From time to time, as our nation state marches ahead to the drumbeat of history, we have to remind ourselves of the tremendous achievements of the Communist Party of Nepal (Un-unified Marxist-Lennonist) and its steadfast adherence to the dialectical materialism as espoused by Comrades Groucho Marx and John Lennon.Because of space limitations, we cannot go into too much detail of its accomplishments here and now, but we will continue to list its overachievements in future instalments of this column.1. The Ministry of Foreigner’s Affairs has attended many virtual meetings with the international community for the procurement of vaccines, and has put donors on notice that Nepal will not take their promises lying down anymore — we will take it standing up with our hands outstretched. Beggars can't be choosers, but we have chosen to be beggars out of our own free will, and that choice should be universally respected.2. The Ass has lost track of who is Nepal’s Hon’ble Foreign Minister at this particular moment in our nation’s history, but whoever it is, he seems to have put vaccine diplomacy into top gear. He has instructed Nepal’s under-graduate ambassadors and SLC-pass plenipotentiaries to launch a diplomatic offensive, which means they have to be as offensive as possible as diplomats.3. Many may not have noticed that GONE has put itself on a war-footing to access vaccines. This means we are ready to launch a pre-emptive strike to ensure supplies from rich countries that have overdosed themselves.4. In a major diplomatic breakthrough Nepal this week established diplomatic relations with Sierra Leone.5. Many pooh-poohed the prime minister when he pledged to turn Nepal into Singapore within five years. He has accomplished his goal. All Nepalis have now attained the same annual per capita income as the village of Singhapur of Taplejung district. And prime minister-in-waiting Comrade Lotus Flower has clarified that when he once promised, during an unguarded moment, to make Nepal like Switzerland, he actually meant Swaziland. The error is regretted.6.  It is unfair that the Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City gets so much flak when he has been working tirelessly ever since the pandemic began to dismantle and disperse the charity organisation providing free lunches to daily wage earners. His message is clear: there is no such thing as a free lunch in the universe. And this breaking news: in another brave and audacious move a special hit squad of the KMC has risked life and limb to courageously erase a mural dedicated to Nepal’s frontline health workers at the Dilli Bazar intersection.7. Despite being busy with matters of state, it is commendable that three years after it came to power the grabberment has solved the most pressing need this country has ever faced: providing SUVs to members of the judiciary. Who said such feats could not be accomplished in our lifetime?8. To reassure the start-up community, the Under-Financed Ministry is preparing an Economic White Paper. It is so called because it is completely blank.

The Ass

Overachiever govt

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5af9c7e80680e096724jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="448"/><figcaption>DoFE sting team after a successful raid in Dhumbarahi. December 22, 2020.</figcaption></figure>The Nepal government transfers civil servants regularly, sometimes as routine rotation, but also because of unmet vested interests. The heads of the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE),  which is the regulatory arm of the Labor Ministry, have recently seen short tenures. With its inter-governmental aspect, and the interests of migrant workers and private sector, overseas labour demands a steep learning curve. But once heads of the DoFe get a grasp of the issues they are transferred. Momentum is lost. Priorities change. Unfinished businesses remain unfinished. Relationships and trust need to be re-established. Progress is delayed. The Director General (DG) of DoFE, Kumar Dahal (pictured below) was recently transferred and spoke to Upasana Khadka at Nepali Times about his 14-month tenure, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/labour-recruiter-netted-in-sting-raid/">sting operations</a> of ‘manpower’ agencies last year that he helped organise which led to the suspension of the licenses of four recruiters found illegally interviewing and charging workers exorbitant fees for jobs in the Qatar Police. This suspension was quickly revoked by Labour Minister Gauri Shankar Chaudhary. Excerpts of interview:Nepali Times: Your transfer was a bit abrupt? Kumar Dahal: Look, rotation are part of the bureaucratic process, especially at the senior level. My 14-month tenure is actually considered quite long. The foreign employment sector has many stakeholders with varied interests, which don’t always align. Unwillingness to engage or cooperate in certain activities can make rotations more likely.Having said that, it would be better if people doing good work are allowed to continue for at least two years to achieve tangible results. Change is not easy in a sector where malpractice like overcharging workers or buying visas are entrenched.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5b39c7e80680e096725jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="639">Earlier they were isolated events, but soon they became habit and now, they have become a<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/why-has-zero-cost-migration-not-happened/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> part of the culture</a>. Our regulatory oversight has been insufficient and the situation has deteriorated over the decades. Even migrants are convinced that paying hefty fees and high interest rates are part of the recruitment culture and they comply, often questioning it only when it is too late. The players are able to make easy money without much effort, time or investment, exploiting the desperation of our youth. Changing this will take time. It depends on bold, visionary leadership, which is lacking.As a regulatory agency DoFe has to adopt restrictive policies, but you don’t want to deprive migrants of lucrative overseas opportunities. How do you balance the two?The category of migrants we are dealing with need help navigating the system. They are vulnerable to cheating, so regulations are needed. We first need to accept that most <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kleptocrats-of-kathmandu-and-kualalampur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">problems faced by migrants begin in Nepal</a> and sometimes, even problems abroad are byproducts of activities here. Every time we received a tip-off from migrants regarding possible malpractice, there has always been something illegal going on which made our sting operations successful. Recruiters have to abide by business ethics, but they often don’t, which makes regulation necessary. Ideally, they should be responsible for workers they send abroad, but that often does not happen.The private sector is driving this industry, and our role as regulators would be hands-off and minimal if their work was transparent. But it isn’t. Just a few days ago, our inspection of 45 pre-departure orientation training providers showed that 30 were giving out certificates without training. Then there are other types of problematic migration: via individuals, education consultancies or traffickers, or on wrong visas, such as visit visas.We in government also need to be responsible, which isn’t the case always, either. The question for both the government and the recruiters should be whether the migrant worker is satisfied with the services and protection being afforded. Currently, I am afraid they are not.We can do better with facilitation support. For starters, we can simplify the approval process of job demands in destination countries and explore opportunities in markets like Europe where there is a potential demand for Nepalis. A foreign employment business fund has been set up for welfare tasks, funded by interest from the Rs20 million escrow deposit of each manpower company parked at commercial banks. A guideline is being drawn up jointly by recruiters and the government.What are some of the lessons from the pandemic?First, we need to be more proactive in our decision-making. Even in instances when the governments or employers offered to send migrants desperate to get home at their own expense last year, we did not allow it due to blanket rules about flights.Second, our embassies need to be strengthened significantly to handle grievances better. The staff size at embassies is not proportionate to the numbers of Nepali workers there.Third, our governance system isn’t prepared to handle undocumented workers. The documentation status of migrants does not determine incoming remittances, so we should support all stranded migrants during a crisis.Fourth, recruiters should have been involved more during repatriation.On the bright side, the pandemic forced us to expedite technology adoption. Migrants can now renew labour approvals from anywhere in the world, and we have also started recording data on returnees.Read Also<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-overseas-toil-through-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali workers overseas toil through the pandemic</a>, Upasana Khadka<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-overseas-toil-through-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Crossborder virus and Nepali migrant workers</a>, Upasana KhadkaWhat was your experience at DoFE with the free-visa-free-ticket policy?<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/zero-sum-game-in-zero-cost-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Free-visa-free-ticket</a> is a populist policy implemented without considering the migration ecosystem. It isn’t being implemented and we don’t have the capacity to do so in today’s context. This has also larger implications like the government losing a high amount of tax revenue and workers not having the receipt of actual payment made.Revising the cap on services from Rs 10,000 to first month’s salary as demanded by recruiters is reasonable in cases where employers are not providing service fees--provided the penalty for overcharging workers is increased. This reform will also be meaningless if diplomatic efforts are not ramped up to get governments of destination countries and employers on board. I have heard anecdotes of Nepali recruiters paying Rs250,000 to bag jobs that pay only Rs50,000. Our recruiters do not have direct access to employers but operate through agents abroad. Most employers or foreign agents are also not ethical, so the costs trickle down to workers.We have not been able to get into the crux of the issue and some policies are merely populist. Sting operations are insufficient. The number of recruiting agencies in Nepal at 853 is too high. Incentives to facilitate mergers or regulations to drive out the bad apples are needed so that monitoring is easier. For that we need a strong governance system and bold leadership free of manipulation, political interference and corruption.And the ban on overseas household workers?The domestic work sector is problematic, especially in West Asia. Those in Japan, Cyprus and Turkey are not facing such systemic problems. It is not just Nepal that implements the ban which signals that there are problems in this sector. I get desperate calls from domestic workers in transit in Sri Lanka, Oman, Jordan and Saudi Arabia pleading for rescue support. I am not in favor of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lift-the-ban-on-female-domestic-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lifting the ban</a> completely but to have approaches specific for each country, especially domestic worker-specific bilateral labour agreements with countries that also have in place strong domestic worker specific regulations. A key criteria is that embassies and families should be able to reach domestic workers when necessary.What are three of your priorities that you hope your successor will continue?The way to minimise corruption is via faceless service so recruiters and bureaucrats do not have to meet in person. We are almost there with the current online system. The remaining kinks need to be immediately ironed out so everything can be done digitally. Eventually, we also need to go to a one-door system, so migrants don’t have to go to different offices for migration-related services.There is a high demand for workers in Europe but we don’t have active diplomatic presence in many European countries and demand attestation, market exploration, worker protection etc become a problem. Otherwise we either lose opportunities, or migrants take circuitous routes with high recruitment costs.Finally, we lack understanding on the skills profile of our youth or a systematic way to monitor labour opportunities abroad. What skills or training do they have, what is needed abroad?Overall, we have a robust foreign employment management architecture with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/a-few-good-agents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dedicated agencies</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-plans-to-reintegrate-returning-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">policies</a> which is something to be optimistic about. Our singular focus should be on its implementation.Read Also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/commercially-important-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Commercially important people</a>, Editorial

Upasana Khadka

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Why are labour officials transferred frequently?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3f49c7e80680e096681jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>Jumla’s marsi red rice earned some notoriety in 2018 after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/red-rice/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/red-rice/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1617763875225000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEyA4QDeWqxQVlPbwvc7jXJOhlT7g">a photograph went viral</a> on social media of Prime Minister K P Oli and Premier-in-waiting Pushpa Kamal Dahal tucking in a lavish meal.At the table with plates of red rice was business tycoon Durga Prasai, and the image made marsi synonymous with political cronyism. However, all the free publicity also boosted demand for Jumla’s red rice in Kathmandu, where the government last month recognised it as a local brand.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3f79c7e80680e096682jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1449" height="990">Marsi was brought under the government’s food trade management last month, and is being lifted in bulk by the government from farmers in Jumla to be sold in Kathmandu. Its price is fixed at Rs225 per kg, and all this has turned out to be good news for farmers of Jumla and Sinja valleys, known for the highest altitude where rice is cultivated in the world.Red rice used to be sold only by businesses that promoted organic products in Kathmandu, but thanks to all the publicity, marsi has gone mainstream. It is now packaged and sold in supermarkets, or home delivered at up to Rs300 per kg.All this is also good news for consumers since red rice has much greater nutritional value than polished white rice. Himalayan red rice is pigmented and is packed with flavonoid antioxidants, protein and fibre, making it much more suitable than white rice also for those with cardio-vascular disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.Most of the nutrients in grains of red rice are contained in the bran which gives it a nutty flavour, and the rice is eaten unhulled so as not to lose its most wholesome part. In white rice, the healthy bran is removed and most of what remains is carbohydrate.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3fb9c7e80680e096683jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1364">"Marsi is the highest cultivated rice in the world at above 3000m, and takes almost nine months to harvest,” explains rice expert Rajendra Uprety. “It is not mass-produced like other types of rice, and the environment it is grown in and the absence of pesticides makes it very healthy. The only fertiliser used is manure.”Here in Sinja and Jumla, spring has arrived and with it the preparation of the once-frozen terraces for this year’s rice crop. There is no need to wait for rain here since there is plenty of water for irrigation from the Tila and Hima rivers which are swollen with snowmelt.Shanta Kumai is waiting at the local watermill to get her millet harvest pounded into flour. “I’m expecting my son to visit soon. Men, from most of the families have migrated down to the plains for work, but they come home when it is time to plant the marsi,” she says.While much of the farm work is now done by women, they wait for the men to help with the ploughing of the fields. Seasonal migration for employment has been one of the main means of making an income for the men in Sinja, but come March-April, they return home to renew the annual agricultural cycle of planting marsi rice, before leaving for their jobs again.Women pounding marsi is a common sight in the villages of Jumla district. Reddish-brown when harvested, the glutinous grains take a lightly purplish texture when cooked, and retains its nutritious ingredients.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3fe9c7e80680e096684jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4029c7e80680e096685jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Dal Bahadur Buda, 45, owner of an eatery in Gothijyula Bazar in Sinja says he has noticed a sudden spurt in buyers of marsi rice."Previously, visitors would buy beans, apples, potatoes, local medicinal herbs and tea. But these days, the demand for marsi rice has picked up,” he says. “In the past, we were tempted by what Kathmandu ate and we always used to wonder what white rice tasted like. But after getting to know the health benefits of marsi, we have gone back to our own red rice.”Pankali Budha, 49, from nearby Okharpata village also has childhood memories of the smell and taste of red rice. She would tag along with her father to Mugu when she was young to trade the family’s marsi crop."Many local shepherds walk to Mugu and to the Chinese border to sell the rice. There used to be interpreters who helped us barter our rice, potatoes, beans and sheep for salt, spices and blankets from China,” she remembers.Those days are over, and with the Karnali Highway all the publicity surrounding marsi and a more health-conscious population, means red rice has a ready market in Kathmandu and other cities.Even while red rice has leaped from Twitter to farmers’ markets in Kathmandu to become a nationally recognised food item, there is still no market system or infrastructure in place in Jumla for farmers to sell the rice.The growing popularity of the marsi has also created the possibility of a new source of income for the people of Jumla. But, as is often the case, the farmers who actually grow the crop still get a small piece of the pie.Still, the popularity of the marsi rice has lessened somewhat the demand in the Karnali and far-west for white rice, and the red variety is also bought by food-for-work agencies as wages for road-building labour.Trader Sundar Upadhaya from Sinja says that since the region does not have to worry about pests because of its low temperature, storage of the crop has not been a hassle so far. But putting in a system to trade the local produce would make it easier for local farmers to promote the rice in the market.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4059c7e80680e096686jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4089c7e80680e096687jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Marsi BeerTrue to the adage that all publicity is good publicity, businessman Durga Prasai has used the unsavoury reputation that red rice got after his viral photograph to launch his own Marsi Beer brand.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce40b9c7e80680e096688jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427">Prasai earned considerable notoriety after the photo of him having lunch with K P Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal at his home in Thimi went viral three years ago, and people even started teasing him as “Mr Marsi”.Prasai decided to turn this to his advantage by building a brand around marsi to rehabilitate the goodness of red rice as well as his own name. He bought a brewery in Nawalparasi for Rs4 billion, and went from ‘lunch to launch’ by selling the bottles in the market. The beer is said to be made from 70% barley and 30% red rice.Prasai had organised the lunch to mediate the final negotiations for the merger of the Maoist Centre led by Dahal and Oli’s UML. The electoral alliance of the two parties propelled them to victory and the unified Nepal Communist Party had a near two-thirds majority in Parliament.However, things soon went sour between Dahal and Oli until the Supreme Court ruled on 7 March that the NCP should be disbanded into the Maoist Centre and UML again. Since then, Prasai has been seen to be hedging his bets with Oli, and even got the prime minister to inaugurate his cancer hospital in Birtamod. Oli assured Prasai publicly that his B&amp;C Teaching Hospital would soon get affiliation from Kathmandu University.

Monika Deupala

Himalayan red rice is red hot

<figure><img width="960" height="640" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011114/636ccd739c7e80680e08bc7ejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s Supreme Court on 23 February <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-supreme-court-restores-house/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reinstated the House of Representatives</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/supreme-court-puts-nepal-politics-back-on-track/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ordered Parliament to convene</a> within 13 days. The President, on the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Oli, will now decide when and how within the next 10 days Parliament will come into session. In the UK, any government that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/president-endorses-parliament-dissolution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dissolves the House of Representatives </a>becomes a caretaker government, and as such, the prime minister in such a circumstance is deemed  to have resigned. However, the right to dissolve the House of Representatives is no longer constitutional either in the UK or in Nepal. The steps that President Bhandari takes in the upcoming days will depend on whether she considers PM Oli a caretaker prime minister or the preceding prime minister. If it is the former, the president, as per the provisions of Article 76 of the Constitution, must immediately begin the process of forming a new government by appointing a new Prime Minister in consultation with the leaders of all parliamentary parties in the House. During this process, the caretaker Prime Minister, like the leaders of other parliamentary parties, is entitled to form a new government as the leader of their party.If, however, the president considers KP Oli a preceding prime minister, she may direct him to take a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives under Article 100 of the Constitution, which provides that the prime minister may table a motion at any time, if he deems it necessary or appropriate, to make it clear that he has the trust of the House.If the president agrees, the prime minister can continue the government with a vote of confidence in the House. Article 76 will only apply if the prime minister fails to obtain a vote of confidence.If the prime minister chooses not to follow either of those paths, Article 100 (4) of the Constitution allows one-fourth of the members of the House of Representatives who are present in Parliament to table a motion of no-confidence in writing.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/calm-before-another-storm-in-nepal/">Calm before another storm in Nepal</a>, Nepali TimesHowever, the process might be politically challenging as the motion must include the name of the next proposed prime minister. If the no-confidence motion is passed by a majority in the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister will be relieved of his post.In this political climate where the ruling NCP is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dahal-nepal-hold-anti-oli-rally/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bitterly divided</a>, the Dahal-Nepal faction is demanding that Oli resign on moral grounds. The Election Commission has also not decided which faction of the NCP is the main party and which is the breakaway faction, while PM Oli maintains that he is the party chairman until the NCP general convention. As such, no party in the House of Representatives is in a position to form a unanimous government, and the next prime minister will have to form a coalition with two or more parties.It remains to be seen how much support Pushpa Kamal Dahal will get from his co-chair Madhav Kumar Nepal or Jhala Nath Khanal in his bid to become prime minister. Even with their support, chances of him forming a coalition government are unlikely if the Nepali Congress (NC), the second-largest majority in the House of Representatives, refuses to participate in the process.If NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba is to take the lead in forming a coalition government, then the Dahal-Nepal faction will need to justify its opposition to Prime Minister Oli on other grounds.The NC itself is in a dilemma over which faction of the NCP it should support. If the NC chooses to support the Oli faction, it could move towards forming a coalition with the current government. And even if it becomes part of a coalition government, the NC might not consider the premiership to be the endgame and choose instead to focus on the election. There are other strategies in which the NC might decide not to join the Oli-led coalition but to support his government from the outside, or choose to form a government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba while seeking support from the Oli faction. The challenge for the NC now is to decide what is constitutionally sound while being in the party’s best interests long-term.At this point, unity within the NCP leadership is unrealistic, and either faction will require a 40% agreement from the Central Committee and the Parliamentary Party should Oli or Dahal choose to register a new party.The only way to avoid a period of political turmoil is the unlikely scenario that ageing leaders in both factions realize that such instability is not in the national interest and hand over the reins to a new generation of young leaders.                   Bipin Adhikari, PhD, is an expert on constitutional law. <img width="82" height="109" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011114/636ccd769c7e80680e08bc7fjpeg.jpg" alt="">Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/house-of-cards/">House of cards</a>, Editorial

Legal path to new Nepal government

<figure><img width="1500" height="844" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb049c7e80680e08bb9djpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>A proposal by Nepal’s Immigration Department requiring consent from a guardian and local government for women under the age of 40 travelling to the Gulf or Africa has sparked public fury, and is taken as yet another proof of a misogynist, bungling bureaucracy.  The Department made the recommendation to the Home Ministry on Wednesday, saying it was needed to curb the trafficking of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lift-the-ban-on-female-domestic-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali women without labour permits</a>, especially to the Gulf countries. However, instead of clamping down on the ‘setting’ and collusion between recruiters, immigration officials and foreign-based agents to curb trafficking, the restrictions overlook womens’ agency in making decisions, their freedom to travel and work.  Teknarayan Poudel at the Immigration Department told Nepali Times that an earlier 2009 directive had to be amended because of “rampant misuse”. The following changes have been proposed: <ol><li>Women travellers on visit visas need a travel insurance of at least Rs1.5 million</li> <li>They will need to show a voucher/receipt as evidence for currency exchange </li> <li>Women under 40 traveling for the first time to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries or Africa on their own are required to obtain permission from family members and the local ward. </li> </ol>It is the third proposal that has caused public outrage, and it ignores that in the past labour permits have been prone to misuse when unnecessarily restrictive, especially for women.  <figure><img width="1424" height="1253" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb079c7e80680e08bb9ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>By not granting labour permits or approvals for household work abroad, women cross the open border to India, or use visit visas since that is their only way out. It is clear that curbing visit visas, instead of curbing trafficking of women workers, will just <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ban-the-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">intensify irregular travel via India</a>. Poudel says public reaction to the proposal overlooks the criteria that it only applies to first time travellers to the Gulf and Africa. “It is the first-timers to the GCC who are most vulnerable to visit visa misuse that this proposed amendment is addressing,” he said.  But that does not take away the ludicrousness of the proposal. When reached, the Home Ministry refused to comment. The proposed changes are similar to recommendations in a recent report by an inter-agency taskforce under the Home Ministry to investigate the misuse of visit visas.  Nepali workers were bypassing cumbersome labour permits by travelling abroad on visit visas, and the Immigration Department had been severely criticised for another meaningless proposal to require all those on visit visas to have a minimum education qualifications and English speaking abilities.  Poudel dismissed this, saying, “It was one of the many options that were tabled, but it was never given much consideration.”  <figure><img width="1802" height="1010" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb0a9c7e80680e08bb9fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>To be sure, the misuse of visit visas is a pressing problem because it has put many migrants, especially women, at risk. In addition to bypassing jobs and countries for which labour approvals are banned for safety reasons, visit visas are also misused by recruiters who want to circumvent legal safeguards or because there are delays in paperwork.“Countries or sectors restricted for foreign employment owing to vulnerabilities are the most ripe for misuse of visit visas,” says Kumar Dahal of the Department of Foreign Employment. “We get calls from women in places like Syria that are banned for foreign employment. Stranded domestic workers from Kuwait call us in the worst imaginable situations. What they have in common is that they all left on visit visas.”He said that although many workers go to the UAE on visit visas, it is also a transit to third countries. On Wednesday itself, the Nepal Embassy in Abu Dhabi released a notice asking Nepalis not to come to the UAE on visit visas for work because of an increase in cases of stranded migrants. The latest proposed restriction on visit visas has its roots in Nepal’s labour migration system that requires workers to obtain approvals to work abroad. The government labour permit is like Nepal’s exit pass that signifies legal pre-departure procedures are followed. The permits have their merits since they keep intermediaries and employers accountable, ensure that migrants travel with proper documents for authentic jobs, and they are enrolled in a contributory fund if something goes wrong.  However, the new proposal is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/migrating-for-domestic-work/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reminiscent of past restrictions on women</a>. Looking at the evolution of the clause on treatment of female migrants: 1985 The Foreign Employment Act prohibited recruiters from providing jobs to women and children without the consent of guardians. 1988 An amendment expanded this to include permission from guardians as well as His Majesty’s Government. ‘Guardian’ referred to the mother or father of an unmarried woman or husband of a married woman, or elder or younger brother aged 21 years or more of an unmarried woman living in the same family, or father-in-law or mother-in-law of a married woman. 2007 The Foreign Employment Act stated: No gender discrimination shall be made while sending workers for foreign employment pursuant to this Act. Provided that where an employer institution makes a demand for either male or female workers, nothing shall prevent the sending of workers for foreign employment according to that demand. 2021 The proposed amendment requiring approvals from guardians and local governments for first-timers to travel on visit visas puts Nepali women back on square one.  <figure><img width="800" height="1035" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb0e9c7e80680e08bba0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Shambhu Niroula, a legal adviser to the National Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA), says the non-discriminatory clause in the 2007 Act was a huge achievement. “It wasn’t just the non-discriminatory clause, there were also examples of positive discrimination to level the playing field like returning the costs of orientation fees to women migrants,” he says, adding that the proposed rules are regressive. But directives such as the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lift-the-ban-on-female-domestic-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ban on domestic workers</a> that are predominantly female contradict the non-discriminatory legal clauses, and the new proposed rule is a regressive addition impacting women. The latest ban on domestic workers was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/homes-away-from-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">put in place in 2017</a> after Parliament committee visited the Gulf in early 2020 and decided it was unsafe for domestic workers, regardless of gender. After a similar trip to the Gulf by a team led by Bimal Prasad Shrivastav, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Interest instructed the government to revisit the ban.“We have recommended country specific policies for domestic workers abroad,” he said. The criteria include having a bilateral labour agreement, a separate domestic worker law, pre-departure training, equality of treatment between Nepalis and locals, and easy access to communicate with consular officials and families back home.These preconditions were still deemed restrictive, but better than previous rules. However, Covid-19 derailed action. The pandemic itself impacted women workers abroad disproportionately, especially those who had traveled through India or on visit visas since they did not exist in government records and were ineligible for any support from Foreign Employment Welfare Fund. There are also questions about the requirement that women need permission from the local ward before they can go abroad. They should instead be mobilised to help aspirants make informed decisions via counseling and information campaign. They also have the proximity advantage to monitor illicit activities.The reactive ban or restrictions on travel that disproportionately target women are lazy because the alternative requires stakeholders to be proactive, engage in bilateral discussions with destination country governments, have strong inter-agency coordination, hold complicit  immigrant officials accountable, ramp up action against traffickers, train and inform workers on safe practices, to look for safer, legal pathways, to create jobs at home, and clamp down on domestic violence. Instead, they have come up with bizarre policies with detrimental consequences that do not address the problem at hand, but have unintended but predictable consequences.Nepalis reacting on social media to the proposal have questioned on what grounds is a ‘guardian’ eligible to grant permission for a woman to travel. ‘Why should men under 40 be spared from this provision?’ asked one. How will the consent from the guardian and local authority address trafficking, said another. What if the same guardian is the very source of domestic violence from which the woman is escaping for overseas work?  <img width="640" height="535" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb109c7e80680e08bba1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="902" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb139c7e80680e08bba2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="518" height="672" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb169c7e80680e08bba3jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="750" height="403" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb189c7e80680e08bba4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="900" height="424" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb1a9c7e80680e08bba5jpeg.jpg" alt="">Even when such letters are not required, women are often harassed by immigration officials at the airport.  Because of the public reaction, it is likely that the Home Ministry will not move forward with the proposal. But it is a sad reminder that even decades later, we are even considering such archaic policies that were considered discriminatory and regressive even then.  Bijaya Shrestha, who heads AMKAS Nepal that supports returnee female migrants says, "In 1996 I wanted to make a passport to go to Japan and was asked to bring a similar letter from my guardian and when I told them I don't have guardians, they said it could be my younger brother who was 21 years old. I was 30 then."The passport office was all right with a letter from her younger brother, but not from her 28-year-old younger sister. She adds, "I can't believe we are back to the same debate against a nonsensical, discriminatory policy. How much longer must we fight against this?" Up to 70% of women workers that AMKAS supports were forced to travel through irregular channels because of the travel restrictions. Sarda Rai is a migrant who has worked in households in Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi. She is now back in her home in Morang, and says: “I left via India but used to return home through Kathmandu airport. The immigration officials gave me a hard time every time. I had to fight back and tell them either to lift the ban, to not issue us passports at all, or to give us jobs in Nepal. All that is still true.”

History of female (im)mobility in Nepal

<img width="2560" height="1707" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111136/636cd4219c7e80680e08f9a7jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Nepal’s recent history has been marked by milestones popularly remembered as People’s Movements. The first one in 1980 got us a referendum on the absolute monarchy. In 2006, the people took to the streets for peace and democracy.This week, after riot police beat up civic groups and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/police-hose-down-anti-oli-rally/">hosed them down</a> with water cannons, there were calls once more for another pro-democracy uprising.  A video clip went viral of journalist and writer Narayan Wagle stabbing the air with his forefinger: “This is the beginning of a third people’s movement.” There had been much l<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dahal-nepal-hold-anti-oli-rally/">arger protests</a> in recent weeks against Prime Minister Oli’s dissolution of the Lower House on 20 December, but police had stood by. Why they had to use batons and point blank water cannons against a small and peaceful march is inexplicable, unless it was to provoke a backlash.Previous pro-democracy street protests have seen the emergence of a new political order, except in 1980 when the referendum allowed the absolute monarchy to prevail. A decade later, protests led to a lifting of the ban on political parties, ushering in a constitutional monarchy. The 2006 protests were as much a movement for peace as it was against King Gyanendra trying to turn the clock back.The winter of 2020-21 will be remembered as one where civic groups once more had to take to the streets against what they saw as an autocratic prime minister riding roughshod over the Constitution.The street protests have mostly been dominated by cadre loyal to the anti-Oli faction of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) as well as some pro-democracy activists. It has not yet galvanised the public, which seems to see it still as largely a power struggle between top men in the ruling party who were unable to resolve their personal differences. This <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/fight-amidst-the-ruins/">ego-clash</a> has led to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/splitting-and-spitting/">virtual split</a> of a party that had a commanding majority in Parliament with both factions competing for bigger street rallies.After last week’s show of force by the Dahal faction, the Oli establishment is staging his own superspreader street event on 5 February. Most analysts agree that if only Oli and his arch-rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal could call a truce, the division in the party would evaporate. Into the fray has plunged Bam Dev Gautam, a NCP secretariat member who has made no secret of his ambition to be prime minister even if he lost the 2017 election. On Wednesday, he launched a national campaign to unite the party, possibly with himself at the helm.“I am not with either faction, both are at fault. I am trying to keep the party united,” Gautam told the media. “I have the influence to return Oliji and Prachandaji back to speaking terms.” The opposition Nepali Congress has tried, unsuccessfully so far, to fill the void left by a weakened NCP. But it is the Hindu-Right RPP that has picked some wind on its sails, prompting a Communist prime minister to resort to whataboutery by offering prayers at Pashupati, garlanded to the chin.“This for the long time will remain the defining image of Nepali Communist Andolan!” wrote lawyer Semanta Dahal on Twitter.Where does the course of politics go from here? Much will depend on the Supreme Court verdict, as the debates drag on and writs keep piling up. Another case on Wednesday was a contempt of court against four former Chief Justices for questioning its independence.“While the Supreme Court hears depositions, both parties are competing in using abusive language against each other and to organise bigger street tamasha,” says commentator Shekhar Kharel.   There is still a role for civil society to instill fresh hope as Nepalis look beyond the same old faces. But there is a caveat. Every time young turks have risen up, the older political parties have made sure to relegate them to the second rung.

Pratibha Tuladhar

Back in the streets

<figure><img width="640" height="462" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1ea9c7e80680e08f8e1jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHHETRI</figcaption></figure>Prime Minister K P Oli landed himself in fresh controversy after he punctuated his speech at the National Assembly on Sunday <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/zero-sum-game-for-nepals-ruling-communists/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/zero-sum-game-for-nepals-ruling-communists/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610450727629000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGoaZrKuDIZ73zmLQKavFBGvTAx1Q">by spitting</a> from the rostrum.He was halfway through his one-hour delivery to the Upper House defending his latest political moves when he spat on the floor in full view of the Upper House chamber and television cameras.The PM has now managed to line up a saga of controversies for himself after he dissolved the Lower House on 20 December, and went on to defend what critics have called an unconstitutional and anti-democratic move. The power struggle at the top of the Nepal Communist Party between Oli and a faction led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal has virtually split the party in two.https://www.nepalitimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Oli-spitting.mp4The prime minister has tried to defend his move, but poor governance during his tenure and mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis do not give him much credibility.   The spitting incident has led to outrage on Nepal’s cybersphere, with many posts questioning the temperament of a leader who holds the executive power. Social media posts criticising Oli for lack of basic etiquette and his total disregard for the Assembly and the citizens have accompanied the viral video. Condemning Oli's action, @SamanaMishra writes on Twitter: “General etiquette--government’s dignity has gone for a toss with the PM spitting, which is the cause of this pandemic. This is totally disrespectful to all.” <img width="186" height="300" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1ee9c7e80680e08f8e2jpeg.jpg" alt="">Another user BimalK_Budha writes, “It is normal for one who is pissing on the future of the country.” <img width="215" height="300" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1f09c7e80680e08f8e3jpeg.jpg" alt="">The official website of the Parliament includes various documents involving rules and regulations to be followed by the members of the House of Representatives and National Assembly. The rulebook calls for maintenance of decorum in the parliament and lists strict punctuality, prohibition of phones and showing respect for colleagues by not causing interruptions, among other things. By spitting in the Upper House chamber, Oli has left himself wide open to ridicule and criticism. There are few who have defended his action. <figure><img width="640" height="1265" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1f39c7e80680e08f8e4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Illustration: RABI MISHRA/NAYA PATRIKA</figcaption></figure>@dahalshivaji takes to Twitter to make a subtle remark, “Prime Minister K P Oli spat in the National Assembly, I think we are allowed to call him indecent?” But there are others, who are sardonic: “Let’s hope his supporters don’t take out a spit rally to endorse his spitting in the Assembly,”  @RahbarA writes on Twitter. <img width="228" height="300" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1f69c7e80680e08f8e5jpeg.jpg" alt="">And there are those who have also expressed their rage: "The country has never had such a disgusting Prime Minister. I hope we never have to deal with anyone like him," writes @bibas_H.Oli, known for his sharp repartee, has time and again managed to mis-speak, provoking a tirade of insults for his actions on social media. The last time he caused an uproar was when he tried to regain his nationalist credentials by claiming that Lord Ram was born in Nepal, leading to a cyber war between India and Nepal.

Splitting and spitting

<figure></figure>										<img width="2184" height="1378" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1e79c7e80680e08f8e0jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHHETRI</figcaption>												Prime Minister K P Oli was half way through his one hour delivery to the Upper House on Sunday, defending his move to dissolve the lower chamber of Parliament, when he spat from the rostrum.The Prime Minister was figuratively spitting at Parliament, but in doing so live on television it became a symbolic demonstration of his attitude towards the Constitution and democracy itself.The clip of Oli’s audible spit went viral on YouTube and Facebook, with the prime minister once more coming under blistering attack. Cartoonists had a field day on the front pages of national dailies. But none of this has so far deterred Oli from getting back at his detractors by trying to take his party down with him.   Three weeks after he abruptly <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-outraged-by-pm-oli-move/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-outraged-by-pm-oli-move/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610442955396000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFRDu6i83PA45eTnObLCKkPIcMEXA">dissolved the Lower House</a> and called for elections in five months, Oli has been increasingly on the defensive, mounting spirited attacks on party rivals, and flying to far corners of the country as if he is already out on the campaign trail.Oli has had a double kidney transplant, and is on heavy medication, but has not let the Covid-19 pandemic deter his movements. His speech to supporters in Dhangadi on Saturday was a vitriolic attacks on those who opposed his move.   Oli is increasingly <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/over-the-edge-again/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/over-the-edge-again/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610442955396000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFMGKNw9G3FuurnYu2DhVFfxX4rXw">isolated</a> with only his core allies now standing by their man. The Nepal Communist Party (NCP) faction led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal have formed a parallel leadership, and claimed the former UML Sun election symbol.Even as the Supreme Court resumes debate on 13 writ petitions against the House dissolution on Wednesday, former chief justices, lawyers, some civil society members and editors have united against Prime Minister Oli’s move, denouncing it as unconstitutional and anti-democratic.Street protests have continued nationwide, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-communists-on-verge-of-split-again/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-communists-on-verge-of-split-again/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610442955396000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFa5pM085_qKUygIPJgYxzCZGj4iA">the split in the party</a> between the Oli and Dahal-Nepal factions has affected provincial assemblies, permeating right down to the ward level. For all practical purposes the NCP has already <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-1-party-2-central-committees-system/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-1-party-2-central-committees-system/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610442955396000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHrCsXW_8Lt2yT1Qf6DJQm8TYx45g">split</a>, it just has not been formally announced yet.The real question is: who benefits? Whichever way the Supreme Court goes, either to reinstate the Lower House or endorse the prime minister’s move, it is the NCP that will be the loser. And what a fall from grace it will be for a unified party that commands a 65% majority in Parliament, and leads six of Nepal’s seven provincial governments.And all this because the two top comrades in the NCP could not get along. Indeed, the greatest gripe that the Dahal-Nepal faction had against Prime Minister Oli is that he did not listen to them. Dahal waited halfway into Oli’s tenure, and was impatient to be party Chair or Prime Minister, while Nepal just wanted more respect from his erstwhile colleague.Prime Minister Oli’s biggest political failure is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-shuffles-ministers-around/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-shuffles-ministers-around/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610442955396000&amp;usg=AFQjCNECj3AYrbyymKQdjyOSwX0r0luHhA">politics</a>. It is the art of give-and-take, but for Oli politics during this two-and-half tenure, became take-and-take. Any other leader would have smoothed out ruffled feathers, accommodated rivals to make his own position more secure. But he chose full <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/i-had-no-other-option-pm-oli/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/i-had-no-other-option-pm-oli/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610442955396000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHOobX46UuIWnzc_amNaPP3NsMigg">confrontation</a>.Oli’s argument is that he took the united NCP to a landslide in 2017, but that the Dahal-Nepal side tried to undermine him from day one. Actually that exposes his own inability to find a compromise and blunt the internal threat.As has often happened before in post-1990 Nepali politics, each faction now sees the other as more of an enemy than the opposition parties. Speaking of which, the Nepali Congress (NC) is dealing with a widening rift between Sher Bahadur Deuba and Ram Chandra Poudel. The unending power struggle between the two almost mirrors what is happening in the NCP, and this time they are divided over whether to support Oli’s call for elections or not.The second echelon of NC leaders, however, realise that their party can reap the benefit of a divided NCP if snap polls are held in April-May. There is also a strong grassroots push in the party for polls that leaders like Gagan Thapa and others cannot ignore.Even if the Lower House is re-instated, the NC stands to benefit as kingmaker since there is so much bad blood between the NCP’s rivals that the Communists are as good as split. With its 60 voting MPs, the NC will carry the swing vote if it sides with either the Oli or the Dahal-Nepal faction in forming a coalition government. That is when the real horse-trading will start.If the Supreme Court decides to back the dissolution and pave the way for elections, the NC will once again see it as an opportunity to come out of its political hibernation and make up for the loss it suffered in 2017. That will not be so difficult, since by then the NCP will most certainly have formalised a split.There is also geopolitics. The Chinese have made it no secret that they prefer a united NCP, and are believed to be the main architects of the unification of the UML and Maoists. A slew of Chinese visitors and Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi herself have been trying to get the leaders to settle their personal differences to keep the party united.Logically, then, China’s regional and global rivals would not be too disappointed to see the NCP split, whether there are elections or not.   Even if the unthinkable happens and the Oli and Dahal-Nepal factions patch up, the two will be trying to undermine the chances of each other’s candidates even if it means sealing a secret pact with the NC.If elections do go ahead, there will be other wild cards. The RPP has demonstrated some public backing for its anti-secular, anti-federalism, and anti-republican plank. This support may represent disillusionment with the present government, and not necessarily full endorsement for the return of a Hindu monarchy.The JSP and other Madhes-based parties are also trying to establish their credentials as ‘national’ parties, and could also benefit from an anti-incumbent wave.All eyes are now on the Supreme Court, and there is a lot also resting on the Election Commission’s decision on which faction of the NCP will get the party name and symbol.

Zero-sum game for Nepal’s ruling Communists

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8719c7e80680e08785cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="886"/><figcaption>Illustration: SUBHAS RAI / NEPALI TIMES #22, 22-28 DECEMBER 2000</figcaption></figure>Nepal has been on a knife-edge in 2020 because of the pandemic, but the country’s leaders are too involved in their internal power struggles to notice. This week, better sense  prevailed once more at the last moment as the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Wednesday pulled back at the last minute from tearing itself apart.The struggle for supremacy between the two top leaders, Prime Minister K P Oli and party co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, have become so nasty, rhetoric so acrimonious and the actions being taken so drastic that it has now dragged all three arms of the state the legislature, judiciary and executive into controversy.The latest casualty was the Office of the President which is now seen by many as just a rubber stamp for the prime minister. As head of state, Bidya Devi Bhandari, should have been beyond reproach and above the fray, but by hastily signing the ordinance to amending the law on the Constitutional Council this week she faced unprecedented  ridicule.It was all unnecessary because Oli and Dahal smoked the peace pipe ahead of the NCP Standing Committee Meeting, and the prime minister decided to take back the ordinance (for the second time this year). The Standing Committee has also been put off till 21 December.By passing the ordinance <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-oli-goes-it-alone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-oli-goes-it-alone/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608275687738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGayCQf-PZoK4ZSJCVrtNw4r8b5kA">amending the Constitutional Council law</a>, Oli may have just been trying to demonstrate to Dahal how far he would go to get his way. But the damage has been done. Not just to the esteem of the President’s office, but to himself, his party, the Constitution and Nepal’s democracy.The Oli-Dahal row this year has been a wrecking ball on the Nepali state, and its nascent Constitution. It was predictable, therefore, that the opposition and the smaller parties would move to cash in on the disarray in the NCP, and fill the political vacuum.Nepal’s Hindu-right held a series of rallies across the country last month which were increasingly well-attended, calling for the scrapping of the country’s secular republican constitution. There may not be widespread public support for the return of the monarchy, even a ceremonial one, but declaring Nepal a Hindu state is a popular notion among the dominant majority community.For its part, the faction-ridden opposition NC had been under relentless pressure ever since its battering in the 2017 election, to play a more effective role as an opposition party. It had to assert itself for fear of the rightists pulling the rug from under them with a Hindu agenda, and since Parliament is not in session had no option but to stage its own show of force.Prime Minister Oli’s brinkmanship did the trick, and he bought himself some more time. But at what cost? He has isolated himself even more within his party and shown an authoritarian bent, he single-handedly dismantled an essential check-and-balance of Nepal’s democracy, he put the Speaker and the leader of the opposition in the spot.Oli’s act of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-seat-of-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-seat-of-power/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608275687738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE2UYVNJeQRsAwr08-F4m5vDHLiDA">defiance</a> against his party rivals led by Dahal, has undermined the Constitution and the rule of law and pushed the Nepali state closer to the edge. Kunda Dixit

Over the edge, again

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef654b0ad905ca02efa5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="886"/><figcaption>Illustration: SUBHAS RAI / NEPALI TIMES #22, 22-28 DECEMBER 2000</figcaption></figure>Nepal has been on a knife-edge in 2020 because of the pandemic, but the country’s leaders are too involved in their internal power struggles to notice. This week, better sense  prevailed once more at the last moment as the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Wednesday pulled back at the last minute from tearing itself apart.The struggle for supremacy between the two top leaders, Prime Minister K P Oli and party co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, have become so nasty, rhetoric so acrimonious and the actions being taken so drastic that it has now dragged all three arms of the state the legislature, judiciary and executive into controversy.The latest casualty was the Office of the President which is now seen by many as just a rubber stamp for the prime minister. As head of state, Bidya Devi Bhandari, should have been beyond reproach and above the fray, but by hastily signing the ordinance to amending the law on the Constitutional Council this week she faced unprecedented  ridicule.It was all unnecessary because Oli and Dahal smoked the peace pipe ahead of the NCP Standing Committee Meeting, and the prime minister decided to take back the ordinance (for the second time this year). The Standing Committee has also been put off till 21 December.By passing the ordinance <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-oli-goes-it-alone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-oli-goes-it-alone/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608275687738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGayCQf-PZoK4ZSJCVrtNw4r8b5kA">amending the Constitutional Council law</a>, Oli may have just been trying to demonstrate to Dahal how far he would go to get his way. But the damage has been done. Not just to the esteem of the President’s office, but to himself, his party, the Constitution and Nepal’s democracy.The Oli-Dahal row this year has been a wrecking ball on the Nepali state, and its nascent Constitution. It was predictable, therefore, that the opposition and the smaller parties would move to cash in on the disarray in the NCP, and fill the political vacuum.Nepal’s Hindu-right held a series of rallies across the country last month which were increasingly well-attended, calling for the scrapping of the country’s secular republican constitution. There may not be widespread public support for the return of the monarchy, even a ceremonial one, but declaring Nepal a Hindu state is a popular notion among the dominant majority community.For its part, the faction-ridden opposition NC had been under relentless pressure ever since its battering in the 2017 election, to play a more effective role as an opposition party. It had to assert itself for fear of the rightists pulling the rug from under them with a Hindu agenda, and since Parliament is not in session had no option but to stage its own show of force.Prime Minister Oli’s brinkmanship did the trick, and he bought himself some more time. But at what cost? He has isolated himself even more within his party and shown an authoritarian bent, he single-handedly dismantled an essential check-and-balance of Nepal’s democracy, he put the Speaker and the leader of the opposition in the spot.Oli’s act of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-seat-of-power/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-seat-of-power/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608275687738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE2UYVNJeQRsAwr08-F4m5vDHLiDA">defiance</a> against his party rivals led by Dahal, has undermined the Constitution and the rule of law and pushed the Nepali state closer to the edge. Kunda Dixit

One smoggy winter morning in February 2019, Ekta regretted coming to her sculpture class. It was the first day of her period, and the 19-year-old wished she was home, curled up in bed with a hot water bag to soothe her cramps.
Her class was at Kalapremi Ceramic Studio, a dark room on the ground floor of a house in Maharajganj, and Ekta’s teacher was the artist Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’, a noted sculptor.
Two other students were already there, using all their muscle strength to knead the sculpting clay. Ekta, now 24, recalls how Kalapremi asked her if she was feeling all right. She avoided him, as she did not want everyone to know she was menstruating.
Kalapremi repeatedly asked Ekta what was wrong. She finally muttered that she was having her period, after which he grabbed her hand and led her to a partitioned corner of the studio and sat her on a chair. Before she could stop him, he slid his hand under her dress, and started massaging her abdomen.
“I was horrified,” Ekta recalls. “I told him to stop, but he didn’t listen, asking me not to be shy, saying he knew how to relieve my pain. He stopped only after I protested furiously.”&nbsp;
The art tutor then said, “You’re like my daughter. I’m doing it out of love to make you feel better, but you’re so stubborn.”&nbsp;
“Instead of saying sorry he acted like I was the one having crazy thoughts,” remembers Ekta, adding that from April 2016 to August 2020 beginning the time she was 16, the artist sexually abused and harassed her on several occasions. &nbsp;
Now, Ekta and the artist’s other former students are finally sharing their experiences and some are pressing legal charges against him, hoping that others do not have to endure what they did.&nbsp;
Award-winning artist and teacher Gopal Das Shrestha ‘Kalapremi’ (the name means ‘Art Lover’) is known for his ceramic art, sculpture, and contemporary pottery. He was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/the-house-of-kalapremi">profiled in Nepali Times after a collaborative exhibition</a>, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ at the Siddhartha Art Gallery three years ago.&nbsp;
His pieces, titled Gaalis, featured sculpted female figures with the heads of dogs, sheep, and donkeys (pictured) to depict derogatory terms for women. Some critics said the collection was a satire on feminists.
Kalapremi started his artistic and teaching career in 1983 and over the years taught at Bhanubhakta School, Kathmandu University School of Arts, Lalitkala Campus and at his private Kalapremi Ceramic Studio. He has also lectured at Jeonju University in South Korea and recently at Tabor Academy in the United States.
Seven of Kalapremi’s former students were interviewed for this story. Five female students said he touched them inappropriately in his studio or at Kathmandu University. Two male students said they witnessed him abuse and harass the women. In all cases, the students struggled to recognise the abuse when it occurred, and the lack of reporting systems left them to cope on their own for years.&nbsp;
Earlier this year, students shared a social media post hinting at Kalapremi’s history of abusive behaviour following which more students of the artist reached out sharing similar experiences. Some students spoke of abuse that happened as long as 20 years ago.
Kalapremi, 60, has denied the allegations. He told Nepali Times: “Some years ago, there was a movement encouraging people to hug and kiss. I used to do it purely out of friendship and love. But after seeing posts on social media last year calling out my behaviour, I realised my actions may have hurt some people. I understand now that I should have been more mindful.”
He added: “I am also an auxiliary health worker, so I know the exact points to massage to relieve menstrual pain. It’s not just menstruation, I take anyone who is ill to the hospital.”
Sexual abuse is much more rampant than reported given how difficult it is to prove it in court. The law defines sexual abuse as occuring when someone touches another’s private parts, coerces them into touching theirs, uses vulgar language, shows degrading images, or behaves indecently towards them without consent.&nbsp;
Ekta and her fellow students are consulting lawyer Suneeta Regmi Pokhrel, who says they know that even if the court decides in their favour, it is difficult to survive after speaking up, and influential men defend themselves saying they are being framed.&nbsp;
“They are in a lot of pain and weep when recalling how he abused them,” Regmi Pokhrel told us. “They are angry and have filed a case against him, but they are also terrified. They know he is a powerful man and they have seen how our society treats women who speak up against abusers. Unless people speak up, perpetrators will be emboldened.”
Art and academia in Nepal simply reflect the power imbalances in society where people with intersecting identities experience worse forms of abuse. Theatre actors Raj Kumar Pudasaini, Rajan Khatiwada, and Sunil Pokhrel were called out during the #MeToo movement in the Nepali theatre scene in 2019. Even after the allegations Pokhrel went on to receive national awards, while others continued to work without repercussions.
“If you speak up against abusers, you gradually get sidelined from projects,” explained a theatre artist who wished anonymity fearing professional setbacks. “The theatre scene in Nepal is quite small, you just have to make peace with the perpetrators and work with them if you want to sustain yourself.”&nbsp;
In academia there is a history of faculty members sexually harassing students and getting away with it. After Tribhuvan University (TU) lecturer Krishna Bhattachan was accused of harassing women students, the university said it would follow Nepal’s sexual harassment law and set up a reporting mechanism. But nothing happened to the professor, who had already retired. Instead, he counter-accused the students of 'attacking the indigenous people’s movement with baseless allegations' as <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/letters/2019/01/29/bhattachan-responds">he told the Kathmandu Post in 2019</a>. He continues to be featured as a prominent speaker including at TU.
Other faculty members previously accused of sexual harassment include Jagadish Murti Koirala from TU, Bishnu Prasad Acharya from Ratna Rajya Campus, and Bodha Raj Tripathee from Lalitpur Madhyamik Vidhyalaya. A woman staff member from TU also filed a sexual abuse complaint against Dambar Chemjong from TU.
Prominent figures like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">mountaineer Nims Purja</a> have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/sports/mountaineering-sexual-harassment-abuse-nims-purja.html">accused of sexual assault</a>, and cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane, actor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/celebrity-rape-case-spotlights-nepal-laws">Paul Shah</a>, and former speaker of Parliament <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mahara-arrested">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a> have been accused of rape, but society-at-large has let off the alleged perpetrators amdist a larger debate about justice for survivors and punishment of perpetrators.&nbsp;
‘Gaushala-26’ is the court name given to the 18-year-old who accused Sandeep Lamichhane, former captain of Nepal’s national cricket team and skipper of Biratnagar Kings in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/here-comes-the-nepal-premier-league">ongoing Nepal Premier League</a>, of rape. She left the country citing society questioning her character affecting her mental health while Lamichhane got an outpouring of support. In May, the Patan High Court overturned a prior verdict that found Lamichhane guilty of rape and had sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the 23-month legal battle to pursue justice, Gaushala-26 faced threats of gang rape and acid attacks.&nbsp;
Exhausted by the struggle, Gaushala-26 sought to “move to a new world” where she could live free without hiding her identity.
Actress Samragyee Rajya Laxmi Shah in an Instagram video now deleted detailed the harassment she faced from a filmmaker during a movie shoot. She did not name any name but veteran actor Bhuwan KC filed a defamation case against Rana, but the court ruled that the charge lacked sufficient evidence.&nbsp;
Former Kathmandu mayor <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/theytoo">Keshav Sthapit also mocked the #MeToo movement</a>, calling accusations against him by journalists Rashmila Prajapati and Ujjwala Maharjan “a rape of men’s rights”.
Serial Abuse
Back at the Kalapremi Ceramics studio, another former student, 24-year-old Rajiv, says he felt the need to speak out after seeing his female classmates being abused.&nbsp;
“He frequently kissed them on their cheeks,” he told Nepali Times. “Whenever they walked into the studio he flailed his arms like a child asking for a hug. They awkwardly hugged him from the side, but he pulled them closer, held their chin, and kissed their cheeks.”&nbsp;
Rajiv says he also saw Kalapremi pull the women’s bra straps, touch their breasts, and slap their buttocks. The young students would freeze, not knowing how to react, and if they protested, he would say it was “normal in art”. Rajiv, 19 at the time like his classmates, remembers thinking perhaps the well-respected artist was right after all.
Another student, Luna, who took lessons at Kalapremi’s studio from 2020 to 2022 did try to confront the tutor after he made an obscene proposal to her. She recalls: “One day when the other students had left the studio and it was just the two of us, he told me that God had given him special artistic talent and he could transfer those powers to me. But to do that both of us will have to be naked, inside a dark room, and have sex.”
Luna, who was 18 then, was livid and told him she did not want any of his powers, but she says he laughed at her as if he was joking. She did not tell her family about the incident because she thought no one would believe her.&nbsp;
“They were all in awe of this famous artist and felt I should be grateful that to be learning sculpting from him,” she says. “I was scared to be alone with him in case he talked about sex again. My coping mechanism was to be rude so he wouldn’t try to come close to me.”
Seeing how some classmates were standing up to Kalapremi, Ekta too tried to push back against his advances, but she said he found ways to coerce her. Since Ekta, Rajiv, and Luna could not afford Kalapremi’s Rs30,000 monthly fee for lessons, he had offered them all a stipend to assist him in the studio.
“He had spondylosis and took me to his therapy sessions to learn massage techniques, then he often made me and other students massage him,” says Ekta. Whenever she refused, he would feign pain to make her feel sorry for him. “He would insist that I put my hands under his shirt so that I could massage him better,” she adds.
The art tutor often tried to “seduce sympathy” from Ekta by sharing how he had never been loved as a child and was “sexually frustrated” as an adult.&nbsp;
“At 7PM, he would pour himself Signature whiskey and immediately go off again about how he was sex-starved. I didn’t know how to respond. It took me time to realise alcohol was just an excuse to talk about sex,” Ekta says.
If convicted, Kalapremi could face financial penalty and/or a prison sentence of up to three years according to Section 224 of National Penal (Code) Act 2017.&nbsp;
Data suggests that victims of child sexual abuse on average take nearly 24 years to tell someone about their trauma, and some may never disclose it at all.&nbsp;
“In our culture, children are rarely taught about boundaries. They often react, show anger when adults pinch their cheeks. But adults insist they did it out of love, and force the children to accept it,” says Sita Lama, a psychotherapist at Manka Kura. “And even when someone touches them inappropriately they struggle to identify and verbalise it.”
When perpetrators claim to be “acting out of love”, Lama says survivors are likely to perceive it as something safe, rather than recognising it as abuse.&nbsp;
“It may take years for them to realise they were abused,” she explains. "And even when they become aware, the power imbalance with the abuser and the associated shame often prevents survivors from speaking up."
Other former students from the School of Art at Kathmandu University have also come forward years later, saying Kalapremi sexually abused them. As young adults, they felt his behaviour was off but were uncertain if it was inappropriate, illegal, or they did not know how to respond. After having understood that it was indeed abuse, they say they are speaking out now to protect others.&nbsp;
Amina Singh, a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, says there is no clause against sexual abuse in contracts of teachers, and there is no formal grievance handling mechanism for the students.&nbsp;
“So the only way students can to deal with sexual abuse is approach someone they trust,” she says.
Eight other former art students of Lalit Kala Campus and Srijana College of Fine Arts of Tribhuvan University and other private art studios in Kathmandu say they were also sexually abused by their art teachers. Three faculty members interviewed from these institutions said they saw the abuse, but felt it was futile to report it given how powerful the teachers were.
In the absence of a formal system, some longtime women artists warned each other about “problematic” artists. They shared &nbsp;a “heads-up” to be more cautious when collaborating with them, and avoided responding to their calls and texts after work hours.
To ensure art institutions are safe for all, galleries, museums, artist studios, and smaller art spaces need to develop policies on sexual harassment. This would include a code of conduct or studio policies that hold the leadership accountable and outline the principles of professional ethics.&nbsp;
Students and employees should inquire about accountability mechanisms for raising concerns, both formally and informally, advocates say.
Three years after Ekta left the ceramics studio, she learnt that Kalapremi had harassed many other women. Still trying to get a footing in the art industry, she attended a workshop in Kathmandu where women artists discussed ways to stay safe in the art sector.&nbsp;
Since it was a close-knit group Ekta opened up about how she felt violated and realised she was not alone, he had been abusing underprivileged students for years, and this was common knowledge among artists in Nepal.
Ekta says that even after she quit, Kalapremi continued sending her text messages like ‘I am thinking of you’, ‘Why have you stopped speaking with me’, or ‘I am waiting for your call’.&nbsp;
But what really forced her to act was when Ekta found out that he was sending similar texts to her younger sister.&nbsp;
“I’ve had enough,” she told us. “He abused me all these years but I won’t let him abuse my sister.” &nbsp;
Ekta, Rajiv and Luna are not the real names of the students.&nbsp;

‘Art Lover’ accused of sexual abuse

It was 8:15 in the evening of 25 March 1968 when everyone in the village of Batulechaur near Pokhara heard a deafening sound like thunder as a bright flashing object hurtled down to land in a field.&nbsp; That field belonged to Kul Timilsina, and the next morning he retrieved a sheet of metal about 2m by 1m and carried it home with the help of a few others, thinking it would be useful for his buffalo shed.&nbsp; Before he died at age 83 three years ago, Timilsina had told photo archivist Sunil Ulak that the black metal sheet was not rectangular and had rounded corners. There are a few witnesses still alive who have a clear recollection of the object that fell from the sky that night.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024120707128_75cc85aac56b9cc4a77366471f058d7b3eb6868776811b0923845c2d0a61f014" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="601" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>The field in Batulechaur belonging to Kul Timilsina where fragments of a flying object fell from the sky in 1968.</figcaption> </figure>  One of them is Timilsina’s wife Gyanu, who was 22 at the time. She had been at home, and remembers hearing the big bang and the sky becoming very bright. “We saw the thing in the field in the morning,” she told us. “It looked like a lid, a covering of some sort. The way it was stuck in the ground, it must have fallen from the sky. We thought we could use it to dry clothes on, and took it home.”&nbsp; Another witness is Kul Narayan Paudel. “I was only eight then. We ran to the field to see what had fallen. It was a four-sided metal sheet. The elders took it away, and I don't know what happened to it.” &nbsp; Ram Bahadur Baniya, a teacher at the local school, says he had heard the sheet had been brought to the school, and later handed over to the Zonal Commissioner at the time, Nanda Prasad Malla. “But that is all hearsay,” he says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024120707128_0bf207a12063fb8155b3c8d9a00a94887b126380c9e0627527c84cf5e1101f54" data-rendition-name="original" width="1170" height="610" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Gyanu Timilsina, wife of Kul Timilsina.</figcaption> </figure>  There are two versions of what happened to Kul Timilsina’s metal sheet. One is that an American Peace Corp Volunteer teaching at the nearby Bindyabasini School took it, and another is that it was handed over to the government. Recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US State Department documents from the time say that the US Embassy in Kathmandu tracked down the object two years later and had it shipped back to the US. A telegram from the Department of State and Department of Defense tagged as ‘MOON DUST / Space Fragments’ dated 1 March 1972 stated: ‘1. Restored space fragment will be on board Embassy support flight 115 arriving Kathmandu on or about March 10. Fragment is packed in shipping crate (cargo no. 72-33365) marked in care of DAO.&nbsp; 2. State and Defense representatives examined fragments prior to shipment finding restoration acceptable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241207071212_929d903ee06d41baa4f6040e981cd7c7d7bd75cc9c37c9b617d307fc8538d2df" data-rendition-name="original" width="856" height="568" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> <figcaption>Declassified CIA documents about the investigation into the object sighted in Pokhara. </figcaption> </figure>  The documents show that the US government, military and intelligence agencies investigated this incident thoroughly when it occurred, and have continued to revisit it ever since, as recently as five years ago. What is even more intriguing is that the object that fell in Pokhara was not the only unidentified space object that fell to earth that year. There were similar sightings of objects falling from the sky in Ladakh, Sikkim and Bhutan between 19 February and 25 March 1968.&nbsp; These mysteries were the subject of a CIA investigation in 1968 titled ‘<a href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP81R00560R000100070007-8.pdf">Sighting of Unidentified Flying Objects in Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan</a>’, and the report is part of the recent online declassification of 800,000 top-secret documents from the period.&nbsp; &nbsp;Although unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have a connotation now of being alien craft, it could be pieces of satellite, missile, rocket or even aircraft. The CIA report documents six sightings in 1968 and quotes local sources as describing all of them having similar characteristics: bright blue or red streaks in the sky accompanied by loud sounds like lightning and thunder and objects falling to the ground. Aside from the metallic object that was found in Batlechaur, there were other items also found nearby in Tallakot, Tureypasal, Armalakot and Maidan. Whatever the object was, it seems to have disintegrated even before it hit the ground.&nbsp; The CIA report records the first sighting on 19 February 1968 in various parts of Sikkim and Olangchung Gola and Ghunsa in eastern Nepal. The light was said to be ‘long and thin’ and giving out ‘green and red light’. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241207071212_c3c825027d966a2aedc846970390eebe063957503c7eacc8e01e0517843f9bbb" data-rendition-name="original" width="892" height="596" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara "> </figure>  Two days later on 21 February, a soundless blue object was seen traveling fast across the sky above Thimphu in Bhutan. Then on 4 March there were multiple daytime sightings or white streaks in the sky at Chang La Pass, Fukche and Koyul in Ladakh. There were more sightings in Ladakh on the very day fragments fell near Pokhara on 25 March 1968.&nbsp; After the sightings in Pokhara, rumours started flying in Kathmandu that these were aliens trying to land on Earth, it could be Russian or Chinese spy planes or satellites, and some even say it as a sign from heaven that the end of the world was near. This was at the height of the Cold War. The Russians and Americans were testing their thermonuclear devices as well as intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems. The Washington-Beijing rapprochement had not yet happened, and China was making quick progress testing atomic bombs. Within two years after its first atomic test, in 1966 China exploded its first hydrogen bomb at the Lop Nur site in Xinjiang, 3,000km to the north from Nepal. After neary six decades, what is still intriguing is that all the sightings within a few months of each other in 1968 were along the Himalayan arc bordering Tibet: from Bhutan, Sikkim Nepal, to Ladakh. The US military intelligence seems to have concluded that this was not a coincidence and there were frequent research trips to the site in Pokhara by American officials in the months after the incident. With the help of the Royal Nepal Army, the region north of Pokhara was thoroughly searched.&nbsp; A confidential memo dated 25 June 1968 by Jerry C Trippy to a ‘Mr Farley’ mentions that the US Air Force’s Foreign Technology Division had decided that the debris could be important because it may be related to a Chinese missile test or a Soviet ‘Vehicle Venik’ rocket.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241207071216_feb5425692dc36b20187de4e4fcc2ce9fd12b6d9e1b8724398e50bcdbf9032fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  On 28 August 1968 the US Embassy in Kathmandu sent a letter to Washington DC saying that the object could be of Soviet origin, possibly from when the rocket carrying the ‘Kosmos 208’ satellite re-entered the atmosphere. But why were the fragments falling to earth several weeks apart, and in the same region? No one knows where the metal sheet that Kul Timilsina recovered is now. It was definitely packed in a crate and taken to the US, and although it is rumoured that it was returned that is not very likely. Archivist Sunil Ulak heard from the Timilsina family that CIA officials had returned to the site five years ago. &nbsp; Interest in UFOs peaked in the US in the 1950s, with the Cold War space race and tests of atomic weapons and delivery rockets. CIA and scientists were being sent to investigate sightings, both publicly and privately. Could the Pokhara fragments as well as the sightings in Ladakh and Bhutan actually be alien craft falling to earth? The renewal in interest in space travel in large part due to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, UFOs and sightings are again subjects of public interest.&nbsp; Even 57 years later, even if there was definitive proof about whether the Batlechaur fragment was from a Chinese missile or a soviet rocket, it has not been made public in documents declassified so far. We may never know.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241207071216_b6938795f40731e7657fd6dcbb3cf460a326186a15eb11d4f832f602201ff598" data-rendition-name="original" width="642" height="320" loading="lazy" alt="UFO over Pokhara"> </figure>  Sunil Ulak speculates if the debris actually came from an American aircraft, perhaps on an intel mission upon China. “Which could explain why they were so thorough in collecting the fragments in Pokhara,” he says. But that still does not explain the multiple sightings weeks apart in 1968.&nbsp; Indeed, US military aircraft were at that time flying frequent night-time missions from air force bases in India to supply weapons to Khampa guerrilla camps in Nepal located north of Pokhara in Mustang. It could very well be that the Chinese shot down one such aircraft. The other sightings could have been contrails of US spy planes, or Chinese anti-aircraft missiles.&nbsp; There were quite a few developments regarding UFOs in 2024. In a US congressional hearing in July, former intelligence officer David Grusch claimed that the government had long been involved in a program to investigate and retrieve non-human craft crashes, and then try to reverse engineer them. However Grusch did not show any evidence.&nbsp; The UAP Disclosure Act of 2024 was signed into law by Joe Biden in December 2023. It plans to oversee the public disclosure of UFO information. However, there is a clause in it that prevents disclosure if it would cause threats to military defense, intelligence operations or foreign relations.&nbsp; It is unlikely that the declassified documents about sightings in the Himalayan will cause any real surprise about definite evidence of alien life even if it was found. It seems humanity will continue, at least for now, to wonder about curious lights in the sky and whether there is anybody out there.&nbsp;

UFO over Pokhara

When Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) president Rabi Lamichhane was arrested in October on charges of defrauding depositors of cooperatives, the party’s vice president Swarnim Wagle gifted him Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions.
Since then, Lamichhane has been shunted around from Kathmandu to Pokhara to Chitwan and back to Pokhara to attend police investigations and court proceedings. He was being flown to Birganj via Kathmandu on Buddha Air on Monday. There is another pending case in Janakpur.
Human rights groups and civil society have criticised the government for hounding Lamichhane with inhumane treatment that borders on physical torture. The two parties in the coalition, Nepali Congress (NC) and the UML, see Lamichhane’s RSP as a potentially formidable challenge to their power.
Even if the fraud charges against Lamichhane are true, the Nepali public is increasingly looking at the government’s actions through the police and courts as political vendetta.
Despite all the travelling, sometimes by plane and often by road at night, Lamichhane appears to be in high spirits, waving to supporters who often gather if they know he is going to be driven around. A social media video shows him giving high fives to fellow passengers on a recent flight to Pokhara.&nbsp;
In the past weeks, streets in Pokhara have erupted with parallel protests by Lamichhane’s supporters as well as depositors of cooperatives who lost their savings to the scam.&nbsp;
Although family visits are allowed, prison officials in Pokhara told Nepali Times that not many people visit Lamichhane these days. He added, “When he does get visitors, he asks them to bring him books.”
Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s most high-profile public figure in custody, and highlights the stark difference between how influential prisoners are treated compared to ordinary inmates.
There are six prison cells at Kaski District Police Office’s two-story detention centre, three on each floor. And while authorities pack prisoners into already overcrowded cells, Lamichhane has an entire room on the second floor to himself.&nbsp;
He has also been allowed to call his family every few days. Other prisoners are not permitted phone calls except for emergencies.
Meanwhile, Lamichhane’s former business partner Chhabilal Joshi, an ex-Deputy Inspector General of Police with whom he established his Gorkha Media Network, is in custody under the same charges in the prison cell next to him.
Lamichhane is accused of siphoning off depositors' money to the tv network in which he was part-owner and anchor. &nbsp;
Both Lamichhane and Joshi are able to buy food from the police canteen instead of being served the regular meal like other prisoners. Joshi has also given his statement to authorities in Rupandehi and Kathmandu for his alleged role in the scam. Lamichhane is yet to be presented in Kathmandu for questioning.
While he was in custody at the Kathmandu District Police Complex, Joshi expressed his desire to sleep in a police officer’s office, reportedly assuring authorities that he would not run away and he was entitled to certain facilities as a former officer of the law.
“He seemed to be under the impression that he is still a police officer,” says a source at the Kathmandu District Police. “We made it clear to him that as someone accused of a crime, he was not entitled to special treatment.”
Former ministers Balkrishna Khand and Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and ex-home secretary Tek Narayan Pandey, who were arrested in connection with the fake refugee scam last year, were similarly housed in the offices of law enforcement officials instead of prison cells. Khand has since been released after six months in jail.
While there is no legal provision to keep high-ranking officials in separate detention centres when they are arrested, authorities granting them special facilities is not uncommon. Law enforcement officials say VIP detainees expect preferential treatment while in police custody.
Among those is former Kosi Province minister Lila Ballav Adhikari, who was arrested from Biratnagar on 10 November over his alleged involvement in human trafficking and brought to Kathmandu. Adhikari had flown to Japan without government approval with three individuals on 29 October to attend a cultural conference, but had been sent back to Nepal from Narita.&nbsp;
His three companions were arrested at Kathmandu airport upon their arrival, but Adhikari was able to exit unscathed from the VIP lounge. Adhikari had resigned as the Kosi Province Minister for Internal Affairs and Law when it became public that his companions had been taken into custody, and was himself arrested shortly after. He has since been cleared by the courts.
Throughout his detention, Adhikari was kept separately from other inmates. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basant Rajouri, head of the Bhadrakali complex, says that while there is no separate detention area for VIPs, some detainees are kept separately depending on the nature of their crime.
However, sources say that arrangements were made for retired judges and others to visit Adhikari frequently worked at the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) during his time in custody.&nbsp;
“He used to constantly pester the authorities to let him sit outside in the sun, and to be able to use the police officer’s shower area,” added an officer.
Adhikari was released on 25 November after the government prosecutor’s office decided not to charge him in a move that was seen to expose the government’s double standards.
Over at Kathmandu’s Dilli Bazar Prison, former Kist Bank CEO Kamal Gyawali emerges from his prison cell into the courtyard of the prison’s ‘Ka (क)’ block every morning with a thick book in his hands, ready to give his daily sermon.
With his long beard, Gyawali, who is serving a prison sentence for banking fraud, looks the part of a religious guru as he implores his rapt listeners to “walk the right path, abandon bad thoughts and turn to scripture and spirituality”.&nbsp;
Afterward, the attendees gather to discuss politics and current affairs. Inmates at his daily sermons at the prison include other high-profile detainees, including former MP Ichchha Raj Tamang, who is in jail for money laundering and cooperatives fraud, former joint secretary Chudamani Sharma, who was convicted of corruption, as well as NC leader Chandra Bahadur Lama and Krishna Bahadur Upreti of the UML both of whom are on trial for embezzling billions of rupees.
Victims of the cooperatives scam that former lawmaker Tamang was involved in have made trips to the prison and requested visits, but he has refused to meet with any of them.
“Tamang often complains that the state has prevented him from returning the money to the victims by locking him up,” says a police officer at the Dili Bazar jail.
“All you hear every day from the VIP prisoners is that they have been framed,” adds the officer. “No one admits that they were involved in misdeeds.”
But while most high-profile prisoners complain about prison conditions, one exception is former provincial lawmaker Deepak Manange, who is serving a sentence at Dilli Bazar Jail for attempted murder.
“He is the happiest prisoner here,” says a warden. “Unlike the others, he doesn’t claim to have been framed, in fact he doesn’t seem to care that he is in prison.”
Manange is detained in the ‘Kha (ख)’ block of the prison complex, which he renovated at his own expense. The block previously housed female prisoners, but Manange used his influence to transfer them elsewhere. He faces no shortage of visitors, who range from political leaders to people from the underworld.
Along with Manange, other well-known prisoners in this block include Nepal Telecom Managing Director Sunil Poudel, and former executive director of the Surakshan Printing Centre Bikal Poudel, who are serving time for corruption.
Former prisoners at Dilli Bazar prison include ex-ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka and Shyam Sundar Gupta, NC leader Ganesh Lama, Maoist MP Balkrishna Dhungel, Nagarik Unmukti Party leader Resham Chaudhary, as well as former IGs Ramesh Chand Thakuri, Om Bikram Rana, and Hem Bahadur Gurung.
Section 54 of Nepal’s Prison Act assigns each prison’s internal administration the
responsibility of governing its prisoners, which means the more favourable the jail management is, the more comfortable it is for prisoners.
Dilli Bazar prison has been the prison of choice for many high-ranking prisoners, especially those convicted of white collar crimes, due to its more accommodating administrators. The prison, which has the capacity to house 700 inmates, is also less crowded than other jails.
Anuj Bhattarai, spokesperson of the Department of Prison Management, says that there is no legal classification in Nepal for felons to be assigned prisons based on the nature of their crimes.
“That Dilli Bazar Jail has a higher number of prisoners convicted of crimes like corruption is most likely a coincidence,” says Bhattarai. “There is no provision for influential people to be able to choose where they will be incarcerated.”&nbsp;
Translated by Shristi Karki from the Nepali original published in himalkhabar.com

What Nepal’s VIP prisoners do in jail

If you were raised in Nepal, you must have picked up its unique set of vocabulary: आन्दोलन, चक्का जाम, बन्द, राँके जुलुस, आफ्नो मान्छे, हाम्रो दल, कर्फु and many more words connoting political protest.
We became familiar with the acrid smell of burning tyres, and eyes smarting from tear gas. And yet, everyone speaks of another revolution in the making. Not by desire, but by suffocation.
We heard speeches about नयाँ नेपाल, but the New Nepal never arrived. The governance system changed, but it did not reflect on people’s lives — except for those close to centres of power. The state is still unreachable and is not bothered about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/matter-of-life-and-debt">victims of loan sharks</a>, cooperative scams and other injustices.
Politicians continue to speak in sound bites, but fail to deliver. They have mastered the game of pointing fingers towards an external enemy and convincing people that they are never at fault. The political narrative is so disconnected from the actual analysis of the problem that suffocation doesn’t go away after every revolution.
No genuine effort has been made to deliver at all, which is why there is a palpable sense of disillusionment in the air forcing us to seek another revolution, even if Nepal may not be able to afford it.
How has the current system successfully held power, even if the public is deeply frustrated? How is it that for three decades we continue to be led by the same faces, who have time and again, proved to us that they may be great politicians but not national leaders?
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/improving-internet-governance-in-nepal">My experience at the epicentre of politics</a> has led me to identify three cultures that have enabled political parties to keep a tight hold on power: acceptance, silence and dependency.
We accept things the way they are. We use fatalistic phrases like “नेपालमा यस्तै हो” or “नेपालको कानुन दैब जानुन”. While this resilience enables us to rise back up from devastating calamities, it is also a reason for our compliance with the status quo.
Despite so many ‘revolutions’ that have led to significant reforms, these phrases keep getting reinforced, to the point that the upcoming generations have made it their lingo.&nbsp;
This acceptance is not a symbol of law-abiding citizens, but citizens living in fear of those in power, unable to ask the whys and why-nots.
Innovation suffocates in this culture of acceptance of the status quo. This is manifested in remarks like “but we don’t have any laws for this,” or “we don’t have the capacity to implement this”. An innovator or entrepreneur therefore has to spend that energy to become a political lobbyist, often educating and convincing the bureaucracy.&nbsp;
Remember when locally assembled <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/designed-and-made-in-nepal">Yatri motorbikes</a>, despite having willing customers, had to suffer to secure license numbers because of a lack of regulations? Instead of creating new laws, the government kept chanting the “We will promote Nepal-made goods” mantra, leaving entrepreneurs in a labyrinth of bureaucracy. The weight of acceptance of the law lies heavily on innovators. Fatalism is a tactic used by those in power to generate mass fear in society.
When we accept, we become silent. This is a pervasive phenomenon. We are trained to keep quiet, lest we ruffle feathers, burn bridges, or not get the help we need in future. We know, yet we don’t speak.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/bureaucratic-hurdles-in-researching-nepals-bureaucracy">Bureaucratic hurdles in researching Nepal's bureaucracy</a>, Daniel W Edwards
Here is one example: the 2021 census shows that the number of baby boys born for every 100 baby girls is 112. This is a clear indication of female foeticide because of boy preference in society.
Despite such horrifying realities, there is finger-pointing within the government between the Ministry of Health and Population with the Ministry of Home Affairs. At the citizen level, we know those who are involved in killing girls. Yet, we don’t speak up. The Nepal Medical Council reports state that despite this gender imbalance at birth, there is no indication of any action.
But why would anyone speak against one's own fraternity, no matter how vile the act is?
When we accept and keep quiet, we become dependent on those who yield power. From getting our government procedure completed on time to getting transfers, to accessing any of our legally protected rights as well, we are forced to depend on our networks of चिनेको मान्छे people we know by blood, village, relations, political affiliation.
The culture of dependency has been the established way in Nepal. If you drive a two-wheeler or four-wheeler, and you get into a small accident, you will be asked to sort it yourself, dialing up the most powerful person you know. It becomes a competition of who knows who.
Recently I was told that there were calls from the Ministry of Health and Population and another from the Prime Minister's Office for just one medical position in a private hospital. Each was pushing its own candidate. Guess which candidate got the position.&nbsp;
The dependency of people is not on the laws or the state, it is with people in power, a reliance on the network of somebody who knows somebody, including those not officially in power.
These cultures are deeply ingrained in our heads, and in society. Collectively they form a vicious circle that helps those in power to retain power. This is not the society we want to live in.
Then, what do we do as a collective to break away from this? How do we break away from the cultures of acceptance and silence that have created this dependency? What can we do to ensure that our children do not have to learn the jargon of आन्दोलन before they learn about the state?
These are the cultures political parties need to shed rather than use them to perpetuate their power. This is what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/an-alternative-to-alternative-politics-in-nepal">alternative politics</a> needs to be about.
Sumana Shrestha is a member of Parliament’s Education, Health and Information Technology parliamentary committee and represents the Rastriya Swatantara Party.

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