One of the government’s first priorities after <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/feudal-federalism">federalism</a> was to bring development to the grassroots. The political leadership concluded that the way to do that was to build a road network. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/bri-and-trans-himalayan-connectivity">Road connectivity </a>would encourage Nepalis to stay in their villages, connect farmers to market, and stimulate local economies. so they thought. As the roads snaked north into the mountains, Nepalis moved south to the plains along them. Nepal's new roads have become conduits for better opportunities in the cities, the Tarai and abroad. Since 2016, every road that has reached villages in the hinterland has helped empty them. Billions of rupees were spent on roads to improve the lives of people who do not live there anymore. According to the 2021 census, 34 of Nepal’s 77 districts have witnessed a sharp decline in population. More worryingly, there is depopulation in 329 out of Nepal’s 753 municipalities, which is 43% of the country’s geography.&nbsp; It seems there is an inverse relationship between roads and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-migration-is-already-happening">migration</a>. This is evident in districts like Ramechhap and Khotang, with the highest <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/migrating-males-and-population-decline">population decline</a> as road connectivity spread.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250117050148_18c4f94ff08ab3654d29548d6e87974796ab42b985c64062d04c555f125f051d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250117050148_18c4f94ff08ab3654d29548d6e87974796ab42b985c64062d04c555f125f051d" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="384" loading="lazy" alt="Khotang"> </figure>  Despite its proximity to Kathmandu, the first motorised vehicle only arrived in Ramechhap in 1998. The district was cut off from the road network until a little over three decades ago, and its population was 188,064 during the 1991 census.&nbsp; By the time unpaved roads were built-district wide in 2001, the population had increased by 1.2%. But in the 20 years since, as paved roads and a bridge across the Sunkosi connected rural Ramechhap to Kathmandu and the Tarai, people began to leave in droves, and the district witnessed a -0.47% decline in population by 2011.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepalis-moving-from-mountains-to-plains">Nepalis moving from mountains to plains</a>, Shristi Karki The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-2015-o2etq6zu">2015 earthquake</a> caused extensive damage in Ramechhap, and additional roads were built to facilitate reconstruction. Most rebuilt houses now lie empty.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250117050144_061f4befbeb60790e4139bff187e2d5a4f8097be982409c2212a7102ac31fd98.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250117050144_061f4befbeb60790e4139bff187e2d5a4f8097be982409c2212a7102ac31fd98" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="554" loading="lazy" alt="Closed door"> </figure>  By 2021, major road networks connected all the municipalities in the district, and Ramechhap had a population growth rate of -1.67%. Ramechhap currently has more than 4,000km of roads.&nbsp; But while the roads reached Ramechhap, the village did not have enough jobs or indigenous products that they could trade in the newly accessible market. “The road network brought the market to the community, but took our people in exchange,” says Dilli Raj Adhikari of the Manthali municipality. In remote districts like Humla, which are not connected to the highway grid, &nbsp;connectivity within the district has meant that people have begun to move to Simkot,&nbsp; The population growth rate in realatively underdeveloped districts like Kalikot, Jumla, Mugu, and Dolpa is relatively high. On the other hand, Dailekh and Salyan which have more roads, have seen a decline in population as people move to cities.&nbsp; The government conceived of the 1,700km Mid-Hill Highway in 2007 to keep people in the mountains. One of the objectives of this 'national pride project' was to connect 5 million people across the mountains to better facilities. However, the government and politicians did not care how this new road would affect migration. As it stands, the population of all 26 districts connected to this highway has &nbsp;declined steadily for the past two decades. The fast track, which was promised to be the ‘highway of prosperity’ has instead become a highway of relocation.&nbsp; The 1952 census found that 65% of Nepalis <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/those-who-stay">lived in the mountains</a> and hills, while 35.2% were in the Tarai. By 2021, 53.6% were living in the Tarai, while only 40.3% remained in the hills.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/from-nowhere-to-nowhere">From nowhere to nowhere</a>, Basanta Pratap Singh It is not enough for road infrastructure to reach the remotest corners of the country if there are no livelihood opportunities. Development is not just about roads and bridges unless it enables people to fulfill their basic needs and connects them to better health, education, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/few-jobs-created-by-nepal-employment-drive">employment opportunities</a>. Otherwise, people will continue to leave for cities which are struggling to manage increased pressure on their limited resources, lowering overall quality of life for all. Chetan Adhikari is a demographic analystic who is pursuing MPhil-PhD on population studies from Tribhuvan University.

original

674x448

610x380

500x500

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

1250x600

1084x550

thumbnail

viewImage

The road out of Nepal

Yaks that used to be the mainstay of the culture of Himalayan communities in Nepal have been in steady decline due to lifestyle changes, outmigration, inbreeding, and impact of the climate crisis. The National Agricultural Census shows that the total number of yaks in Nepal went down from 53,000 to 48,000 in the past three years. There are now fewer than 10,000 households rearing yaks for a living across the mountains. Yaks are the generic name for the long haired bison-like oxen that live at 4,000-5,000m in the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau.&nbsp; The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development runs a Yak Genetic Resource Centre here in Syangboche at 3,885m. Established in 1973, the centre is supposed to ensure that the yak population of Khumbu remains robust, gives adequate milk, and maintains a healthy variation in its genotype.&nbsp; The Centre has 155 yaks for research, but a lack of budget and priority means that it has not been able to fulfil its true potential to meet the challenges that this domesticated cattle species faces. “All we are doing is protecting the yaks we have, we do not have the resources to conduct genetic studies,” admits technical officer Ramlallan Yadav who has been stationed at the centre for the past 24 years.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240615130636_e36c2e0dd66cdf54c41d21aae5076cd7c0705336e8f8984eed35ee0901bfef35.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240615130636_e36c2e0dd66cdf54c41d21aae5076cd7c0705336e8f8984eed35ee0901bfef35" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="Yak climate crisis outmigration Nepal NT 1"> <figcaption>Yak in Langtang where the milk is used to produce Emmental cheese. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  The high altitude cattle are all lumped together as yak, but there are specific types. Nak are female domesticated yak. Chauri (Dzo) are females born from mating of yak-nak with lowland cows. A Lang is a Tibetan bull, while a female calf born from a Lang is a Dimzo. A calf born from a Yak and a lowland mountain cow is a Urang. The dwarf Lulu found in Mustang and Manang is a mixture of lowland cattle with yaks.&nbsp; A recent decline in the population of purebred yak-nak and the difficulty in accessing Tibetan bulls means that farmers now have more Urang than Dimzo. In addition, male calves known as Jopke or Tole born from crossbreeding cannot continue the generation, and are used only as pack animals in the high Himalaya.&nbsp; “A nak gives at most 2 litres of milk a day, while a chauri can produce as much as 6 litres daily,” explains yak researcher Shanker Raj Barsila. “If we had facilities for genetic studies, we could improve the hardiness of the species. Yak milk has medicinal properties and is generally healthier than dairy milk.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240615130640_d43ca3d702b94cb775101279cc5df65a32f2d12776c89cc783ad4bb458b5bbf1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240615130640_d43ca3d702b94cb775101279cc5df65a32f2d12776c89cc783ad4bb458b5bbf1" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="Yaks"> </figure>  Besides changing lifestyles of local populations, outmigration, and lack of access to traditional pastures in Tibet for the yak population, Barsila points to inbreeding as the main challenge facing Nepal’s yaks. This is manifested in yak-naks being more prone to disease, a reduction in milk production, and yaks lacking horns. The agricultural census mixes up different types of yak, and Barsila estimates that contrary to the census, there are only about 20,000 yak-nak, and 40,000 to 60,000 chauri.&nbsp; These numbers are declining further due to climate breakdown which is warming the mountains, and affecting pastures due to deficient snowfall in winter.&nbsp; "The snow that should fall from October-November now falls in March-May, and the wind blows in January-February.” Yadav says. “And all winter there is just dry cold wind.” Human outmigration is directly linked to declining yak herds. Young people leaving mountain villages for Kathmandu or abroad means the next generation is not following the ancestral occupation of pastoralism.&nbsp; Fewer yaks mean the intangible heritage of yak rearing with a pastoral culture, festivals, local diet, vocabulary and an intimate knowledge about the habits of the animals is in danger of being lost forever. Yak milk is hardened into chhurpi that preserves dairy protein for times when milk is not as plentiful. Yak milk is also used in brewing salty Himalayan tea favoured by people of the higher altitudes, and its butter is used for sacred lamps in monasteries. Yak hair is woven into woollen clothing and blankets, and yak meat is consumed.&nbsp; “The domesticated yak is now becoming an endangered species due to migration from the mountains and shrinking grazing areas due to environmental impact,” says Prajwal Sharma of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) who recently researched the impact of migration on yak rearing in Helambu, north of Kathmandu. The number of farmers moving to high pastures with their herds in the summer, and descending to lower elevations during winter has decreased, Sharma observed during his field research. In Syangboche Yadav has observed changes in the pasture grass because of years of winter drought.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240615130640_e775274443175b2710bc6a8e2496c40e716cfd2304a89490c3f635cb1500e3fb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240615130640_e775274443175b2710bc6a8e2496c40e716cfd2304a89490c3f635cb1500e3fb" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Yaks"> </figure>  The mating season of the yak-nak has also been affected. Yadav explains, “Earlier, almost all nak conceived on time, but now there are seasonal changes. Mating season used to be July-August, now it is October-November.” The pastureland where grass used to grow in April was barren this time. In Yadav’s experience, in recent years, grass and herbs have only started sprouting from May-June. The Syangboche centre sells yak milk, but that is not even enough to buy potatoes for the yaks, let alone for conducting genetic studies. The National Animal Breeding and Genetic Research Centre is supposed to study indigenous and local animal breeds, but its chief Sagar Paudel says there has been no study of the yak-nak inbreeding problem. The National Cattle Research Program in Rampur of Chitwan has surveyed yak-nak in Rasuwa and Mustang to find out their adaptability to climate change, but there is no detailed genetic study planned.&nbsp; Further research could also help find ways for yak-nak and chauri to adapt to a heating Himalaya and weather extremes.&nbsp;

When yaks go, so does culture

On 28 May, as the rest of Nepal was celebrating Republic Day, here in Mustang King Jigme Singe Palbar Bistawas being treated like royalty. The king himself is deeply involved with many problems faced by this once-isolated finger of Nepal sticking out into the Tibetan Plateau. Although there is now a road linking Lo Manthang to the rest of Nepal, the district faces challenges of under-development, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">lack of jobs and outmigration</a>, cultural preservation, and lately the impact of climate breakdown. As the king travels around his district, the people of Mustang treat him with visible affection and respect. And the feeling seems to be mutual. The district survives mostly on income from tourism and remittances from Mustang people living in Japan, Korea and the United States. The mostly elderly residents come out to greet their king and their main concern is about the lack of water due to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/mustang-forced-to-adapt-to-climate-crisis">climate crisis</a>. Winter snowfall has failed for several years, while there are torrential downpours during the summer in this usually arid region. There have been destructive floods when glacial lakes burst last year in Kagbeni last year and in Lubra in 2021. Elsewhere, entire villages have had to relocate because springs and streams have gone dry. The king was born in Thingkar village in Upper Mustang 67 years ago, and remembers there used to be much more snow in the mountains during his childhood. “The whole landscape has changed, the snow and the ponds are all gone,” he tells us during a walkabout.&nbsp; “In the past, the weather pattern was predictable, snow in winter, some rain the monsoon and the winds would blow as expected,” he adds. “Now everything is unpredictable. The future does not look good at all.” Data from the Jomsom station of the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology shows that average annual temperature rose from 17.7°C in 2012 to 18.2°C last year. This trans-Himalayan region is in the rainshadow, but <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/soon-monsoon">summer rain volume went up</a> from 286mm in 2011 to 666mm in 2021, damaging traditional stone and mud houses. But in winter there has been no snow for several years. The change in weather has also forced many to abandon traditional flat top architecture for tin roofs and cement walls. Warmer weather means new pathogens are moving up the mountains, but also apple orchards and vegetable patches are possible where it was too cold before.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240611040648_add720880bcfcd6a04270ba9ad854f1b6a1457c5c55b012e147fc6b4e3bd5a0e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240611040648_add720880bcfcd6a04270ba9ad854f1b6a1457c5c55b012e147fc6b4e3bd5a0e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="2965" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang king NT"> <figcaption>Jigme Singe Palbar Bista, the monarch of Mustang</figcaption> </figure>  “The climate crisis poses a threat to all traditionally built houses, including monasteries, and heritage structures,” says the king, who is actively involved in climate adaptation work through the Lo Gyalpo Jigme Foundation, named after his father. “We are now carrying out a comprehensive study of how climate change will affect Mustang, and will plan depending on findings.” The king fondly remembers his father, Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista, who died in 2016. He says he worked tirelessly for the development of Mustang and the welfare of its people. During his reign, he focused on reconstructing and preserving dilapidated monasteries and shrines and ensuring that Mustang was not affected by politics in Kathmandu, and by geopolitics.&nbsp; “My father always kept the welfare of the community as his number one priority,” says the king.&nbsp; Jigme Palwar Bista owned 65 horses, but his son owns only 5 — an indication of the diminishing importance of horses after the road from Jomsom to the Chinese border was built ten years ago. As a boy, the king used to travel three days on horseback from Jomsom, and the animals were integral to the culture and daily life of the Mustang people.&nbsp; Last year, during the wedding of crown prince Jigme Dhindup Phunchok Palwar Bista, Lo Manthang rural municipality declared a public holiday and residents brought their horses to the celebration — altogether 250 of them. “I wanted to hold my son’s wedding in Kathmandu, but the citizens insisted it should be here,” the king confided. “We didn’t ask them to bring their horses, but out of love and respect for the institution, they brought their own horses for the celebration.” The king now spends part of his time in Kathmandu where he looks after his 92-year-old queen step mother. But the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/winds-of-change-sweep-mustang">hustle and bustle of Kathmandu</a> makes him homesick, and he longs to be back to also take care of his resort in Lo Manthang. The eldest brother of the previous King Jigme Palbar Bista died at a young age, another brother became a monk in Dolpo. The former king’s own son also died at a young age, and when his biological mother died, the current king was adopted as the heir to ensure continuity of the royal lineage. The king says Mustang will need help from the international community to cope with the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-is-lost-cannot-be-repaid">impact of climate breakdown</a>. He says, “We also need to understand the changing climate better, and unite to adapt to its impact.” &nbsp;

The kingdom within a republic

For decades, water scarcity, subsistence farming and debt had been driving farmers away from the village of Aathrai in this district of eastern Nepal. The elderly here tell the true story of one lot of people who decades ago were on their seasonal migration down to Jhapa in the plains. In their four-day trek south, they were spending the first night under a tree by the banks of the Tamor River. As night fell, they heard a crowd of people with their livestock, coming down the path. They held flaming torches, talked loudly and their laughter carried across the river. The travellers thought they were seeing ghosts, and watched warily. The people on the opposite side filled their brass jars with water, the cows drank their fill, then they climbed slowly back up the steep path along which they had descended. &nbsp; The migrants watched the torches until they reached the top of the ridge and disappeared into Terathum district. The next morning they found out those were villagers who came down every night with their cattle to collect water because springs up the mountain had gone dry. That is when the people from Terathum realised that their home villages had it much better because the villagers of their district did not have to make nightly water ferry trips up and down the mountain.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240412100444_18f42bb370b81af9e0d8b06c433b77e7e4986dd1aabb3fc8403ff42570051668.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240412100444_18f42bb370b81af9e0d8b06c433b77e7e4986dd1aabb3fc8403ff42570051668" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="795" loading="lazy" alt="people and mountains are thirsty in eastern Nepal"> <figcaption>Photos: GIRIRAJ BANSKOTA</figcaption> </figure>  More, but still not enough Till recently, wards in Chhathar village in Terathum used to have such a severe water shortage that families had to borrow water like they borrowed money. The nearest spring was two hours walk away, and there would already be up to 60 jars in the queue. It was the job of women to fetch water, and they would trudge home with two jars in baskets on their backs and two plastic containers in their hands. “This added to the drudgery of women, would delay the preparation of meals for the family and sending children to school, there was no time to clean the house, the livestock were always thirsty and would give less milk,” explains Tara Kharel Dhakal, deputy chair of Chhathar Rural Municipality.&nbsp; She adds: “There are settlements where water shortage is still acute, but we have managed to pipe drinking water to 90% of the households.” Ward 3 Chair Deuman Limbu agrees that drinking water is less of an issue now, but says lack of water is still affecting dairy and vegetable farming which would have improved nutrition and increased cash income of villagers. Chhathar’s water shortage was alleviated by building a channel from a stream 14km away. There are cliffs along the way where pipes have been laid, but these are often damaged by landslides, wildfires, and maintenance is difficult. In large parts of Nepal, including here in the east, the main reason people &nbsp;migrate out is because of the lack of drinking water. And although most people here remember the water crisis being much more serious in the past, there is still not enough in the dry season. There used to be a tradition in Nepal’s mountains that travellers could get free food and lodging for the night from villagers along the way, and this would be reciprocated when they themselves needed to stop for the night. It was the same with water: those walking along foot trails would be offered water for free since people believed it would earn them merit in heaven.&nbsp; But not in villages like Thoklung today, where travellers know how precious water is, and offer to pay for a drink. Springs are going dry across Nepal’s mid-mountains from east to west, partly due to erratic rainfall caused by the climate crisis but also because of over-extraction. Spring water used to be mainly for household use and the extra water would flow down the mountain, seep into the soil and recharge groundwater. These days, farmers pipe water to their homes from nearby springs to irrigate cash crops like cardamom or vegetables.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240412100444_d9353b6fc297e5b547ac683814801bd57d460f2481be475c60c4f6d7e8f5c8d9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240412100444_d9353b6fc297e5b547ac683814801bd57d460f2481be475c60c4f6d7e8f5c8d9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="people and mountains are thirsty in eastern Nepal"> </figure>  “New roads drain water away, preventing recharge,” explains watershed expert Madhukar Upadhyay. “Paddy terraces used to store water that slowly seeped into the slopes, but with outmigration there is less rice being planted which in turn has affected the water table.” Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-crisis-drought-food-deficit-migration">Climate crisis → drought → food deficit → migration</a>, Mohan Mainali Power to pump water Necessity is the mother of invention, so desperate villages in eastern Nepal have adopted innovative new ways to ensure water supply. Thirsty families in the parched Kummayak village of Panchthar used to look down longingly at the blue-green waters of the glacier-fed Tamor River. They decided that instead of migrating to the Tarai, they might as well try to pump the water to their village. Nine years ago, they launched a project to dig a well near the river and pump the water up the mountain and distribute drinking water to 2,000 of the 3,200 households in Kummayak. &nbsp; But chronic drought has reduced the dry season flow in the Tamor, and villagers had to divert the river’s channel closer to the well to maintain water supply. The Tamor Drinking Water Pumping Project is now digging another well at a cost of Rs10 million to augment supply.&nbsp; Learning from Kummayak, 11 other projects are planned to pump Tamor water up to mountain villages. Some villages that would have benefited, like Aathrai, have just heard the bad news that the federal government does not have the budget to fund their Rs20 million well and pumping station.&nbsp; Part of the reason there is not enough money is because budgets are also being misused. For example, the central and provincial government are working at cross-purposes and duplicating drinking water schemes. The federal government has a Rs3.5 million pump project in the same place where the Kosi Province has set aside Rs2 million also to lift drinking water. &nbsp;&nbsp; The water shortage is even more severe in Dhankuta district, where in Chaubise village Ward 3, a Rs80 million project is underway to pump water up from a spring down the mountain.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240412100444_d0f87ea50060253998ef932e5c6f30f20912d8733c40014cef4cc8c16e8270ae.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240412100444_d0f87ea50060253998ef932e5c6f30f20912d8733c40014cef4cc8c16e8270ae" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="795" loading="lazy" alt="people and mountains are thirsty in eastern Nepal"> <figcaption>Before lift pumped water was distributed in Syabrumba of Panchthar district, villages had to wait for their quota of water. Today 60% of the household has piped drinking water. Photo: GIRIRAJ BANSKOTA</figcaption> </figure>  All these districts of eastern Nepal have lost more than a third of their population in the past 20 years, and local governments see improved water supply as a way to bring their people back. The population of Thoklung village of Terathum was 40% less in 2021 than what it was in 2001, so its municipality is working on a pumping scheme to lift water from the Tamor to distribute every household in Ward 7. Ward Chair Rohit Kandengwa, however, is worried that the project’s electricity bill would mean that the household water tariff will be too high.&nbsp; Indeed, spring water can flow down to a village by gravity. But pumping water from a river to a ridgetop village can be expensive. The Kummayak project, for example, has an electricity bill of Rs600,000 per month.&nbsp; “Water has value. We charge 10 paisa per litre of water and that could be expensive to those who are used to free water, but it is better than no water at all, and it is cheaper than water from tankers,” says Nirmal Ghimire, chair of Kummayak Ward 5.&nbsp; But there are other non-monetary benefits from water pumps, like in curbing outmigration. For the past two years, no families have migrated out of Kummayak village since it got regular water supply. To be sure, ensuring water supply alone will not stop people since there are other push factors at play: difficulty to access medical care, low quality of public schools, lack of jobs, the government’s low priority for agriculture driving people away from farming. “Farmers here used to sell milk, but they have not been paid for their milk since nine months,” says Chhathar Ward 4 Chair Pushpa Karki. “They cannot sell their goats, middle men fix the price for cardamom and ginger.” The chhurpi and ghee industries have dried up, and dairy farmers have no place to sell milk. It is also a seller’s market, and farmers have to buy everything, without credit, and cannot determine the price of their produce.&nbsp; Lack of connectivity is another reason people migrate from these remote districts. It has been 12 years since construction began on the bridge at Lumughat across the Tamor River that would have linked Terathum and Panchthar, making it easier to take produce to market towns. &nbsp; Better roads would also improve the quality of instruction – the other reason many families move to Dharan or Kathmandu. Accessibility would motivate teachers to stay in villages. There is also a herd mentality that drives migration. If one household moves out, the entire neighbourhood ups and moves. Ten of former school principal Hari Narayan Bhattarai’s neigbours locked up their homes and moved down to the Tarai partly due to lack of water. Bhattarai lost the support of next door families that he used to rely on, so he also moved to Birtamod of Jhapa in the plains. Households in the mountains need each other to survive. Neighbours help neighbours to plough, plant and harvest.&nbsp; And then there is the litany of woes that all Nepalis face: the delays in getting driving licenses, work permits, and other services. People move to where life is easier. &nbsp; Outmigration also makes pre-existing problems of the mountains worse. Where forests are growing out of fallow terrace fields, with no one to forage for dried undergrowth fire risk has increased, crops are damaged by wildlife, and the decline in livestock has reduced soil fertility. &nbsp; “The main reason for outmigration is lack of water and low productivity,” says Chhathar Deputy Chair Dhakal whose village announced grants of up to Rs500,000 to start up agrobusinesses. Thirty families did return. However, there were no takers for Dhakal’s offer of Rs10,000 to households farming their fallow fields again.&nbsp; Even if rural municipalities find the money to install well and pumps for water supply, paying for maintenance or repairs of broken pipes or pumps can be a problem due to lack of budget. Watershed expert Madhukar Upadhyay concedes that pumping water from a river to villages in the mountains is only a short-term fix, but not a sustainable solution. “Over the long-term we must think of reviving traditional system of ponds near springs where water can collect and re-charge groundwater,” he explains. “That way we address the thirst of both the people and the mountains.” &nbsp; This is the second of a 3-part series supported by Barbara Foundation.The third and last instalment will appear on the 26 April edition.&nbsp;

People and mountains are thirsty in eastern Nepal

The rugged mountains of Rukum East are all covered in late snow. After a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/first-drought-then-downpour">prolonged drought</a>, it has finally snowed, but it is too late for the high altitude meadows to grow again. They have all dried up. &nbsp; At 3,720m, visitors rarely make it to the high pasture at Ma Kharka. But even until 20 years ago, every family in the village of Lugum brought its sheep and mountain goats for grazing up here. Shepherds with their flocks spent half a year in what used to be cool, green patches of grasslands. Very few do so now. Rassa Gurung, 60, is one the last few shepherds carrying on their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/village-of-the-climbers">ancestral occupation</a>. “I started coming here as a baby, slung over my mother’s back. We didn’t read and write back then, we all helped our parents tend the sheep,” he says. Gurung knows every corner of this pasture like the back of his hand. His sheep used to graze freely, but now he has to watch out that they do not wander into someone’s farm or enter the nearby community forest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024021517020_1112590731e0e52430463cd0bbf6e400e24f846d284b2fc42b8010da24b7da70.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2024021517020_1112590731e0e52430463cd0bbf6e400e24f846d284b2fc42b8010da24b7da70" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="995" loading="lazy" alt="Climate crisis ruins Himalayan pastoralists NT"> <figcaption>Rassa Gurung is one the last few shepherds carrying on their ancestral occupation.</figcaption> </figure>  Mt Dhaulagiri looms in the distance, and even that high up there is little snow this year. It looks like a giant dark rock. The sheep are also dying from mysterious causes. “Some 40-50 sheep die every year now, I myself have only 150 sheep now, down from 300 four years ago,” says Gurung. “Most of them die because they eat poisonous grass, as the edible grass does not grow in time. Some are eaten by leopards and bears.” He adds: “It rains when it is not supposed to and it does not snow when it is supposed to. Sometimes it does not snow till March, and other times it does not rain until June, so there is no grass to graze on.” High mountain communities are<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya"> disproportionately affected by the climate crisis</a>. This year was one of the hottest ones Nepal has experienced. “Farmers are affected directly by the increase in the average temperature. Unpredictable seasonal changes can lead to the growth of new species, and native indigenous plants disappear,” explains climate scientist Ngamindra Dahal. He adds: “Rainfall patterns have also changed. At times we have unseasonal cloudbursts, other times there is no winter rain and we get droughts. The absence of snow has affected sheep herders.”&nbsp; Indeed, new kinds of grasses have started growing and for shepherds like Gurung, there is no way to know if they are edible.&nbsp; Botanist Bhakta Bahadur Raskoti agrees that climate change has affected the growth of edible grass for sheep and goats in high mountain areas. “Because of climate change, grass species from the Tarai are now found in the mountains, while mountain grasses have moved up,” he adds. Shepherd Jore Pun, 43, used to have 350 sheep a few years ago, but now has only 250.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024021517020_6dd609e1837506d6a623b9c6217cae8b7da0909ee445a1d0d1fe13cf277fef87.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2024021517020_6dd609e1837506d6a623b9c6217cae8b7da0909ee445a1d0d1fe13cf277fef87" data-rendition-name="original" width="1250" height="751" loading="lazy" alt="Climate crisis ruins Himalayan pastoralists. NT"> <figcaption>Jore Pun</figcaption> </figure>  Lugum used to be a large sheep farming village in Rukum East. Half of the 400 households here used to herd sheep and goats. Today, there are 500 households but only 35 are pastoralists.&nbsp; The Magar people make up the majority of the Rukum East population. To them, sheep rearing used to be a way of life here. The sheep are sacrificed during their festivals and women make clothing from their wool. With the sheep gone, these traditions are now in decline. “Our grasslands are depleting and sheep rearing has become unfeasible,” says ward chair Mankaji Pun. “Moreover, young men are moving out for jobs in the cities or overseas. They are abandoning their ancestral occupation.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-country-for-young-men-c89lgrrl">Many men from here have left for the Gulf</a>, Malaysia or India. Youth here are also increasingly taking the backdoor to America. Only the women, the elderly and children are left.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240215190216_a8e5bf8de837acaf13c1c9d966a3316bb7098b3d6c12da9d65323d920445c19b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240215190216_a8e5bf8de837acaf13c1c9d966a3316bb7098b3d6c12da9d65323d920445c19b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1700" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Temperature map NT"> </figure>  Every household here has <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-take-backdoor-to-the-american-dream">at least one member in the USA</a>. These families spend as high as Rs6 million to make their way there, borrowed from local lenders at high interest. The ones who remain are averse to hard work. Dilchan Pun Magar of Lugum was rearing sheep until three years ago. He had 200 of them. Unable to make a living, he also kept side jobs. He has now completely given up on sheep rearing and operates a hotel. “We couldn’t modernise sheep farming. It was a lot of work and we barely made any money, so I ended up leaving it altogether,” says Pun Magar. Rassa Gurung is still supporting his family by selling sheep. He says he makes Rs400,000 a year, and the income goes to paying for his children’s education. “But my children are not interested in taking after me, they think it is too much work,” he adds.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024021517020_8a63eabfb7287bf84d8a5a9753b343eec25c4607ed67b8610316d40af46b16ab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2024021517020_8a63eabfb7287bf84d8a5a9753b343eec25c4607ed67b8610316d40af46b16ab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1523" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate crisis ruins Himalayan pastoralists NT"> </figure>  Jore Pun also cites the new generation’s lack of interest as a reason for the decline of sheep farming. He says, “People started going to school. Now everyone is migrating. Sheep farming is a lot of work, after all.” There are still about 22,000 sheep in Rukum East, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Two years ago, there were nearly 800,000 sheep across the country. It is now down to 770,000. This decrease in sheep numbers has similarly affected the production of meat, down from 2,964 metric tons last year to 2,880 this year. Wool production has also decreased, from 584,000kg two years ago to 567,412 this year.&nbsp; Translated for the Nepali original published on himalkhabar.com

Climate crisis ruins Himalayan pastoralists

Nepal’s remote far western districts have always suffered from food insecurity, but this year saw a significant decline in rice harvest which is expected to increase outmigration and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-karnali-s-hunger-emergency">malnutrition</a>.
The shortages were recorded in just the three months after this year’s harvests hit the market and are attributed to unfavourable rains, people moving away from farming, shortage of fertiliser and other agricultural inputs, low market price for local rice, and lack of irrigation.&nbsp;
This was revealed in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/USAIDNepal/posts/pfbid0wWMzUk7nbDkqfmMwDNYSMbUfgpXeQEuzULdAXSYwWXiXrHiAMF6ZVAhh7uC9gNcwl">International Rice Conference</a> held by the Nepal government in partnership with Feed the Future and USAID in Kathmandu this week with the theme: 'Achieving self-sufficiency in rice for Nepal's sustainable economic growth'.
The conference highlighted investment in research and development, subsidised loans to farmers for fertiliser, machinery and raising import tariffs. But by far the greatest impact would be to increase the area under irrigation, especially in the more arid western mountains of Nepal which are chronically food-deficit.
Three-fourths of Nepalis depend on agriculture, which makes up a quarter of the GDP. About 20% of that comes from rice. Till 30 years ago, Nepal used to export rice, but the country’s population has doubled in that time, there is also a growth in numbers of people switching to rice in their diet, and a fall in production.
Although productivity has increased, the area of land under cultivation has gone down. Nepal imported rice worth Rs40 billion in 2020-21, up 64% from the previous year.
Productivity could be further increased if there was better irrigation, since 80% of farms depend on rain-fed agriculture. The climate crisis has made those rains more erratic.
Even if all of Nepal’s 30 million people ate rice, the country would theoretically need 6.5 million tonnes of rice per year, but Nepal imports 7.5 million tonnes. The spurt in rice import is also because of the demand from the burgeoning beer industry.
This time last year, industrial warehouses were full of rice. Now, most of them in Dhangadi and other market towns are empty. Karnali Province grows about 150 million kg of rice annually. However, production this year is down by 50%, says agro-businessman Om Prakash Agrawal.
As it stands, the shortage in supply has also meant that prices have increased. The price of short-grain rice has gone up from Rs42 per kg to Rs55, while the cost of long-grain rice has increased from Rs60 three months ago to Rs75.&nbsp;
Hari Shankar Thakur, owner of Thakur Agro Industries, says that the scarcity of rice in the market caused by the decrease in paddy production has exacerbated the supply shortage in the far western hill districts.&nbsp;
Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-karnali-s-hunger-emergency">The Karnali’s hunger emergency</a>, Anita Bhetwal
“Current stocks indicate that unless the government intervenes, there will be a severe shortage of food in the Far West in another three months’ time,” adds Thakur. “But it seems like the government is unconcerned about how to meet the people’s demands for rice.”&nbsp;
The Nepal Food Corporation, which purchases paddy from Nepali suppliers every year to avoid food shortages in the country’s hill districts, began buying rice in November of this year as well.
Indeed, the Corporation unit in Dhangadi which last year set a target to purchase 4 million kg of paddy, aimed to buy 6 million kg this season at the government-allocated support price of Rs31.98 per kg. The market price of rice does not affect the support price set by the government.&nbsp;
The corporation established six purchase depots in the district to facilitate transactions. However, farmers stopped showing up to sell their rice in the depots in December because they prefer to sell their product at a higher price elsewhere than at the government-allocated price, corporation officials said.&nbsp;
So far, Dhangadi has bought only 1.87 million kg of paddy out of the targeted 6 million kg, says Angila Basnet, head of the Food Corporation in Dhangadi.&nbsp;
This means the paddy harvested will only produce 1 million kg of rice which will not even be enough to cover one week’s demand.
“It is impossible for our supply to meet the demand for rice in the far west,” says Basnet. “In fact, there is already a shortage of food in the mountains &nbsp;even though the paddy season is not over yet.”
Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nearly-half-of-nepali-children-still-malnourished">Nearly half of Nepali children still malnourished</a>, Sonia Awale

Paddy production falls in west Nepal

This is the 43rd instalment of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/diaspora-diaries">Diaspora Diaries</a>, a regular series in Nepali Times with stories of Nepalis living and working abroad.&nbsp; It was a Saturday morning. Tired from the week’s work in the farm, we were looking forward to resting and catching up with families back home. It had been just over a month since we arrived in Israel. But early morning at 5am on 7 October, we were woken up by earthquake-like jolts. We rushed outside, and there were missiles streaking across the sky and explosions.&nbsp; We found it all very exciting at first, but when the sirens went off we got worried and ruished to our little bunker to hide. There we started getting frantic calls from fellow Nepali students at Kibbutz Alumim which was 18km away. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-confirmed-killed-in-hamas-attack">Nepalis confirmed killed in Hamas attack</a> They video called us and asked for help. They said there was an explosion in their bunker and blood everywhere. Our hands trembled as we called our college representative, but the whole area was under attack and there was no way any ambulance could make it in. Later, even our wifi and electricity got cut off, and we could not get in touch with our friends or anyone else. When the internet was restored in the evening, we found out that 17 of our friends at Alumim had also taken shelter in a bunker, but had come under attack from terrorists. &nbsp; We had arrived in Israel just a month before under the ‘Learn and Earn’ program. We were just settling in and getting a hang of things. The first three weeks were spent just getting used to the desert environment in southern Israel. At the farm, it was long hours of manual work sorting, grading and packaging onions.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231011091012_804eb8439329e3c3b7a284e5875d7b716304d2c846e3b1f10094de617f72490b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20231011091012_804eb8439329e3c3b7a284e5875d7b716304d2c846e3b1f10094de617f72490b" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis killed in Israel Hamas attack NT"> </figure>  In the bunker that first day, I was worried that my family was worried about me because I could not go my weekly call. Had my parents and brother back in Nepal found out <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepalis-confirmed-killed-in-hamas-attack" target="_blank">what has happened in Israel?</a> My silence could have made them assume the worst. The minute I got a chance, I called them to let them know I was safe. In the three days we spent in the bunker, it was difficult to speak to my family to describe the situation. I would feel overwhelmed and tearful when they asked how I was doing. I could not tell them everything that was really going on because they would panic. I am okay, don’t worry was all I could come up with. After that, I preferred just to exchange text messages.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/war-in-israel-earthquake-and-grief-in-nepal">War in Israel, earthquake and grief in Nepal</a> In that bunker after being woken up by sirens, I remember writing a note on my phone describing the situation since sleep was out of the question.&nbsp; अहिले यहाँ इजरायलमा कति बेला के हुन्छ, केही आतो पतो छैन। हामी साथीहरु विगत शनिबार देखि निरन्तर २ दिनसम्म बंकरमा लुकेर आफ्नो ज्यान जोगाउन बाँधे भाको छम्। यहाँ सोचें जस्तो सहज केही पनि छैन। कति बेला आकासमा कालो धुवाँको मुस्लो उठ्छ थाहा नै हुन्न। निकै नै त्रसित माहोल छ मिसाईलहरु कति बेला का बाट आयो पातो पाइनँ। साईरनको त्यो ठूलो अनि भैंकर आवाजले सतो पुत्लो लिन्छ। आकाश मा हेलिकप्टर अनि फाईटर जेटहरु निरन्तर उडिरहेका छन्। बंकरमा पनि सोचें जस्तै सहज केही छैन् , न खाना न पनि अनि त्यो चिसो भुईमा यो लामो रात त्रासै त्रासमा नसुती बिताउनु कुनै नर्कमा नै भाको अनुभूति हुन्छ। आजको रात निकै लामो हुने छ। पर्खाई त्यो भोलि शुभ विहानीको छ। (Here in Israel, we have no idea what will happen next. Since Saturday we have been trying to stay alive for the past two days in this bunker. Anything can happen at any time, without warning there are black smoke trails of approaching missiles. The loud wail of sirens is frightening. Fighter jets and helicopters are flying all the time. In the cold floor of the bunker, there is no food, no water and in the long and scary sleepless night it feels like hell. This is going to be a long night. We are just waiting for good tidings in the morning.)  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231011091012_aebca7aaddc14d0864807b73d2a55bf802f4be4fee111f8d8ee34a929d350867.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20231011091012_aebca7aaddc14d0864807b73d2a55bf802f4be4fee111f8d8ee34a929d350867" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1536" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis killed in Israel Hamas attack NT"> </figure>  The farm dogs are also scared, and join us the in the bunker. We first thought we should chase them out since they might bark and draw attention to us, instead we welcomed their companionship and they slept next to us. &nbsp; In the morning we called everyone that we could think of: the Nepal Embassy, government back home, everyone. Sometimes, we had to step out of the bunker to make calls. The response was not so proactive, so we started sharing videos on social media to draw more attention, hoping for some action. When we first got the call from the embassy to get ready, we were thrilled. They told us to just pack our documents and laptops. We left all our luggage behind. We even called our families to tell them we were coming home. But that day no one came to receive us and we waited in vain. It meant another long scary night in the cold bunker.&nbsp; Finally, help came the next day and 32 of us from different farms were escorted by the Israel Army out of the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=netivot+israel&amp;client=safari&amp;sca_esv=572016509&amp;rls=en&amp;sxsrf=AM9HkKmL6INThh6fvozKNX7AhMsqGhk5Aw:1696891421452&amp;ei=HYIkZaOlG8iUseMP1ZW16AY&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjjp5eTheqBAxVISmwGHdVKDW0Q4dUDCA8&amp;uact=5&amp;oq=netivot+israel&amp;gs_lp=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&amp;sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&amp;vld=cid:f2f00253,vid:5dHF5sPLYCI,st:0" target="_blank">Netivot</a> area to safety. Leaving behind our belongings, we came to <a href="http://global-learner.com/negev/" target="_blank">Ramat Negev farm</a> which is where we are at now. Being away from yesterday’s place feels a lot safer. This is far from the war zone and out in the desert near the Egypt border without many residential buildings. We thought we would be brought to Tel Aviv but instead, here we are for the time being.&nbsp; Finally, we realise how the accumulated stress and fatigue of the last three days has worn us out. There was fear from constant sounds of sirens and explosions, and the urgent need to coordinate with different agencies for our rescue, assure our families we were okay. Most importantly, we grieved the friends we lost. Our friend Bipin is still missing, there is no news about him.&nbsp; Here at the farm, besides us Nepalis there are other colleagues from Thailand and Zimbabwe. After what feels like ages, we finally got to eat warm food which felt good and made us happy, that too in the company of friends. We are spending time talking, trying to recover and gain back our energy.&nbsp; We are in touch with our families who are also relieved that we are away from the frontline. But they are desperate for us to come home. And so are we. Although we are relatively safe here, there is still uncertainty, what if the war spreads to where we are and something goes wrong again. What if things escalate?&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231011091012_88fece4158ae2bf08eb19317f58828c4273f09f9e54302e476832851d839c54b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20231011091012_88fece4158ae2bf08eb19317f58828c4273f09f9e54302e476832851d839c54b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1434" loading="lazy" alt="Nepalis killed in Israel Hamas attack NT"> </figure>  We want to return to Nepal, and need to be rescued as soon as possible. They should not wait for things to normalise to rescue us. If things get back to normal, we can come back by ourselves.&nbsp; What I wrote last night was in an empty stomach about waiting for good tidings in the morning.&nbsp; पर्खाइ त्यो भोलीको शुभ बिहानी नेपालमा देख्ने रहर छ ।&nbsp; (Today, I write: in a full stomach and in company of friends in a relatively safe area, I try to get some sleep waiting for tomorrow morning, and the yearning to be back home in Nepal.&nbsp; Diaspora Diaries is a regular column in Nepali Times providing a platform to share experiences of living, working, studying abroad. Authentic and original entries can be sent to <a href="mailto:editors@nepalitimes.com">editors@nepalitimes.com</a> with Diaspora Diaries in the subject line.

A Nepali’s lucky escape from Hamas

Rohit is from Bihar and drives an auto rickshaw in Mumbai. Life has been a struggle ever since he lost his parents in a car crash. Like many young men from Bihar in this big city, he migrated here to make a living.Then came the pandemic in 2020, and the lockdown meant that Rohit had no income at all. He and his family had to rely on the municpality’s two free meals a day.   “Mumbai belongs to the rich, except during elections,” says the 23-year-old as he negotiates the city’s dreary traffic, recalling how his wife and young son were evicted from their room for unpaid rent.But one day a miracle happened. A Nepali caregiver named Manjeela, whom Rohit knew, came to the rescue and along with her two daughters offering his family shelter and food for a few weeks.Rohit says he and his wife struggled to comprehend Manjeela’s generosity. Why was she going out of her way to help a poor family when their own family in Bihar had refused to help them?“I am so used to people turning their back on me that I just did not understand Manjeela’s kindness. It felt uncomfortable to accept such a genuine gesture,” he adds.Manjeela then found out from the media that the popular Bollywood actor Sonu Sood was helping migrant workers like Rohit with transportation to their homes. She coordinated with Sood’s team and registered Rohit and his family so they could travel back to Bihar.“Sonu Sir came to see us off and I even got to shake his hands,” smiles Rohit. Had it not been for Manjeela and Sonu Sood, Rohit knows he would have been one of the hundreds of thousands walking home to their villages along train tracks, evicted and penniless -- an iconic image during India’s first lockdown in early 2020. “What other option did we have? Even thinking about the possibility of walking back brings tears to my eyes,” he says. <img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114091156/637203159c7e80680e0b27ecjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Adds Rohit: “For tens of thousands like me, Sonu was a real-life hero. But for my family specifically, Manjeela was an angel. I will never be able to forget what they did for me and my family.” --AmitA quiet man with a wide smile, 45-year old Amit spent a decade in Saudi Arabia taking care of a family of 7, alongside three <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/south-asias-migrants-shared-problems-share-solutions/">other South Asian migrants</a> including a Nepali housemaid.He had come home to India for his nephew’s wedding when Covid-19 hit, and he was stuck because of a Saudi ban on flights because of the Delta outbreak. Two years later, it finally looks like he can <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/labour-mobility/crossborder-virus-and-nepali-migrant-workers/">rejoin his employment</a>, but only by making a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/indians-use-nepal-to-circumvent-travel-bans/">convoluted journey through Kathmandu</a> for a flight to Riyadh. India has finally been lifted off the Saudi red list, but direct flights from Mumbai are unaffordable for Amit. That is why he is flying from Delhi to Kathmandu along with three other stranded Indian migrant workers. This is a less expensive option – at least that is what his agent told him.Agents are skillful at finding loopholes around flight bans and restrictions, and provide options for desperate workers like Amit. But the Kathmandu option is also expensive for him: he had to pay the agent ₹85,000, including costs for a two-week quarantine in Nepal.It was not an ideal arrangement, given pre-Covid flights were a fraction of what he is paying now, but Amit says at least he will start earning again soon. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/living-with-covid-in-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">uncertainties brought by Omicorn</a> might trap him for extended periods once again, but he cannot afford to take any more chances.“For now, the priority is my daughter’s wedding,” says Amit who will have to pay the groom up to ₹400,000 (Rs640,000) in dowry. This is over 15 months of his wages, even if he were to save every paisa. There are other regular costs to take care of back home -- for food, medicine, loans for the ticket and his children’s education, making it difficult to save even a small portion of his earnings.Amit looks out of the plane’s window (pictured right) at Himalayan peaks as the plane begins its descent into Kathmandu. He says: “The work in Saudi is not easy. What work is easy? But it pays, and that’s what matters. I can save ₹25,000 a month, and that’s more than double of what I can earn in India.” <img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114091156/637203189c7e80680e0b27edjpeg.jpg" alt="">Dhana Dhana is from Gulmi district in Nepal, and is finally flying home from Delhi after the pandemic hit two years ago.“Nepal is so close, yet I have not seen my family for two-and-half years,” he says.For many Nepalis, a work stint in India is a stepping stone to go to Malaysia or the Gulf. They can save enough in India to afford to pay recruiters for the overseas jobs.But Dhana’s work history is unique. He has been to India before, then to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, UAE and he has come right back to India after his boss in the UAE transferred him to look after his home in India. <img width="640" height="853" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114091156/6372031b9c7e80680e0b27eejpeg.jpg" alt="">Older Nepali migrant workers find the culture and familiarity of India more appealing, even though the earnings may not be as much as elsewhere. Many others are here for seasonal work as drivers or security guards because they cannot afford to pay recruiters for jobs in the Gulf. Younger Nepalis, however, do not find India as appealing.Despite being one of the largest destination countries for Nepali workers, India seldom gets the attention it deserves and is treated akin to internal migration. There is no precise count of Nepali workers in India because of the open border and no requirement for permits. But this migrant workforce <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/indias-covid-catastrophe-hits-nepalis-hard/">suddenly became visible during India’s Covid lockdowns</a> as Nepalis <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-braces-for-its-2nd-covid-wave/">streamed back</a> in the hundreds of thousands.Dhana himself works at an Indian household, so was spared during Covid-19. But he knows of many Nepalis who suffered. Four of his acquaintances who lived close by lost their lives during the 2021 Delta peak.Deaths of Nepali workers in India also go largely unnoticed -- with or without Covid-19. There is no count, no compensation to families of the deceased, and no government help with repatriation as happened from the Gulf or Malaysia.“The only consolation is that here you can expect that full procedures will be followed during funerals according to Hindu rituals which you probably cannot expect elsewhere,” says Dhana. “The Nepal government should compensate families of the deceased as they are from the poorest families.”But he is quick to note the privileges of being a migrant in India versus other countries where he has lived and worked. “You don’t become undocumented in India. You are not obliged to stay with the same employer,” he says.Dhana should know: he has spent months hiding in the jungles of Johor Baru in Malaysia with 19 other Nepalis to avoid raids when he became undocumented because his employer went bankrupt.He quit his job in Saudi Arabia after three months despite having paid Rs100,000 to a recruiter. In both cases, he felt trapped as he wasn’t able to exit the countries without incurring fees, and was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/in-the-minds-of-nepals-migrant-workers/">mentally stressed.</a>After making a full circle back to India where he had spent over a decade in his early twenties before venturing to Malaysia and the Gulf, he values the freedom for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/people-to-people-at-india-nepal-border/">Nepali workers like him in India. </a>Some names have been changed.

Rohit, Amit and Dhana

<figure><img width="816" height="612" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1df69c7e80680e0af3e3jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Aakash KC finally flew to Korea on 13 December to rejoin his job after being stranded in Nepal for two years. Photo: AAKASH KC</figcaption></figure>When Aakash KC flew to Kathmandu from Seoul in February 2020, he was looking forward to a three-month break in Nepal from his job in South Korea. Little did he know that he would be stranded for almost two agonising years in Nepal due to the pandemic. KC finally flew back to Seoul on Monday after months of uncertainty because of confusing information on Covid, flip-flopping rules. “As per Korean law, I had to come to Nepal for three months before resuming with same employer for another five years,” KC said as he prepared to leave. KC is part of the much-coveted <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Korea-treating-Nepali-migrant-workers-right,2813" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Employment Permit Scheme (EPS)</a>, a government-to-government partnership between Nepal and Korea to supply workers, and is luckier than most other Nepali migrants because he had an employer who waited to have him back. KC had to renew his Certificate for Confirmation of Visa Issuance (CCVI) multiple times with help from his Korean employer. He said: “I used to feel anxious when co-workers from Sri Lanka had returned to their jobs in Korea whereas my future was uncertain.” KC’s employer was not just patient, he even sent him financial help during the early months of the pandemic. It is a testament to the hard work and trust that Nepali workers like KC have built with their Korean employers that they are willing to do that.  <img width="455" height="286" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1df89c7e80680e0af3e4jpeg.jpg" alt="">KC did not look for any other options during the past two years, although he was tempted to prepare for Nepal’s civil service exams. He has retained his language skills, and earlier this week was excited about returning to Korea. To be sure, not everyone is as lucky as KC. Sunita Gurung worked on a farm in Korea, and received her CCVI for continued employment. But her employer cancelled because the process dragged on for too long, leaving her heartbroken and helpless. “I understand why he did that,” Gurung said. “How long can an employer wait when I could not confirm when I could return?” For over 10,000 other Nepalis who passed the competitive Korean language and skills exams, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/labour-mobility/crossborder-virus-and-nepali-migrant-workers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pandemic has been a roller coaster ride</a>. They were too far along the process to let go of lucrative job opportunities in Korea that guarantees high wages and a secure future.  <figure><img width="960" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1dfa9c7e80680e0af3e5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Nepali workers boarding a Korean Air flight in Kathmandu this week after being stuck for nearly two years. Korea is opening up cautiously to see if there is another Covid surge. Photo: AAKASH KC</figcaption></figure>The workers saw the Gulf and Malaysia opening up after the lockdowns, and could not understand why Korea was still closed. Some workers were under pressure from their families to take up whatever overseas job was available. “When my family saw others from the community headed to Gulf, they asked why I could not do the same. They don’t understand,” said one worker. All the uncertainty and false alarms over the past year and a half has taken a toll on the mental health of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Korean-kafala-migrants-in-Korea,4025" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">aspirants for Korea</a>. The lack of clear information also means confusion about whether the delay was due to Covid-19 restrictions in Nepal or Korea, vaccine status, or the result of insufficient diplomatic lobbying by the Nepal government.It has not helped that for almost three years, there has not been a Nepali ambassador in Seoul. Junior embassy staff do not have the same access and influence as an ambassador, and the country’s labour diplomacy has suffered as a result.“We knew it was due to public health concerns and the Korea government was using similar criteria to all EPS partner countries to assess whether to allow workers or not, but our government was also not being proactive,” said Askash KC who <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/delayed-dreams-for-korea-bound-nepalis/">took to the streets</a> earlier this year to put pressure on the Nepal government to lobby with the Koreans.  <figure><img width="2048" height="1536" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1dfc9c7e80680e0af3e6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Trilok Pant finally flew to Korea in October after waiting for nearly two years and is back at his job. "Work has started in full swing," he says. Photo: TRILOK PANT</figcaption></figure>The EPS Struggle Committee met government officials, including all five labour ministers in the past two years. A running joke within the Struggle Committee was that one labour minister who lasted only a few days in office earlier this year asked the members who had gone to appeal to him: “What is EPS?”The South Koreans had set three criteria for the corridors to resume: the presence of direct, regular flights to Incheon, all migrants buy Covid-19 insurance, and workers pay for ten-day quarantines on arrival in Korea. All these criteria were met, and despite the added cost to the workers, Nepalis finally started flying to Korea in October. Trilok Pant was among the first lot that went to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/dead-end-of-the-korean-dream/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Korea</a> in October after spending 22 months here. “There was so much excitement among the 48 Nepalis who went on the first flight,” he said on the phone from Korea. “Work has started in full swing now.”Like KC, Pant was also lucky to have a kind employer who sent him money during the pandemic, and waited for him as he renewed his CCVI four times because it only had six-month validity. “On my first day out of quarantine, he took us out for dinner,” Pant recalled. “It was a happy reunion.” <figure><img width="2048" height="1536" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1dff9c7e80680e0af3e7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Trilok Pant with his co-workers, including Nepalis, in Korea pre-pandemic. Photo: TRILOK PANT</figcaption></figure>In the 22 months that he was stranded in Nepal, Pant did not do any work because of the uncertainty about Korea. But Korean employers, too, have faced problems because their workers could not get back. Nepalis mostly are on jobs that locals will not do, especially not for the salaries for migrant workers. “Nepalis have a reputation for hard work and honesty, which worked to our advantage this time as our employers waited for us patiently amid all the uncertainty and inconvenience,” Pant added. For now, only a small proportion of those waiting have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-long-wait-before-flight/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">able to rejoin jobs</a>, and the Koreans appear to opening up cautiously to see if there is a Covid surge. Only if all goes well in the coming months will more workers be let in. And there are thousands of Nepalis waiting to fly out.

Long wait over, Nepalis return to Korea

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d086c9c7e80680e0a6017jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="990" height="1523"/><figcaption>Akram from Sunsari needs a vaccine certificate to go to Qatar. He came at 6AM twice, and failed to get his document. Just to be sure, he came in on Saturday afternoon at 4PM and waited 28 hours to be first to get his certificate on Sunday morning. All photos and videos: UPASANA KHADKA</figcaption></figure>After getting his single-shot Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine, Yogendra lined up the following morning from 2AM at Teku to get his vaccine certified so he could go to Saudi Arabia to join his job. But his letter was missing a stamp, and he had to return the next day.Like Yogendra, thousands of workers have packed queues at the Teku Hospital to get their certificates, with fears that the crowds could themselves spread the virus.“There is a lot of mixed information and confusion, and the officials do not seem to know what to do,” says Yogendra. “And how can we be safe in these crowds?”Yogendra said “cautious goodbyes” to his family in Doti and travelled to Kathmandu, not sure if he could finally leave. Distressed and demoralised, he has had to spend more money extending his stay to finish his paperwork.Netra from Jhapa is also going to Saudi Arabia, and got to Teku Hospital only at 6AM by which time there was already a long line, and he had to go back.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d086e9c7e80680e0a6018jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2274" height="1456">“Tonight, I will come at 9PM so I am one of the first ones in line,” he told me. “Even 2AM might be too late.”  For Yogendra, Netra and many other workers getting ready to leave, it is difficult to get around in unfamiliar Kathmandu and work the system to get all the required travel documents. “My legs are sore from all the walking and standing,” says Netra.Akram (pictured above) from Sunsari did not want to take any chances, so instead of lining up at 2AM for his vaccine certificate, he was already at Teku at 4PM on Saturday to be in front of the line for Sunday morning.After getting his jab last week, he came to Teku twice, but missed his chance to get his certificate both the times because he came only at 6AM. This time, he was waiting 28 hours before the counter opened.Akram is headed to Qatar to work as an office cleaner and will be earning $360 a month. This is his first time in Kathmandu, and he slept on and off all night while squatting under a tin roof to keep dry in the rain.The security guards at Teku took to Akram for his determination and grit, and they had given him a nickname: ‘Number One’. By 10PM on Saturday, Akram had been joined by others who also wanted to be ahead on the line.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08729c7e80680e0a6019jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="1138"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Among them was Gopal Thapa Magar from Ramechhap bound for Saudi Arabia, and a returnee migrant Dinesh DC from Dang. The three bonded while waiting, and took turns to have tea in a nearby shop as they waited for dawn to break.From Sunday, to prevent overcrowding in Teku, the government will provide vaccination certificates from four hospitals in Kathmandu.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08759c7e80680e0a601ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY3kgCwJsbAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vCPzd3dToYFor Nepali migrant workers, the vaccine certificate is just the latest in a long checklist of permits, certificates and authorisations to complete.But such is the desperation because of the lack of job opportunities at home during the pandemic that despite the harrowing obstacles, workers like Yogendra, Netra and Akram cannot wait to leave.For the first time in two decades, the number of annual labour approvals fell below 100,000 to just over 72,000 in 2020-21. This drop reflects the shrinking opportunities for Nepali job seekers who have relied on migration to break out of intergenerational poverty.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08789c7e80680e0a601bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="360"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d087a9c7e80680e0a601cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The reasons for the historic low numbers are fallout from the pandemic and continued hiring freezes and travel bans to some countries. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE accounted for 80% of labour approvals in 2020-21, while few workers went to Malaysia and Kuwait which had consistently been among top destination countries for Nepali overseas workers.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-migrants-again-caught-up-in-2nd-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-migrants-again-caught-up-in-2nd-wave/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627267758738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF56UDVbYsJHL5vZIneYD4mpabP1A">Malaysia halted recruitment</a> of all foreign workers indefinitely since early last year, while Kuwait red-listed Nepal for public health reasons since the early days of the pandemic until recently.The drop in annual outflow of workers paints an incomplete picture: <a style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://ccmc.gov.np/ccmc2/ccmc_update/No.of%20Nepali%20Repatriated%202078.04.05.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ccmc.gov.np/ccmc2/ccmc_update/No.of%2520Nepali%2520Repatriated%25202078.04.05.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627267758738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGiT7tSqd2KtrfmwoAnp9yld4JSeQ">nearly 500,000 Nepali workers</a> were repatriated from all over the world with majority from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia in the past year. And a significant number of Nepalis abroad chose to stay on their jobs.However, there are no reliable estimates of the total number of Nepalis working overseas. According to Malaysian government data obtained by Nepali Times, the total number of Nepalis there dropped from 300,000 at end-2019 to just over 160,000 in 2021. But this excludes undocumented Nepalis in Malaysia, whose numbers <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mindful-of-migrants-mental-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mindful-of-migrants-mental-health/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627267758738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFu2uMrNJCQSfA0UOoVgoJpaZN4bQ">have grown significantly</a> since the pandemic.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d087d9c7e80680e0a601djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="360"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08809c7e80680e0a601ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Employers there have been hesitant to send back workers due to worker shortage and hiring freeze, delays in receiving exit permits or because of unaffordable tickets.Since migrant workers do <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-overseas-toil-through-the-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-overseas-toil-through-the-pandemic/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627267758738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEy-H9Qaln0ZJ_OjXcH-hTKY0jIZA">‘essential’ jobs</a>, there is still demand for them in certain sectors. Recovery of emigration will require Nepal to be more strategic about exploiting these constricted opportunities.For example, despite many job opportunities in Saudi Arabia, recruitment has been affected over the past year because of delays or temporary obstructions in ‘demand attestation’, a mandatory requirement in the recruitment process. Similarly, embassies accredited to countries like Turkey, Poland and Croatia have also not been proactive about demand attestation.For European countries where there are delays with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-to-turkey-and-onwards/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-to-turkey-and-onwards/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627267758738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF8qBGo8r8npXkN1E852zFgCgFETw">job demand letter approvals</a> by Nepali embassies, the share of workers <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/europe-now-favoured-destination-for-nepalis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/europe-now-favoured-destination-for-nepalis/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627267758738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFRq74NGxlvsT6FDDZMJqAAORK_lQ">obtaining individual labour approvals</a> instead of institutional approvals is high even when the recruitment is facilitated by recruiters.This means recruiting agencies cannot be held liable in case of problems with the worker’s contract or safety. Misuse of approvals can be costly because recruitment costs are high for these countries, aspirants are easier to lure and European countries are fertile for trafficking.With Covid-19, maintaining a balance between facilitating recruiters to play a critical intermediation role with regulatory actions to curb malpractice and exploitation of desperate job seekers has become even more challenging.Recruiters complain that the government has not acknowledged their contributions or the impact of Covid-19 on their businesses. Last fiscal year, almost a third of the 853 recruiters in Nepal were unable to obtain labour approvals for a single worker, while about a fifth deployed less than 10 workers over the entire year (See figure).<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08839c7e80680e0a601fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="360"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>While regulation is necessary, it can sometimes unreasonably inconvenience the employer, recruiter or migrant worker without addressing, or correcting the problems. In many cases, regulations create loopholes to worsen the safety and welfare of migrants.For example, attestation of employment demand letters is a welcome move to curb fraudulent job orders which now needs to also scrutinise employers’ commitment to Covid-19 health protocols.But its effectiveness rests on proactive embassies to carry out the attestation services of rewarding job orders expeditiously and fairly. Otherwise it prevents gainful employment, or worse, compels migrants to bypass the legal system.Recruiters have not been able to smoothly deploy workers to Qatar. The Qatar Visa Center (QVC) was set up as a ‘one stop’ window to facilitate medical tests and biometrics, but is accused of lack of transparency. In the past, a handful of medical centres approved by the government could be used for the pre-departure medical tests.Now, QVC alone cannot keep up with applicants and the backlog from the lockdown months, impacting over 7,000 Qatar-bound Nepalis, says Sujit Shrestha of NAFEA (National Association of Foreign Employment Agencies).The QVC management has been accused of providing appointments selectively to well-connected manpower companies. “If we take an appointment in July, we get dates for September and October,” says Shrestha. “How can we work like that when Qatari employers are in a hurry to recruit workers to complete their projects delayed during the pandemic?”Nepali and Qatari authorities need to investigate these allegations against QVC and ensure it operates as intended.The latest is the challenge of vaccination. Inconsistent vaccines requirement, authenticity of vaccine certification and wide availability of vaccines have been problems. The J&amp;J Janssen jabs are ideal for migrant workers because a single dose saves outbound migrants time, and it is recognised by destination countries -- <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/job-seekers-now-also-jab-seekers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/job-seekers-now-also-jab-seekers/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627267758738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHMjTdkQhFk_HHOeWL4vO2vYmkQiQ">unlike the Chinese jabs</a> that are not accepted in countries like Saudi Arabia.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08869c7e80680e0a6020jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Furthermore, the J&amp;J jabs exempt migrants from expensive institutional quarantine in destination countries. But it has come at a cost as reflected in Akram’s experience. Shrestha of NAFEA says that it would have been much easier if, like other countries, vaccine certificates had a unique QR code for authentication.Major destination countries have launched their own mobile apps that will be used mandatorily including to enter public spaces and workplaces. There is uncertainty about the acceptability of paper-based vaccine documents that are being given out in Nepal.“This has to be a continuous effort, not a one-off initiative, with dedicated vaccination camps for migrant workers that will also involve DOFE officials so workers with jabs get certification as well. Everyday hundreds of migrants will require jabs, and there is no clear policy for them,” Shrestha says.The uncertainty and lack of coordination in the vaccination drive has financial and time costs, but there is also the invisible mental toll it takes on workers wanting a better shot at life. Nepal needs better labour diplomacy, inter-ministerial coordination and most importantly, empathy for migrants.The Labour Ministry is currently without a minister in the new government, and over the course of the pandemic there have been four Labour Ministers, including the last two who were in office just for a few days.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08889c7e80680e0a6021jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Despite all this, remittances have so far <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/defying-predictions-nepals-remittances-still-high/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/defying-predictions-nepals-remittances-still-high/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627267758738000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGEabPw8o4a8Twn_RqOFHaOAwoAqQ">defied expectations</a>. Nepal Rastra Bank data for the past 11 months show that remittance saw a 12.6% increase to Rs871 billion compared to 2020-21, but a 3.2% increase compared to 2019-20.We are quick to celebrate the resilience of remittances amid a pandemic and migrants as ‘heroes’, when they are the first ones abroad to send us <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-diaspora-comes-to-the-rescue/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627267758739000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGPp875OA7l35XrAzvCw9_n6gcWZA">oxygen cylinders and medical supplies</a>.Om Thapa and Niraj Lama helped with reporting this story.Upasana Khadka writes this column <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/why-has-zero-cost-migration-not-happened/">Labour Mobility</a> every month in Nepali Times analysing trends affecting Nepal’s workers abroad.

Upasana Khadka

Nepalis queueing up all night for proof of jab

Architecture can be a powerful agent of change, shaping not just spaces but the way people live, connect, and experience the world.&nbsp; For Nepal, which is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/natures-fragile-gift-to-nepal">gifted by nature</a> and rich in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/ambassador-fund-cultural-preservation-nepal,2092">cultural heritage</a>, &nbsp;reviving rural architecture with modern amenities could hold the key to more <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-sustainable-tourism-means-in-practice">sustainable tourism </a>that benefits local people more. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/bayalpata-hospital-in-nepal-wins-global-design-award">Design and architecture</a> are amazing tools to create a unique experience for visitors,” says Spanish architect Tomeu Esteva of Esteva i Esteva Architecture Studio. “Difficult destinations have beautiful hotels with design and comfort.” Esteva was in Kathmandu with his colleagues at an event organised by the Spanish Honorary Consulate at Dwarika’s Hotel last week to showcase buildings which Nepali architects can adapt with local material and design inputs.&nbsp; Rural architecture holds a unique significance: it is more than a shelter and must reflect <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/inking-an-idenity">local identity, culture</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-humla-from-heritage-loss">heritage</a>. An area’s natural and cultural harmony can be upset by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-protected-areas-from-infrastructure?fbclid=IwAR1wK0MDFlFST_2EYb3f54LS4-fPt6rYfLG1DJ1JaQsU3w8-ezyXIxGOqzk">poorly planned development</a>, speakers at the event said, but the environment can be improved and revitalised by well-integrated structures.&nbsp; Another Spanish architect, Belen Moneo, has designed hotels at elevations of 3,700m in her home country Spain that supply natural spring water spas. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/lost-in-reconstruction">Creativity in construction</a> must be encouraged. Rural architecture always shows possibilities of what we can do better,” Moneo explains, adding that designs must enhance <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-healing-power-of-nature">the beauty of nature</a> and give a natural feel at a time when steel, glass and cement dominate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rebuilding-kathmandu-after-the-1934-quake">urban design</a>.&nbsp; This is why the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/weaving-nature-into-craft">use of natural products</a> such as bamboo, local timber, straw and rammed earth are in demand from customers who want a fresh eco-friendly look encouraged in construction of rural architectural structures. The demand for boutique hotels has increased world over, with &nbsp;more and more tourists favouring aesthetics, experience and comfort over price. While creativity is an important part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/architecture-for-mountains">construction and architecture</a>, incentives to build and use <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Building,370">rural construction materials</a> still remain minimal, and Moneo emphasises the significance of design and execution.&nbsp; Esteva helped design the Vana Retreat in Dehradun that kept the natural environment in focus, with the structure giving an elaborate aesthetic experience to visitors. Another example is Hotel Las Mercedes in the Dominican Republic which was designed and constructed by Moneo and the company she co-founded Moneo Brock, respecting and revaluing the traditional architecture of the area. Hotels providing such experience could attract tourists and revenue. The Spanish ambassador to Nepal Juan Antonio March Pujol said, “The role of architecture and architects in developing tourism is crucial, not only in urban areas but rural settings as well.”&nbsp; The concept of rural boutique hotels gained traction in Spain during the 1990s, particularly in regions like Majorca with economic and environmental sustainability as the main focus. In Nepal <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/guiding-nepal-s-tourism-industry">the tourism industry</a> directly employs about 1 million people, and makes up about 8% of the country’s GDP. In Nepal, the stone homes of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/reviving-himalayan-vulture-and-culture">Mustang and Manang</a>, bamboo and mud structures of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-tarai-s-shrinking-forests">the Tarai</a>, and the Kathmandu Valley’s terra cotta tile skylines, graceful temples, and tranquil bahal courtyards are all examples of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-traditional-seismic-resistant-designs">Nepal’s traditional architecture</a>.&nbsp; Nepali architect Sarosh Pradhan has been working for the past eight years on the Brakka Village project in Manang Valley north of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/municipalities-want-to-manage-annapurna">the Annapurnas</a>. Other examples of this kind of rural architecture for high-end tourism are the Shinta Mani Hotel in Mustang and Khumbu Lodge below <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/mt-everest-pvt-ltd">Mt Everest</a>. Says Pradhan, “There are places in Nepal that radiate purity and embrace simplicity. Creating projects in such settings require deep reflection and thoughtful planning.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250421030444_a07a23f6b60fa89c0f35b9dc1aaf19937da4881e6bfb2e1858f3c27dff91729f" data-rendition-name="original" width="4608" height="2184" loading="lazy" alt="A new architecture for Nepal's tourism"> </figure>  Rural architecture is not easy, and sometimes more expensive. Inflation, energy efficiency, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/those-who-stay">the climate crisis</a>, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">increased costs of living</a> pose obstacles to sustainable rural architecture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/forgotten-international-starchitects-in-nepal">Forgotten international starchitects in Nepal</a>, Anne Feenstra and Varun S Bapu Esteva says faith and trust between client and architect is necessary for any project to be successful. He adds that architects must practice being humble, the process of designing always involves learning and not imposing their ideas on clients. Nepal is uniquely positioned for the growth of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hiking-up-the-benefits-of-tourism">rural tourism</a> because of its stunning countryside as well as its internationally renowned traditions in holistic wellness. Creating infrastructure that is small, thoughtfully planned and that respects both tradition and contemporary hospitality standards is crucial. “Projects in Nepal can be made cost effective by using materials from houses that have been brought down,” says Esteva. “Pilot projects involving <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people">local people </a>and simple designing also helps the process.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/vacant-homes-become-homestays-in-nepal">The growth of homestays in Nepal</a> is a step in the right direction, but they are still a bit too rustic for the international traveller who also wants comfort and is willing to pay extra for it. Upgrading the facilities in homestays and ensuring that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/an-archive-of-nepali-heritage">architectural heritage</a> of the locality is preserved using locally sourced building material could allow owners to charge more. Says Sangita Shrestha of Dwarika’s Hotel, “Our effort is to build upon rural architecture by empowering local communities and using what is available locally. We can fine tune and encourage indigenous design and training.” The vision goes beyond just boosting the economy, it is about building a future where tourism helps villages grow in a healthy and lasting way. Instead of using up resources, it gives back to the land and the people. It supports local communities by<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/staying-in-nepal-to-create-jobs"> creating jobs</a>, improving infrastructure, and protecting natural beauty. When done right, tourism can be a tool for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/progress-and-or-preservation">preserving culture and nature</a>, not harming them. Architects must therefore see their work as more than just designing buildings, they also need to care deeply about people and places, especially in rural areas that can benefit the most.&nbsp; With global interest in sustainable and off-the-beaten-path travel increasing, Nepal stands at the cusp of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/missing-out-on-nepal-s-tourism-potential">tourism transformation</a> that values community-driven, eco-conscious hospitality. A mix of modern ideas and traditional knowledge could transform rural tourism in Nepal. Says Shrestha, “Young architects should spend time with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/the-unsung-heroes-of-conservation">local and indigenous communities</a>, listen to their stories, and learn from their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/life-and-livelihood-in-remote-nepal">ways of living</a>. These communities have deep knowledge about the land, materials, and climate. If this wisdom is used in new designs, it can help create tourism spaces that truly benefit everyone.” &nbsp;

A new architecture for Nepal's tourism

Extract from an addendum to Nepal's Two Wars, Chapter 2 in the updated edition of Essays on Nepal: Past and Present by Sam Cowan, a retired British Army general with a long association with the Gurkhas. The book was first published in 2018, and republished earlier this month by FinePrint exclusively on Amazon. The addendum details a one-to-one conversation the author had in the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8884">Royal Palace </a>with the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">King Gyanendra</a> in November 2002 just after he had taken his initial steps on the road that ultimately led to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14681">the abolition of the monarchy</a> in Nepal in 2008. In the early evening of September 16, 2002, in my role as Colonel Commandant of the Brigade of Gurkhas, I had my second and last official audience with King Gyanendra to give him an update on the Brigade’s activities over the previous 12 months. I had some 6 or 7 such audiences with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/preserving-king-birendra-s-family-home">King Birendra</a>.&nbsp; These were official affairs with the British ambassador of the day present, along with key <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12233">palace officials</a> and a representative from Nepal's Foreign Ministry. The two monarchs were very different in character and temperament, but both treated me with the utmost civility and made the audiences as relaxed and easy for me as possible.&nbsp; It is, however, worth recording that when the official business had been covered, King Birendra, with a twinkle in his eye, often ended by asking, “Now General, what’s the gossip in London?” The second audience with <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8026">King Gyanendra </a>was my last official act in uniform. We came back to Kathmandu in the first week of November (after treks) to stay for a few nights with our Defence Attaché before heading back to the UK. Waiting for me was a message from the Palace saying that King Gyanendra would like to meet me informally: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6933">no uniform</a> and no ambassador.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080420_f9046f9882d4481781d14f2b64f18c7fbbea62562e1d74e3465de6d01fb43750.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250421080420_f9046f9882d4481781d14f2b64f18c7fbbea62562e1d74e3465de6d01fb43750" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="2406" loading="lazy" alt="Gyanendra crowned page 1"> <figcaption>Nepali Times Special Edition of 6-14 June 2001 with enthronement of Gyanendra. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_21333d6ae21828eb47fe3f849438d215fe2804460d47bb2896ef4aee4e895ad2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250421080424_21333d6ae21828eb47fe3f849438d215fe2804460d47bb2896ef4aee4e895ad2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1857" loading="lazy" alt="Royal massacre"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 22-29 June 2001 covering the royal massacre after which Gyanendra became king. </figcaption> </figure>  Although I had no idea what the purpose of the meeting might be, events in Kathmandu since I last saw the king put me on edge. On October 4, 2002, Gyanendra had dismissed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, allegedly for failing to hold <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-goes-on-in-nepal-s-elections">elections</a>. He had put in place a new prime minister and a cabinet personally selected by him. When I heard the news on my travels, the people I met were generally supportive of the king’s actions. There was a general view that something had to be done, the country was going nowhere, and the king deserved his chance, not least to solve<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/14-years-after-conflict-no-closure-in-nepal"> the Maoist </a>problem. Back in Kathmandu, views were not so sanguine. The chosen prime minister, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, was a relic from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mob-movement-and-mayhem">the Panchayat period</a> whose party had failed to win a single seat in the last elections held in 1999. Some of the chosen cabinet ministers had, to put it mildly, dubious reputations, and others had no record of proven competence in any field. There was a fear that the king’s real motive in dismissing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/deubas-denouement">Deuba</a> was to start to reverse the democratic gains made since 1990. I informed <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-britain-mark-centenary-of-1923-treaty">the British ambassador</a> about the invitation. He was strongly against accepting it, which was probably the clinching reason for my decision to do the polite thing and accept it. On the evening of November 7, 2002, I presented myself at the royal palace, alone and in civilian attire.&nbsp; As in the past, the Military Secretary, Major General Vivek Shah, met and escorted me into the presence of the monarch. This time, however, he was politely asked to leave the room and shut the door behind him. King Gyanendra greeted me warmly and invited me to sit down.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-ghost-of-monarchy-returns-to-haunt-nepal"> The ghost of monarchy returns to haunt Nepal</a>, Shristi Karki  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_e382af945d0ad2a04ae41fabe5393f793dd10f54cb1220f111c7c9e7423eb558.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20250421080424_e382af945d0ad2a04ae41fabe5393f793dd10f54cb1220f111c7c9e7423eb558" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="993" loading="lazy" alt="Gyanendra coup"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 4-10 February 2005 after king Gyanendra's coup imposed media censorship. anendra became king. </figcaption> </figure>  I had wondered, and to be truthful, had worried, not just about the purpose of the meeting, but about how the conversation might start and develop. I reduced my resolve to two points: be polite but speak candidly. The latter resolve was quickly put to the test with the king’s opening words: “Sam, [in previous meetings it had been ‘General’, you walk the highways and byways of this land more than most, tell me what the common man is thinking?” &nbsp;“Your Majesty, I have no idea what they are thinking, but they are waiting.” “Waiting?” “Yes, Your Majesty, they are waiting to see whether what you did some weeks ago in appointing your own prime minister and cabinet ministers is going to make any difference to their lives or whether it is just going to be more Kathmandu hot air.” “Everything is going to be difficult and is going to take time, a lot of time.” “Your Majesty, time is the one thing you don’t have. You must act quickly and decisively to take advantage of the opportunity you have created. Everyone knows that you have appointed these new ministers. Why don’t you get them in here one by one and tell them that they have three months to deliver a programme in their area of responsibility that is going to make a difference to people’s lives? Most will fail to do so. Sack them! It will be a powerful signal of your strong intent to deliver real change.” I can express the opening of our conversation in this way because just about every word is still etched in my mind. The king’s response to my last quoted words was to challenge me to give an example of something that could be delivered quickly. I can give a verbatim record of what I said in response to this unexpected challenge: “Health posts, Your Majesty, there is no shortage of them throughout the country as building them has been one of the sources of local corruption, but very few have any medicine to issue at present or have skilled people to assess and meet medical needs. Your Majesty, children are dying for lack of a few pills. Given the right priority, over a period, say of six months, every health post could be fully stocked with medicine and manned with trained people. This is something I could help to lead for you as I know it would have strong international backing. At last, people would know that you mean business.” As I warmed to the theme, I could see no sign of the king having any enthusiasm for the idea, and I quickly disengaged as it dawned on me, as it had clearly dawned on the king, that the reason for the deficiencies in health posts was to prevent any Maoist combatant from gaining access to any <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/tech-away/nepal-s-health-tech-industry-is-here-to-stay">medical support</a>, and if this meant people suffering, so be it. The subject of the Maoist insurgency inevitably came up, and I took the opportunity to elaborate on what is written in the final four paragraphs of the article above. I advised King Gyanendra that, self-evidently, since there were three parties in the conflict—him, the Maoists, and the political parties—it was imperative that he form an alliance with one of them, preferably the political parties; otherwise, he would find himself isolated, as the other two parties would inevitably, at some stage, form their own alliance. However, it quickly became apparent that the king’s mind was on a totally different track. On the Maoists, he told me that he had channels open to them, but he was scathing about the political party leaders. He made it clear that they would be waiting for a very long time before he gave any power back to them, and that is a polite way of expressing the actual words he used, but “crawling through the door” is a phrase which has stuck in my mind.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080424_5403455ff6168f0d202a96cb53edea69136d74d59b989cfcc7cc4a1d57672cb5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250421080424_5403455ff6168f0d202a96cb53edea69136d74d59b989cfcc7cc4a1d57672cb5" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1317" loading="lazy" alt="fall of monarchy"> <figcaption>Nepali Times 28 April-3 May 2005 with cover image by Ajay Joshi of jubilant protesters after street demonstrations sidelined king Gyanendra, paving the way for a ceasfire and restoration of democracy. </figcaption> </figure>  As the conversation developed, it became ever clearer that King Gyanendra had decided to go in alone, relying on the misleading assurances he was constantly receiving from <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14954">the army</a>, and no doubt his close advisers, that the Maoists could and would be quickly defeated militarily, and taken out of the equation. This would obviate the need for him to do any deal with the political parties.&nbsp; Thus, the way would be clear for him to establish a version of his father’s Panchayat system, under a constitution that would be granted to the people by him, their sovereign, as his father and brother had done in 1962 and 1990. As in those constitutions, ultimate power would have remained in the sovereign’s hands. This proposed direction of travel was very clear from what the king said to me. In sum, King Gyanendra was motivated by a desire to emulate his immediate predecessors by granting his people a constitution that would restore his father’s Panchayat system in a modern form and give him a central role in decision-making. What was particularly dispiriting was that beyond this single objective he had no plan worthy of the name, nor demonstrably did he have the people with the skills to implement an appropriate plan even if one had existed. Crucially and depressingly, there was little or no indication from the king that he realised that such a course of action could put Nepal’s monarchy into serious jeopardy, as indeed proved to be the case. <h2>King Twice</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250420110436_315d519fe3d68d2406ebe1480fed54720fbf21b8907a4da5cde751fdc623d445.jpg" data-media-id="editor_19" data-image-id="20250420110436_315d519fe3d68d2406ebe1480fed54720fbf21b8907a4da5cde751fdc623d445" data-rendition-name="original" width="1302" height="632" loading="lazy" alt="“Tell me what the common man is thinking!”"> </figure>  <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8371">Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah has been king twice</a>. In 1950 he was enthroned briefly as a child king (left, above) by the Rana Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher when his grandfather, King Tribhuvan, fled to exile in India. In 2001 he was crowned king again after the massacre in the royal palace in which his brother King Birendra and nine other members of his family were killed by Crown Prince Dipendra.&nbsp; During his second reign, Gyanendra gradually asserted power by sacking Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2002, and then taking full control after the 1 February 2005 coup. He was sidelined after the ceasefire in April 2006, and became a commoner after the Constituent Assembly finally <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Ftnp-abolishing,624">abolished the monarchy in 2008</a>. In the past year, Gyanendra has tried to exploit public dissatisfaction with the political parties to restore the monarchy.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250421080432_26ef4a4b0e3cee9fdc6794446702efe16550d293904b4f6dd46fe35d4d10c788.jpg" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20250421080432_26ef4a4b0e3cee9fdc6794446702efe16550d293904b4f6dd46fe35d4d10c788" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Essays on Nepal by Sam Cowen"> </figure>

“Tell me what the common man is thinking!”

“It's Kathmandu.” Just as the family was sitting down for one of its extended lunches, that jubilant cry was from François Driard’s grandfather announcing the next posting for his diplomat parents.&nbsp; Driard (pictured) was 18 in the summer of 1996,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/chasing-a-nomad"> a bit of a hippie</a> already, and his life was about to change forever with the magical word “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/time-capsule-of-kathmandu">Kathmandu</a>”. “I was awed with that information from my grandfather, nothing else mattered … In France <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/tales-of-courage-and-suffering-cx95f89e">in the 1990s</a>, Kathmandu had a mythical aura,” Driard recalls. He came to Kathmandu for Christmas that year to visit his stepfather, the French Ambassador Michel Lummaux. It was to be the first of many visits during school holidays, before he decided to permanently settle down in Nepal. “Kathmandu, and Nepal, were very different then, it was magical, I liked the nature, the people, civilisation, temples, trees,” says Driard, who explored the country sitting on the top of buses. “Visitors talk about the crazy <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/cost-of-living-in-a-big-city">urbanisation</a>, traffic jams today, and all that is true. But Kathmandu has not <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/loss-of-soul-and-soil">lost its soul</a>.” After his stepfather’s tenure in Nepal ended, Driard worked as a business reporter for international publications but decided he did not want to be anyone’s employee anymore. In 2007 he landed in Kathmandu with €20,000 in savings to invest.&nbsp; He knew a few crucial things about himself: he liked food and nature, which is very much tied up with his upbringing--full of lively conversations during lunch and dinner at the family table between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-yak-cheese-is-on-world-map">abundant cheese, wine and cigars</a>. So he decided it would be cheese, and registered Himalayan French Cheese and went to the French Alps for a month to learn how to make Tomme de Savoie. “<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-story-of-langtang-cheese">Cheese making is such an ancient craft </a>and so I thought I won’t need much money or studying which I hated and indeed, if you have a tamako bhado and fire you are set,” explains Driard. But Nepal’s temperature and humidity were not ideal, even at higher altitudes. The first customers for his cheese were the Hyatt Regency and Nina and Hager. But he needed to create a market for cheese in a country which only knew hard churpi in the north and soft paneer in the south. He started selling his cheeses at the Summit Hotel weekend market, expanding to his own 1905 Farmer’s Market which later moved to Le Sherpa in Maharajganj, where it is now, and also a market at Labim Mall in Pulchok. He had cow dairies in Nuwakot and Dhulikhel, and finally a yak cheese unit at 3,379m in Ramechhap. It was the yak blue cheese from here that went on to win a Gold Medal in France, putting Nepal’s French cheese on the world map. “People come and try our cheese at the market, they ask questions. There is a lot of education to be done about cheese,” adds Driard, who also has three cheese shops in the Valley. Driard now makes 25 types of cheese. The products are being noticed and every year he has French students coming to Nepal to learn the art of yak cheese making. “In France, one family or company makes one kind of cheese for generations. In that I’m very unique as a cheese artisan,” he says. “The students come in to learn but I tell them to also teach us something too, add another cheese to my collection.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/langtang-after-10-years">Langtang after 10 years</a>, Sonia Awale Being a foodie, Driard is now also dabbling in meat with his own charcuterie at Meatini with bacon, ham, sausage and pâtés. All of this is now served at his Emilio’s Pizza, a leafy hideaway in Lazimpat. His South Side in Moksh is probably the smallest wine bar in the world. “I call the process sublime,” says Driard of his ventures, which have grown organically. “You need the same temperature and humidity of 12°C and 80% for cheese, meat and wine.” Emilio’s speciality is the eight-cheese pizza (which has eight types of cheeses), and a pizza with bhutan topping (not the country but fried intestines and organs Nepali-style). He has opened a small branch at Courtyard in Pokhara.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250426070456_bacae302c040dc18eeecdeafda72ddf06a6d2cec138ea9be7e45fe94cdf8b5b3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250426070456_bacae302c040dc18eeecdeafda72ddf06a6d2cec138ea9be7e45fe94cdf8b5b3" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1125" loading="lazy" alt="8 cheese pizza"> <figcaption>Eight-cheese pizza</figcaption> </figure>  With two artisanal cheese units, two farmers’ markets, a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-meat-of-the-story">meat processing unit</a>, a bakery, and wine bar he now envisions a vineyard so he can add Nepali wine to his repertoire. Another future plan is to start up an agri-tourism business where customers can drink, eat and work in peace. In the past 20 years in Nepal, Driard has not always succeeded in his ventures but this hasn’t curbed his enthusiasm. He is learning as he goes, and like an old wine, Nepal is growing on him. Its slowness suits his French art de vivre with eating slowly outdoors, having conversation, importing less.&nbsp; “I have proven that with even a little money you can do a lot of things in Nepal,” adds Driard. “In the West, they easily invest half a million euros on a cheese factory, I invested 10 times less.”&nbsp;

Fromage, vin et charcuterie Népalais

Bhuthan भुठान starts with Bishnu Bahadur KC played by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/dhuwa-smoke-telefilm,2671">Hari Bansha Acharya</a> on a call, requesting to speak to the visa officer. By this point, he had <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-should-now-allow-visa-on-arrival">applied for a visa </a>to Bhutan 10 times, but was denied each time. KC was a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-women-excel-in-sports-in-2024-z9ramyct">national football player </a>in Bhutan in 1988 before he and other Nepali-speaking Lhotsampa people were forced out of the country in the 1990s as part of the Druk regime’s ‘One Nation One People’ campaign. Over 100,000 Bhutanese Nepalis were forced out, driven across India and dumped in Nepal where they lived in seven<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp"> refugee camps</a> supervised by the United Nations and other charities until they were resettled in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and some European countries starting in 2007. In the fictional movie with the satirical English title The World’s Happiest Man, KC has resettled in the state of Ohio in the US but wishes to visit his home country once before he dies. Between flashbacks, we learn KC has died without having fulfilled his wish. &nbsp; The drama then focuses on KC’s two families from two marriages as they debate whether to cremate him as per <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/muslim-hindu,2996">Hindu rites </a>or give him a Christian burial. A mediator played by Hollywood actor Bruce Dern urges them to take a firm decision before it is too long.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250430140420_b398a08091b866da2b0b8f6c1e6e26781609749aba896bfd2c68a10a519295c3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250430140420_b398a08091b866da2b0b8f6c1e6e26781609749aba896bfd2c68a10a519295c3" data-rendition-name="original" width="945" height="945" loading="lazy" alt="Bhutan, the movie"> </figure>  There are drawn out scenes of KC being baptised and when he is confronted by his first wife from Darjeeling played by Anuradha Majumdar, he says he changed his religion in the hope that he will be <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/bhutan-s-refugees-between-hope-and-despair">allowed back in Bhutan</a>.&nbsp; We find out KC has a second wife, a Christian Nepali played by Puja Chand. Dayahang Rai as the younger son doesn’t have much screen time to flex his acting chops. &nbsp; Acharya competently portrays a man that is equal parts haunted by the memories of and longing for his home country. KC’s pain and loss is acute when he is teaching football to Gungun but between mid-scene, he freezes, perhaps lost in memories of being in Bhutan’s national team. &nbsp; In another scene, KC recalls his mother singing a lullaby in Dzongkha. He also has a box filled with medals, photographs and a football which he deflates with a knife in a powerful depiction of his <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home?fb_comment_id=1506516030025634">complicated emotions about his homeland</a>. KC keeps checking his mailbox in the hopes that his <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4977">visa application</a> has been accepted. He says in Nepali: “If a tree that has already struck roots in one place is shifted to another, it will not survive.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250430140420_4a9c27410326489576c04dedf40016bda3825e8f9663317f54fbfec4cbda6d34.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20250430140420_4a9c27410326489576c04dedf40016bda3825e8f9663317f54fbfec4cbda6d34" data-rendition-name="original" width="1422" height="2048" loading="lazy" alt="Bhutan, the movie"> </figure>  Dern’s character says that the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/nepal-s-transitional-justice-and-the-west-s-recalibration">western world</a> has become “lonely in pursuit of happiness”, another reference to Bhutan’s obsession with its Gross National Happiness index. Scenes shift quickly throughout making the story difficult to follow at times. The use of symbolism is a trite overdone. Nonetheless, भुठान is a nuanced depiction of raw pain and agony of losing one’s homeland. But one cannot help but leave the theatre feeling deflated. KC dies without having visited <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/small-bhutan-dreams-big">Bhutan</a>, but perhaps he does in his afterlife. It is up to the audience to create its own ending to this sad story of exile. भुठान Mad Monkey Films, 2025 Directed by Binod Paudel 102 minutes In cinemas in Nepal