<figure><img width="643" height="500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912118/636b8a429c7e80680e06b22fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>A front page Publisher’s Note in Kantipur on 4 April explaining why the paper was resuming its print edition.</figcaption></figure>After Nepal went into COVID-19 lockdown on 24 March, some of the country’s main newspaper groups stopped their print editions and went only-digital. But, with the likelihood that the lockdown will be extended beyond 7 April, some of them have restarted their hardcopy editions. Ironically, this is happening at a time when the Nepali public has migrated even more to digital media for information on the coronavirus pandemic and for updates on the lockdown. Digital portals have reported a big spike in page views in the past two weeks.Nepal’s radio and television stations have continued broadcasting with skeleton staff in their studios with most reporters working, and even broadcasting from home. Journalists with special press passes are allowed on the streets for reporting assignments.Kantipur Media Group, Nepal’s largest, stopped printing its periodicals including <a href="https://ekantipur.com/">Kantipur </a>and <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/">The Kathmandu Post</a> daily broadsheets on 28 March, citing the limited movement of people and concerns of readers. However, the two papers resumed their print editions a week later on 4 April, saying it took the decision because the government was allowing essential services due to the relatively low caseload. Other broadsheets, including <a href="https://www.nayapatrikadaily.com/">Naya Patrika</a>, <a href="http://annapurnapost.com/">Annapurna Post</a>, <a href="https://nagariknews.nagariknetwork.com/">Nagarik</a> and <a href="https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/">Republica</a> never stopped their print editions, albeit with reduced number of pages and distributing mostly to subscribers. <a href="https://twitter.com/GaunleShiva">Shiva Gaunle</a> of the <a href="https://cijnepal.org.np/">Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ)</a> believes the resumption of hardcopy printing has more to do with competition between broadsheets, and the fear that stopping print would reduce their footprint.“It is true digital media has even more reach during the lockdown, but the publishers seem to have decided that not having a printed newspaper has reduced their clout in Kathmandu’s corridors of power,” Gaunle says. “In that respect print is still king.”<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/facebook-nation/">Madhu Acharya</a> of the media research group <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mobile-nepal-is-hooked-on-youtube/">Sharecast Initiative</a> agrees that despite the increasing reach of online portals and social media because of the rapid spread of data Internet through mobile phones, print still packs a punch — especially among politicians and decision-makers.In a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-message-is-the-medium/">media survey earlier this year by Sharecast</a>, many respondents said that although they were getting most of their information from the Internet, they were not reading newspapers and magazines mainly because they were not available. Acharya says this shows that the issue is not about print becoming obsolete in Nepal, but the problem of widespread distribution. <figure><img width="506" height="500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912118/636b8a449c7e80680e06b230jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>All broadsheets are still printing their hardcopy  editions in Kathmandu, albeit with reduced pages and print runs.</figcaption></figure>“This is essentially a competition between the major broadsheets to maintain their influence in Singha Darbar,” Acharya says. “by stopping the print edition Kantipur may have felt it was losing market share and its powerful agenda-setting role.”Part of the reason some papers have resumed their print editions could be because of a major news story concerning allegations of kickbacks and irregularities in a $10 million Nepal government contract to import medical equipment from China in which the private contractor <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-to-test-covid-19-test-kits-from-china/">Omni Business Corporate International</a> was implicated. Omni was reported to have insider links to powerful figures in the Prime Minister’s Office. In response, the Department of Health on 1 April said it had scrapped the deal, apparently on direct orders from the prime minister himself.The matter took a dramatic turn when Prime Minister Oli’s IT adviser reportedly pressured Kosmos Biswakarma, the editor of the Nepali language news portal <a href="https://kathmandupress.com/">KathmanduPress</a> to delete a story on the alleged scam. When the editor refused, he got his  software company Shiran Technologies use its access to the site to bypass the editor and remove the story. In a strongly-worded statement, <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/112807">21 editors denounced the underhand censorship</a>, saying: ‘This outrageous action has cast serious aspersion on Prime Minister Oli’s IT adviser Asgar Ali, and the parent company of F1 Soft Shiran Technologies. This action is against constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of press, and we demand an immediate investigation and punishment of the guilty’Responding to the lockdown, Nepal’s FM radio and television stations have also asked reporters to stay home, and record their interviews via Skype. “We only have three technicians and a security guard at the station, the rest of us work from home,” says Gopal Guragain of <a href="https://ujyaaloonline.com/ujyaalo-radio-live/">Ujyalo 90 Network</a>. At <a href="https://radiokantipur.com/">Kantipur FM</a>, head of news Pawan Acharya says he is maintaining physical distancing by allowing only four out of the 14 staff into the newsroom at any given time, and journalists and technicians get two days off after each day at the station. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/">Nepali Times</a> and its weekly sister magazine <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/">Himal Khabarpatrika</a> stopped their print editions the week of the lockdown, and most of the political tabloids did the same. In India, Outlook magazine suspended its print publication as did The Times of India Mumbai edition, although other newspapers have not stopped their hardcopy the papers are not reaching subscribers because vendors and distributors are staying home.<a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/112599">Himal Khabarpatrika</a> editor <a href="https://twitter.com/kirannepal">Kiran Nepal</a> says that his magazine’s readership has more than tripled since going digital-only and the magazine is putting special emphasis on explainers and analysis about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Nepal. However, even Nepal adds: “But I have to admit that the influence of an actual paper magazine is still apparent. There is still power in print because the powerful read it.”

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In locked down Nepal, print is still king

Samsung Nepal has opened pre-orders for the Galaxy A57 5G and A37 5G. Both phones run Samsung’s One UI 8.5, featuring AI capabilities like voice transcription, Circle to Search, and photo editing. They feature a 50MP triple-camera system, a Super AMOLED display, and six years of OS and security updates.

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‘One early morning, we heard the ambassador’s wife cry out, “Ram, Ram, Ram!” A disaster has befallen Nepal!” She had heard on the radio that a fire had consumed Singha Durbar." This is not about the arson attack on 9 September 2025, but the one on 8 July, 1973. It started in the South Wing of the then single-largest building in all of Nepal. It took two days to bring the blaze under control, requiring the use of explosives to demolish one wing to protect the imposing western facade. As Bhekh Bahadur Thapa recalls in the English translation of his memoir A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy, he was then on leave from the Nepal government serving with the IDRC in Ottawa.&nbsp; He had already served as Nepal’s Finance Secretary at age 25, went on to be Finance Minister and Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. He was already younger than some of the GenZ ministers in Nepal’s present RSP government. Thapa, now 89, was at the launch of the book in February which was attended by former diplomats and bureaucrats. After speeches by panelists, there was a question from the audience about how Thapa had managed to be the diplomat he was, managing Nepal’s international relations on the world stage.&nbsp; Writer and journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay, who was moderating the panel, responded by going into the section of the book where we see Thapa as an ambassador to the US, playing tennis with White House officials, cultivating a network of contacts to project the identity and welfare of Nepal, and making it possible for a state visit by King Birendra to Ronald Reagan’s America. The book is full of anecdotes that suggest Thapa was a clever and strategic diplomat, always calm and unruffled, easily making friends in high places with his maturity and engaging sense of humour. Thapa’s memoir is heavy on details about Nepal’s administrative history during the years he was active in public service, serving as minister and ambassador under three kings: Mahendra, Birendra and Gyanendra, and alongside five prime ministers.&nbsp; Aside from an insider look on how certain treaties, development deals and research projects in Nepal came into fruition, Thapa goes into great detail about his personal and professional relationships with the kings, ministers, ambassadors, foreign leaders and politicians.&nbsp; As a reader, one is struck by the level of detail around the events that unfolded in Nepal over the years during Thapa’s tenure. Was Thapa recording a journal over the years of the events and the conversations that transpired, or were they committed to his phenomenal memory? Either way, the reader gets a glimpse of Nepal’s recent history from the early days of the Panchayat, through the People’s Movement and the democracy period, the Maoist insurgency, Royal Palace massacre of 2001, and Gyanendra’s coup of 2005.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1584" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="How to win friends and influence nations NT"> </figure>  Not enough is said about the political parties of the time whose presence led to the way Nepal’s multiparty democracy came to be shaped. The book keeps its focus on the administration and the key figures around it, mostly those in the Panchayat era. Towards the second half of the book, we do start to hear about political parties, but not in great depth. Another figure whose presence in the book is conspicuously less prominent is that of his wife, Rita Thapa — the person who seems to have rescued him every time financial quandary or family care became a challenge. Yet, we do not see her as a full person. Perhaps because of the personal tragedies in his life, the children are also barely mentioned.&nbsp; The book is therefore less personal and more technical. Throughout, we learn about Thapa’s thinking as he navigated the world of diplomacy to win him the trust of those who mattered. There are tips here for a new generation of Nepali officials and diplomats about how much commitment and focus is needed to be good at one’s job and serve the national interest. This book adds to tomes that have been written on Nepal’s fragile relationship with India. ‘India has always wished for Nepal to remain dependent on it,’ writes Thapa, who served as Nepal’s ambassador to India and later in the Eminent Persons Group &nbsp;on Indo-Nepal relations that has been allowed to languish. The book has several insights into the Indo-Nepal trysts with diplomacy and agency.&nbsp; China’s role is also recorded, viewed through conversations during a visit to Beijing, but all that was before Nepal’s neighbour to the north emerged as a world economic and military power. The book also has such sudden instances of quirkiness and humour. For instance, we see a young Thapa in America explaining to a government official why he would like to return to Nepal instead of settling down in the US. “Because, Nepal is beautiful,” he said. The text is immaculate and does not read much like a translation, credit for which clearly goes to the team that put the edition together: translator Prawin Adhikari, &nbsp;Anagha Neelakanthan and Bhekh Thapa’s daughter, Manjushree. As Nepal enters a new era of governance and diplomacy, A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy should be essential reading for students of political science, economics and foreign affairs who can gain a fresh perspective on the country’s trajectory.&nbsp; There are dozens of forgotten state secrets recorded in the book, but the reader must also remember this is a story told from one person’s perspective and there may be others.&nbsp; So, what really made Thapa the diplomat he was? I met him in 2004 at the Kantipur TV studio when he was serving as king Gyanendra’s foreign minister. He was there for a studio interview, and I was just done with my English newscast.&nbsp; He surprised me at the door: “Pratibha! I’ve been reading your articles in The Kathmandu Post. You must keep writing.” I thanked him, glad to have been noticed for my work by a stranger. That was perhaps one of the things that set Thapa apart — he excelled at staying close to those in power, while also noticing those who were not.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Book details"> </figure>

How to win friends and influence nations

Prime Minister Balendra Shah on Wednesday broke tradition and met with 17 foreign envoys collectively, a move that was a notable departure from how his predecessors operated.&nbsp;
Shah had already set himself apart by talking less, listening more, and delegating to trusted friends. But by meeting all ambassadors at one go in the presence of the Foreign Ministry, he signalled a paradigm shift in how he wants Nepal to be seen: no longer just balancing India and China, but as a country confident about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/tripolar-contestation-over-nepal">strategic importance and place in the world</a>.
In just two weeks, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rsp-dos-and-don-ts">RSP has sprung into action </a>on multiple fronts to implement its ambitious 100-point, 100-days action plan. It has taken short-term measures to mitigate the impact of the Gulf war, as well as medium- and long- term measures to streamline the bureaucracy. A few high-profile figures have been made examples of to drive the message home.
Earlier this week, the government recalled six politically appointed ambassadors, the most notable being long-serving Shankar Sharma from New Delhi. The Kathmandu District Court issued arrest warrants against former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his former foreign minister wife Arzu Rana on charges of money laundering and corruption.
Each ministry has been trying to clean up the accumulated rot from the past three decades: regulatory overhaul of microfinance, education, health and service delivery.&nbsp;
These actions widely disseminated campaign-style on YouTube and TikTok have made most Nepalis hopeful that the party they installed in power means business.
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BACKLASH
But such attempts to overhaul a long-entrenched political culture were bound to face backlash. In their impatience and enthusiasm to get things done, some of Prime Minister Shah’s ministers have over-reached.
It was common knowledge that government-paid advertising in the mainstream press was kickback-driven, but the PMO’s directive that official notices be published or broadcast only on state-run media has been denounced — especially as the media industry struggles to stay afloat.
More serious are some recent appointments by ministers of relatives and figures closely associated with the RSP to key positions. This has rankled because this party built its political plank on ending nepotism and graft.&nbsp;
News that Home Minister Sudan Gurung allegedly had not paid rent on leased land, which illegally encroached on the lake in Pokhara did not help. &nbsp;
Prime Minister Shah himself has come under scrutiny for appointing a kitchen cabinet full of male buddies from his time as Kathmandu mayor. To douse criticism he brought in as adviser investigative journalist Deepa Dahal, who has exposed corruption in high places of the previous coalitions.&nbsp;
Shah’s appointment of another political adviser Asim Shah to the head Constitution Amendment Task Force, is also seen as problematic. He is a filmmaker and former lawmaker, but does not have a background in constitutional law.&nbsp;
Even more controversial is the Cabinet’s decision to appoint RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane’s legal counsel, Narayan Kandel, as Attorney General. Kandel used to be a UK permanent resident, and does not have as much experience practicing law in Nepal.&nbsp;
Kandel’s appointment drew flak and raised eyebrows, and with the pending legal cases against Lamichhane this appointment represents a flagrant conflict of interest.
Health Minister Nisha Mehta was also accused of favouritism after reappointing Junu Shrestha, wife of Labour Minister Dipak Kumar Shah, as member of the Health Insurance Board which had earlier suspended her. The Labour Minister’s rambling rant at the Board’s meeting on Tuesday has not helped the RSP’s image.&nbsp;
(UPDATE: On Thursday, Prime Minister Shah sacked the Labour Minister after the RSP found him in breach of the party's code of conduct and discipline. He served 14 days in the Cabinet, one of the shortest tenures for a minister in Nepal )
It is hard to know what <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/ball-in-balen-s-court">Balendra Shah is thinking</a>, and how Rabi Lamichhane is going to justify some of these moves. After all, making politics, governance, and bureaucracy a meritocracy has been the core tenet of the RSP, and it risks alienating its mainly youth base if these missteps persist.
But at least for now, most RSP supporters seem to be giving the party the benefit of doubt.

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In locked down Nepal, print is still king

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Nepal’s new government springs into action