<figure><img width="807" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141140/636bae2f9c7e80680e077fdbjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHHETRI</figcaption></figure>Politically and geopolitically, it is a bit chaotic in Nepal these days. This is the result of an internal power struggle among the political parties overlaid by a clash of civilisations between the East and West with Nepal caught squarely in the middle.In case of the latter we are being coerced to take sides. This is proving to be difficult since half the country wants to look East (China) to offset the existing Indian dominance, and obtain added economic assistance, if possible, while the other half remains comfortable with the West plus a Hindu-dominated India. On the internal power struggle, in order to survive, Prime Minister K P Oli is throwing everything at everyone (including the kitchen sink) with some surprising outcomes. He has just <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/you-stab-my-back-i-stab-yours/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/you-stab-my-back-i-stab-yours/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595481454982000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFK1LnEtEvykuCPVZDQzEcLmdqCxQ">turned the table</a> on his main rival in the Nepal Communist Party, co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, with a back-room deal that has left all other opponents red faced.On the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/time-for-some-table-talk/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/time-for-some-table-talk/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595481454982000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG56y1Aj--R_heMDjPm4vPcfvljng">Lipu Lekh dispute with India</a>, Oli made himself the greatest Nepali nationalist ever to be born (exaggeration intended). Sarita Giri, the lone voice of reason, noticed that the emperor might be naked after all, but the 258 lawmakers who voted in favour of the new map found the emperor fully clothed. This is clearly a nation of political opportunism. Few sought to understand that the East India Company that signed the Sugauli Treaty in 1816 represented neither the then British Government nor did it represent post-independence India. There are legal issues of adverse possession, control of territory, population and exercise of sovereignty etc that mark nationhood that received zero intellectual rigour.Even as the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/politics-and-history-of-nepals-kalapani-claim/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/politics-and-history-of-nepals-kalapani-claim/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595481454982000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGUloAJCQbM6u676jBfnR-nFQWo_w">Lipu Lekh matter remains unresolved</a>, the claim by Prime Minister Oli last week that Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram is located in Nepal has further added to his 'nationalist' stature. The banning of the Indian news  channels was yet another feather in the prime minister’s Nepali cap. Neither of the claims or actions may have any merit, but the truth is often irrelevant in the rhetoric of national populism. There have, however, emerged opportunities and risks as a result of these developments whether deliberate or purely coincidental. It is important to manage them properly to ensure our survival as a nation. Firstly, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/eminently-beneficial-for-india-and-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/eminently-beneficial-for-india-and-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595481454982000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH0xHFJKwjXv00XBOYputUpuARLlA">India has got the message</a> that Nepal cannot be taken for granted. This opens the possibility of future negotiations on a more equal footing. The risk is that India gets offended (as it often does) and tries to further destabilise Nepal through its proxies that are omnipresent in the Nepali polity. Secondly, China for the first time has started taking overt interest in Nepal’s internal affairs. The opportunity here is to develop much closer economic relationship with China to offset lopsided 80% trade dependence on India.The risk here is that both <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-yam-between-3-boulders/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-yam-between-3-boulders/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595481454983000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF0YD_MNMsdrHDXylxceP9Zwadldw">China and India (with its ally the US</a>) will now seek to influence the outcome of Nepali politics in their own favor, and Nepal will become the battleground for influence for the two giant neighbours, or the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-now-has-to-balance-not-just-india-and-china-but-also-the-west/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-now-has-to-balance-not-just-india-and-china-but-also-the-west/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595481454983000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEvUm3q0v6f5c0AU1jj08ZcWjDaUA">East vs West for that matter.</a> Nepal could encounter severe consequences down the road and this seems almost inevitable. It is up to us to manage the outcome by flying straight and level through these turbulent times. The consolation is that nothing can be worse than what we presently have.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-now-has-to-balance-not-just-india-and-china-but-also-the-west/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-now-has-to-balance-not-just-india-and-china-but-also-the-west/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1595481454983000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEvUm3q0v6f5c0AU1jj08ZcWjDaUA">Bhairaja Panday </a>is a former senior UN official and he is currently Managing Director of Invest Nepal Pvt Ltd.

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Nepal in political and geopolitical jam

<figure><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad5b9c7e80680e077f8cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>No one knows for sure how many Nepali workers are in India at any given time, but an estimated 600,000 came back because of the COVID-19 crisis. Photos: SURENDRA PHUYAL</figcaption></figure>As relations between India and Nepal sour, and made worse by Prime Minister K P Oli’s remark about Ayodhya this week, there are fears about how this will affect millions of Nepali workers in India.Nepalis in India, many of whom were already being taunted after the Lipu Lekh row flared up in May, say that the latest remarks by Nepal’s leader could enrage Indian employers of Nepali migrant workers.“The leaders in Kathmandu don’t have anything to lose, they can say whatever they like. But Nepali workers here like us may face more harassment and abuses in future,” says Balkrishna Pandey who chairs the Nepali Congress-aligned Nepali Janasamparka Samiti and Maiti India.In Nepal’s mainstream discourse, reference to ‘migrant workers’ usually means only those overseas in the Gulf, Malaysia or Korea and ignores the estimated 3 million Nepalis working in India.  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/k-p-oli-rams-it-home/">KP Oli rams it home</a>, EditorialNow, Nepal’s Supreme Court has issued a show cause notice to the government as to why Nepali migrant workers in India should not be offered the same facilities and protection as Nepali workers in other countries, including those returning from overseas after the COVID-19 crisis.  The Nepal government has allowed its citizens to live and work in 170 countries and has bilateral labour agreements with some of them. It has set up the Foreign Employment Welfare Fund to compensate those injured or killed abroad. It also issues foreign employment permits to workers, who can buy insurance worth Rs1.5 million. After many Nepalis lost their jobs due to the pandemic, the government helped get them back by organising repatriation flights.But Nepali workers in India were given no such facilities. Many had to hitchhike back, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/indians-stuck-in-nepal-also-trying-to-get-home/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/indians-stuck-in-nepal-also-trying-to-get-home/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594986509789000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEte1OkHcrh8pRBJWKeGLynJDHfwQ">stopped from entering Nepal</a> for weeks in April-May, and when allowed in, were forced to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-long-journey-to-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-long-journey-to-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594986509789000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFo5G7ipd0ieXDHEHV8uyMJ_Rdcyw">languish in poorly organised quarantine sites</a>.  Advocate Nirmal Upreti, one of the lawyers who lodged the writ petition at the Supreme Court, fears Nepali migrant workers in India could face further stigma and discrimination after Prime Minister Oli’s remarks. He says: “Such political statements could hurt people’s sentiments in India and that could have a bearing on Nepali workers.” Upreti says the Nepal government’s attitude towards Nepali migrant workers toiling in India without adequate social security is a clear violation of the country’s Foreign Employment Law, and goes against their right for safe migration.  “India is a foreign destination just like other countries for Nepali migrant workers,” he says. “But without any legal document or proof of foreign employment, Nepalis working in India continue to be deprived of compensation, insurance and other facilities that Nepalis going to other countries benefit from.”<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-india-connection-in-nepals-covid-19-status/">The India connection in Nepal’s COVID-19 status</a>, Nepali TimesEstimates of Nepali workers in India vary from 2.5-5 million, and most are from western Nepal or the Tarai. They send back much-needed money home to their families, mainly through informal channels.Last year, Nepalis abroad sent home nearly $8.8 billion through official channels. It is unclear how much of that came to Nepal through unofficial ‘hundi’ route, or what proportion of that was from India.Three years ago, the World Bank estimated that Nepalis working in India sent home $1.3 billion, while Indians working in Nepal remitted $1.5 billion, making Nepal the country with the seventh highest remittance for India.   <img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141136/636bad5d9c7e80680e077f8djpeg.jpg" alt="">International Organization of Migration (IOM)’s 2019 report estimates that there are between 3-4 million Nepalis live and working in India at any given time. There are said to be up to 700,000 Indian workers in Nepal.  Migration researcher Ganesh Gurung says that India-Nepal border is open and the movement of workers between the two countries is free, which makes it difficult to find exact numbers.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/one-way-ticket-home-for-overseas-nepali-workers/">One-way ticket home for overseas Nepali workers</a>, Upasana Khadka“We have a lot of seasonal migrant workers crossing the Indo-Nepal border,” he explains, “many Nepalis from the Tarai go to Haryana and Punjab during harvest seasons, and a lot of Indian workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh come to Nepal, too.”Whatever the numbers, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-and-india-stop-nationals-in-each-others-countries/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-and-india-stop-nationals-in-each-others-countries/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594986509789000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEFL0aDy_xMgViVjZgOeAUTs-KWig">most Nepali workers in India and Indians in Nepal</a> are unregistered and unprotected, working in the unorganised sector, often under unsafe working conditions, they remain vulnerable to injuries, abuses and exploitation.The Nepali Jana-Samparka Samiti and Maiti India provide support to vulnerable Nepali men, women and children across India. Its chair Balkrishna Pandey migrated to India when he was 17, and has first-hand experience of the hardships.“For the past 30 years we have been raising the issue of poor migrant workers from Nepal needing some kind of registration, protection and safety net in India,” he told us over the phone. “Many Prime Ministers have come and gone in Kathmandu. When they came to India, the leaders assure migrant workers, but once they get to power in Kathmandu, they forget about the Nepalis here.”Pandey estimates that in the past four months of the lockdown, some 600,000 Nepali migrants have come back from India, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-still-stuck-in-no-mans-land/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-still-stuck-in-no-mans-land/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1594986509789000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEAE_cyqGr9KgdoDN1njLukGK9KSg">facing hardships all the way. </a> <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/walking-3-days-to-get-home/">Walking 3 days to get home</a>, Sanjay MishraSuman Ghimire at Nepal’s Ministry of Labor Employment and Social Security says ensuring safe migration to Nepali migrant workers in India is on the government’s radar, and after the lockdown local governments have started registering the arrivals from India in the past months.  “This data collection is an important first step in protecting Nepali migrant workers in India,” he says, “we need to do much more and we are serious about that.”After Narendra Modi came to power in India in 2014, the two governments have made attempts to streamline labour movement in both directions. It was also discussed in the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), which was formed in 2016 to review past bilateral treaties including the India-Nepal Peace and Freindship Treaty of 1950.After many meetings, the EPG completed its final report two years ago, but it has yet to be accepted by the two governments. Experts say the EPG report could provide the necessary foundation to better regulate and protect migration of workers between the two countries.Ganesh Gurung welcomes the Supreme Court order, and adds: “It’s the poorest of the poor who have been crossing the Indo-Nepal border for seasonal work or employment. They are often at risk. They must be better protected.”However a diplomat at the Nepal Embassy in New Delhi says the two governments must be cautious about regulating the border. The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “If we start issuing foreign employment permits to our workers who have been freely crossing the border for centuries, Indo-Nepal ties would be affected.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-india-nepal-china-geopolitical-tri-junction/">The India-Nepal-China geopolitical tri-junction</a>, Kunda Dixit<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=289#.Xrd6di8w3BI">India and China sacrifice Nepal</a>, From the Nepali Press

Spat with India may hurt Nepali workers

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63b79c7e80680e059894jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="624" height="718"/>A <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">modified political map of India</a> has created an uproar in Nepal, with street demonstrations and debates in Parliament. Nepalis appear to be genuinely concerned about sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country, and have  accused politicians of not defending the national interest.The politicians themselves have been making statements – some stronger than others – to take up the matter with New Delhi. The Kalapani issue has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-plays/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">united Nepal’s political parties</a> to a common cause.Read also: <a style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Territorialism</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/power-plays/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Power plays</a>There is also agreement across party lines about the status quo of the boundaries of Nepal as depicted in the 1816 Sugauli Treaty marking the Mahakali River and its source at Limpiyadhura as Nepal’s western border.Nepal’s leaders are well aware that the Indian troops who <a href="https://t.co/XRuz1HmW3Y?amp=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stationed at Kalapani</a> since the 1962 Indo-China war on a temporary basis are still there. The reason this issue has flared up now is because of the new map India released last month after Kashmir was politically reformatted.Nepal shares a 1,808km open border with India, most of it along the southern Tarai plains, and with the eastern and western boundaries stretching northwards across the mountains to tri-junctions with China. Nepal should make a new concerted effort to resolve disputes over Kalapani-Limpiyadhura, as well as along Susta, Narayani and the Mechi riverine borders.Nepal’s politicians should urgently take up these disputes with the Indian government through high-level political and diplomatic channels. There should also be set up a team comprising of technical and legal experts who are well-versed in laws regarding international boundaries. The Nepal government should seriously propose a timeline to conclude these border dispute talks, and it should look for outside help only if bilateral negotiations prove indecisive and unnecessarily protracted.One such is the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is an un-biased organisation that gives judgments based on historical facts which can be derived from maps, treaties, documents and memorandums of understanding between two governments.Boundary maintenance and restoration play an important role in conflict prevention contribute to long-term boundary stability. The Government of Nepal, therefore, should establish well-funded national and international boundary commissions  to solve pending post-federalism issues.It is important to establish map libraries and archives of treaties, historical documents, individual and mutual maps of treaties, aerial photographs, satellite imagery, articles by border experts (geodesists, cartographers, mapping experts and geographers), politicians and lawyers so that they can be studied before we send in delegations at the international and national levels for negotiations of international or state boundaries.A case study of <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/cameroon-nigeria-border-dispute" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Nigeria-Cameroon boundary dispute</a> in which this correspondent was involved has some lessons for the Nepal-India border issue as well. Nigeria and Cameroon share a 1,950km border (960 km on land and 990km of river boundary) starting from Lake Chad in the north to the Bight of Biafra in the east of the Gulf of Guinea.The two countries nearly went to war over the dispute, but are now engaged in the peaceful implementation of a 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) Judgment regarding the land and maritime boundaries, and established a Mixed Commission which holds regular meetings in each other’s capitals under the auspices of the United Nations to implement the agreement. So far, the Mixed Commission has agreed on a timetable for the withdrawal of forces, the transfer of authority, the cost of demarcation .<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2006/afr1397.doc.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">An agreement signed in 2006</a> in New York by presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria, the UN Secretary General and representatives of five witness countries (France, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States) led to the return of 80% of the peninsula to Cameroon with full withdrawal of Nigerian troops. The remaining 20% was handed over to Cameroon in June 2010. All four sections of the ruling on Lake Chad, the land boundary, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakassi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bakassi peninsula</a> and maritime boundar, have now been implemented peacefully.Alongside these more high profile legal and political issues, the process of demarcating the land boundary has continued with the Mixed Commission establishing a Sub-Commission on Demarcation with experts from the UN, Cameroon and Nigeria. More than 130 preliminary map sheets of 1:50,000 scale were prepared from partially rectified SPOT5 satellite imagery by the United Nations Cartographic section based in New York.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151112/636a63b99c7e80680e059895jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="219" height="267">The <a href="https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NJG/article/view/16973" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nigeria-Cameroon border agreement</a> shows that if there is political will, even the most protracted and bitter border disputes can be peacefully resolved.Prabhakar Sharma is a Nepali expert on international boundaries, and worked as a survey engineer for the Cameroon-Nigeria border demarcation by the United Nations.

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There is precedent to settling Kalapani

With Saturday's deadline on Malaysia’s announcement of new criteria for selecting private recruiting agencies for migrant workers having lapsed, Nepal and Bangladesh have rejected the conditions.
The Malaysian move three weeks ago came in the aftermath of deadly GenZ riots in September, when Nepal’s interim government does not have designated heads in the Foreign Ministry and the Labour Ministry.
Interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki instructed the Labour Ministry to examine the implications of the standards and recommend appropriate steps to address them, but it has said it cannot send Nepali workers to Malaysia based on those criteria.
“In line with Nepal’s foreign employment policy and regulations, we are currently unable to accept or implement the proposed criteria,” says Pitambar Ghimire, spokesperson at the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security in Kathmandu.
In response to the government’s request for their opinion on the Malaysian stipulation, the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies (NAFEA) has also flatly rejected the criteria, saying it could create a harmful syndicate and restrict fair competition, violate Nepal’s Constitution and laws, and increase recruitment fees that workers must pay.
On 25 October, the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent letters to the governments of Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, Pakistan and India with 10 criteria meant to ‘rationalise the number of licensed private recruitment agencies permitted to facilitate recruitment and placement of workers to Malaysia’.
The proposed criteria include: at least five years of operating experience, deployment of 3,000 workers in the past three years of operation, experience sending workers to at least three countries, valid licenses and good conduct certificates, five employer testimonials, operating their own training and accommodation centres, and even a requirement for the staffing agency to have a 10,000 sq m office maintained for three years.
“We have communicated our views to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and have proposed discussing various labour related matters with our Malaysian counterparts diplomatically through bilateral dialogue and negotiations including renewal of the Nepal-Malaysia labour agreement,” Pitamber Ghimire said.
NAFEA has urged the government to prevent this measure from moving forward using diplomatic channels, and has held &nbsp;several gatherings and press conferences opposing the proposal since the Malaysian letter was received three weeks ago.
“We have taken commitment letters from members that they will not be engaged in activities related to the syndicate,” said Sujit Shrestha of NAFEA. “And if they break the commitment, they will face consequences including the revocation of their NAFEA membership. These letters also send a strong message to the government that this is irrevocably and collectively rejected by the industry.”
Bangladesh has also not accepted the proposal despite the 15 November deadline to send a list of recruiters that meet the criteria. That in itself would have been an impossible task to complete to begin with even if the government had accepted the proposal.&nbsp;
According to media reports, Bangladesh has sent a letter to the Malaysian government requesting that three of the proposed criteria be relaxed. This includes flexibility regarding the requirements for a 10,000 sq ft office, a dedicated training center, and the condition of having deployed 3,000 workers in the last five years. Despite the official request to Malaysian authorities, the Bangladeshi Government has also been collecting applications from recruiters who meet Malaysia’s proposed criteria, raising confusions about the contradictory stance.&nbsp;
Just like NAFEA, the recruitment association in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) has also outright rejected the proposal including in a letter to the Bangladeshi government, calling the criteria ‘unprecedented and exclusionary, unreasonable, discriminatory and syndicate-driven &nbsp;that would effectively disqualify 99% of legitimate agencies from participation’.&nbsp;
Now that the ball is back in Malaysia’s court and the proposal has not gained much support from two of the major origin countries, it will be interesting to see how they respond.

Nepal, Bangladesh reject Malaysian conditions

Nepal’s September protests and regime change created two major unexpected costs that Prime Minister Sushila Karki’s interim government is scrambling to deal with: reconstruction of destroyed government buildings, and holding elections on 5 March.
The buck stops at the desk of economist and former bureaucrat Minister of Finance Rameshore Khanal about where and how to spend limited resources.
“Rameshore-ji is a fresh face and the right person for the role. He is capable and interested, and he knows the system,” says Kalpana Khanal of the Policy Research Institute (PRI).
But Minister Khanal has to grapple not just with the immediate budgeting needs for elections and reconstruction, but also initiate longer term measures to restore investor confidence badly dented by arson and vandalism of 9 September, and mend the economy.
Immediately after taking office, he had set up a three-member task force to cut programs and free up budget to meet immediate expenses.
“We have to hold elections and we have to reconstruct. Both need money, and they are equal priorities for us,” said Ministry of Finance spokesperson Tanka Prasad Pandey. “It is important to find these funds internally, and not look to aid from abroad.”
But Minister Khanal flew into heavy flak last week for his decision to restore investor confidence by giving a strategic capital gains tax break to Nepal’s only foreign private equity fund.
The Mauritius-based Dolma Impact Fund has invested venture capital into Nepal’s hydropower, construction and biotech sectors as well as solar farms and hospitals. It said in a statement that its capital gains are only taxable in Mauritius as per its double-taxation avoidance agreement with Nepal, which predates and overrides the Income Tax Act of 2002 subsequent to the Treaty Act 1990.
“When you have investors from all over the world, you have to choose a domicile and Mauritius is probably the most popular for development finance institutions due to strong governance, AML, and treaties with developing countries like Nepal,” Tim Dolma Investment told Nepali Times on the phone from London.
He added: “Last June we applied for the government to uphold its treaty with Mauritius which under all country laws including Nepal treaty act supersedes any disagreement with domestic laws. But there were delays. It was when the new government decided to uphold the treaty that the whole hoo-hah started.”
Leaks to the media possibly by bureaucrats fearful of being hauled over the coals by the CIAA has set financial circles abuzz for the past week. The Internal Revenue Office refused to grant the exemption, citing the 2002 Act.
Prime Minister Sushila Karki asked Chief Secretary Eaknarayan Aryal for clarification, and learnt that the Cabinet’s decision was not official since it was not recorded in the minutes.
“We were raising a fund that could have brought $1 billion in for energy and we had to stop it due to the reputational damage to Nepal by not upholding an international treaty,” said Gocher.
Gocher added: “Under Nepal’s Treaty Act, if there is ever disagreement between an international treaty and domestic law, then international treaty takes precedence so it is crystal clear and the way international treaties are dealt with all over the world.”
Some experts worry that gifting the fund such perks can set a dangerous precedent and a loss in tax revenue. Professor and economist Pushkar Bajracharya says: “The most important thing is to have a consistent policy about tax cuts and not do it piece-by-piece. Besides, the evidence just isn’t strong that tax cuts lead to higher investment, or more jobs.”
Others hark back to the capital gains dispute of the sale of Ncell ownership, which went to the Supreme Court and all the way to the international tribunal in The Hague.
Khanal has said privately that he is responding to the damage to Nepal’s investment climate from the dramatic visuals beamed worldwide of an international hotel chain and government buildings set ablaze in September. Western embassies are also said to be lobbying to allow Dolma tax exemption and smooth profit repatriation.
There are tradeoffs. Private equity funds like Dolma could funnel foreign funds more efficiently towards successful Nepali companies than the government, which is slowed down by many layers of bureaucracy. The downstream multiplier effect of such investments would outweigh taxes to the government since much of it is misused and wasted.
For example, the government is not taxing income in FY 25/26 generated by the US-funded $697 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) projects to build transmission lines and upgrade highways.
Strategic tax exemptions do provide incentives to investors, to make sure these projects are carried out effectively, which in turn helps Nepal’s development which has been affected by corruption and mismanagement.
The main demand of the GenZ protests that led to the downfall of the government coalition two months ago was to control corruption and make government more efficient so there is investment and job creation. The interim government seems to be responding to that sentiment.
The Dolma issue has distracted from the larger and longer-term need to reform the country’s financial systems and streamline public expenditure. How to reduce corruption and spur development is going to be the main agenda for elections, and the criteria by which voters will select candidates and parties.
TASKED FORCE
Shortly after Rameshore Khanal was appointed he set up a three member task force made up of the heads of Budget and Program, Foreign Aid, and Revenue Management Divisions. The team sent through the budget culling items DOGE-style — projects deemed ‘inadequately prepared,’ ‘fragmented,’ or ‘included through political pressure.’
Khanal hoped to save up to Rs100 billion by cutting all projects less than Rs30 million. However, such a slash and burn method would hurt rural and remote area projects for health and education more, and much bigger corruption-ridden infrastructure projects would be unscathed.&nbsp;
Says Bajracharya, “There are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of low-return programs in the budget that are there because of political or personal influence. But the criteria for cutting them needs to be properly defined. Doing it arbitrarily is unacceptable.”&nbsp;
Kalpana Khanal of the Policy Research Institute was involved in the taskforce, and explains: “The decision to mobilise internal funds is a pragmatic move to fund elections and reconstruction.”
However, she also singles out the massively-funded Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport as being particularly problematic: “Time and cost overruns are historically the norm, and many are ‘vote bank’ projects that are politically motivated rather than done for return on investment.”
For example, politicians use their influence to build roads to their home districts to secure popularity even if the funds would have been better spent elsewhere.
“Another problem is the amount of funds that are transferred randomly for things that outside the budget,” continues Khanal.
Bajracharya adds, “While reconstruction and elections are big financial commitments, Nepal could easily find the funds. Cancelling low impact programs is a good move by the ministry of finance, and another option could have been to raise customs or taxes by a few percent. The main problem is that a huge amount of funds are lost to corruption.”
Kalpana Khanal and Dilli Raj Khanal co-authored a technical report last year titled Improving Public Expenditure System in Nepal: Critical Areas of Reform which did a forensic examination of such wasteful projects.
The conclusion: recommendation to have stricter accountability measures in place to check the actual use of funds and merit-based appointments in the National Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance, and the CIAA.
The technocrats in Prime Minister Karki’s cabinet resonate with the latter point. Nepal is so entrenched in the ‘afno manche’ culture of nepotism and connections that it has become the norm.
The report also refers to the well-known off-budget ‘re-allocations’ of big outlays during the seventh and first months of the fiscal year that undermine in-built check and balance. Almost a quarter of the budget is spent in the last month, which results in low quality and low impact work.
The authors call for reward and punishment systems to prevent these practices. The CIAA could also be supercharged to build transparency into the digital Line Ministry Budget Information System, instead of being an agency for political vendetta.

Nepal needs to use its money better

At the opening plenary of COP30, which stands for the convolutedly named 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Belém on Tuesday, Nepal brought up the threats to the Himalayan watershed. Nepal’s delegate Rajendra Prasad Mishra, Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also spoke on behalf of Bhutan and Bangladesh after the three countries formally called for tripling grant-based adaptation financing from 2015 levels to at least $120 billion per year by 2030, and to ensure a more simplified, scaled-up access to finance their National Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts. “Bhutan has already graduated from Least Developed Country (LDC) status, while Bangladesh and Nepal are in the process of graduation,” said Mishra. “Graduation reflects development progress, but does not reduce our climate vulnerability nor the scale of support required to safeguard development gains.” The Loss &amp; Damage Fund is also finally coming into effect, so countries can now apply for $5-20 million to make up for damage from climate impact. But claiming damage and linking disasters to climate breakdown has not been an easy process. “When a 200MW hydropower plant is destroyed by a glacial flood, it is a big loss for Nepal’s GDP. Every megawatt costs us $20 million to build,” says energy entrepreneur Kushal Gurung. “Our lobbying should be top-notch, and hydropower can make a good case for us.” Belém marks the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement that brought the world together to pledge to keep global average temperature to ‘well below’ 2°C above pre-industrial levels and limit it to 1.5°C.&nbsp; COP has also returned to Brazil after 30 years of the Rio Conference in 1995. Since then there have been numerous summits, which have been criticised for being just hot air and being hosted by fossil-fuel exporting countries like UAE and Uzbekistan. Belém was selected because it is a gateway to the Amazon, but Brazil has now also become a major oil producer after new offshore finds. A recent report shows that compared to 2019, the world is set to reduce its emissions by 12% in 2035 if countries are to implement their Nationally Determined Contributions even though the figure needs to go up to 40% to meet temperature targets. There has been progress. Before the Paris Agreement the world was on a path for 4°C increase during this century, and this has now come down to 2.5°C because of the clean energy transition. But a lot more needs to be done to meet the Paris 1.5°C target. “This progress is proof that multilateralism is working, it is delivering,” Manjeet Dhakal of the Climate Analytics South Asia told us from Belém. “Having said that, it is simply not enough. Emissions need to go down much further, and a lot of it is tied to developed countries providing climate finance to do so.” Many developing countries have adopted ‘conditional NDCs’ which means their emission reduction targets cannot be met without international climate finance. In its third NDC, Nepal set a target of a 17.1% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions and 26.8% by 2035. But achieving that has a price tag of &nbsp;$73.74 billion, with much of it from international climate finance. UNDERFINANCED However, the climate for climate finance is getting worse. The United States has exited from the Paris Agreement for the second time under President Trump, and there are cutbacks in foreign aid by European funders. Even so, the EU has committed to reducing its emissions by 90% in the next 15 years, 85% of which will be domestic emission cuts. The silver lining in all this is that the leadership in climate action is increasingly being taken by Nepal’s neighbours China and India with both investing heavily in renewable energy. China is the world leader in solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicles, and Nepal has already taken strategic advantage of this.&nbsp; With expensive hydropower plants increasingly at risk from glacial lake outburst floods, experts say Nepal must diversify its energy mix and invest in solar power which has 10 times more potential than hydropower at 432 gigawatts with over 300 days of sunshine a year. Solar farms can also power pump storage, which are cheaper and quicker to build.&nbsp; China has drastically reduced the cost of photovoltaic cells, making such schemes more feasible. Nepal just needs to ease up its restrictive domestic energy policies, boost investment and resist geopolitical pressure on electricity generation. “First, we need to increase the cap on solar energy from 10% to 30%, and next, the bidding process should be made easier, or just have the first past the post system like that for hydropower,” says Kushal Gurung. The disadvantage of solar power is that it generates only daytime energy, but this can be solved with grid-scale battery storage or pump storage. But first, the government needs to fix the rate for solar purchase so that entrepreneurs are incentivised. “This is not happening because our government officials and engineers are comfortable dealing with hydropower, and are not just updated about the latest advances,” says Gurung. “As a result, we have no clear policies when it comes to solar.” Hydropower has become one of the biggest industries in Nepal with an installed capacity of over 3,400MW and the government’s target is to produce 28,500MW in the next ten years. But the recent climate disasters have made it clear that relying only on hydropower alone is too risky. The Nepal-Tibet glacial flood in July destroyed and damaged four hydropower plants and substations along the Bhote Kosi, and last September’s floods slashed the country’s total generation by half. Nepal now needs to build on the widespread adoption of battery-powered vehicles by extending it to electric public transport and for household appliances like stoves, rice cookers and refrigerators. Not only would this reduce Nepal’s per capita carbon footprint, but it would also reduce the country’s annual Rs300 billion petroleum import bill. At global platforms like UNFCCC, it is easy even for individual developed countries to get lost without an alliance. Now that Nepal is graduating from LDC status, it needs to have strong partners with a common goal to move forward in international negotiations. Says Kushal Gurung: “We won’t have privilege that came with LDC status anymore, which means climate finance will be even more limited. But there are a few things we can urgently do on our own like regulating the carbon credit market.”&nbsp; This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251118101116_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251118101116_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="Nepali Times SDG"> </figure>

Global warning bell in Belém

As people move out of Nepal’s trans-Himalayan districts, their faiths migrate with them to the cities and all over the world. The ancient animist faith of Bon Po predates the advent of Buddhism in Tibet, and its last remaining priests and devotees are found in villages like Lubra in Mustang and Samling in Dolpo. But as those villages empty out, Bon centres can now be found as far afield as Kathmandu, New York and Tokyo. The first Triten Norbutse Monastery was founded in Tibet in the 14th century by the Bon Master Shen Nyima Gyaltsen. Its monastery in Nepal is below the forested hills of Ichangu on the western outskirts of Kathmandu.&nbsp; Many are surprised to hear that there is a Bon centre in Kathmandu, and that it is located so close to Swayambhu. This Triten monastery was established by Yongzin Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche only 40 years ago to cater to adherents of the faith who lived in the capital. True to its reverence for nature, the shrine is verdant, with plants and flowers amidst a contrasting backdrop of Kathmandu’s ugly urban sprawl below. The monastery practices Bon culture and passes on teachings to students as well, who after completing 15 years of study graduate to become ‘Gese’.&nbsp; It is believed that Bon Po was brought to Nepal from Tibet by Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche. Over the centuries, Bon and Buddhism have become syncretic in Dolpo and Mustang, despite the differences in their belief systems. Followers worship nature and consider the human body, speech and mind as jewels. The human body is said to be composed of five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and the cosmos.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251113111148_ce5d50db6757c4f5a7259c10d2879ee5f5b7b990e987bf3734378ba464afc9d5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251113111148_ce5d50db6757c4f5a7259c10d2879ee5f5b7b990e987bf3734378ba464afc9d5" data-rendition-name="original" width="5712" height="4284" loading="lazy" alt="The Bon Po way of life NT"> </figure>  The Bon faith was much more widespread during the reigns of Nyathi Chenpo, the first king of Tibet to Namri Srongchen, the 32nd king. But it was after King Srongchen Gompo that Buddhism started making inroads on the plateau, and spread also in the Himalayan rimlands. There are also Bon followers in Humla, Jumla, Baglung, Mugu, Kaski and Chitwan, as well as in the United States and 50 other countries, indicating the movement of people within Nepal and outside.&nbsp; The Bon religion believes in reincarnation and that everything, including positive and negative thoughts are a result of past life karma. Buddhism focuses more on attaining Nirvana, a state of no suffering, where the subject is released from all his/her karmas. Bon has also inducted some Tantric practices and rituals, some of which are in parts similar, yet still different from Buddhism.&nbsp; “In Buddhist culture, circumambulation of shrines is clockwise, but in Bon culture, circumambulation is in an anticlockwise direction,” explains Chhiring Lama of Triten Norbutse Monastery. “The main Bon mantra is Om Ma Tri Mu Ye Sa Le Du, while followers of Buddhism chant Om Mani Padme Hum. Buddhism emphasises enlightenment by meditation and moral behaviour, while Bon beliefs centre on nature and ancestor worship, and placating the spirits. In religious texts, it is mentioned that there were 1,008 Buddhas throughout time. Tonpa Shenrab is believed to be the 8th Buddha, and Bon practitioners are guided by his teachings contained in 140 sacred writings known as Kangyur and 300 more scriptures known as Katen.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251113111152_9813ce72805941af4b3bfb3c80c7e45ffc8aca4f2612eb967e84204f3a28bc07.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251113111152_9813ce72805941af4b3bfb3c80c7e45ffc8aca4f2612eb967e84204f3a28bc07" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="The Bon Po way of life NT"> </figure>  “We worship nature and its elements and the prayer flags contain religious texts and when the wind blows through it we consider it a prayer,” says Chhiring Lama. “We also worship ponds for the water and consider fire as a sacred element as well. We also consider snakes sacred, therefore worship ponds, considering them as the place of residence.” The interdependence between human beings and nature is clearly depicted through such traditions and practices which carry relevance today as the planet faces the crisis of climate breakdown.&nbsp; Important gods worshiped include Satrig Ersang, Shenlha Okar, Sangpo Bumtri, and Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche. But what is similar to Buddhism is an offering known as ‘torma’, a cone shaped ritual offering made from flour dough. Many Bon faithful are vegetarian, or abstain from meat during festivals.&nbsp; Over time, the rise of Buddhism in Tibet and beyond overshadowed Bon, pushing many of its practices to the margins. Yet, the tradition continues to live on, carried by those who see in it a deep connection to nature, the spirit world, and the roots of Tibetan culture.&nbsp; In many ways, the endurance of Bon is a reminder that even the quietest faiths hold timeless truths, waiting to be remembered and valued. Followers of Bon today are far fewer, and the knowledge about its traditions is not as widespread.&nbsp; “As time goes on, people adopt rituals and cultures that are more convenient to their daily lives,” says Chhiring Lama. “But that means forgetting or leaving behind one’s indigenous and ancestral roots.”