<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111152/636cd86b9c7e80680e092e40jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption></figure>Almost exactly two years ago, Prime Minister Oli launched an ambitious employment creation scheme, which was widely considered at the time as a potentially significant contribution to the reduction in unemployment within the country.In the budget for 2018-19, the government had allocated Rs3.1 billion for an employment ‘drive’. Two years later, the ambitious program had not provided the promised jobs, even as the need grew for employment for the many migrant workers who returned, mainly from India, last year.The scheme would provide guaranteed public sector employment for 100 days to those currently unemployed, across a dozen different sectors, including irrigation, commercial agriculture, drinking water, river control, forestry, tourism, transport infrastructure and other public works across the country.The PlanThe plan was to was to be delivered through Employment Service Centres (ESCs) to be set up in the 753 local administrative units to those registered as unemployed. Already, 2,259 candidates had been shortlisted to run the ESCs.Unemployed persons between 18 and 51 would be covered under this scheme, which would assign them jobs according to their qualifications and interest areas. Additionally, they will also receive vocational and skill-oriented training.With the implementation of the new program, each unemployed person would get a paid job for a minimum of 100 days in a fiscal year, along with a subsistence allowance worth 50 days of work. The then Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/blood-sweat-and-tears/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/blood-sweat-and-tears/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615787970334000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHOgDJ2olr5zixIp8i2UKNw_OyUzA">Gokarna Bista</a>, promised that the program would be instrumental in bringing down the massive outflow of the country’s youth to foreign lands.The scheme reminded some of a similar project introduced in India under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, whereby India also aimed to guarantee 100 days of paid work annually.That program was fraught with corruption and malpractice, and although the proposal made by Oli was generally welcomed in Nepal by economists, journalists and other commentators, it was recognised that much depended on successful implementation – not something for which the government of Nepal was considered to be particularly effective.Also Arjun Kharel, researcher on labour and migration at the Centre for the Study of Labour and Mobility warned that much depended on the successful implementation of the programme and also reminded policy makers of the importance of remittances from migrants working abroad for the national economy.As regards the former warning, even PM Oli himself recognised the enormity of the task ahead. He was quoted by the media as saying: “We all need to come together for its effective implementation to ensure that there is no poverty and no unemployment in Nepal.”But he clearly had high hopes for its realisation. When he formally inaugurated the scheme at the beginning of June 2019, he promised “no Nepali will now have to go abroad looking for work as the government would provide employment to all within the country itself”.He described the Prime Minister Self-employment Programme as an illustration of the broader campaign of nation building on which he and his government was now embarked.  “Now, no one will face problems, as the government has conducted a campaign of life security for all, from children to the senior citizens ... this is a new beginning, a new campaign. Among many problems of the country, unemployment is the major one, which is directly linked with poverty. This program aims to resolve both,” Prime Minister Oli added.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/win-win-migration/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/win-win-migration/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615787970334000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFFgkqjGOUuegnI6kad_Q3paFMD9Q">Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista</a>, said that the government had initiated the Prime Minister Self-employment Programme with a goal of making the unemployed youth self-employed.He added that, although this program had been implemented only partially in the current fiscal year, it would be expanded throughout the country with the goal of providing jobs to at least 500,000 unemployed youths from the coming fiscal year. He said the government had designed an employment programme for both educated and uneducated people.Lawmaker and former Minister for Industry, Mahesh Basnet, said that the government had provided Rs24.6 million for the employment program in four municipalities of Bhaktapur, and added that the municipalities would mobilise the unemployed youths at the ward level in work from 16 June 2019.“The government should set up an Employment Bank and provide employment to the unemployed youth based on their qualification as per the data of unemployed youths,” he said, predicting that “employment can be given to 1.2 million youths in the agriculture sector alone, while more than 700,000 youths can be given work in the construction industry.”He reported that, already, around 750 unemployed young people in Bhaktapur had found work under this program, and that some 1,500 youths had enlisted their names in the unemployed youth list.Meantime, in April 2019 the British development agency DfID had launched a complementary four-year <a href="http://seepnepal.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://seepnepal.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615787970335000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFZM6z1-e5FxiZwHdbx96g7oIgv7w">Skills for Employment Programme (SEP)</a> which was intended ‘to support the generation of new employment by working with government, employers in the private sector, training and education institutions, and youth to carry out innovative employment interventions, including skills training and job placement which provides higher wages for the individuals and increases the productivity of firms in growth sectors’.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111152/636cd86f9c7e80680e092e41jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4002" height="4002"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>It was anticipated that some 100,000 young people would be involved, and there would be a focus on women and other disadvantaged groups. The SEP would concentrate on information and communication technology, commercial agriculture, construction (hydropower), light manufacturing sectors through market-led interventions that enable job creation, increase in incomes and migration optimization.It was recognised that ‘the majority of Nepalis will remain dependent on the informal sector and migration for a long time to come, so the project will also contribute to increasing jobs, productivity and incomes in the informal sector and migrant work’.The program would, ‘harness the benefits of migration for Nepal’s work force and economic development by demonstrating several cost-effective models to increase migrants’ skills; lower financing and other costs of travelling abroad; and increase savings and investment of remittances’.The RealityWhat has happened since these program were announced? <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/blood-sweat-and-tears/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/blood-sweat-and-tears/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615787970335000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGTGVWQD3g8uy9E4wNIH1wXB6TcEw">Labour Minister Bista was sacked</a>, Basnet has been busy defending Prime Minister Oli from internal rivals within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP). Oli himself has been engrossed in internal fire-fighting.Prime Minister Oli dissolved the Lower House on 20 December, the Supreme Court reinstated it, but another court decision annulled the unification of the NCP on 7 March. Lurching from one crisis to another, the government has had little time to concentrate on governance, job-creation and addressing the economic and public health impact of the Covid-19 crisis.There has not been any systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of the roll-out and implementation of the two employment generation programs, or any assessment of the extent to which they have achieved their ambitions.The Dfid SEP did set up a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SkillsforEmploymentProgrammeNepal" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/SkillsforEmploymentProgrammeNepal&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615787970335000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEg7h_F0TSvFDz0SaDnid4MmXv8tA">Facebook site</a>, which is still running and reporting on employment initiatives under this program. But there is no overall evaluation of its achievements and its impact on employment.In June, there were media reports that a task force formed to study the impact of Covid-19 on employment and the economy has said that the country needs to create 1.5 million jobs, more than double the target set by the government, to avoid an <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/03/21/covid-19-pandemic-likely-to-devastate-country-s-labour-sector-as-ilo-projects-25-million-job-losses-globally" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/03/21/covid-19-pandemic-likely-to-devastate-country-s-labour-sector-as-ilo-projects-25-million-job-losses-globally&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615787970335000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEcs-Hb-ATiAtOeQ3aBeZ8dvQtCxw">imminent unemployment crisis</a>. With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the global workforce, tens of thousands of Nepali migrant workers based in various labour destination countries were expected to return home while many people within the country were thought to be likely to be put out of their jobsThe government had announced plans to create <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/05/29/government-eyes-massive-700-000-jobs-within-the-country" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/05/29/government-eyes-massive-700-000-jobs-within-the-country&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615787970335000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEL7W7xd8D3Dx0Z-kdB8CsHWtCVJA">700,000 jobs in the fiscal year 2020-21</a>. But the government’s own task force now suggested that this – even if implemented -- would not be enough to employ the workforce at home and those expected to return from abroad.“Our estimate is that we need to create 1.5 million jobs to accommodate the new workforce that joins the labour market every year, those who were planning to go abroad for jobs but were unable to because of the pandemic, and the people who lost their jobs at home and abroad,” said Ram Kumar Phuyal, coordinator of the task force and also a member of the National Planning Commission.According to the task force, around 700,000 Nepali migrant workers were estimated to return from abroad over the next year. Phuyal said 300,000 people were estimated to arrive from India and the remaining from other key labour destinations.The task force estimated that around 225,000 people were likely to return in the immediate future (June to August 2020). It noted that the government<a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/05/29/government-eyes-massive-700-000-jobs-within-the-country" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://kathmandupost.com/national/2020/05/29/government-eyes-massive-700-000-jobs-within-the-country&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615787970335000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEL7W7xd8D3Dx0Z-kdB8CsHWtCVJA"> plans to create employment </a>through various existing programs, like the Prime Minister Employment Programme, as well as new ones.It estimated that this, if implemented, could provide as many as 700,000 jobs, but there was no indication at that point that the scheme was being effectively implemented, or indeed, implemented at all. Shankar Sharma, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, commented that the government would struggle to create 700,000 new jobs in a year, let alone 1.5 million.In fact, by all accounts some 300,000 to 400,000 Nepalis previously working abroad, mainly in India, returned home during 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic swept across India and the economy was effectively locked down.According to the World Bank, the Nepal Unemployment Rate, which was 2.85% in December 2019 (and had averaged 1.84% over the previous decade), had risen by December 2020 to 4.44%. Even as early as September-October 2020, finding insufficient and inadequate economic opportunities in Nepal on their return, tens of thousands of former migrant workers began to return to India in search of employment or other livelihoods.There is no indication that the employment programs launched in 2019 had provided anything like what was needed in the way of jobs to prevent a dramatic rise in unemployment and the return of many migrant workers to India towards the end of 2020.<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/positive-alternatives-to-federalism,350" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/positive-alternatives-to-federalism,350&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1615787970335000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFOoLIXteUjx9jWZvRcPAy1dhJeIw">David Seddon</a> has undertaken research and consultancy on development issues in Nepal over several decades.

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Few jobs created by Nepal employment drive

Who is accountable for teacher-student relationships?

Early on Monday morning, a bus from Pokhara to Kathmandu plunged off the highway in Dhading killing 19 passengers. Two weeks ago, another bus fell into the Tama Kosi in Manthali, killing 12. A few days before that a bus crash in Baitadi killed 13 people.&nbsp; In just the month before Nepal's election, more than 50 people have been killed in road traffic accidents. Most of these cannot be called 'accidents'. They are a direct result of poorly maintained highways and lack of enforcement of traffic discipline. Political parties in Nepal have rolled out their election manifestos, and voters are once again presented with a flood of promises. Page after page, these documents list megawatts and microcredit, highways and airports, jobs and investment. In these manifestos, growth is quantified, projects itemised, revenue forecast — and there are even threats to beat up contractors who do not finish their jobs. But when everything is declared a priority the stale promises are empty. The voter is left confused as to where the party’s loyalties really lie. Will any of these plans and pledges actually ever materialise and help Nepalis live longer, safer, healthier lives? The main job of any accountable government is to protect its citizens, not so much from foreign enemies but from domestic mismanagement. And this means the most basic test the new government should be made to pass is whether it can ensure basic well-being and protection for all its people. The problems of safety, health, and survival remain unresolved for most Nepalis, and are quietly eroding their lives. In the past year alone, the country’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/roadkill">roads and highways claimed more than 2,300</a> lives. An estimated 41,000 Nepalis die each year directly because of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-is-invisible-is-more-dangerous">air pollution</a>, and their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/air-pollution-killing-season-starts-early">lifespans are lessened by 3.4 years</a>.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/poor-health">Non-communicable diseases</a> now account for well over half of total deaths in the country. And even where survival has improved, deprivation remains. Chronic malnutrition continues to haunt communities in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mass-migration-from-muktikot">Nepal’s western mountains</a> despite progress in maternal and child health.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260223130240_4f4ef83a31c3c4ae36ecdffb33a355e2fa3de9e98244b840a895af2d95c35ac0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20260223130240_4f4ef83a31c3c4ae36ecdffb33a355e2fa3de9e98244b840a895af2d95c35ac0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="683" loading="lazy" alt="A life-first manifesto for Nepal NT"> </figure>  These are the lived realities of most Nepalis, and it is here that development can deliver its most immediate returns. A rising GDP, in and of itself, does not make roads safer, clean polluted air, or provide enough nutrition to children. Such outcomes demand intentional, granular policies that confront the specific, everyday problems shaping people’s lives.&nbsp; Macroeconomic growth, trade and investment are important, but these alone cannot guarantee improvements health and safety. The word ‘growth’, after all, is also synonymous with malignancy. Economic progress and human protection are correlated only when governance deliberately links them. Impact on life is the unit in which ordinary Nepalis calculate progress. What is needed, then, is a governing philosophy measurable in these same terms: a ‘life-first’ standard where every policy, budget, and reform can be understood and judged by its impact on protecting and extending human life. Such a ‘life-first’ approach would scrutinise three aspects of every policy. First, whether the policy prevents loss of life. A death is termed preventable if better, more coordinated response systems and regulations could have avoided it (vaccines, drugs, road safety, clean drinking water). A newly built six-lane highway <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/highway-accidents-are-no-accident-in-nepal">can be a death trap</a> due to poor design or lax enforcement of safety rules. If neonatal deaths continue in a district despite hospitals being present, or if malnutrition claims lives in predominantly agricultural regions, they too are failures. Preventable deaths also cluster where accountability is less direct. Just last year, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/suicides-a-pandemic-within-a-pandemic">Nepal recorded 6,866 suicides</a>, with nearly 20 lives lost every day, yet these deaths fail to prompt any serious examination of governance. The same holds for fatalities linked to domestic or communal violence, alcohol and substance misuse, or ‘natural’ disasters, which register as ‘tragedies without remedy’ rather than as outcomes policy can influence. But when avoidable loss of life recurs at scale, isolated incidents become patterns, and patterns reveal systemic neglect. Saving lives, however, is only the first step, and what matters just as much is the quality of years lived. Nepal’s life expectancy now stands at 71 years, yet many citizens spend years in avoidable disability, untreated chronic illness, or mental distress. A life- first government must ask not only whether people live, but whether they thrive. Are citizens able to pursue education, work, and family life without fear of preventable harm? Do communities have access to clean air and water, nutritious food, and basic healthcare? Can a teenager anywhere in Nepal imagine a future not foreclosed by premature marriage, or untreated depression?  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260223130240_157d72b80b82a07699b6bffbb30036b86f0f767a5674cc3db3d5c20343442940.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20260223130240_157d72b80b82a07699b6bffbb30036b86f0f767a5674cc3db3d5c20343442940" data-rendition-name="original" width="2529" height="1427" loading="lazy" alt="A life-first manifesto for Nepal NT"> </figure>  Thriving requires policies that prevent suffering and promote well-being in addition to ensuring survival.&nbsp; Finally, governance must consider graceful aging. Elderly Nepalis should not be left to navigate disease, poverty, or isolation alone. Social systems, healthcare, and community support must enable their continued participation and dignified well-being. Adopting this three-layered standard would gradually reorient how success of any new government is defined. Transportation would be judged by fatalities reduced on the roads. Electricity generation would be measured by whether households can switch from firewood dependence to smoke-free electric stoves.&nbsp; Increase in annual rice harvest must translate into better nutrition, reducing the prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes. Accountability must follow problems rather than stop at Singha Darbar. Only then will politicians and bureaucrats eventually recognise that their work converges on the same human endpoint. Critics will argue that economies are complex, trade-offs are inevitable, and that governance cannot be reduced to a single metric.But, as Acemoglu and Robinson show in their book <a href="https://ia801506.us.archive.org/27/items/WhyNationsFailTheOriginsODaronAcemoglu/Why-Nations-Fail_-The-Origins-o-Daron-Acemoglu.pdf">Why Nations Fail</a>, the key difference between prosperity and poverty lies in inclusive institutions that empower citizens and create broad incentives for well-being.&nbsp; Extractive institutions concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few while keeping the majority trapped in neglect. Nepal’s governance has remained a striking example of extraction. If lawmakers in the new Parliament continue to resist changes that would save and improve the lives of ordinary citizens, the same systemic rot will persist for generations to come. A life-first mentality can cut through this inertia by clarifying the moral centre of governance and reminding policymakers that behind every policy failure lies human cost. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-hunger">Every mother in Bajura</a> with a child going hungry at night, every farmer in the Madhes unable to afford medical care, and every family that has lost <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/saving-kidneys-to-save-nepal">a migrant son to kidney failure</a> understands the true <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/dirty-dangerous-difficult-and-dehydrating">value of a life saved</a>. Life is the one metric that transcends ideology, ethnicity, and region. Centering governance on this single, focused metric, can shift an election from a contest of rhetoric to a contest of evidence. Which party ensured access to safe water and basic healthcare? Which made work at home and abroad safer and less exploitative. Which measurably extended healthy years of life for ordinary citizens? Health is wealth. By improving the healthy lifespan of citizens economic prosperity would follow naturally. A ‘life-first’ governance model would therefore compel Nepal to address the underlying structural failures across all sectors, rather than merely alleviating their symptoms. The GenZ protest that toppled the government last September was, at its core, a demand for accountability and a rejection of politics as usual. But as the country edges closer to the polls, that clarity has started to dissipate. Parties are now echoing the language of reform, but the public discourse remains dominated by promises that feel disconnected from Nepal’s most immediate and basic priorities. Every preventable death, every hungry child, and every neglected elder becomes a direct failure of governance and a moral debt the state must answer for. It is how we can make sure we keep the next government in check. The writers are Nepali GenZ students of biomedical engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Nepal’s life or death election

Chronic winter drought and decades of unmanaged forest biomass have turned wildfires into a systemic risk for Nepal. We need to re-learn to convert fire fuel in forests into fertilizer for crops.&nbsp; On 11 January, a huge forest fire spread rapidly from China into the forests of Sindhupalchok, 40km northeast of Kathmandu. The newly-opened Tatopani border checkpoint was closed. Smoke from the fire spread across central Nepal, blocking the sun.&nbsp; The fire burnt itself out within a few days, but the border stayed closed for longer. Such wildfires were once rare in mid-winter, and traditionally peaked between March and May as temperatures rose ahead of pre-monsoon showers. What is unsettling is not just the early onset of the fires, but also their scale. This shift is not accidental, the pattern has been unfolding over years due to winter drought, weakening post-monsoon moisture, and the accumulation of dry forest biomass as Nepal’s forest area doubled in the past 30 years.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026022009024_5f4a84bb389f9b56f4fa47d4f694adcd464eb13b192d184af0f1eb20efdfeebf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026022009024_5f4a84bb389f9b56f4fa47d4f694adcd464eb13b192d184af0f1eb20efdfeebf" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1055" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfire season NT"> <figcaption>A NASA FIRMS image of Nepal with red dots signifying fires in February 2025.</figcaption> </figure>  Together, these factors have made forests tinder dry in spring, just waiting for a spark. Nepal has experienced winter drought in eight of the past ten years (this winter was an exception). Winter rain and snow at higher elevations play a decisive role in maintaining surface moisture, recharging shallow aquifers, and keeping forest floors damp enough to resist ignition. When winter rains fail, forests dry out months earlier than usual. Satellite-based assessments show a steep decline in surface moisture across the middle mountains of Nepal, particularly in areas with dense forest cover but limited undergrowth management. Springs that once flowed year-round are now seasonal.&nbsp; More than half of the springs in the mid-hills have either dried up or show significantly reduced discharge, a trend closely linked to declining soil moisture and disrupted recharge zones. Dry soil does not just threaten water security — it helps the vegetation ignite. FUEL WITHOUT FUNCTION For decades, Nepal’s forests have been accumulating dry leaf litter, fallen branches, shrubs, and deadwood. Historically, this biomass was not considered waste because rural households regularly collected leaf litter for livestock bedding, which was later composted and returned to farms as fertilizer.&nbsp; Forest floors were therefore relatively clean while the mulch fertilized farms. That relationship has steadily eroded due to outmigration, changes in livestock systems, restrictions on access to community forests, and the growing availability of chemical fertilisers.&nbsp; Community forests across the country today are thick with dry twigs, branches and leaves — a highly combustible carpet. When prolonged drought dries this biomass, even a small spark from a herder’s intentional fire, a cigarette, or lightning strike can trigger massive fires.&nbsp; Under such conditions, the question is no longer whether fires will occur, but how intense and widespread they will be. Forest fires are often framed as an environmental issue concerning trees and wildlife. In reality, their impact extends far beyond forest boundaries.&nbsp; Smoke travels faster and further than flames. Fine particulate matter, especially harmful PM2.5, spreads across countries. In recent fire seasons, air quality monitors in Kathmandu have recorded air quality levels several times higher than WHO guidelines. The smoke adds to Kathmandu’s own pollution and lingers for days.&nbsp; Flights are cancelled or delayed in cities like Pokhara, and poor visibility blocks mountain views affecting tourism. Health facilities report spikes in respiratory complaints, particularly among children and the elderly. Just as wildfires have multi-sectoral causes, the impact of forest fires go beyond forests. One critical dimension remains largely invisible: the soil. The fires cause silent damage beneath the ash, and the emergency does not end when the flames subside. Beneath the surface, soil suffers long-term damage. Organic matter burns away, beneficial microorganisms die. The soil structure weakens, reducing the land’s ability to absorb and retain water. The scorched earth is more prone to erosion, increasing the risk of floods and landslides once the rains return.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026022009028_cc54ff056b2cac8b789cfd4d11afef9eaf943368e47b99aabd57c7b63b776cf2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2026022009028_cc54ff056b2cac8b789cfd4d11afef9eaf943368e47b99aabd57c7b63b776cf2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1717" height="2143" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfire season NT"> <figcaption>Wildfire risk map based on the validated Random Forest model (a) Overall reclassified wildfire risk map of Nepal, (b) District level wildfire risk, and (c) Municipality wildfire risk map.</figcaption> </figure>  In many of Nepal’s agricultural areas, soil organic matter levels are already below 2% -- lower than what is needed for resilient and productive farming. Repeated fires push these levels even lower, undermining soil fertility and forcing farmers to rely more heavily on chemical fertilisers, unleashing a vicious cycle of higher costs and food insecurity.&nbsp; Climate breakdown is often cited as the primary culprit, and rightly so. Rising temperatures and erratic rainfall have intensified fire risk. But fires in Nepal are increasingly the result of human intervention.&nbsp; The response of all three levels of government remains too little, and too reactive. Each year, resources are mobilised to extinguish fires once they have already spread. Far less attention is paid to managing the fuel load within forest undergrowth that makes such fires inevitable.&nbsp; Meanwhile, forestry and agriculture policies are not coordinated, missing opportunities to address shared challenges. Forest fires are not natural disasters, but predictable outcomes of governance choices. National plans and climate pledges set an ambitious target of raising soil organic matter to 4%. The science behind this goal is solid. Higher organic matter improves water retention, stabilises yields, reduces fertiliser dependence, and enhances long-term food security. What remains unclear is the pathway.&nbsp; Where will the organic inputs come from? How will they be processed and applied safely at scale? Without practical answers, the 4% target risks remaining aspirational rather than achievable. Forest undergrowth can be turned into fuel and fertiliser. Biochar is produced by heating organic biomass in a low-oxygen environment, converting it into a stable form of carbon that can be added to soil.&nbsp; When properly produced and applied, it improves soil structure, enhances water and nutrient retention, supports microbial activity, and locks carbon into the ground for decades. In Nepal biochar addresses two interconnected problems: reducing the accumulation of combustible biomass in forests, lowering fire risk, while simultaneously rebuilding depleted soils. In doing so, it restores the broken link between forest management and agriculture.&nbsp; Done well, biochar is not merely an environmental intervention. It is an economic one, with potential to create local employment, reduce farmers’ input costs, and support climate-smart agriculture. But biochar propagation depends on improved governance. If promoted as isolated pilots or short-term projects, it will fail. What is needed is institutional clarity: standards for production and safety, quality control mechanisms, farmer extension services, and coordination across local, provincial, and federal levels.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026022009028_e6e2218f38fae5b1fe81d9f99078fe01f58d04b4b3b2c41447f017c3f838a1d4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026022009028_e6e2218f38fae5b1fe81d9f99078fe01f58d04b4b3b2c41447f017c3f838a1d4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1536" height="2048" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfire season NT"> <figcaption>Freshly prepared biochar under control tempature (350-600°C).</figcaption> </figure>  Community forest user groups could manage biomass collection. Local governments then support safe, decentralised production units. Agricultural extension services guide farmers on application, linked to soil testing and monitoring. Such an approach would reduce fire risk, improve soil health, and generate rural livelihoods.&nbsp; Poorly produced biochar or contaminated feedstock can harm soils and human health. Without training, standards, and oversight, good intentions can backfire. Nepal needs to move beyond fire-fighting to fire prevention and confront the structural causes that make them a growing risk. It is not just a technical choice – it is one that demands political will from newly-elected leaders after March. &nbsp;&nbsp; Ngamindra Dahal is a hydrometeorologist with the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation specialising on climate and water management issues.&nbsp;

RED ALERT: Get ready for the wildfire season

Party flags and banners wave from electric poles, houses and e-rickshaws are festooned with posters. Madhes Province is in the grip of election fever, and in a tour through four of its districts, there is the sense that any efforts by mainstream political parties at reforms have come too little too late. Among the banners, the sky blue of the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/new-vs-new-in-nepal"> RSP is more prominent </a>here this time, and the rallying cry across the country for new and improved leadership is echoed on the ground. “For the people around here, whatever these old leaders are saying has become just noise,” says a lassi shop operator in Janakpur, waving a dismissive hand at flags with the NC’s tree symbol across the street. In Janakpur, UML nominee Raghubir Mahaseth was barred from canvassing door-to-door. Campaign posters of the mainstream parties have been torn from walls and replaced with RSP posters.&nbsp; In Inarwari village of Rautahat in the Madhes heartland, local elected officials whose parties have been merged into the Nepali Communist Party hope to retain enough supporters this election. But not many residents say they would vote for its candidate. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026022005024_a793e3a19cbd536fde50708c4a41b8b0d39a4716c6973feddad889097b655641.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2026022005024_a793e3a19cbd536fde50708c4a41b8b0d39a4716c6973feddad889097b655641" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Battleground Tarai NT"> <figcaption>Photos: SHRISTI KARKI</figcaption> </figure>  A first-time voter in Sarlahi’s Haripur is home on a semester break from medical school in Kathmandu, and is waiting excitedly for 5 March. “You can’t really say out loud whom you’re voting for around here,” he says, as he mimes ringing a bell. “It is time for someone new to be in-charge." In the highway town of Bardibas, an elderly teashop owner says that all she hears are calls for घण्टी, the RSP’s bell symbol. “After all, bells are rung in the house of gods,” she says. “It seems like the right choice.” The RSP wave sweeping the nation after the GenZ movement is seen in Madhes, and the PR ballots might reflect that, notes political analyst Tula Narayan Shah.&nbsp; “But the socio-cultural networks, organisational setup, and legacy of democratic movement of traditional parties might still give them a fighting chance on the first past the post ballot,” he says. &nbsp;“The door-to-door campaign style of candidates has always been more prominent in Madhes than elsewhere.”&nbsp; Villages like Dhankaul in Sarlahi-4 where <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/grand-split-in-nepal-s-grand-old-party">Gagan Thapa</a> of the Nepali Congress (NC) is running against incumbent Amresh Singh, is an NC stronghold. Singh won the election here twice before in 2013 and 2017 when he was an NC leader, and still had goodwill among NC voters when he ran and won as an independent during the 2022 election. “I voted for him twice before when he was in the NC, but he did not do anything for this or other villages. Once he is elected, he has not set foot here,” says Rajiv Yadav, a voter in Dhanakul. “The RSP will get more votes here than last time, but Gagan is sure to win. This village will vote for him.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026022005024_26691bb5a37edf705cc197a632d0bf032f984079a838d31bcd943bc0b9c97ff3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2026022005024_26691bb5a37edf705cc197a632d0bf032f984079a838d31bcd943bc0b9c97ff3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Battleground Tarai NT"> </figure>  Madhes is in the spotlight this election because two prime ministerial candidates have focused their attention in the region. Balen Shah began his campaign in Janakpur (main picture, left) in January as a ‘Son of Madhes’, and Gagan Thapa chose Sarlahi-4 as his constituency over Kathmandu-4, from where he has been elected since 2013.&nbsp; The Madhes has always been the battleground for Nepal’s electoral politics, and candidates from here, like Krishna Prasad Bhattarai from Parsa, Pushpa Kamal Dahal from Siraha, Jhala Nath Khanal from Sarlahi, and Madhav Kumar Nepal from Rautahat, have all been prime ministers. Despite electing politicians to high office in Kathmandu, districts of Madhes have consistently ranked low in development and service delivery indicators, especially in basic healthcare and education. Socio-economic inequalities stemming from a lack of opportunities has also meant that Madhes districts have the highest rate of out-migration in the country.&nbsp; What is different this time is that the people of the province have a Madhesi prime ministerial candidate who will represent them in national politics, and the main competition ultimately will be between the NC and RSP prime ministerial candidates. Interestingly, voters seem to be looking beyond Madhes-based parties who have historically campaigned on identity and federalism.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026022005024_1b5c1134fb02ded72a12221200918df584b0cd003139bb2be44951efe9a65bf1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2026022005024_1b5c1134fb02ded72a12221200918df584b0cd003139bb2be44951efe9a65bf1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1200" loading="lazy" alt="Battleground Tarai NT"> </figure>  “Leaders of Madhes parties have glorified their struggle for votes but failed to perform on good governance at local and provincial levels,” explains Tula Narayan Shah. “Now, Balen has become a PM candidate as a face of the region, and as someone who will deliver based on his work as Kathmandu mayor.” If the RSP wins, it will be governing in the absence of provincial leadership that would play a crucial mediatory role between Kathmandu and local units. On Wednesday, RSP’s Madhes province chair Mamta Sharma resigned from the party and joined the NC. There is also some underlying tension between RSP cadre loyal to Balen Shah and Rabi Lamichhane. “It is not prudent to predict who will win the election and whether parties will deliver on promises,” says Tula Narayan Shah. “But win or lose, there is little basis at this time to believe that the RSP will be committed to making the federal system and provinces more functional.” Voters here in the heart of the federalism movement, however, are willing to give the RSP the benefit of the doubt. &nbsp;Resident Brahma Dev in Janakpur told us: &nbsp;“The RSP, like parties that came before them, deserve a chance to prove their leadership in the next five years. If they do not deliver, we can always vote them out next time.”&nbsp; On Wednesday, NC leaders unveiled the party’s 10-point election manifesto at a large rally in Janakpur (main picture, right). Gagan Thapa began by addressing a cheering crowd in Maithili, and said the NC was reformed, adding:&nbsp; “The GenZ did not reject us, they told us to change our ways.” Also on Wednesday 800km away at the other end of the country in Dhangadi, Balen Shah, in a speech that lasted just three minutes, he said: “Don’t vote for us, give us work to do.”&nbsp;

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