for trampling on their rights.<iframe width="100%" height="520" frameborder="0" src="https://nepalitimes.carto.com/viz/46f409a0-f211-433f-bd70-30c6f49fe855/embed_map" allowfullscreen="" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" oallowfullscreen="" msallowfullscreen=""></iframe>MuAN’s newly elected General Secretary Bhim Prasad Dhungana, who is also the mayor of Nilkantha Municipality in Dhading, says: “If local offices are controlled by Kathmandu, what is our role?” The Association also wants municipalities to have their own staff, without being deputed by the central bureaucracy. For example, the Centre has changed Dhangadi Municipality’s Chief Executive Officer five times in just one year. “Such frequent transfers slow down our work,” says Dhangadi’s Mayor Nrip Bahadur Odd. As the only Dalit to have been elected mayor last year, Mayor Odd says the Centre also allocates inappropriate staff. “We have five accountants, but we do not have enough engineers. We know best our own staffing needs,” he says.  Public disenchantment resulting from the dismal performance of mayors and village council chiefs has raised fears that people will lose whatever little faith they still have in federalism.  However, there are rays of hope. Despite Kathmandu’s unwillingness to devolve power, six mayors and a deputy mayor featured in this edition of Nepali Times have struggled against all odds to make a difference. Unlike many others, they do not make excuses. They just get on with the work.   		
										<img width="808" height="444" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921b79c7e80680e03a0eajpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/salma-breaks-her-silence/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Salma breaks her silence</a>, Suresh Bidari<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/rana-regime-restored-in-nepalganj/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rana regime restored in Nepalgunj</a>, Kunda DixitJu<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/jumlas-great-leap-into-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mla's great leap into the future</a>, Krishnamaya Upadhyay<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-breath-of-fresh-air-in-thimi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A breath of fresh air in Thimi</a>, Monika Deupala<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-mayor-of-his-word/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A mayor of his word</a>, Yuvaraj Shrestha<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pro-poor-mayor/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pro-poor mayor</a>, Jiyalal Sah<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/wonderful-waling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wonderful Waling</a>, Shashwat Acharya

Super Six

<figure><img width="1400" height="1050" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921a09c7e80680e03a0e2jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>At a recent breakfast meeting in a hotel he owns, Dhawal Shumsher Rana peels a hard-boiled egg while his mobile rings incessantly.A Muslim elder is inviting him for an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/mycity/2016/07/07/celebrating-eid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eid feast</a>, and Rana answers in chaste Awadhi. An activist for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10314#.W5ENbM4zbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">labeda suruwal</a> as national dress wants the mayor’s support, he deals with that. There is a call from a hospital where a student wounded in police firing on the anti-<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/four-fold-increase-in-reported-rape-in-10-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rape </a>protests in Mahendranagar is in critical condition, and may need to be helicoptered to Kathmandu. Finally, Dhawal Rana turns his phone face down for an interview with a newspaper for which he was a regular columnist in 2002-2003.Back then, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/experience-of%20Deepak-Thapa-as-former-desk-editor-at-Nepali-Times,2426" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the war</a> was raging in the mountains of Western Nepal, the army had entered the conflict and casualties were mounting. Local elections had been cancelled, and Rana had just stepped down after his first tenure as mayor when he wrote a seminal op-ed in the 18 April 2003 issue of Nepali Times titled ‘In a federated state’.‘Nepal must move towards <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Analysis/how-decentralised-is-federalism,776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">federalism</a> for the sake of inclusive democracy, social justice, greater responsibility, a responsive and streamlined administration, decentralisation and greater peoples’ participation in governance. But this does not mean fragmentation and carving out the country along caste, racial, tribal, religious and linguistic lines.The answer for Nepal lies in true devolution of power to elected local bodies, with the phasing out of central interference. The local bodies will best accommodate the regional, racial, cultural and social aspirations of the people at the grassroots, and political trickle-up effect will bring this inclusive representation to the national level.’This was way ahead of the times, because King Gyanendra was consolidating power in a creeping coup to take the country back to absolute monarchy. <img width="935" height="521" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921a39c7e80680e03a0e3jpeg.jpg" alt="">“If we had truly devolved power then by decentralising decision-making to north-south states, we would not have polarised the country between hills and plains, between castes and ethnicities,” says Rana, who is fluent in English because of his royal pedigree and education in boarding schools in India. Dhawal’s great grandfather was Dev Shumsher who was banished to India in a purge. His grandfather, Mussorie Shumsher, was allowed to come back to Nepal, but not to Kathmandu, and owned rice mills in Nepalganj. His father was an agriculturist, who worked for a US aid agency, and established a farm where Dhawal Rana now lives.After studies, Rana returned to Nepal and worked for the Cotton Development Board, but resigned after he found corruption too engrained. He joined the RPP after the 1990 changes, but was thrown out. He fought and lost elections after running as an independent, then joined the UML and was elected mayor in the 1994 elections.He worked to restore social harmony between Muslims, who form 25% of Nepalganj’s 100,000 population, and the Hindus. He started to improve infrastructure, but the war undid much of it. Soon, local governments were dissolved elections put off, and Dhawal Rana used the time to finish his PhD thesis titled (what else?) ‘Nepali Municipalities: A Mayor’s Dilemma’. Last year he was elected again.“Nepalganj voted for me because people wanted me to continue what I had started in my first tenure as mayor, they remembered,” Rana tells us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXCHqhRHVA0&amp;feature=youtu.beDetractors say Dhawal Rana is not corrupt because he does not need to be. However, there are not too many other Ranas with old money who have gone into politics to bring change. In these cynical times, he is rare proof that honesty does pay.Dhawal Rana says wryly: “In my first tenure, the contractors did not believe I was not corrupt. This time, no one believes I am corrupt.” As Rana drives his Safari SUV through Nepalganj’s main street, locals recognise him and wave or walk over to chat. When powerful local businessmen refused to allow road-widening, he took them to court, won, and bulldozed their shopfronts. His 90km road upgrade is an ADB-supported project, and already Nepalganj’s streets are much better than those in Kathmandu. Rana says his biggest challenge is that people are impatient, and want overnight improvement. There is no dearth of money, he says, but Kathmandu still controls the purse-strings and that delays projects.Rana wants to retire after mayorship, but does not rule out joining national politics if the triangular tussle within the RPP leadership is resolved. Asked what he wants most of all, Mayor Rana replies simply: “Less interference from Kathmandu.”

Kunda Dixit

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Rana regime restored in Nepalganj

<figure><img width="1400" height="952" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921a69c7e80680e03a0e4jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>Kathmandu Valley has 11 mayors, and the public's perception of most of them one year after they were elected is not very inspiring. Yet, here in Madhyapur Thimi, situated halfway between Bhaktapur and Kathmandu, Madan Sundar Shrestha is a breath of fresh air. He talks more like a technocrat than some of the populist colleagues from his Communist party. In a refreshing interview this week, he talked about <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18714#.W5EPZ84zbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bicycle lanes</a>, footpaths for pedestrians, and turning his town into a health and education hub. He believes <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/school-mismanagement-committee,3123" target="_blank" rel="noopener">governments and private schools</a> should improve each other’s quality.Mayor Shrestha has got private schools in his city to grant scholarships to 10% of their students, and the municipality has been working to pay tuition fees for another 5% of children from underprivileged families. For government schools, the mayor has taken personal charge of trying to upgrade their quality. The mayor got Madhyapur Thimi Municipality to take over the Korea Nepal Friendship Hospital by investing Rs80 million a year to run it, and he also wants all residents of Thimi to have health insurance. Thimi is where the Janak Teaching Material Centre and the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/helping-migrants-make-the-grade-nepali-framework,3723" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training</a> (CTEVT) were set up decades ago. The city also has the SAARC TB research centre.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzOyhDvIciU&amp;feature=youtu.be“We want at least 80% of the people here to have comprehensive health insurance, and if we can achieve that within a decade, people here won’t have to pay for medical treatment ever again,” Shrestha told Nepali Times.Thimi was recently hit by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bhaktapur-inundated/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unprecedented floods</a> after the Hanumante River burst its banks and inundated residences and shops. Unlike other politicians in Nepal, Mayor Shrestha was quick off the mark, personally accompanying rescue teams with heavy equipment to take people to safety. “This is the best mayor we have ever had,” local resident Sudin Bajracharya said. When the mayor found out that the real reason for the floods was not heavy rain but poor draining and haphazard construction along the floodplain of the river, he allocated Rs80 million to unblock and maintain the drainage system and Rs70 million to fix the roads.Shrestha says he is a firm believer that development does not mean destroying the tangible and intangible heritage of his historic town. Thimi had many ponds that used to recharge ground water, and served as the focal point for many festivals. Many had been converted into basketball courts or parking lots. Under Mayor Shrestha, the Bishnu Kundal, Bhulakhel and Kamal Pokhari are ponds again, and this week, children were diving into the water to swim. The Municipality is also helping revive dance rituals like the Mahakali Nach, Mayur Nach, Salancha Nach.Shrestha is working to streamline the taxation system, making it more scientific and practical than before. Property tax is now included with land and housing tax so people do not have to pay separately, and end up paying less. Other Municipality fees are nominal, and the Mayor is strict about not allowing middlemen to cheat earthquake survivors on their registrations.Shrestha’s popularity was already high, but it has become higher as they see their mayor among them, trying to make the city more convenient for its citizens. In fact, when some assailants attacked him on the Araniko Highway last year, people spontaneously came to his aid and put the attackers behind bars. Currently, Mayor Shrestha is working with engineers to develop a plan on ‘tactical urbanism’ in Thimi. This involves many low-cost interventions to the infrastructure to make the roads safer, including making roads more bicycle friendly and adding sidewalks. Only if the mayor of Kathmandu and Lalitpur would take a few tips from Thimi.

Monika Deupala

A breath of fresh air in Thimi

When Nepali Times decided last month to profile a dozen model mayors, we had no idea how difficult the job was going to be. There were not that many inspiring mayors who had set standards for integrity and vision.Most are good-for-nothing puppets of their political masters, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Elected-contractors,4182" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">many are corrupt construction contractors</a> behaving like foxes guarding the chicken coop, while a few who want to improve their cities or villages have no idea how to do it.Still, we managed to find six mayors and one deputy mayor for special mention in this edition. They have struggled against all odds to perform, deliver and achieve. Collectively, they have to fight every inch of the way to force a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/confusion-relief-distribution-earthquake,2315" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">status quoist bureaucracy</a> in Kathmandu to devolve decision-making and yield more revenue-raising powers. The ruling Nepal Communist Party is not much help because its whole philosophy rests on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/illiberal-ills/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">centralising power</a>, not in devolution.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921809c7e80680e03a0d4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="310"/><figcaption>Lok Narayan Yadav, mayor of Parsagadhi</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921819c7e80680e03a0d5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="279"><figcaption>Dilip Pratap Khand, mayor of Waling</figcaption></figure>Yet, despite being in Nepal's culturally conservative western mountains, the people of Jumla last year elected women to be both mayor and deputy. Mayor Kantika Sejuwal is not letting traditional politicians block her efforts to raise living standards and give women more say.In Pokhariya Muncipality of Parsa district, Deputy Mayor Salma Khatun has had to overcome double discrimination for being a woman and a Muslim. Both Sejuwal and Khatun harbour a deep sense of commitment to improve services, and a determination to make things better for the most vulnerable.In Kathmandu Valley Madan Sundar Shrestha in Madhyapur Thimi stands out for thinking ahead to upgrade infrastructure, improve drainage, build sidewalks and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/no-city-for-cyclists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bicycle lanes</a> to enhance traffic safety. The only mayor to be re-elected in last year’s local election, and the only one with a PhD, is Dhawal Shumsher Rana in Nepalganj. He is now picking up where he left off in 2002, improving roads and urban management in the western Tarai city as it is poised for growth.In Waling Municipality, we catch up with Mayor Dilip Pratap Khand, a descendant of former kings, who is inviting talented professionals from the diaspora back home to train the youth. For Mayor Khand, turning Waling into a ‘Smart City’ is not just a slogan.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921839c7e80680e03a0d6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="303"><figcaption>Madan Sundar Shrestha, mayor of Madhyapur Thimi</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921859c7e80680e03a0d7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="291"><figcaption>Man Bahadur GC, mayor of Pokhara</figcaption></figure>The one thing common for all the mayors profiled, and the vital ingredient that makes them good performers, is that they put the people ahead of personal or party interests.And non-performing mayors? There are too many to count. The man who is possibly the most inept of them all is Kathmandu’s <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Kathmandu-mayor-100-days,3927" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bidya Sundar Shakya</a>. Just like fellow-communist Prime Minister KP Oli, who is Shakya’s godfather, Kathmandu’s mayor has a major sense of entitlement and arrogance that comes from commanding an absolute majority in the municipal council.A hilarious meme on the Nepali social sphere portrayed the mayor dozing off on a heap of garbage, but none of this criticism seems to affect Shakya, who is often flying off on junkets. In fact, whenever Mayor Shakya does something, it turns out to be the wrong thing. He ruined Rani Pokhari and Kasthamandap, and has shown appalling indifference to the need for better roads, drainage and clean air.Outside Kathmandu, mayors have been fighting it out with female deputies over petty things like who gets to ride the official car more often. One mayor took inaction to extremes when he just looked on as a woman was thrashed for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16636#.W5EJtM4zbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">practicing witchcraft</a>, and then prevented the victim from filing a complaint.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921879c7e80680e03a0d8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="321"><figcaption>Kantika Sejuwal, mayor of Chandannath, Jumla</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161116/636921899c7e80680e03a0d9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="292"><figcaption>Dhawal Shumsher Rana, mayor of Nepalgunj</figcaption></figure>We used to blame the absence of locally-elected representatives for the lack of accountability at the grassroots. It seems elected officials are no better because of flaws in the election system that makes them too expensive and discourages honest politicians from contesting. Candidates forced to accept unethical ‘donations’ from businesses need to pay back in contracts after assuming office. Mayors know they can ride their party’s structure for an election victory and do not need to perform. Also, they cannot be recalled for incompetence, which makes them complacent.Mayors have their own complaints, some of which are genuine. A conference of mayors and deputy mayors issued the Kathmandu Declaration last week, urging the Centre to not intervene in their local affairs. They want Kathmandu to transfer authority regarding education, agriculture and land revenue.Kathmandu’s myopic leaders must realise that Nepal is now a federal country, and they must devolve power. Also, if local representatives fail to deliver, they will lose the moral authority to fight for more autonomy. The Municipality Association of Nepal can take the lead to make every council follow a code of conduct.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZq9PMPzTrg&amp;feature=youtu.be

Model mayors

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

Thousands of Nepali students dreaming of an American education have been forced to look elsewhere as the Trump administration’s visa restrictions make their future uncertain.
The US was long considered a top destination for higher studies, making Nepal the 10th biggest country of origin for international students in America.&nbsp;
However, that number has seen a significant decline with the total for Nepali students now at 16,482. Some 8,000 Nepali students obtained no-objection certificates to study in the US from the Ministry of Education in the past year.&nbsp;
India, Australia, Canada, South Korea, United Kingdom and Japan are the other popular destinations for Nepali students. There are no clear numbers for Nepalis going to India, but a slight decline was noted this year after the deaths of two female students.
The US State Department has issued a circular to its embassies not to issue new visas to applicants until further notice. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the directive stated that the department planned to expand the screening of applicants' social media.&nbsp;
While new applicants are barred including those applying for visitor visas, students with scheduled interviews are allowed to proceed.
“Many of our students are affected by the new restrictions, but those who had applied for student visas earlier have got interview dates,” one Kathmandu-based college counsellor told us.
Meanwhile, even foreign students with spotless records already in the US have not been spared, as visa scrutiny intensifies under the new policy. In a move that underscores the growing sense of insecurity, many US colleges advised international students to carry their passports and documents at all times, even when traveling locally.
“Me and my friends did not go home this summer because we were not sure we would be allowed back, so we just went to Niagara Falls,” said a Nepali undergrad in Ohio, who like many interviewed for this report did not want her name used for fear of repercussion.
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Nepali students have adopted a cautious stance, with many choosing not to return home during summer vacation due to fear of visa revocations as well as travel bans. Meanwhile, over 7,000 Nepalis with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will have to come back to Nepal by 5 August or face deportation. Thirty-seven were flown back to Kathmandu on Omni Air last week.
“The US is one of the most sought-after destinations for higher education, and the ban will definitely impact bright students,” says Narottam Aryal of the King’s College in Kathmandu.
Indeed, Nepali undergraduates admitted into Ivy League colleges for the 2025 academic year have been asked to look for alternatives. The entire Fulbright Foreign Scholarships Board resigned on Wednesday citing interference from the Trump administration on the selection of this year’s cohort. Some Nepali students already on Fulbright scholarships have noted disruptions, delays and even cancellation of stipends.&nbsp;
The student visa restrictions were initially just for foreign students admitted to Harvard University, but it was later extended to all Chinese students and now to all students. Universities like Columbia which actively recruit foreign students, face sharp enrolment declines, threatening their financial stability and diversity.
An Indian female PhD candidate at Columbia University had her visa revoked by the US State Department, and said she was targeted on the basis of her social media posts on Israeli military attacks in Gaza. Social media vetting of political activism has raised concerns about privacy and freedom of expression in a country where such rights were a given.
Many students have been informed via email that their visas have been revoked for getting speeding or parking tickets, but even others with no criminal record have been affected. The fear of deportation looms large amongst international students, including those from Nepal.&nbsp;
For most Nepalis who migrate to the US for education, the journey is a high-stakes investment. They come largely from middle-class families, often rely on a patchwork of scholarships, work-study programs, loans, or even the sale of family assets to afford fees.
Most Nepali students pursue STEM subjects which offer extended Optional Practical Training (OPT) periods that help fund their education. But with the US backsliding on education and humanitarian matters, countries like the UK and Canada are becoming more attractive despite their own recent stricter controls on student visas.&nbsp;
The UK universities saw a 63% rise in Nepali students’ admissions in 2024. Japan is another popular destination with 64,816 Nepali students enrolled as of 2024.
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Already, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia are poised to benefit from the increased scrutiny of US student visas. Several Hong Kong universities are offering unconditional admission to affected students, while Malaysian institutions are targeting previously US-bound Asian students. China and India have 330,000 and 280,000 students respectively in America, but the numbers for China have seen a sharp drop in the past year.
Elsewhere, branch campuses of American institutions such as NYU in Abu Dhabi, Georgetown in Dubai and Northwestern in Doha are getting more admission applications, and universities in the Gulf region are expanding infrastructure to accommodate those who would otherwise have gone to the US.&nbsp;
Even educational institutions in Nepal are hopeful that the US visa restrictions can be an opportunity to at least keep Nepali undergrads in Nepal, and also attract foreign students from the region.&nbsp;
“Many students might choose to complete their undergraduate degree here in Nepal and then move abroad for their Master’s degree later,” says Aryal of King’s College. “There was a need for quality higher education in Nepal anyway in terms of innovation and opportunities, so this could be the time to reduce our dependence on other countries.”
Nepal’s strategic position between India and China makes it sensitive to US policy shifts. India, a key ally, is also under US scrutiny for potential student travel restrictions. Chinese universities are already offering more scholarships to Nepali talent to capitalise on the US retreat.
American universities have challenged student visa restrictions in the courts. A federal court in Boston revoked the blanket ban on Harvard, and the State Department has ordered the resumption of processing student and exchange visitor visas.&nbsp;
Some are still hoping that President Trump will backtrack on the student visa restrictions, just like he has done with many of his more drastic executive orders.
Even so, the visa see-saw and longer-term uncertainties about living in the United States and its education system means students across the world are making alternative plans.
Says Aryal: “Policies of foreign countries change according to their needs, so excessive dependence was never a good idea. We should work to create different opportunities and choices of higher education within Nepal, so students are retained.” &nbsp;

America no longer prime destination for Nepali students

While Nepal was hosting the Sagarmatha Sambaad international climate conference in Kathmandu this month, on Mt Everest it was pretty much business as usual.&nbsp; The signs of climate breakdown are all there: a river now runs through Base Camp in summer, the Khumbu Icefall is more unstable, and there are more &nbsp;frequent avalanches. When expeditions arrived in March, the mountains were bare: it had not snowed since September, but then blizzards dumped unseasonal snow in May. And despite climate worries, such is the pull of Himalayan mountaineering that the Everest Industry showed no signs of slowdown. More than 600 international climbers and their Nepali guides had made it to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. At one point there were an estimated 2,000 people in the tent city on the Khumbu Glacier. All the ropes and ladders on the Icefall came down on Thursday, marking the official end of the spring climbing season, and just in time to avoid a monsoon cyclone approaching from the Bay of Bengal. It has been an action-packed season. One factor could be that Everest fees will go up from September: each foreign climber needs to pay a $15,000 royalty, up from the present $11,000. The cost for a Nepali climber on the South Col route will also go up: from Rs75,000 to Rs150,000.&nbsp; The fee to climb Everest in autumn is $7,500 (up from $5,500), but most climbers still prefer spring. Winter permit fee (December-February) is only $3,750 per person and the mountain is now also open for monsoon (June-August) climbs, when the fee is ever lower at $2,750. The revised rule also makes it mandatory for every two climbers on an 8,000m peak to hire one Nepali mountain guide.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025053004050_67f856fe52714e4bdcf21ae7d45c6f18c82117b9d0a5f73ed1efa04c96de1046" data-rendition-name="original" width="931" height="732" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry graph 1"> </figure>  In addition, climbers also have to pay for porters and guides, equipment, Base Camp costs, Ice Fall and fixed rope team fees, so climbing Everest does not come cheap. But such is the draw of climbing the world’s highest peak that some say the increased fees will not diminish the crowds next year. The government has tried to spread expeditions out to other seasons and other 8,000ers, but with not much success. Earlier this year, Nepal unilaterally increased the number of 8,000m peaks to 14 by adding six more sub-summits to broaden the choice for climbers. Added were: Yalung Kang (8,505m), Yalung Kang West (8,077m) &nbsp;Kangchenjunga Central (8,473m), Kangchenjunga South (8,476m), Lhotse Middle (8,410m) and Lhotse Shar (8,400m).&nbsp; The announcement could go against the accepted topographic criteria that a stand alone peak has to be at least 300m higher than an adjoining prominence, and at more than 3km isolation from it. The UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme) still recognises only 14 mountains as eight-thousanders, and only eight of those are in Nepal, or on the border with China. Nepal’s revised mountaineering regulations also increased the insurance coverage of high-altitude workers to protect porters and high altitude guides who usually take more risks on the mountains. Rescue teams and clean-up campaigners to collect trash and remove bodies of dead climbers up to Camp IV of Mt Everest do not need permits.&nbsp; The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee is now using drones to fly down trash in 20kg sacks. Each climber is also required to bring down at least 6kg of waste and not just their own, but this rule is erratically enforced. With five fatalities on Everest and Lhotse, Spring 2025 had a historically low death toll. Another five climbers died on Annapurna, Kangchenjunga and Makalu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025053004050_38681de22f0fefb6faa12b01755566d09c5064d0ff84e12ccc7b5d68ea9ba38a" data-rendition-name="original" width="665" height="740" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest industry graph 2"> </figure>  Journalist Ben Ayers who ran the Everest Live social media channel from Everest Base Camp with daily updates credited the low death rate to dramatic rescues of climbers from the ‘Death Zone’ by their Nepali guides and longline helievacs — the visuals all uploaded on YouTube.&nbsp; “Ironically, this perception of safety is bringing more and more inexperienced climbers to the mountain, and they need more rescues,” Ayers said in one of his dispatches.&nbsp; American expedition chronicler and summiteer Alan Arnette suspects there is a lot of under-reporting given that the jet stream and storms were lashing Everest even till late in the season. He told us: “I heard a lot about frostbite and rescues that were not made public. It’s become practically impossible to cover the details on Everest. All the teams report nice news, and they don’t talk about bad stuff to avoid hurting businesses.” Although trash on Nepal’s mountains makes headlines, what does not receive as much attention is the climate impact of so many expeditions. The Sagarmatha Sambaad conference sidestepped this issue, which is ironic given that the impact of climate breakdown is most evident on Himalayan peaks and their glaciers.&nbsp; <h2>Need for Speed</h2> The big stories this year have been about speed-running from their home cities to the top of Everest. Ukrainian entrepreneur Andrew Ushakov flew out of JFK on 15 May at 10:15AM Nepal time, and was on the summit 3 days, 23 hours, and 7 minutes later on 19 May at 9:22AM.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250601080640_1c5cc6fc991307861768f07037ed9d30930fb20f35dbb57dc31c9a92a9e1a885" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry"> <figcaption>Andrew Ushakov at the summt. Photo: ELITE EXPED</figcaption> </figure>  “I could never find the time for the traditional 40-50 days of acclimatisation,” Ushakov explained matter-of-factly. His ‘Everest Sea-to-Summit’ climb was possible because he spent 400 hours in hypoxic sleep tents over the past four years in New York. However, Ushakov did use ropes already fixed, hired four Nepali guides, helicoptered to Base Camp, and used much more oxygen than an average climber. And after the climb, Ushakov was arrested at Kathmandu airport for being in possession of $20,000 of undeclared cash and spent a night in jail and fined $60,000.&nbsp; The other speedsters were Garth Miller, Alastair Cairns, Anthony Stazicker, and Kev Godlington, all former British Army commandos. They left London and summited five days later on 21 May, and flew right back. They also used hypoxic tents to simulate the thin air high on Everest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250601080644_90c8dd5cc07b4b43f2989b1dc0c0650ab80f10ebb06680c25a6909c519957bd8" data-rendition-name="original" width="810" height="668" loading="lazy" alt="The Everest Industry "> <figcaption>All four members of the Furtenbach team at the summit. Photo: Sandro Gromen-Hayes</figcaption> </figure>  But more controversial was their use of xenon gas therapy in a German hospital to ramp up the production of oxygen-carrying haemoglobins in their blood. Xenon is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency for being performance enhancing in sports. Expedition leader Lukas Furtenbach said this rule does not apply to mountaineering, as it is not a regulated sport like swimming. Nepal has no rules about xenon, but the Department of Tourism said it was launching an ‘investigation’ to decide on future policy since it is difficult to ban xenon, but allow oxygen. The controversy has also divided the mountaineering community, with some climbers saying they just want to maximise their chances of survival. Spending less time on the mountain could make climbing safer by reducing avalanche risk. It would also mean less trash on the mountains, but it would reduce the income of Nepal’s expedition industry. It is also unclear how much of the success was due to xenon therapy and whether the ex-special forces were already in good physical shape.&nbsp; The need for speed hides the fact that climbing in the Himalaya is dangerous business, and climbers cannot sprint to the top just by huffing xenon. But ultra-fast climbs could be charged more, and the revenue generated can be used to establish state-of-the-art rescue operations, and increase pay and insurance for guides. Two other speed chasers this season were Swiss-Ecuadorian Karl Egloff and American Tyler Andrews, both on Everest without oxygen. Andrews choppered to Base Camp to catch a weather window, but turned back from 8,500m due to high winds. Heavy snow and wind also forced Egloff to descend from 7,000m. Slow and steady climbers like Anja Blacha from Germany did make it to the summit without oxygen, while Kami Rita Sherpa broke his own record with his 31st Everest summit as he led a 26-strong Indian Army group. There were 468 permits issued for foreign climbers from 48 expeditions to Everest this spring. Nepal’s other eight-thousanders together had only 17 expeditions. Nepal has more than 1,000 peaks above 6,000m, and has opened only 476 of them for climbing.&nbsp;

The Everest Industry

While Nepal marked <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Mt Everest</a> Day on 29 May, on the other side of the planet in the US state of Colorado dozens of Nepalis who have climbed the world’s highest peak multiple times were busy working as chefs and Uber drivers. Among them is Nima Doma Sherpa, who climbed Mt Everest in 2019 after her husband Tshering Wangchu was among 16 crushed by an avalanche on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu">the Khumbu Icefall</a> five years earlier. A large serac broke off the West Shoulder of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-everest-industry">Mt Everest </a>and fell directly on a group of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/more-porters-sick-on-everest-trail">porters and guides</a> making their way up the Icefall at 5,800m. Their bodies were flown by helicopter to Khumjung where Tshering Wangchu was born. He was excited about climbing Mt Everest for the first time.&nbsp; In Khumjung, Nima Doma felt like her own life had also ended. This was the kind of news Sherpa wives, mothers and sisters dreaded every <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/peak-climbing-season-2025-s4abrxny">mountaineering season</a>. She stayed home for more than two years grieving, but ultimately gathered up all her emotional strength to take care of her 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. Nima had grown up in Khumjung hearing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/stories-of-nepal-s-summiteers">tales of adventure on the mountains </a>from their father, Ang Chubi Sherpa who had climbed Everest in 1993. He used to bring her and her sisters and brother European chocolates after every expedition, and used to tell them that the chocolate bars grew on the mountains. “It was only after we got older did we realise that he told us that chocolates grew in the mountains so we would not worry about him putting himself in harm's way,” Nima Doma recalled with a faraway look at her home in Boulder this week. Nima went to the school that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/commemorating-edmund-hillary-in-nepal,4145">Edmund Hillary</a> opened in Khumjung till Grade 8, and then dropped out to help in the kitchen and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">tend yaks</a>. She was married off to Tshering Wangchu, who was also a high altitude guide. When Tshering went on expeditions, Nima also started working as a porter from Namche to Base Camp. It was perhaps her father’s tales of mountains of chocolates that had always attracted her to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/knowing-our-mountains-43v4iyvo">the peaks</a>. After her husband was killed ten years ago this month, being a widow with children was not easy for Nima Doma. But she was not alone: there were at least 200 single mothers in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/khumbu-since-1950-jaww4qn0">the Khumbu</a>, and 20 of them just in Khumjung whose husbands had been killed in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/tragic-start-to-himalayan-spring-nepal,3695">mountaineering accidents</a>. Some were not even 20 years old, and had children growing up without fathers. But there were also women in the 50s whose husbands had been killed in the 1980s. Nima found sponsors for her children’s education, and moved to Kathmandu. In the capital, Sherpa widows used to meet to help each other. Some of them had joined the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) training for rock and ice climbing. “I decided that it was no use sitting home and crying anymore, after meeting other single mothers I felt less alone,” remembers Nima, who joined the Juniper Foundation and enrolled in an NMA training camp in Manang. There she climbed Chulu East (6,584m) and met Furadiki Sherpa, whose rope-fixing husband had also been <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/on-mt-everest-s-70th-records-and-fatalities">killed on Everest</a> in 2013. They set themselves the goal of climbing Everest one day, and started a fund-raising drive.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250530090544_621be0724b9182c8e3594b2c562a71ec32ac01d985a71d0cf31646de9d51e15a.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250530090544_621be0724b9182c8e3594b2c562a71ec32ac01d985a71d0cf31646de9d51e15a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2678" height="1274" loading="lazy" alt="Everest summiteers find new life in the US"> </figure>  “We decided we had to overcome society’s stigma of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/widows-personal-happiness-comes-last-in-face-of-social-financial-hardships,1855">widowhood</a> and prove that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/remembering-junko-tabei">women could also climb mountains</a>,” Nima said, adding that she was inspired by Nepal’s first woman Everest summiteer Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, who died during her descent in 1993. Nima Doma and Furdiki climbed the technically-difficult Ama Dablam (6,812m) and then arrived at Everest Base Camp in April 2019 as part of their Two Widows Expedition with the motto, ‘So Can We’. While climbing up the Icefall Nima passed the spot where her husband had been killed. It was a jumble of constantly-shifting ice blocks bigger than houses. She closed her eyes and said a prayer. “I remember thinking, this is so difficult and dangerous. This is what my husband had to do to support our family,” Nima Doma said. “I was determined to fulfil my husband’s dream of climbing Chomolungma, and to prove to ourselves that we two women could do it.” It was 23 May 2019 when <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/world/two-sherpa-widows-scale-everest-and-smash-stigma-idUSKCN1SU0MV/" target="_blank">Nima and Furdiki stepped on the summit</a> and looked over into Tibet, and down at Tengboche Monastery to the south.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250530090544_6b822582b5d88ba5e972db084f184690b40653c6efd9901b2dd082ffba2a263b.png" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250530090544_6b822582b5d88ba5e972db084f184690b40653c6efd9901b2dd082ffba2a263b" data-rendition-name="original" width="2700" height="1522" loading="lazy" alt="Everest summiteers find new life in the US"> </figure>  Nima Doma hugged Furdiki, took off her mask and wept. But for the first time in five years, it was not from grief but relief — relief for being free of all the sadness and sacrifices and for fulfilling her husband’s dream. They had found <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/life-after-death">life after death</a>. “I felt this immense joy to be on top of the world, it was indescribable,” Nima Doma said, “I have wept only twice in my life. Once when my husband died, and once there on top of Everest.” The tears had frozen on Nima Doma’s cheeks, as she and Furdiki headed back down the mountain.