Last year, 775,000 Nepalis left for employment abroad, and another 100,000 students flew out to study overseas. Nearly a million young Nepalis left in 2021-22, and that figure does not even include those who went to India.&nbsp; This is the largest mass exodus of young Nepalis in the country’s history. No country can sustain such a sustained haemorrhage.&nbsp; There are few Nepalis left in villages, and those in cities seem to be mostly waiting for documents to leave. Every day, 3,000 Nepalis leave on student visas from Kathmandu airport. The 2021 census put the country’s absentee population at 2.1 million, and that appears to be a gross underestimate. “The youth are not keen to stay at home, and their parents do not want them to stay here either,” says sociologist Ganesh Gurung. “It seems as if the entire nation is on the move.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/migration-not-a-wish-but-necessity-for-nepalis">Migration not a wish, but necessity for Nepalis</a>, Shristi Karki <div class="embed-block"><iframe src='https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/14955345/embed' title='Interactive or visual content' class='flourish-embed-iframe' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' style='width:100%;height:600px;' sandbox='allow-same-origin allow-forms allow-scripts allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation'></iframe><div style='width:100%!;margin-top:4px!important;text-align:right!important;'><a class='flourish-credit' href='https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/14955345/?utm_source=embed&utm_campaign=visualisation/14955345' target='_top' style='text-decoration:none!important'><img alt='Made with Flourish' src='https://public.flourish.studio/resources/made_with_flourish.svg' style='width:105px!important;height:16px!important;border:none!important;margin:0!important;'> </a></div></div> An increasing number of Nepalis are leaving to study while working: primarily in Australia, Japan, Europe, and North America. Those who leave face bureaucratic hassles trying to get no-objection certificates, and when they come back they get the run around trying to obtain an equivalency for foreign degrees so they can work here. Last month, six young Nepalis from Rasuwa left their studies, jobs, and businesses to seek employment in Croatia. “With luck, I can get a PR (Permanent Residency) in some other European country, Croatia is just a stepping stone,” said Bhuvan Neupane, one of the six. Elsewhere in Nuwakot’s Bidur village, Binod Poudel is hoping to go abroad and has handed his passport to a foreign employment agent. “All my friends have left Nepal,” he says. “What am I supposed to do here?” Aakriti Timilsina is a high school graduate, and has given up on college in Nepal and is preparing to study in either Canada or Australia by working part-time there. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-hard-working-students-overseas">Nepal’s hard working students overseas</a>, Sonia Awale <div class="embed-block"><iframe title="Studying Abroad " aria-label="Map" id="datawrapper-chart-0JsdR" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0JsdR/4/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="900" height="483" data-external="1"></iframe></div> A recent study by the online platform Studyportals revealed that Nepali students make up 14.3% of international students across the world. Sociologist Dinesh Prasain notes that a lack of employment and meaningful earnings are the primary reasons for the young to leave. Basic items have become unaffordable even in fixed-income households. But there are other push factors as well: peer pressure, falling living standards, and a growing hopelessness that the future will be better because of corruption and political disarray.&nbsp; At the end of the Maoist insurgency in 2006, there was expectation that stability would yield a peace dividend. But Nepali politics remains in the stranglehold of tried, tested and failed leaders. Volatile and populist behaviour of new elected leaders has disappointed many young people, while some parties resort to religion and bigotry.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/inconvenient-truths">Inconvenient truths</a>, Editorial  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230908040920_e0cbd240a58b106e912ff5929f838821076ca23de511298525fc5a6fb19da0d1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230908040920_e0cbd240a58b106e912ff5929f838821076ca23de511298525fc5a6fb19da0d1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1333" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Page 1"> </figure>  Young Nepalis enthusiastically voted for alternative candidates in the 2022 local and federal polls, but mayors Harka Sampang and Balen Shah have been more adept at posting inflammatory comments on social media than actually delivering on election promises. This week Shah made outright threats to burn down Singha Darbar because the car carrying his wife was stopped for speeding. The post got millions of shares and likes before he took it down. Many also took the outburst as a sign that the Kathmandu mayor offers no real hope of reform. A series of corruption scandals from fake refugees, the Baluwatar land scam, gold smuggling and politicians trying to protect each other by transferring police investigators has added to the public disillusionment. “Nepali society has lost faith in politics and the leadership to make things better,” explains sociologist Dinesh Prasain. “Nepali parents &nbsp;would rather their children go somewhere better, and youngsters do not want to remain in what they see as a sinking ship.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/false-equivalence-in-nepal-academia">False equivalence in Nepal academia</a>, Aastha Dahal <div class="embed-block"><iframe title="No-Objection Certificate for students" aria-label="Column Chart" id="datawrapper-chart-c67xC" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/c67xC/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="450" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}(); </script></div> Nepalis are lining up to fight in foreign armies, and even recruited themselves into both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war because of the promise of earnings and citizenship. This movement is helping keep Nepal’s economy afloat. Remittances contributed significantly to lowering Nepal’s poverty rate to below 17%, but over the long-term the cost of losing such a large proportion of the working age population is incalculable.&nbsp; Some 65% of Nepal’s total population is in the 15-64 age group, and Nepal is losing this demographic advantage. The country has only one-and-a-half decades left to take advantage of an active youth workforce. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/in-a-federal-kleptocratic-republic-of-nepal">In a Federal Kleptocratic Republic of Nepal</a>, Shristi Karki <div class="embed-block"> <iframe title="Population by age group" aria-label="Split Bars" id="datawrapper-chart-3L11U" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/3L11U/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="600" height="595" data-external="1"></iframe></div> Sociologist Dinesh Prasain describes the exit of young Nepalis as a moral crisis: “It is a failure of the political leadership. A country without its youth has lost its soul.” Meanwhile, Nepal’s politicians are just mouthing platitudes. Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat last week urged young Nepalis to “change their mindset”, even arguing that Nepali students should be barred from studying abroad. Economist Pushkar Bajracharya says that there has to be a step-by-step strategy to create opportunities for Nepalis at home in order to prevent a brain and brawn drain: “If out-migration continues to grow as this pace, we are not only looking at a socio-economic crisis but also a threat to our sovereignty.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/high-risk-remittance">High-risk remittance</a>, Upasana Khadka

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Push factors driving Nepalis out

Nepalis desperate to make a better living have historically served in foreign armies, but rarely do they fight on opposing sides as is happening in the Russia-Ukraine war. Nepali soldiers who defected to the British side in 1815 during the Anglo-Nepal War did fight against their own country. The history of recruitment into the British and Indian armies is more than two centuries old, and to this day Nepalis serve in the Indian Army which is often engaged in border skirmishes with two friendly neighbours, Pakistan and China. Given the tradition of Gurkha recruitment, it was perhaps natural that Nepalis would find themselves on both sides of the frontlines in eastern Ukraine. For many of the Nepalis studying and working in Ukraine, the country was a stopover in their quest to get to Western Europe. Russia’s invasion in February 2022 offered a chance to do just that, as the borders with Poland and Slovakia were opened for refugees fleeing the war. But some Nepalis remained, and a handful joined the Ukrainian Army as the country mobilised men between 18-60. Within two weeks of the conflict, a video circulated on social media of a Nepali man claiming to be defending against the Russian invasion because Ukraine had given him food, shelter, and work. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-flee-ukraine-as-russians-advance">Nepalis flee Ukraine as Russians advance</a> Another 63-year-old Nepali father also decided to stay to fight because he did not want to leave his conscripted Ukrainian son behind.&nbsp; Kiev created the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine, a military unit of foreign fighters in its reserve forces. Thousands of volunteers from across the world signed up.&nbsp; As the war grinds on with heavy casualties, both armies are short of fighters. In May videos of Nepalis in camouflage fatigues in Russian training camps began to circulate on social media. Other clips of Nepalis in the Russian Army followed, with many in the comment section asking what the salary was like and how they could also enlist.&nbsp; Since then, hundreds of Nepalis based in Russia for study and employment have joined the Russian Army and some have been posted on the Ukraine front. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/trapped-in-ukraine">Trapped in Ukraine</a> Meanwhile, back in Nepal other youngsters are leaving for Russia on student and tourist visas to join the Russian military. Most have no prior combat training.&nbsp; Ramesh, a 30-something health graduate, got married two years ago. Unable to get a job in Nepal, he went to Russia hoping to find better prospects. He learnt Russian and found employment in a factory. But the &nbsp;employers were late with his salary, so he quit and did odd jobs until he discovered he could earn up to Rs400,000 a month by enlisting in the Russian Army. His ancestors had served in the Nepal and Indian armies, but Ramesh had no experience. Still, the salary was too attractive, so he joined up. “My brother has always been too thin, and has broken his right arm twice, and before this had never shown any inclination to be a soldier,” says Ramesh’s sister Sita. <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uKxLKW80MoU" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> Ramesh’s weak build did not seem to matter, and the Russian Army was desperate for fighting men. On 15 May, he signed the contract to serve in the Russian Army. On 7 July, Sita got a message that he was undergoing training in a forest somewhere.&nbsp; Ramesh’s family have not heard from him since, although they heard rumours he was wounded and in hospital. His friend in Russia has also not been able to contact Ramesh either, and only knows that he was taken to the Ukraine front in Bakhmut.&nbsp; Many other Nepali conscripts are said to be in Bakhmut along with other foreigner mercenaries, and some have been able to speak to their families back home.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-crisis-hits-nepal-economy-hard">Ukraine crisis hits Nepal economy hard</a> The relatives say the Nepali soldiers described brutal battles with many dead and injured, and they were warned by Russian commanders not to contact anyone because they were in the ‘Red Zone’. Families of Nepalis in the Russian Army told us they were sent to the frontlines without adequate training, and were only getting one-fourth of the promised salary. Many of them have realised that the realities of war are much different and want to return home. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/ukraines-lessons-for-sandwiched-nations-like-nepal">Ukraine's lessons for sandwiched nations like Nepal</a>, Bhaskar Koirala  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230816030816_e4d3f36681298d158195c2bf8ad88373e48a7b031a10b60ad1e30f69625ee788.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230816030816_e4d3f36681298d158195c2bf8ad88373e48a7b031a10b60ad1e30f69625ee788" data-rendition-name="original" width="1333" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Bakhmut"> <figcaption>The Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after Russian shelling in September 2022. Many Nepalis recruited to the Russian Army this year are said to be on the frontlines in Bakhmut. Photo: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS</figcaption> </figure>  “What we want most is to be able to get in touch with family members over there, and for all Nepalis who joined the Russian military to be brought back safely,” says Ramesh’s sister Sita. “Nepalis must not be allowed to leave to join the Russian army from now.” Some of the Nepalis have been given Russian passports after &nbsp;President Vladimir Putin signed a decree in May to make it easier for foreign citizens who have served one year in the military to obtain naturalised Russian citizenship. &nbsp; “Six out of the eight people I lived with in my hostel joined the Russian Army, and I wanted to join too, but could not because I had to undergo surgery on my hand, ” says a student from Sarlahi who recently returned from Russia.&nbsp; “When I hear my friends on the frontlines weeping on the phone as they describe missiles raining down on them I am glad I did not join them,” he says. Even so, there are hundreds of other young men in Nepal who are attracted by the promise of high salaries to go to Russia or Ukraine to be recruited.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/what-does-defending-europe-mean">What does ‘Defending Europe’ mean?</a>, Slavoj Žižek Young Nepalis have been flying to Moscow on student visas, and those previously based in the Gulf have left for Russia on tourist visas. Russia has relaxed visa procedures to allow foreign fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Congo and other countries to join its military. Foreign recruits were told they would undergo a three-month training before being sent into combat, but reports suggest that many of them, including Nepalis, are being taken directly to the frontlines within a month of signing up.&nbsp; “Everyone is terrified, but there is no way to come back because that would be tantamount to desertion,” says a Nepali student in Russia whose husband joined her in Moscow and eventually enlisted in the Russian Army. He had made &nbsp;several unsuccessful attempts in Nepal to join the Indian and British armies.&nbsp; But now, her husband also wants to quit and go home. “The only way to stop this situation from becoming more serious, is for the Nepal government to take action,” she adds.&nbsp; Having been in constant touch with recruits in the Russian army, the Nepali student compiled a list of 18 other Nepalis like her husband. They have contacted the Nepali Embassy in Moscow to facilitate their return.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-trial-by-fire-for-soldiers-from-nepal">India’s trial by fire for soldiers from Nepal</a>, Anita Shrestha But embassy staff say the Russian authorities are slow to respond, and have advised the Nepalis to fulfil their contracts and go home after their year is up.&nbsp; In Nepal, worried relatives have come to Kathmandu from across the country to meet Foreign Minister N P Saud and urge him to use diplomatic channels to bring their family members back home.&nbsp; Saud reportedly told them the ministry had approached the Russian government, but that rescuing their family members from the Ukraine front “would be difficult.” The Nepal government originally described videos of Nepalis in the Russian military as ‘fake’, but after pressure from relatives the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement asking Nepalis not to join the militaries of any nation except the ones that Nepal has an agreement with. The statement did not mention Russia. Nepal has agreements with India, UK, Brunei, Singapore, Oman for its nationals to serve their security forces, but &nbsp;Nepalis are also in the Ukrainian, Romanian, and French militaries. Retired Nepali soldiers have also been recruited by other nations to work in active war zones.&nbsp; There are more Nepalis fighting for Russia than Ukraine, but no one has an exact count. The only proof are individual posts on social media, and calls from the frontlines to fellow Nepalis in Russia or to families back home in Nepal. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/recruitment-of-nepalis-into-indian-army-paused">Recruitment of Nepalis into Indian Army paused</a>, Jibraj Chalise and Durga Rana Magar Most Nepalis who are on the trenches of eastern Ukraine are not too bothered about which side in the war is right. It is mostly about earning enough to provide for families back home by whatever means necessary. In 2004, 12 Nepali migrant workers who were promised work in Jordan but tricked into going to Iraq were kidnapped and executed by an Iraqi insurgent group. In June 2016, 14 Nepali security personnel working for the Canadian Embassy were killed in a Taliban suicide bombing attack while their envoy was en route to the embassy in Kabul. &nbsp; These tragedies are still fresh in Nepal’s collective memory, and the possibility of history repeating itself in another war zone has added to the desperation of families who worry about their relatives trapped in the Donbas. Ramesh’s sister Sita says: “People like my brother have made a mistake, but all we ask is for the government to bring them back home safely. ” Despite its policy of neutrality, Nepal has sided with the majority of nations to condemn Russia’s occupation of Ukraine. The question now is: how will the fact that its nationals are fighting in Ukraine affect Nepal's foreign policy position and standing on the global stage. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/in-the-line-of-fire">In the Line of Fire</a>, Editorial Identities have been altered to protect interviewees.

Nepalis in the Russian Army want to quit

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131124/637233fc9c7e80680e0c490djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="700"/>A citizen’s campaign to defeat all elder prime ministers in forthcoming elections is going viral in the Nepali cybersphereThe ‘Let’s Defeat Ex-Prime Ministers’ movement is gaining traction, and reaction from the ageing leaders of the political parties shows that they are worried.But can we expect the Young Turks in the main parties to behave any better?One of the more charismatic members of the younger breed of politicians is Gagan Thapa. But even he is nearing 50. In televised Parliament proceedings, he usually gives fiery speeches.Even though his Nepali Congress (NC) is leading the 5-party coalition, Thapa had been critical of the government. He is in the dissident group opposed to the NC contesting the elections in an alliance with the Maoists.But these days, when Gagan Thapa speaks in Parliament, for example on the possibility of Nepal soon being blacklisted internationally for money laundering, his voice is muted.As General Secretary of the NC, Thapa wanted answers on Maoist Finance Minister Janardan Sharma secretly including a corporate middleman in the budget drafting process. But by reinstating Sharma, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba ignored and demeaned his own party colleague.Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pre-poll-calculations/">Pre-poll calculations</a>, Shristi KarkiSince then, Gagan Thapa has not spoken up about the scandal. This is very unlike him, and probably indicates his trepidation about being refused a ticket for elections three months away.When more independent-minded Gagan Thapa, Biswaprakash Sharma and Dhanraj Gurung were elected to senior NC posts last year, there was optimism that Nepal’s foremost democratic party would now see fresh direction.Many thought the superannuated old guard would now be swept away and under Gagan Thapa’s leadership the party and country would turn a new leaf  through better governance and transparency.Alas. We have not seen much of Thapa’s influence on the NC’s functioning. In fact, Prime Minister Deuba prefers to take advice from Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal rather than his own party general secretary.These days, Thapa and other NC dissidents look spent and fatigued. In fact, there is more passion and energy among untethered candidates.Deuba is now 76. He is prime minister for the fifth time. He has teamed up with Dahal, and spends most of his time these days giving plum constituencies to his Maoist partners than to the NC’s own leaders like Gagan Thapa.Deuba’s coalition is sinking deeper in a quagmire of corruption and impunity. As a young democrat, Deuba once defied the Panchayat system and did not compromise on principles. Seeing what he is up to now, one wonder what it was all for.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/rise-of-the-independents/">Rise of the independents</a>, EditorialThe track record of the NC’s ‘younger’ leaders is making us rethink the wisdom of passing the torch to a new generation of leaders. Just because a politician is young does not seem to guarantee that they will be for reform.Age does not have anything to do with governance ability. Elders have got a bad reputation because of the septuagenarians who have messed up the country, but we have plenty of examples of corrupt, greedy leaders who are young.Instead of expecting youth leadership to be a cure-all for all our ills, we should be on the lookout for competent, honest leaders with a wealth of experience in governance — even if they are long in the tooth.In fact some of the best prime ministers this country has ever had were nearly 80 when they held office: Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Manmohan Adhikari.This does not mean that youth leaders in all the parties and among independents should wait till they also get old. It is understandable that when aged politicians exhibit chronic incompetence even when they were repeatedly given the chance at leadership positions, Nepalis will hanker for a generational change. But being young should not be the sole criteria for being elevated to a leadership position.The grizzled leaders are not going to just hand over the baton to younger leaders. The youth have to show that they have what it takes. After all, Deuba was 49 when he became prime minister for the first time in 1995, by challenging the leadership of ageing Girija Prasad Koirala.Besides Gagan Thapa, there are Shankar Pokhrel, Ram Kumari Jhankri, Gokarna Bista and Barshaman Pun, and many others in the main parties who show promise.But at the rate we are going, when these politicians get to leadership positions, they will no longer be young. And leaders like Gagan Thapa will then be challenged by 30 something leaders telling them to step aside.Arjun DhakalRead more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/election-calculation/">Election calculation</a>, Santa Gaha Magar

Young Turks not getting their turn

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413114/63722f569c7e80680e0c250ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/>An exhausting hour-long wait in line at the Kathmandu District Administration Office finally ends with a rude and unhelpful civil servant at the desk. Irritated with everything he has to attend to, he extends his hand and gestures for my citizenship certificate application.Disinterested, he scribbles lazily on my documents, examining them perfunctorily, and refers me to Desk 105 for the fourth time. He is bored, and he shows it.Civil servants, as the name implies, are supposed to serve citizens by making their lives easier. This man seems to think his job is to make things as inconvenient as possible. No wonder, Nepali youth today have little appeal for these paper-pusher jobs in government.Being annoyed and irritated, and going home grumpy is not an exciting job prospect. Civil servants like the one I encountered also do not set a very good example for the Nepali state, and its primary job of addressing the needs of citizens.In a competitive job market, there is a need to stand out in the crowd, and the definition of an attractive career has shifted from mundane nine-to-five jobs to one that is challenging and rewarding.But that is not what government jobs offer. What they do offer for the unscrupulous is to make a lot of money under the table.That said, today’s Nepali youth are also too easily discouraged. We put in the work, but we want results and we want them now. While this has fueled our distrust in government jobs, it need not be like that.Elsewhere in the world, the civil service is an important employer and can offer a fulfilling career of serving the people with pressing issues.Unfortunately, the most attractive part of a government job is also its most unsavoury aspect: ample opportunities to squeeze those seeking government services. The idea is to make it as difficult as possible to get the simplest things done so that desperate citizens will look for a short-cut – for a fee.To increase earnings from under the table deals, the strategy is to make the process of completing the simplest task as complicated as possible. The mismanagement is deliberate.Everything is still running on pen and paper, complaints of unintelligible handwriting and endless rants about loss of information in torn record books is all that seems to be going on in these offices.There is an easy solution to all of this through digitisation. But of course that would mean things are cleaned up, the process is more transparent, and the bureaucrats would lose their lucrative source of lucre.Impatient service-seekers and cranky service providers engage in loud quarrels. Information is purposely made inaccessible, confusion is sown, every task is done in slow motion. The idea is to make you so fed up that in order to get the job done, you will engage the service of a lurking middle-man who is cahoots with the officers at their desks.The promise of life-long job security, the luxury of having pension rolling in long after retirement, and the leeway to decide when and how much to work are the sole attractions of holding a government job. Once you get in, you never get kicked out.The waste and inefficiency of this is incalculable. The system lets laziness and errors slide easily, idleness and lack of output do not induce consequences. Corruption not just goes unpunished, but is accepted as standard operating procedure.Despite this, the <a href="https://psc.gov.np/assets/uploads/files/62th_Annual_report.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://psc.gov.np/assets/uploads/files/62th_Annual_report.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1657505249708000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2iMoKBXy5LptycrOgsOSnk">62nd annual report</a> of the Public Service Commision shows that the number of candidates recommended for permanent appointment last year hit an all-time-low. The pandemic might have a role to play in this, but it points towards an inescapable reality — new appointments to government posts are dwindling, weakening the civil service.What is feeding this trend? Part of it is that the current bureaucratic system largely runs on whim. Each step of the administrative process necessitates approval from a superior and the process is excruciatingly slow.For fast and furious youngsters, this system fails to impress, because not only does it not reward innovation, but inventiveness is constrained to pave way for the same old schemes and tricks — manual instead of digital, middleman-infested instead of autonomous.The government sector fails to offer one key appeal for young Nepalis: it lacks meaning. Doing it for the country is not reason enough for someone to sit at a desk and be showered with complaints all day long.Show us all that has been done, what is currently happening, the social impact government jobs are making, the lives they are changing. Give us a much-needed ‘why’? Give us a cause. And then we might be interested.We want risk, we want real-life experiences that shape our vision, that make us consequential as a people. We want to build, and to fail, and pick ourselves back up, celebrate ideas that we can call ‘ours’. This description sounds very distant from what a Nepal government job entails.The idealism of the youth is being stifled by the lethargy and ennui of government offices. It makes us angry, enraged, and determined to overhaul the system. It is only a question of time before Nepal’s young take over to give the civil service a makeover. A revolution is long-overdue.The UK's <a href="https://www.faststream.gov.uk/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.faststream.gov.uk/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1657505249708000&amp;usg=AOvVaw19cCdnl9t9qN4Lu8G9zFBl">Civil Service Fast Stream</a> is a government leadership development program that guides new graduates into the civil service, placing just one thing front and centre: to serve fellow citizens.By employing multiple schemes designed to fit youngsters interested in almost any field from finance and science to IT and commerce, it makes them feel valued. Serving the public is seen as an opportunity to make oneself better professionally, to learn, and excel.That is the premise of an ideal civil service sector. And that is the change we want to see here in Nepal.It is up to the Nepal government to ensure that young graduates are interested in entering the civil service. Just like the local elections this year stirred up interest in independent candidates and sent ripples of renewed passion for politics, the civil service needs a similar upheaval.After endless hours of waiting in line and being given the runaround, I leave the DAO office, hoping to never have to step back in there. But, of course, I will have to come back tomorrow because my citizenship certificate was not ready today.Yugeshwor Koirala is a student at St. Xavier’s College, Kathmandu. Read more:  <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Here-We-Go/Nepal%E2%80%99,75">Nepal's youth bulge</a>, Trishna Rana

Literally, out of service

<figure><img width="1400" height="1051" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720f0e9c7e80680e0b794fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: BIKRAM RAI/NEPALI TIMES</figcaption></figure>Nepal is getting into full campaign mode for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/think-nationally-vote-locally/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local elections</a> only a little more than a month away, and political parties have started to provide tickets to candidates.Nepal’s political parties are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/old-wine-in-old-bottle-in-nepal-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">led by ageing leaders</a>, many of them discredited because they have not addressed voters’ real concerns in the past. The parties need to know the priorities and concerns of Nepal’s youth who make up a large chunk of eligible voters.  A new survey reveals that issues of health care, education, entrepreneurship, climate change, women and waste management are at the top of the list of what young voters want ahead of elections on 13 May. They will be voting for<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-local-election-gives-power-back-to-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> mayors, ward chairs and other local officials </a>based on how much they feel the candidates can solve these problems.This is proven in results of a nationwide public opinion survey by the <a href="https://avnicenter.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Avni- Center for Sustainability</a> (ACS) from 4-12 March among 415 participants aged 18 to 35 from diverse socio-economic and educational backgrounds.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/deputies-drive-development-in-rural-nepal/"> Deputies drive development in rural Nepal</a>, Laxmi Basnet <figure><img width="681" height="299" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720f119c7e80680e0b7950jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img width="673" height="291" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720f139c7e80680e0b7951jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The poll is one of many that proves that Nepali youth are worried about their future, and the state of the country’s governance. It shows that they want to be active participants in resolving Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/himalayans-on-the-frontlines/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">environmental</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/urgency-about-nepals-economic-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">socio-economic issues</a> since the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns began two years ago. The Centre conducted online and offline surveys seeking to identify important issues for voters within different age groups in villages and cities. It has used data collected from the surveys to communicate the public sentiment to political parties, and engaged Nepali youth as local reporters to make <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/all-politics-is-local/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">voters at the local level </a>aware about the issues ahead of elections. Respondents were asked if they were registered to vote, were aware of who their elected officials were and what issues they wanted addressed during the upcoming elections. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/feudalism-to-federalism/">Feudalism to Federalism,</a> Editorial Almost all of the respondents were optimistic that they believed their vote would make a difference. As many as 79% of respondents confirmed that they would vote in the upcoming elections, with more than two-thirds of voters saying that they were willing to travel long distances to vote from their home districts.  This shows that rather than being cynical about Nepal’s democracy, they see it as a way to bring change in the future. The response is a relatively high figure for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everything-is-political/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">political engagement</a> compared to what young voters say elsewhere in South Asia and the world. The survey also found that young voters are not particularly impressed by how their elected officials have performed in the last five years. Indeed, while more than 80% of respondents knew who their current mayors, municipality chairs, and ward chairs were, a large majority did not want to see the incumbents running for office again, and definitely not re-elected.   <figure><img width="639" height="644" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720f159c7e80680e0b7953jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img width="723" height="324" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720f179c7e80680e0b7954jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img width="765" height="342" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720f199c7e80680e0b7955jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Nepal’s young people seem to be focused on issues of day-to-day concern rather than the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/battle-lines-drawn-for-nepal-elections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">populist rhetoric, nationalism and religion</a> that are often whipped up by the political parties.Only less than 9% of participants answered that they will be voting for a political party, compared to two-thirds who preferred to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vote for candidates rather than parties</a>. This is agood sign that they will demand accountability from their local leaders.The survey also attempted to explore matters important to young Nepali voters. Three-quarters of the respondents believed that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climate change</a> should be a political issue, and 60% wanted <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/clean-up-elections-to-clean-up-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">capable non-corrupt political leaders</a> who would ensure jobs.  Almost half of the respondents felt that the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/after-quantity-nepals-education-needs-quality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lack of quality education</a> as well as a supportive environment for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/new-daraz-md-seeks-to-make-an-impact-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">business and entrepreneurship</a> should be addressed in the upcoming elections. Nearly 40% of the participants wanted to see candidates committed to addressing problems like <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/vow-against-vaw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">violence against women</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepals-humanitarian-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">affordable healthcare</a>, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-smoke-without-fire-in-kathmandu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">proper waste management</a>.The survey also asked respondents about the future of Nepal as a country, to which 81% of respondents answered that while progress was being made, it was not happening fast enough.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/power-to-the-periphery/">Power to the periphery</a>, Sonia Awale

What Nepal’s voters most want in elections

This is the first instalment in a new limited series in Nepali Times on the historic transportation infrastructures of Nepal. Nepal’s Forest Railways As<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-border-trains-that-connected-nepal"> India’s railway network </a>expanded in the 1890s and 1900s, the demand for wooden railway sleepers, called ‘ties’ in America, likewise increased. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-rana-reign-a-recap-of-history,3751">Rana regime</a> realised that western Nepal’s dense forests, from which sal trees could be extracted and sold, represented a valuable source of revenue. There was a problem of accessing large tracts of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">Tarai forests</a>. However, once Indian railway lines are extended to Nepal’s border in several places, this issue could be resolved by constructing logging railways, also known as ‘tramways’ or ‘light railways’. The Nepal Government awarded a contract to Punjabi timber contractors to supply 15,000 sal sleepers to Chandan Chauki station of India’s Oudh &amp; Rohilkhand State Railway in 1908. The contractors also received a concession to construct a steam tramway to run 48km into <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/reviving-nepals-community-forestry-success-story">Nepal’s forests</a> for cutting and transporting trees. The author found no records, however, indicating that such an ambitious tramway was built in 1908. The hewn logs were probably carried into India by bullock carts or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/elephants-become-white-elephants">elephants</a>. The earliest known forest railway in Nepal was built in 1914 in the southwestern corner of the present-day Parsa district. A British engineer went to the Indian border town of Bikna Thori to plan a 4-mile portable light railway for the transport of timber from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/on-the-tri-junction-of-wildlife-conservation-conflict-and-co-existence">the forest of Chitwan </a>to the Thori depot on the Bengal &amp; Northwestern Railway. This short line was laid upon wooden sleepers, and its rails could be taken up and repositioned when logging in one section of the forest was completed. This forest railway was in operation at least through 1917.&nbsp; A few year down the line in 1923, J V Collier of the Indian Forest Service built a narrow-gauge railway in Kailali district also to export of timber to India. This line, the Nepal Government Forest Railway, departed Chandan Chauki in Uttar Pradesh and ran 48km northwest into Nepal.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150820_84ddef57433c2f847b2c7e56c2d9c924084b6e6a504bbca905d2c593fac8eabd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250824150820_84ddef57433c2f847b2c7e56c2d9c924084b6e6a504bbca905d2c593fac8eabd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1130" height="689" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's little railways"> <figcaption>A Nepal Government Forest train in Kailali District hauling sal sleepers in 1925. Photo: DAVID CHURCHILL </figcaption> </figure>  It was a 2-foot railway supported by 11kg rails. The line was ‘temporary’ in that as sal trees were thinned out in one area, railway tracks were shifted to uncut areas of the forest. The railway crossed seven small <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">rivers</a>, but the bridges were taken down during the summer and monsoon. Trains ran only from November to April. This forest railway purchased four 4-6-0T ‘tank’ engines built in Leeds, England. Each bogie could carry 100 broad-gauge sleepers, and two engines were needed to haul a 21-car train loaded with 2,100 sleepers. This huge commercial forest operation once employed about 14,000 men, most of them Indians. During one season, nearly 800,000 broad and metre-gauge sleepers were exported to India. When India suffered a depression in 1930, large scale operations came to an end. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rust-in-peace?fbclid=IwAR1_eg88TCOS6RGRW1af7WvaWx5mzh_rY8-vT1MnJxSs41QtCpaA988oXk8">Rust in peace</a>, Daniel W Edwards  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150828_13a0b894b9ea0c478904d358028f0c976d84f284432ee25106787366598d38e5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20250824150828_13a0b894b9ea0c478904d358028f0c976d84f284432ee25106787366598d38e5" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>Rails extended north from this spot into the virgin sal forests of Bardia in western Nepal 100 years ago.  DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  A third railway was built in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-big-bulls-of-bardia">Bardia </a>where some scattered rails and signs of an old roadbed were seen in the 1960s. It ran from Nishangada in India to Khairbhatti in Nepal. From there, stations heading south were Ranipur, Karmak, Taratal and Madhuwan. Collier likely <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-train-project-struggles-to-stay-on-track">built this railway </a>as well in the 1920s. An elderly man in Bardia in 2022, whose father had worked on this forest railway, was interviewed for this account. Kathmandu Valley’s Motor (Trolley) Railway Merchants importing goods from India via the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/business/ropeways-connecting-nepal,1749"> ropeway</a> Chandra Shamsher built in 1927 had to go to the ropeway’s terminus at Matatirtha near Thankot to claim their goods and then haul them 6km to the customs house Bhansar Adda at Teku for clearance and payment of customs duties. The Motor Railway was built to carry goods from the<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16839"> ropeway station </a>directly to the customs office, making it cheaper and more convenient for merchants to receive their shipments. In December 1931, Prime Minister Bhim Shamsher issued an order (sanad) putting Lt Gen Singha Shamsher Rana in charge of building this rail line to Teku and on to ‘Nabalak Khana’ in Tripureswar, a distance of 10km. The project was subdivided into four sections or ‘phant’, and for each, budgets and timelines were established. There was bato phant (constructing the roadbed), lik sleeper and jordne phant (laying sleepers and joining the rails), culvert phant (installing culverts) and pul phant (building bridges). Colonel Kishore Narsingh Rana was put in charge of the sleeper and rail section, while Colonel Dilli Jung Thapa, an engineer at Ghar Kaj Adda, also was involved. The Motor Railway was completed by the end of 1933. In the beginning, the railway’s small wagons may have been pulled and pushed by men and bullocks. However, in 1938 a British railway manufacturer sent Nepal a four-wheel, 5½ ton, 2-foot narrow-gauge diesel-powered locomotive with mechanical transmission, hence the name motor railway. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-railways-janakpur-test-drive?fb_comment_id=3554227181262227_4263866616964943">Nepal Railways Janakpur test drive</a> Leaving Matatirtha, the trains passed Satungal, Naikap, the Bishnudevi Temple, crossed an iron bridge over Balkhu Khola, then to Ghattepakha, Sunagau, through what is now a section of Kuleshwor (‘Lik Marg’) to the Customs Office at Teku.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825020852_033f0cee9775d7dadde7811132f84da876f614c386e3677e560ba7aed79909d9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20250825020852_033f0cee9775d7dadde7811132f84da876f614c386e3677e560ba7aed79909d9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="railways in Nepal"> <figcaption>Lik Marg in Kuleswor, the former route of the Motor Trolley Railway. Photo: DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  In 1945, Motor Trolley had four engines, but spare parts was badly needed. The charge for transporting one maund (about 40kg) of cargo from Matatirtha to Teku was 50 paisa. Even though the trains ran slowly and only for a short distance, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/fatalism-and-fatalities">accidents were not unknown</a>. A train loaded with rice, salt and cotton derailed on a curve in July 1946, and two railway employees were crushed under the cars and killed, five others were injured. Besides the driver and a brakeman, guards rode the trains to prevent theft of goods.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150836_63a327d4db3b067a23dd5c6cf17a31ffe811ffd4a8429bc31011d62298a90060.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250824150836_63a327d4db3b067a23dd5c6cf17a31ffe811ffd4a8429bc31011d62298a90060" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>The author by the remains of the Balkhu Khola bridge built in 1932 with American steel. Photo: JEEVAN NEPAL</figcaption> </figure>  By 1953, government budget estimates indicated the Motor Railway would break even with an income of Rs70,000 against Rs71,000 in expenditure. It appears the railway stopped service around 1957 with the opening of the Raj Path and the extension of the ropeway from Matatirtha to Bhansar Adda. Bent steel beams of the bridge across Balkhu Khola and two plaques recovered from the river a few years ago are the only remains of this railway today. Photos of the Motor Trolley Railway in operation are hard to come by.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825020848_3a7cd17d0ffc36bbf5fdad404f5f6e91c7aa0e4f4ed729ed2c7e9c186f32ca9b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_18" data-image-id="20250825020848_3a7cd17d0ffc36bbf5fdad404f5f6e91c7aa0e4f4ed729ed2c7e9c186f32ca9b" data-rendition-name="original" width="5189" height="1979" loading="lazy" alt="railways in Nepal"> <figcaption>Steel plaque commemorating the construction of a Motor Trolley bridge across the Balkhu Khola. Photo: DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  The Kosi Project Railway (KPR) As early as 1941, India and Nepal considered building a dam on<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kosi-s-sorrow-and-scope"> the Kosi River</a> to prevent destructive floods caused by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-it-rains-it-pours-ksqprbu3">monsoon rains</a>. Floods in 1950 inundated 500 villages in Bihar and left 500,000 people homeless. The two governments signed an agreement in 1954 to build a barrage on the Kosi, and King Mahendra and Prime Minister Nehru laid the foundation stone in April 1959. To transport stones from a quarry near Dharan to use in mixing concrete at the construction site, the Indian government, in charge of building the barrage, made plans to build a narrow-gauge railway linking Bihar and its border town of Bhimnagar with Nepal’s settlements at Chakraghatti, Chatra and Ghopa, the outskirts of Dharan.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150816_fc5e13b01022c63c64f1e83589da0015eee7ecd002bdd3d97b88c98c1f3d45b7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="20250824150816_fc5e13b01022c63c64f1e83589da0015eee7ecd002bdd3d97b88c98c1f3d45b7" data-rendition-name="original" width="4011" height="2645" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>Steel plaque commemorating the construction of a Motor Trolley bridge across the Balkhu Khola. Photo: DANIEL W EDWARDS</figcaption> </figure>  The section of the KPR in Nepal totaled 66km — the country’s longest railway to date. The stations south of Chakraghatti were Rajabas, Maduhuwan, Kushaha, Haripur and Bhantabari. The line built, operated and owned by the Indian Government, was opened in 1958 and known locally as Dhunge (stone) Rail. Procuring locomotives, wagons and other materials was a challenge. India’s Railway Board searched the country for old 41 lb rails, and located steam engines, most built around 1910, in poor condition, and stored in ‘retirement’. These decrepit locomotives were later cannibalised for parts to keep the remaining engines running, and six newer locomotives built in Yugoslavia were sent to the KPR in 1960 to prevent the railway from shutting down and halting construction of the barrage.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250824150832_fd644f9e2674c5047a531de5dfeb2c8860b0f93dddc7a2df3db867bf31b2c94b.bmp" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20250824150832_fd644f9e2674c5047a531de5dfeb2c8860b0f93dddc7a2df3db867bf31b2c94b" data-rendition-name="original" width="3171" height="2069" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's railways"> <figcaption>KPR locomotives, water tank and staff at Chakraghatti in Nepal. Photo: JOHN BENSON</figcaption> </figure>  Used bogie-wagons (gondolas) came from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-nepal-rail-diplomacy">Indian railways</a> that had been converted to metre-gauge, others were manufactured in Muzaffarpur without couplers due to the non-availability of steel. A hundred new wagons arrived from Japan, but only half could be put in service, as couplers from the other 50 were removed and attached to the Muzaffarpur wagons. This smorgasbord of equipment kept shop mechanics and work crews busy, but now-abandoned railways in Nepal always operated under less-than-ideal conditions. Although the purpose of the KPR was to transport gravel, stones and boulders to the site of the barrage, photographs show people riding in loaded wagons. Excluding Dharan, there was no bus service through the wild animal infested jungle between Dharan and Chakraghatti or along the dusty paths linking other small villages on the KPR, so patient locals sat in wagons at Dharan, waiting perhaps for hours for trains to depart.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825020852_7d011dcc8e9b8cb0fe745b352486ebc4a84dac99419eadb35875333db20837c6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_24" data-image-id="20250825020852_7d011dcc8e9b8cb0fe745b352486ebc4a84dac99419eadb35875333db20837c6" data-rendition-name="original" width="3965" height="2659" loading="lazy" alt="railways in Nepal"> <figcaption>Ticketless riders on a train of gravel and stones in the forest between Dharan and Chakragatti in 1966. Photo: JOHN BENSON</figcaption> </figure>  Sons of former railway workers in Chakraghatti say that there were no fixed schedules, three or four trains ran both ways daily in the early 1960s. Southbound trains carried gravel, stones and boulders, while northbound trains would carry coal, cement and provisions, including sacks of coins to pay the workers. Trains even ran at night, and the crews worked long hours. Workers received free housing in project-built tenements but had to buy food supplies and items for personal use. The Babu Saheb or the superintendent lived at Chakraghatti, and at one time supervised more than 1,000 employees, nearly all of them from India. The barrage was completed in 1964, but by 1970, the Kosi Project Railway had passed into history. Daniel W Edwards was a Peace Corps volunteer in 1966 and is the author of several books on Nepal.

Nepal’s five little railways

· &nbsp;At least 400 people are dead or missing after heavy rainfall lashed arid regions of northwestern Pakistan. Walls of mud and boulders engulfed entire villages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. More than 700 people have been killed in floods in Pakistan since June.&nbsp; · &nbsp;Over in India’s Jammu and Kashmir at the same time, multiple slurry floods on 17-18 August killed more than 80 people · A mudslide possibly caused by a glacial collapse upstream in Uttarakhand on 5 August nearly wiped the village of Dharali off the map. At least 70 people, 23 of them Nepalis are dead or missing. · On the night of 8 July, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rasuwa-flood-likely-a-glof">glacial lakes in Tibet overflowed</a>. By dawn the mudflow had demolished the Nepal-China border bridge killing at least 11 people, destroyed hydropower plants, swept away bridges, roads, over 100 cargo trucks and newly imported electric vehicles. All these disasters have a common thread: a cascade of hazards caused by record-breaking rainfall on fragile Himalayan slopes destabilised by melting glaciers and permafrost, seismicity and poorly engineered infrastructure. They are called ‘rain bombs’ — a heavy localised downpour measuring more than 100mm/h on a steep mountainside. As global warming heats the atmosphere, warmer air can hold more water vapour. The heavy rain then falls where there should be snowfall: on moraines and slopes that have lost the permafrost adhesive that held the debris together. “Increasingly, there is now more rainfall at higher altitudes where there used to be snowfall previously, and this directly impacts loose material in that fragile landscape which moves down,” explains Mohan B Chand, a Himalayan Glaciologist at Kathmandu University. “Moreover, the rains these days are heavy and fall within a few hours. So even a small burst has bigger impact.” The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/drones-to-the-rescue-in-melamchi">2021 Melamchi flood</a> and the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/sikkim-flood-is-warning-to-nepal">Sikkim disaster in 2023</a> have been attributed to record-breaking torrential rain on a glacial moraine that collapsed, unleashing a catastrophic debris flow.&nbsp; The Bhote Kosi flood this year happened even without torrential rain, and originated at rapidly expanding supraglacial lakes that overflowed, similar to what happened on the Mendenhall Galcier in Alaska last week. In Uttarakhand, the trigger could be in the upper catchment cryosphere, or a landslide dammed lake. Basanta Raj Adhikari of the Centre for Disaster Studies at the Institute of Engineering also calls them ‘sediment bombs’. He clarifies: “There is lots of sediment up there from landslides or glacial activity, and when there is heavy rainfall and hotter temperature, they are unleashed downstream. One thing is for sure, these extreme events are getting more frequent and more destructive.” Researcher Alton C Byers who has studied melting glaciers in the Himalaya and Andes names the eight most potentially dangerous glacial lakes in Nepal: Lower Barun, Chamlang North Tso, Chamlang South Tso, Dig Tso which burst in 1984, Lumding Tso, Thulagi, Tso Rolpa and Imja Tso (see map).  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250822030844_70b3bf6a1ad9b9f9481c9af860629b2a05ac1338a3b89a831506f1c6bdddf5ec.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250822030844_70b3bf6a1ad9b9f9481c9af860629b2a05ac1338a3b89a831506f1c6bdddf5ec" data-rendition-name="original" width="522" height="557" loading="lazy" alt="high risk glacial lakes in Nepal"> </figure>  Of these, Tso Rolpa and Imja have been lowered by 3m each, while Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho, and Hongu 2 glacial lakes have been targeted for lowering by the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology as part of the recent Green Climate Fund grant of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/meltpools-in-the-himalaya" target="_blank">$36.1 million awarded to Nepal</a>. “These lakes have changed over the years as their debris-covered glaciers continue to recede,” Byers told Nepali Times. “When water volume in the lake basin increases, they become more vulnerable to flood triggers such as overhanging ice as glaciers recede further to their headwalls, and permafrost on their moraines continues to melt.” <h2>These are not ‘natural disasters’</h2> Scientists have given the current planetary epoch a name: the Anthropocene. And anthropogenic causes in this era heighten the risk of disasters. Indeed, an analysis of recent Himalayan calamities (page 1) shows that there is much more at play here than climate breakdown. Haphazard encroachment of floodplains, quarrying and crusher activity exacerbated the effect of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/when-it-rains-it-pours-ksqprbu3">extreme rainfall on 28 September around Kathmandu Valley</a> that killed 200 people. The human cost of the 5 August catastrophe in Uttarakhand would have been high in any case, but the fact that the tiny village had expanded across a vulnerable alluvial fan to cater to a tourism boom meant more death and destruction. There are similar alluvial fans across Nepal, where small towns have expanded because new highways follow rivers, like Beni located at the confluence of the Myagdi Khola and Kali Gandaki. Other towns like Kagbeni or Damauli are located on the banks of rivers and tributaries that are directly downstream from rapidly expanding glacial lakes or unstable mountains. “In Butwal, people are building houses on the floodplain of the Tinau River, and yet people blame climate change or rainfall when there is a disaster,” says Basanta Raj Adhikari at the Institute of Engineering. “This is happening all over the country. Imagine the kind of devastation Beni would suffer if there was a big flood.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250822030848_ed411f8618c7a411ed4c165e91f3b880abb085a8a511405710dd8220f657da84.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250822030848_ed411f8618c7a411ed4c165e91f3b880abb085a8a511405710dd8220f657da84" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Beni Bazar"> <figcaption>RISKY CONFLUENCE: Beni has expanded rapidly after the highway to Mustang was built. But the town is situated on the alluvial fan of past flash floods on both the Kali Gandaki and Myagdi Khola which have dangerous glacial lakes in their upper catchment. Photo: BENI TOURISM</figcaption> </figure>  Traditionally, Nepal’s villages and settlements were located high above rivers because our forebears learnt lessons from recurring flash floods. Now, the road network follows rivers, and towns have sprung up along these highways. Even when roads are not on river banks, many gouge out slopes above, unleashing massive landslides that block rivers. Experts say Nepal’s hazard map should now be updated for glacial outbursts so municipalities can plan risk-sensitive land use zoning. This &nbsp;must go hand-in-hand with measures to reduce the risk by structural mitigation, such as engineering and construction, and then with risk awareness and early-warning systems. Says Himalayan researcher Alton C Byers: “Sooner or later, communities will realise that certain sites are simply no longer safe for a village or city, especially because of climate change in the mountains. The Himalaya has always been high-risk with its steep slopes, thin soil, monsoon rainfall regime, and frequent seismic activity. So, some places are no longer safe to live in.” Mohan B Chand of Kathmandu University adds that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-smarter-himalayan-infrastructure">hazard mapping is especially crucial for expensive hydropower plants</a>: “Most of these are on snow-fed rivers, but environmental risk assessment is not taken seriously.” He says that because Nepal is set to generate 28,500MW by 2035 to meet its carbon neutral target, the government must work to minimise upstream risk by integrating disaster mitigation components in new energy investments. Few know that Nepal’s first hazard mapping was done 40 years ago in the Khumbu with a United Nations University study titled ‘Highland Lowland Interactive Systems’. It is hard to find that document anywhere. Today, hazard mapping technologies, satellite remote sensing, drones, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and modelling with AI have made it much easier to integrate multi-hazard risk assessment. That data needs to be made available to local governments so they can plan. Cell phones and new apps that monitor real-time glacial lake levels, live precipitation and hydrological data, and local weather forecasts can make early warning systems more effective. Recent disasters have shown that even the smallest of glacial lakes that are rarely considered in risk assessments can cause much damage. Langmale Lake in the Barun Valley was less than 0.1 km2 in size, but <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-mountains-are-melting" target="_blank">the flood in 2017</a> caused extensive downstream damage. The 2012 Seti flood in Pokhara, the Chamoli disaster in Uttarakhand in 2021, the South Lhonak proglacial lake burst in Sikkim in 2023 that washed away the $1.7 billion Chungthang Teesta III Project, and the August 2024 floods above Thame in Khumbu are other recent examples.&nbsp; Byers thinks some of these floods may have been initially triggered by massive rockfall or moraine collapse related to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-not-so-permanent-frost" target="_blank">melting permafrost</a>. The size of a glacial lake alone does not determine the severity of destruction. What makes all the difference is downstream development, and if there pre-warning. Dig Tso in Khumbu which burst in 1984, was much larger than the lake that caused the Bhote Kosi flood in July, but the economic cost to the country of the trans-boundary disaster this year was much higher. Says glaciologist Chand: “We have to monitor the lakes, not just via remote sensing but with field visits. These may be costly, but mitigating the risk is less expensive than the disasters themselves.” Nepal has the technology and trained personnel to do hazard mapping, monitoring, and to design early warning apps. That data and information now needs to be available to all three levels of government to improve preparedness and risk reduction. “The cascading and compounding hazards are increasing in the Himalaya, this must be the subject of our research now,” says Adhikari at the Centre for Disaster Studies. “Recent events are a wake-up call, if we do not take this seriously things may be more dangerous in future.”

Rain bombs

The cost of preserving Nepal’s past

Turkish Airlines is official airline partner for the second edition of the Vatsalya Everest Women’s Volleyball League (EWV). The league, scheduled for 5-13 September, will take place in Pokhara and feature 18 international players alongside elite Nepali volleyball talent. The agreement was signed by Turkish General Manager Serkan Başar, and EWV CEO Snevy Chapagain. “Turkish Airlines’ support ensures a seamless journey and adds immense prestige to the league’s goal of women’s empowerment through sports as well as the agenda of sports tourism,” said Chapagain. “We are thrilled to partner with Vatsalya Everest Women’s Volleyball League as the official airline. With this association, we aim to support women role models in sports. We believe this association will connect countries to Nepali volleyball,” remarked Basar.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250825030844_36df66612152abbea71f15579358a2bb0fe797f21cbe7e7c7f28e3fe91655ae4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250825030844_36df66612152abbea71f15579358a2bb0fe797f21cbe7e7c7f28e3fe91655ae4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="Turkish"> </figure>

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