<img width="528" height="668" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8509c7e80680e08784ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Twelve years after she left Nepal, and after a dramatic rescue from the home of her abusive Saudi employer, Lilamaya Dhimal (pictured above) returned to a sunny Kathmandu airport on Wednesday morning to say: "I feel safe now, at least I know I will live."   She was saved from a cruel man of the house in a well-planned rescue in the town of Tabuk by her brother, the Nepal embassy and other Nepalis. She is ecstatic to be back and reunited with her family in Jhapa, who had given up hope that she was alive.The Nepal Consulate in Jeddah, where she had been sheltering, told her to get up at 9AM on Tuesday to catch her flight via Kuwait. But the anticipation was too much for her.“I was so excited that I could barely sleep. I was up by 3AM and was on the phone with my children,” Lilamaya said after landing.Lilamaya Dhimal (who is also known by her alias Sharmila Kisan Magar) had been out of touch with her family for over a decade since first going to Saudi Arabia in 2009. One day, by sheer chance, she connected with a man from Nepal on IMO, and pleaded for help.He shared her contact information with his sister in Jhapa, who lived near Lilamaya’s house and was kind enough to go to her home to pass on her details to her family.“It was such a shock when I received a call and heard my brother say दिदी,” Lilamaya recalls. “I learnt that my husband, who was in ill health and drank, passed away three years back. My children were young when I left, but I have six grandchildren now. I was out of touch for years, and they had given me up for dead.”Lilamaya’s employer was abusive and did not pay her. When she couldn’t bear the torture, Lilamaya used to ask him what they would do if she died in Saudi Arabia? His response — a nonchalant “Maafi mushkil” (no problem). <img width="528" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8529c7e80680e08784fjpeg.jpg" alt="">“I landed in the hands of a monster,” she says. “All five of the family’s children were below 10 years and were quite a handful. They were gullible and emulated their parents in mistreating me. My days would begin before 6 AM and end after 1 AM.”Lilamaya’s brother, Hem Raj Magar, was based in the UAE and helped coordinate her rescue via the Riyadh-based Nepal Embassy which referred her case to the Jeddah-based Consulate.“My sister can barely read and she had no idea where she was in Saudi Arabia,” says Hem Raj. “It took me a long time and several failed attempts so she could finally send her WhatsApp location.”Labour Attache Prem Upadhyaya at the Consulate in Jeddah recommended that she also send pictures of nearby landmarks. Lilamaya  managed to sneak out of the house one day and took pictures of a neighbourhood shop. That was enough to begin the rescue effort.“The location was in Tabuk, over 1,200 km from where we are based,” says Upadhyaya. “So we mobilised Nepalis in the town to confirm the location as we hit the road. We advised her to come outside the next morning once her employer had left for work. We instantly recognised her and took her away in our vehicle.”Lilamaya recalls her nervousness, “My heart was pounding as I was scared I would be caught. I managed to take two small bags of my clothes even though I had been advised not to bring anything.” <figure><img width="588" height="292" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8549c7e80680e087850jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="383" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8569c7e80680e087851jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Consulate staff coordinated with Saudi authorities to ensure that Lilamaya was fairly compensated. “The employer was a no-show at the Labour Office on the first day but he came in the second day,” says Upadhyaya. “After much back and forth, they have finally paid her 30,000 Riyal (Rs 953,000).” Lilamaya said she had been paid for the first few years, although she could not recall the exact details of the time period and amount. While her exit documentation was being sorted out and she got compensated, Lilamaya lived under the protection of the Nepal Consulate in Jeddah and Non-Resident Nepali Association in Tabuk, and then in the Consulate for over one month.She recalls, “One day, there were many Nepalis who had come to the Consulate to talk to me and show their support. I was overwhelmed as I had not seen so many Nepalis since so long. Even though I didn’t know any of them personally, just being around Nepalis who were referring to me as their sister felt very safe. I wept uncontrollably in front of them and could not say much.”“I never met my six grandchildren, even as I took care of five of my employer’s children of similar ages. My brother and daughters try to remind me of the names of my grandchildren, but it is impossible for me to keep up. I will have to re-introduce myself to my own children whom I had left behind a long time ago. They are unrecognisable after all these years,” she says.Lilamaya knows life in Jhapa once she is back will not be without challenges. Her son is facing mental health issues. She breaks down as she says: “A धामी shaman is treating him and he is confined to a room. It pains me to think about my son, and I cannot wait to hold him. I have my own health problems, especially with one of my eyes. I am also mentally stressed. But I am glad they found me."  <img width="1181" height="530" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8589c7e80680e087852jpeg.jpg" alt="">Lilamaya ’s case is not isolated, and most Nepalis know about the risks. Yet this does not deter Nepali women from undertaking similar journeys. Lilamaya has an explanation: “When everyone else is going abroad to work from the village, you also think it is OK. There were people in my village who were younger and more informed than me who were leaving via India and sending money home. I was unlucky to land a monstrous employer.”The possibility of a better life is real, especially because of rising demand abroad in the care economy. The partial and blanket bans on women travelling abroad can be by-passed through the open border with India. Also, there are few domestic employment options for Nepali women. A recent World Bank Jobs Diagnostic shows that three-quarters of new jobs taken up by women between 2008 and 2018 were in non-wage, self- employment or unpaid family work like farming.In any age group, less than half of the female population participates in the labour market and it is limited by traditional gender roles, family responsibilities, and mobility and security concerns.The willingness to bypass the ban to improve their lives is also fuelled by the pressing demand for domestic workers abroad which was growing in the Gulf at 9% annually pre-pandemic. Now, with family members are home at all times, domestic workers are under added pressure to work more without adequate compensation. While many sectors face the brunt of pandemic-induced economic fallout, the care economy is expected to grow in the Gulf region and beyond. For Nepali women, whose share in overseas employment has been limited at around 10% annually, overseas options in non-care sectors has remained poor.But defying the ban means women are not recorded as migrants by the government. It also results in lack of pre-departure training, inability to hold agents accountable, and makes them ineligible for welfare programs — all part of the legalised recruitment process.After years of the ban being decried for its ineffectiveness and unintended consequences, in October the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Interest instructed that the ban be removed under certain conditions.Says Bimal Prasad Shrivastav, Chair of the Committee, who led a review trip to the Gulf before the pandemic to assess the situation of domestic workers: “Rather than a blanket ban, we have recommended that country- specific policies be taken to address the situation of domestic workers.” For example, the committee has recommended that the ban be lifted for the UAE, which has taken proactive steps in domestic worker reform, and with which Nepal has signed a labour MOU. A similar agreement is also being signed with Oman.“With countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, there are currently no MOUs and they need to be prioritised urgently,” says Shrivastav, “while an MOU is an essential condition, it is not sufficient and we have made a series of other recommendations after considerable deliberations.”In addition to a comprehensive bilateral labour agreement, these preconditions include a separate domestic worker law, a strong joint mechanism to resolve issues faced by domestic workers, pre-departure training — including of the local language — and post-arrival training, equality of treatment between Nepalis and locals, penalties for sponsors who abuse domestic workers, and easy access of domestic workers to communicate with consular officials and families back home.In early November, Saudi Arabia made some reforms to foreign worker regulations, including giving workers the freedom to change jobs legally to travel outside the country without their employer’s permission. However the changes, which will be effective from March 2021 and are considered a bold effort to dismantle the infamous Kafala system, do not apply to domestic workers. Similar reforms made in Qatar in August this year do,however, apply to domestic workers.But as with all lofty policies, it all boils down to implementation. Bilateral agreements and other policies are only useful if they prevent other migrant workers like Lilamaya Dhimal from abuse by inhumane employers.Om Thapa and Lekhnath Khatiwada helped in reporting this piece.

Upasana Khadka

Marty Logan

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Nepali in Saudi Arabia rescued after 12 years

<img width="528" height="668" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef464b0ad905ca02ef97jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Twelve years after she left Nepal, and after a dramatic rescue from the home of her abusive Saudi employer, Lilamaya Dhimal (pictured above) returned to a sunny Kathmandu airport on Wednesday morning to say: "I feel safe now, at least I know I will live."   She was saved from a cruel man of the house in a well-planned rescue in the town of Tabuk by her brother, the Nepal embassy and other Nepalis. She is ecstatic to be back and reunited with her family in Jhapa, who had given up hope that she was alive.The Nepal Consulate in Jeddah, where she had been sheltering, told her to get up at 9AM on Tuesday to catch her flight via Kuwait. But the anticipation was too much for her.“I was so excited that I could barely sleep. I was up by 3AM and was on the phone with my children,” Lilamaya said after landing.Lilamaya Dhimal (who is also known by her alias Sharmila Kisan Magar) had been out of touch with her family for over a decade since first going to Saudi Arabia in 2009. One day, by sheer chance, she connected with a man from Nepal on IMO, and pleaded for help.He shared her contact information with his sister in Jhapa, who lived near Lilamaya’s house and was kind enough to go to her home to pass on her details to her family.“It was such a shock when I received a call and heard my brother say दिदी,” Lilamaya recalls. “I learnt that my husband, who was in ill health and drank, passed away three years back. My children were young when I left, but I have six grandchildren now. I was out of touch for years, and they had given me up for dead.”Lilamaya’s employer was abusive and did not pay her. When she couldn’t bear the torture, Lilamaya used to ask him what they would do if she died in Saudi Arabia? His response — a nonchalant “Maafi mushkil” (no problem). <img width="528" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef484b0ad905ca02ef98jpeg.jpg" alt="">“I landed in the hands of a monster,” she says. “All five of the family’s children were below 10 years and were quite a handful. They were gullible and emulated their parents in mistreating me. My days would begin before 6 AM and end after 1 AM.”Lilamaya’s brother, Hem Raj Magar, was based in the UAE and helped coordinate her rescue via the Riyadh-based Nepal Embassy which referred her case to the Jeddah-based Consulate.“My sister can barely read and she had no idea where she was in Saudi Arabia,” says Hem Raj. “It took me a long time and several failed attempts so she could finally send her WhatsApp location.”Labour Attache Prem Upadhyaya at the Consulate in Jeddah recommended that she also send pictures of nearby landmarks. Lilamaya  managed to sneak out of the house one day and took pictures of a neighbourhood shop. That was enough to begin the rescue effort.“The location was in Tabuk, over 1,200 km from where we are based,” says Upadhyaya. “So we mobilised Nepalis in the town to confirm the location as we hit the road. We advised her to come outside the next morning once her employer had left for work. We instantly recognised her and took her away in our vehicle.”Lilamaya recalls her nervousness, “My heart was pounding as I was scared I would be caught. I managed to take two small bags of my clothes even though I had been advised not to bring anything.” <figure><img width="588" height="292" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef4a4b0ad905ca02ef99jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="640" height="383" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef4c4b0ad905ca02ef9ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Consulate staff coordinated with Saudi authorities to ensure that Lilamaya was fairly compensated. “The employer was a no-show at the Labour Office on the first day but he came in the second day,” says Upadhyaya. “After much back and forth, they have finally paid her 30,000 Riyal (Rs 953,000).” Lilamaya said she had been paid for the first few years, although she could not recall the exact details of the time period and amount. While her exit documentation was being sorted out and she got compensated, Lilamaya lived under the protection of the Nepal Consulate in Jeddah and Non-Resident Nepali Association in Tabuk, and then in the Consulate for over one month.She recalls, “One day, there were many Nepalis who had come to the Consulate to talk to me and show their support. I was overwhelmed as I had not seen so many Nepalis since so long. Even though I didn’t know any of them personally, just being around Nepalis who were referring to me as their sister felt very safe. I wept uncontrollably in front of them and could not say much.”“I never met my six grandchildren, even as I took care of five of my employer’s children of similar ages. My brother and daughters try to remind me of the names of my grandchildren, but it is impossible for me to keep up. I will have to re-introduce myself to my own children whom I had left behind a long time ago. They are unrecognisable after all these years,” she says.Lilamaya knows life in Jhapa once she is back will not be without challenges. Her son is facing mental health issues. She breaks down as she says: “A धामी shaman is treating him and he is confined to a room. It pains me to think about my son, and I cannot wait to hold him. I have my own health problems, especially with one of my eyes. I am also mentally stressed. But I am glad they found me."  <img width="1181" height="530" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef4e4b0ad905ca02ef9bjpeg.jpg" alt="">Lilamaya ’s case is not isolated, and most Nepalis know about the risks. Yet this does not deter Nepali women from undertaking similar journeys. Lilamaya has an explanation: “When everyone else is going abroad to work from the village, you also think it is OK. There were people in my village who were younger and more informed than me who were leaving via India and sending money home. I was unlucky to land a monstrous employer.”The possibility of a better life is real, especially because of rising demand abroad in the care economy. The partial and blanket bans on women travelling abroad can be by-passed through the open border with India. Also, there are few domestic employment options for Nepali women. A recent World Bank Jobs Diagnostic shows that three-quarters of new jobs taken up by women between 2008 and 2018 were in non-wage, self- employment or unpaid family work like farming.In any age group, less than half of the female population participates in the labour market and it is limited by traditional gender roles, family responsibilities, and mobility and security concerns.The willingness to bypass the ban to improve their lives is also fuelled by the pressing demand for domestic workers abroad which was growing in the Gulf at 9% annually pre-pandemic. Now, with family members are home at all times, domestic workers are under added pressure to work more without adequate compensation. While many sectors face the brunt of pandemic-induced economic fallout, the care economy is expected to grow in the Gulf region and beyond. For Nepali women, whose share in overseas employment has been limited at around 10% annually, overseas options in non-care sectors has remained poor.But defying the ban means women are not recorded as migrants by the government. It also results in lack of pre-departure training, inability to hold agents accountable, and makes them ineligible for welfare programs — all part of the legalised recruitment process.After years of the ban being decried for its ineffectiveness and unintended consequences, in October the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Interest instructed that the ban be removed under certain conditions.Says Bimal Prasad Shrivastav, Chair of the Committee, who led a review trip to the Gulf before the pandemic to assess the situation of domestic workers: “Rather than a blanket ban, we have recommended that country- specific policies be taken to address the situation of domestic workers.” For example, the committee has recommended that the ban be lifted for the UAE, which has taken proactive steps in domestic worker reform, and with which Nepal has signed a labour MOU. A similar agreement is also being signed with Oman.“With countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, there are currently no MOUs and they need to be prioritised urgently,” says Shrivastav, “while an MOU is an essential condition, it is not sufficient and we have made a series of other recommendations after considerable deliberations.”In addition to a comprehensive bilateral labour agreement, these preconditions include a separate domestic worker law, a strong joint mechanism to resolve issues faced by domestic workers, pre-departure training — including of the local language — and post-arrival training, equality of treatment between Nepalis and locals, penalties for sponsors who abuse domestic workers, and easy access of domestic workers to communicate with consular officials and families back home.In early November, Saudi Arabia made some reforms to foreign worker regulations, including giving workers the freedom to change jobs legally to travel outside the country without their employer’s permission. However the changes, which will be effective from March 2021 and are considered a bold effort to dismantle the infamous Kafala system, do not apply to domestic workers. Similar reforms made in Qatar in August this year do,however, apply to domestic workers.But as with all lofty policies, it all boils down to implementation. Bilateral agreements and other policies are only useful if they prevent other migrant workers like Lilamaya Dhimal from abuse by inhumane employers.Om Thapa and Lekhnath Khatiwada helped in reporting this piece.

The RSP and its prime minister are being sworn in this week after gaining an unprecedented election victory. This is a welcome change for many Nepalis who see it as a remedy to decades of coalition instability.&nbsp; Yet Nepal’s political history suggests otherwise. No majority government has ever completed its full term. This reveals a deeper structural problem: weakly institutionalised parties dominated by personalities rather than ideas. 1951: Dissatisfaction with the oppressive Rana regime among the educated elite led to the creation of political parties like the Nepali Congress (NC), Praja Parishad (later merged into the Nepali Congress), Gorkha Parishad, and the Nepal Communist Party.&nbsp; They emerged secretly, mainly in India during the height of that country’s independence. They organised a successful armed uprising against the Rana rule.&nbsp; 1959: The NC won a two-thirds supermajority in the first general election. Within a year, King Mahendra staged a coup and established the partyless absolute monarchy called the Panchayat system.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260322130332_a416ab5703287898f0566dc6d2a6b95d797ce2f4ed55bffcfae2e8edc7737c5e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260322130332_a416ab5703287898f0566dc6d2a6b95d797ce2f4ed55bffcfae2e8edc7737c5e" data-rendition-name="original" width="675" height="849" loading="lazy" alt="Mahendra and BP"> </figure>  1991: After the People’s Movement, the ban on parties was lifted and Nepal became a constitutional monarchy. Elections were held under a new Constitution and the NC won 110 out of 205 seats, joining the United Leftist Front which functioned as a loose coalition.&nbsp; Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala’s first term ended with his resignation due to infighting, particularly with Ganesh Man Singh, who accused him of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2645025" target="_blank">“emerging as a dictator, downgrading democratic norms and values, and even selling out national interests.”</a> Parliament was dissolved and the NC ended up losing the ensuing elections. 1994: Following the NC’s defeat, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2645025" target="_blank">hung parliament emerged</a> with the UML forming a minority government that lasted only nine months before collapsing after a no-confidence vote, allowing a NC-led coalition to return to power.&nbsp; 1999: Voters gave the NC a second chance and the party won 111 out of 205 seats. The party was divided between supporters of Koirala and Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, who became prime minister. &nbsp;The internal NC power struggle intensified and Koirala became prime minister again only to face bribery scandals, the Maoist insurgency, and the royal massacre.&nbsp; In 2001, under growing pressure from both the public and the party, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/20/world/nepal-premier-resigns-caught-in-chaos-after-royal-blood-bath.html" target="_blank">Koirala was forced to resign</a> to be replaced by Sher Bahadur Deuba. The party eventually split into Koirala’s NC and Deuba’s NC (Democratic). &nbsp;In this chaos, king Gyanendra dissolved the parliament and assumed executive powers.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260322130332_e107b95de5641044f72a13fd20f417d16b9a2d1ecbae3492126ee5fd4244bd84.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20260322130332_e107b95de5641044f72a13fd20f417d16b9a2d1ecbae3492126ee5fd4244bd84" data-rendition-name="original" width="1250" height="753" loading="lazy" alt="Deuba and Girija"> </figure>  2017: This was the first election under the federal constitution. The UML and Maoists created a surprise pre-electoral alliance, breaking the Maoist coalition with the NC. The left alliance won a massive victory with the UML winning 121 seats and the Maoists 53 seats. Prime Minister K P Oli fell out with Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoists. The House was dissolved, with the UML itself breaking into factions. What followed was seven shaky coalition governments in eight years.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260322130352_8b09b374d7fcb811e0a652c7f60b30eea4b9052a19ed3d768ba8ca9aaeb4dec7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20260322130352_8b09b374d7fcb811e0a652c7f60b30eea4b9052a19ed3d768ba8ca9aaeb4dec7" data-rendition-name="original" width="667" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Oli and Prachanda"> </figure>  2022: The RSP was formed only four months prior to elections, but managed to become the fourth-largest party. In this month’s &nbsp;election, the RSP won a commanding parliamentary majority by presenting itself to the electorate as different from the discredited old parties.&nbsp; The RSP leadership structure is largely personality-driven and opaque. Party leader Rabi Lamichhane joined the governing coalition with the Maoists and UML securing four ministerial positions. Lamichhane became Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, using his swing vote to be the kingmaker party in the coalition. Lamichhane was embroiled in various scandals which he blamed on political vendetta. There was internal dissent within the party and among supporters who felt the coalition betrayed RSP’s founding ideals.&nbsp; Lamichhane <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2023/02/key-ally-quits-government-in-nepal/" target="_blank">reportedly</a> bypassed the party’s internal mechanisms, unilaterally deciding to pull out of the government without broad consultation.&nbsp; The youth-led September protests gave the RSP an opportunity to represent GenZ aspirations, and its popularity was cemented after Balendra Shah joined the party as a prime ministerial candidate.&nbsp; With its dramatic election victory, there is a question whether the &nbsp;party can separate itself from its two leaders, and have internal democracy. Or will it just be a vessel for new political elites to continue staying in power?&nbsp; ‘BALEN PARTY’ The RSP has increasingly relied on the same tactics that the NC once used in its heyday. Backed by Balendra Shah’s meteoric rise to fame, the RSP is called ‘The Balen Party’. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/cyberia/rsp-s-pr-list-is-not-good-pr" target="_blank">RSP’s PR list</a> includes celebrities, actors, singers, pageant winners, business personalities, and athletes to maximise visibility and public appeal. Many of these soon-to-be MPs have little to no experience working in government, or together as a team. Which is perhaps why they needed a two-day orientation last week. In today’s attention economy, political currency depends on visibility. This is why the RSP’s strategy to harness Shah’s popularity was necessary to secure victory, while Shah needed a political platform for the election.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260322130348_abd1522a1f4f8ad4a0861c3916d86bd9688deafc7c44081b976378405d2b8e39.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20260322130348_abd1522a1f4f8ad4a0861c3916d86bd9688deafc7c44081b976378405d2b8e39" data-rendition-name="original" width="900" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="Balen and Rabi"> </figure>  Political parties are essential for a democracy, but when they &nbsp;revolve around one dominant leader, internal institutions become weak, and decision-making becomes centralised in the leader rather than in party committees, rules, or ideological platforms.&nbsp; This is exactly what led to the downfall of the NC and the UML. Both over the years were ridden with inter- and intra-party strife and failed the electorate. RSP must take a lesson from this and unite to institutionalise beyond its two personalities. Or it will suffer the same fate as the legacy parties. Since its inception, RSP has espoused a populist and anti-establishment agenda. The ‘new’ RSP with the Balendra brand gained massive support by being a clear ‘other’.&nbsp; The RSP can fall into the same trap as the NC and the UML by defining itself by what it is not, rather than what it is for. Beyond the external enemies they oppose, these parties often struggle to articulate what they actually stand for.&nbsp; RSP positions itself as an alternative to established parties — a pragmatic, results-oriented political force rather than one driven by traditional ideologies. However,<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/theorizing-in-comparative-politics/parties-and-ideology/8386083191B53EC86A239B8852D4A6A6" target="_blank"> ideology gives a party identity and direction.</a> Without ideological grounding, RSP risks becoming a hollow vessel for power-chasing politicians who oppose each other’s every move, a story that is all too familiar.&nbsp; RSP can no longer define itself as being anti-establishment. It is now the establishment.&nbsp; While RSP might look like Congress 2.0 to many who have seen Nepal’s democratic trajectory, RSP does differ from past majority parties in both positive and negative ways.&nbsp; Times have also changed. Nepal is no longer a monarchy, literacy rates are much higher, social media has made information more accessible, and Nepalis are less forgiving, as seen by the events that transpired on 8-9 September 2025.&nbsp; The RSP has fielded more qualified candidates, and they could steer the country in the right direction. Many are experts in their fields and have had years of experience prior to joining politics. Having experts from such different backgrounds is a huge asset.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260322130352_426011e8c377bffcef6fcb4371325b36fb940eb5a8ab66d3c76ff5cf6f1943c7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20260322130352_426011e8c377bffcef6fcb4371325b36fb940eb5a8ab66d3c76ff5cf6f1943c7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1066" loading="lazy" alt="RSP new MPs"> </figure>  Moreover, having MPs from various other parties/fields can also prevent a cult following of hardcore loyalists within the party.&nbsp; There are members loyal to certain RSP leaders in the party, but there are also those who will not hesitate to go against their leaders if need be. The RSP has little opposition in Parliament, so its own members may have to take on a check-and-balance role. Nepal is in a much better spot institutionally compared to what it was like back in the early days of its democracy. There is a Constitution, there is no active conflict, the monarchy is no longer an existential threat to democracy, and the local and provincial governmental bodies have had the time to settle.&nbsp; This means the RSP is in a better position to work without the basic institutional hurdles that previous governments faced, but it will not be able to hide behind institutional issues if it fails to deliver.&nbsp; In the past, majority parties could easily pin the blame on an authoritarian monarchy, a Maoist conflict, a lack of consensus during the constitution-building process, or a newly implemented federal system.&nbsp; Most of these were just excuses for incompetency. Governments were formed and fell based on self-serving negotiations, but they managed to keep the parties afloat, and the citizenry was willing to give them a second, third, or even fourth chance.&nbsp; The RSP will not have this privilege. Nepal has many problems, but its governmental bodies are better institutionalised than when the NC last had a majority. A challenge for RSP now would be fixing broken institutions, not building new ones. A recurring issue during Balendra Shah’s tenure as Kathmandu’s mayor were his <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2026/01/28/can-nepal-s-viral-mayor-run-the-country" target="_blank">disputes with the bureaucracy</a> that resulted in months of unpaid salary for KMC staff, a lack of collaboration between him and Deputy Mayor Sunita Dangol, and rarely any public appearances.&nbsp; The RSP is inheriting a bureaucracy tainted by deep-seated patronage networks. Sustaining a government requires institutional collaboration and a willingness to work together, not disruption and division.&nbsp; While Nepal has seen the rise of many populist figures in its democratic history, the RSP’s victory based on Balendra Shah’s fame is new. Populism is usually harmful for a democracy because it punishes dissent, turns criticism into betrayal, and fuels hyper-nationalism, authoritarianism, and polarisation. A trend of punishing criticism is already visible on online spaces. Without an effective parliamentary opposition, the responsibility for democratic accountability will fall on the media and civil society. If the trend of intolerance to criticism deepens, Nepal risks sliding toward a majoritarian politics where popularity replaces accountability. Time and again, the Nepali people have given opportunities to parties that promise change, only to face disappointment. Nepal’s political history shows that majority governments fail not because they lack seats, but because they lack institutions.&nbsp; The electoral earthquake Nepal just witnessed could bring sweeping reforms or drown the country’s fragile democracy. If RSP hopes to succeed where others failed, it must build a party that outlives its founders. Suvexa Pradhan Tuladhar is an Early Career Policy Research Fellow at the Nepal Institute for Policy Research (NIPoRe).

Will it be different this time in Nepal?

Next to my home in Bhainsepati stood a dead Uttis tree next to a public tap. A nearby water tank built a year earlier had killed its roots.
If the tree collapsed, people living nearby and those queuing up to fetch water at the tap would be hurt. With the storm season approaching, the risk was obvious. The tree could also fall on my own house, so I volunteered to find a way to remove this threat.
Little did I know how difficult it would be. A forest officer acquaintance told me there is a special procedure for cutting risky trees. I contacted the Lalitpur District Forest Office (DFO).&nbsp;
He said a technical report from a field officer was needed, and passed on her number. When I called, she asked for the location, photos, and a video. I send them all.
The ward office also suggested I use Lalitpur Metropolitan City’s mobile app, Lalitpur Alert, to report the problem. I uploaded photos, and submitted the complaint. This seemed to be very easy and efficient.
Indeed, the next day the municipality called me back and I explained the situation. They said they could not act without permission from the DFO. I asked why the app existed if the city could not act on such complaints. The officer said he did not know. My happiness was short-lived.
A couple of days later, the app notified me that my problem had been solved, and the complaint was removed. But the dead tree still stood there defiantly.&nbsp;
A week later, two forest technicians arrived on a scooter to inspect the tree. They looked up at the tree and asked if I had a measuring tape so they could measure its diameter.
“You are the technicians,” I told them. “You came to inspect the tree, and you came without a measuring tape?”
I rummaged at home and found a tape measure. They got the diameter and said they would prepare a technical report, but I would have to obtain a recommendation letter from the ward office and submit it to the DFO.
“This tree is dead,” I told them. “It is on public land. You have seen it with your own eyes. You know it's dangerous, so write a report and arrange for it to be cut. Why do I have to run from office to office to apply for recommendation letters?”
Their answer was simple, yet expected: “Those are the rules.”
They left, and I gave up. Two technicians spent half a day visiting the site. The metropolis runs a complaint system with a mobile app funded with public money. The ward office has staff to solve problems. Yet none of these institutions took the responsibility to remove a dangerous tree.
Everyone is busy citing rules and regulations and passing the buck. Weeks passed. Everyone reacted to the problem, but no one took any responsibility to resolving it.
Then, one bright December morning under a deep blue sky, a few neighbourhood boys were swinging their axes on the trunk. They had no proper equipment, no safety gear, and no professional experience.
I gave the boys some money and so did a neighbour. It took an hour or so for the tree to come crashing down safely. We had paid to have the tree cut illegally, and the matter ended there.
Multiple government offices, technicians, procedures, and mobile apps could not remove a dangerous tree, and we had to break the law to cut it. The tree is gone now, but the real problem remains: an inefficient bureaucracy.&nbsp;
It is perhaps symbolic that the tree is the election sign of the Nepali Congress, which was part of Nepal's governance and bureaucracy for decades and did not perform well in this month's election.&nbsp;
That is the bureaucracy that the new RSP government now has to get to work. But it will not be easy.
I posted on Facebook: ‘When people feel leaders have grown arrogant or corrupt with power, they change their minds and their votes. If those who replace them follow the same path, voters will again change their minds and votes.’
I continued: ‘The strength of democracy lies in this simple principle: the more citizens act as independent voters, the stronger democracy becomes. The more they behave as party loyalists, the weaker it grows. If we want a better system, we must demand deep reform of the state bureaucracy and hold institutions accountable.’&nbsp;
The first responses came from two senior government officials. They told me privately that they agreed by 200% but could not say so publicly.
It is quite normal for a Nepali to get the run around in government offices, it is almost a given to be asked for a bribe. As an environmental reporter and citizen, I have numerous such examples.
It is not just one sector that has been suffering. It is everywhere, and this is just an example of how complicated our bureaucracy is. As a 40 something person, I am old enough to remember the 1990 pro-democracy movement, &nbsp;the Maoist insurgency. Many promises made then by the politicians were broken.
We fought for rights, we fought for regime change. The country has changed political systems several times, from monarchy to multiparty democracy and finally a republic.
Yet one thing that remains largely untouched or reformed is our inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy. The new government, to be led by the youngest prime minister in our history must start this reform if it wants to deliver.&nbsp;
Otherwise, we may have to keep changing governments every few years, and still find ourselves unable to legally cut down even one dead tree.

A dead tree tests Nepal's bureaucracy

Sometimes, we need to take a step back to realise what a tectonic movement Nepali politics witnessed this month.
In a region and world ruled by elected authoritarians, Nepalis &nbsp;went to the ballot box freely to express a collective will for change.
These faces in this group photo of the RSP’s 180 freshly-minted MPs at the ballroom of the Royal Tulip Hotel on Wednesday is symbolic of what Nepal has come through.&nbsp;
The ship of state righted itself after the September Storm, installing an interim government that held an election within six months in which voters banished obsolete politicians and their parties into oblivion.
Nepalis, fed up with the inept kakistocracy of the past three decades, took the country into a post-ideological phase — replacing Marxists, Maoists and monarchists &nbsp;with a belief in a new governing culture that rewards delivery and accountability. And they have trusted the RSP to carry it through.
Nepal’s history has never been linear, it jerks ahead in lurches. The polity also tends to take one step forward and two steps back, so the public’s great expectations is tempered by a sense of cautious optimism and guarded pessimism.
This could be the great leap forward that Nepalis have waited for and deserve, but it could also be a Gramscian interregnum in which the old is dead and the new is not yet born. We will have to wait to see whether this transitional period will also see ‘morbid symptoms’.
As disruptor-in-chief, it was the Balendra Shah ‘wave’ or ‘craze’ that propelled the RSP to power. The former Kathmandu mayor needed a party platform, and the RSP’s tainted leader Rabi Lamichhane required a booster. Nepal's voters were looking for a saviour.
Personality-wise Shah and Lamichhane are poles apart: one is Type B and the other Type A. One is enigmatic, the other phlegmatic. But yin and yang do also tend to complement each other.&nbsp;
Kathmandu’s chattering class is already making self-fulfilling prophecies about the two falling out, and are fishing for hints that they already have. Shah’s absence from the RSP’s orientation this week was taken as a clue.&nbsp;
Closing the two-day tutorial on Wednesday, Lamichhane delivered a fiery 30-minute speech that laid out the RSP’s main agenda: to function differently from the old parties, serve the people, avoid middlemen, become true lawmakers without taking the law into their own hands.&nbsp;
“The old political parties contributed to history, we will build the future with a new political contract with citizens,” he said, trying to rise over past controversies and his abrasive rhetoric to sound statesmanlike.&nbsp;
GIVE AND TAKE
Lamichhane is said to be in touch with the reclusive Shah to announce a compact cabinet next week. Its composition will be an indication of how much give-and-take there was, and whether the criteria for selecting ministers is competence or loyalty.
Will RSP ministers behave like rulers or service providers? The new government will dive right into the economic fallout of the West Asia war with soaring fuel &nbsp;prices, inflation and uncertainty about remittance inflows.
On Thursday, Gagan Thapa resigned as NC chair, taking moral responsibility for the party’s election loss. The UML’s unrepentant K P Oli does not share the same sentiment about who is responsible for his own party’s historic downfall.&nbsp;
NCP chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who was luckier than his cross-party cohort, is now a comparative relic in a Parliament largely comprised of freshmen and sophomore lawmakers.
But the NC, UML and NCP still control provincial and most municipal governments. The old parties could try to make things difficult for the RSP at the centre, but it is also an opportunity for them to clean up their act ahead of local elections next year.&nbsp;
Another test for the RSP will be dealing with a heavily-politicised klepto-bureaucracy which has to frontend its policy decisions. &nbsp;

People’s power

Deadly floods two years ago along the southern fringes of Kathmandu Valley killed 200 people. Climate change was blamed, but the destruction was magnified by quarries and sand mining owned by local politicians and crony contractors. Disaster mitigation and environmental risk was not a priority for any of the political parties that ran and won Nepal’s election last week. Although the RSP has a supermajority, rural municipalities that grant mining contracts are still ruled by the established parties that supply aggregates and sand to feed &nbsp;Kathmandu’s construction boom. Here in Lele Valley, residents are worried about another monsoon season that will start in June and fear more floods bringing unmanaged gravel from quarries down the Nallu River.&nbsp; The house of Sanumaya Nagarkoti, 65, and ten neighbours were washed away by the flood on the night of 28 September 2024. She and her husband petitioned the ward and municipal council to remove the crushers but no one listened. The slopes above are scarred by landslides from two years ago, and the banks of the river are strewn with bounders the size of cars that were brought down. “We live in constant fear of landslides,” says Chakra Nagarkoti, “the heavy crusher machinery and tipper trucks also constantly shake the house.”&nbsp; Google Earth images show that 24.6 hectares of mountain flanks have been excavated since 2010, and despite the disaster no lessons have been learnt.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260319090348_bdce7f17500eadac0ce0814c32c2b4190d01325976fd4d29db9985148459c0bc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260319090348_bdce7f17500eadac0ce0814c32c2b4190d01325976fd4d29db9985148459c0bc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="907" loading="lazy" alt="Lele"> <figcaption>Photo: GOOGLE EARTH</figcaption> </figure>  The RSP might have got a near two-thirds majority in Parliament but decision-making at the community level is controlled by politicians in cahoots with contractors.&nbsp; Along the Mahadev Khola, the Department of Mines cancelled excavation permits for crushers citing flood and landslide risk. Yet there are still 21 contractors mining stones and sand.&nbsp; Nearby Godavari Municipality also instructed operators who had not renewed permits to close down. No action was taken. One of them is Vinayak Multipurpose which delivers aggregate and stones for United Cement. Local ward chair Milan Silwal, has a stake in Vinayak and locals accuse him of taking the side of industry.&nbsp; Another slope is being gouged out near Mahadev Khola, and comparing satellite imagery from 2010 shows that the scar on the mountain is now five times bigger.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260319090348_21a8f7f7f9d6cc784c35719da737b20283f934bbe16c9de971d91bf01012499a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260319090348_21a8f7f7f9d6cc784c35719da737b20283f934bbe16c9de971d91bf01012499a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="Lele"> <figcaption>United Cement operating near Mahadev Khola. Photo: ARCHANA DARJI</figcaption> </figure>  Nearby stands the lone house of 55-year-old Sabina Tamang, who lives with her husband and daughter. Due to the sound of the stone-breakers, they cannot hear each other speak. “Last year, a landslide destroyed our cowshed and latrine,” she says. “Next it is going to be our home.”&nbsp; DRY SPRINGS Lele gets its water from several perennial springs which have gone dry in recent years. One of them is near where the cement factory quarries limestone. “We hardly get any water, and the little that does flow is murky and red,” says local resident Rajesh Shrestha. A parliamentary committee directive ordered excavation to stop 15 years ago after a similar flood to the one in 2024.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260319090352_af7da754299116578cc1dd91d5318ec337b69e74b0676599260b7c57c6ec6fd7.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20260319090352_af7da754299116578cc1dd91d5318ec337b69e74b0676599260b7c57c6ec6fd7" data-rendition-name="original" width="1440" height="494" loading="lazy" alt="Lele"> <figcaption>Lele over the years. Photo: GOOGLE EARTH</figcaption> </figure>  United Cement’s manager Hari Upreti says his company has fulfilled all requirements and has permission to mine 15 hectares of its own property and 4 hectares of government land. “We have the Department of Mines permit which is valid till 2036 and extract 1,600 tons of limestone every day,” says Upreti. “The local community knew about the mining and if there is a problem with springs going dry it is not because of us.” Environmental researcher Uttambabu Shrestha, however, says there is a direct correlation between the quarry operation and floods, landslides and dry springs.&nbsp; “Extraction should not be allowed without an environmental impact assessment, and companies must stick to set limits,” he says. Investigation of permits show that there is collusion between local officials and contractors. Godavari-6 Chair Bishnuman Maharjan has investment in two quarries and crusher companies operating along Nallu Khola. A paper trail links Maharjan also to Sagarmatha Stone Crusher and Mankamana Aggregate Industries. IMPUNITY&nbsp; Godavari Municipality published a notice in June 2024, instructing crusher companies to submit environmental reports within two weeks, covering initial examination and impact assessment. It also told them to pay local development fees and clear outstanding dues. The municipality even wrote to the Department of Mines clarifying that it had issued permits to only five out of 27 contractors. Within a month, the Department wrote to the District Administration Office (DAO) and District Police Office instructing them to stop illegal excavation, and sent a copy to the Lalitpur Division Forest Office. The DAO then wrote to Lalitpur Police naming Machindranath Multipurpose as operating illegally and should be shut down. There was no followup. The municipality then issued fines worth Rs 60 million to it and one other company for non-compliance. The companies stalled, disputing the calculations.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260319090356_6e96403d3c5be4aef4d030974d6d92029a0eb396deafd19c511978dae30dd3d2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260319090356_6e96403d3c5be4aef4d030974d6d92029a0eb396deafd19c511978dae30dd3d2" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="2250" loading="lazy" alt="Lele"> <figcaption>Another site of extraction near Mahadev Khola in Godavari. </figcaption> </figure>  Machhindranath Multipurpose operator Kedar Timalsina Shashi denies doing anything wrong, and says the landslides were collateral damage because of the steep terrain. When contacted Godavari Municipality Deputy Mayor Muna Adhikari declined to comment. It has been 10 years since Rajesh Shrestha, Nikesh Shrestha, and others raised their voices against the environmental destruction caused by the construction mafia. An agreement was finally reached two years ago between locals and mining and transport businessmen, stipulating that stone mines must close permanently by mid-2025. The agreement also stated that check dams must be built to manage mining debris, and damaged structures must be restored to their original state. Trees were to be planted at sites where stone mines had operated. But the mines in the catchment are still in operation with 500 tipper trucks working on the site every day, transporting stones and aggregate. Local youth have continued holding sit-in street protests and at Lalitpur DAO.&nbsp; After one sit-in, the mines closed for about a month but they started back up a month later.&nbsp; Birendra Maharjan owns one of the crusher units, and says he follows all environmental protocols. He told us: “You need stones to build, and we must dig to extract stones. Some trees have to be cut, people get employment, and besides, floods and landslides happen across Nepal.” &nbsp;&nbsp; Centre for Investigative Journalism – Nepal.

migrant-rescue

Nepali in Saudi Arabia rescued after 12 years

Nepali in Saudi Arabia rescued after 12 years

Will it be different this time in Nepal?

A dead tree tests Nepal's bureaucracy

People’s power

Loot in Lele