In the heart of Nepal, amidst the breathtaking beauty of the Himalaya, a very different story is unfolding. It is not one of towering peaks and serene landscapes, but of a young generation that dreams of a brighter future while being trapped by decades of political instability and entrenched corruption.
For many young Nepalis, life is a constant struggle with poverty and unemployment. In a country where the per capita income is only about $1,400, a youth unemployment rate of 20% has forced more than 800,000 people each year to leave their homeland in search of work abroad.&nbsp;
This exodus is not just an economic decision — it is a profound disillusionment with the government, a ‘silent referendum’ on its ability to lead the country toward prosperity.
In the months leading up to the recent uprising, social media platforms were filled with posts exposing the extravagant lifestyles of the so-called #Nepokids, the privileged children of politicians. These images revealed the stark gulf between the political elite and ordinary citizens, deepening the frustration of Nepal’s youth.
That anger finally exploded after 5 September, when the government banned 26 social media platforms — including Facebook, YouTube, X, and WhatsApp — claiming it was a necessary move to curb hate speech and fake news. For nearly half of Nepal’s population who are active on social media, the ban felt like nothing less than an attempt to silence their voices.
Massive street protests followed. What began as peaceful demonstrations on 8 September quickly escalated into violent clashes with police, leaving more than 20 people dead. Protesters stormed the Parliament and Supreme Court buildings, Singha Darbar, and attacked the residences of the president and prime minister. It became one of the largest uprisings in Nepal’s history.&nbsp;
Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli resigned, the GenZ is negotiating with the Nepal Army and President Ram Chandra Paudel. It remained unclear till Thursday press time if the unrest will subside as rival GenZ groups put forward their own candidates for interim prime minister.
SRI LANKAN PARALLELS
Young Nepalis no longer want the same leaders who they see as having deceived them for decades. They demand renewal and a brighter horizon. Still, how realistic is such a demand? As history reminds us, every polity gets what it deserves.
Most of the Communist parties that claim to represent the oppressed have themselves been central players in fragile coalition governments by partisan clannishness, personal selfishness, and unaccountable leaders, locking the country into cycles of weak and unstable rule.
As a Sri Lankan political activist, I cannot help but notice the striking parallels between Nepal’s trajectory and ours. Nepal had left-wing governments well before Sri Lanka, where the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)–led National People’s Power (NPP) only came to power in 2025. Nepal has been under left-leaning governments since 2008.
Yet, despite the rhetoric of Marxism, both our countries face very limited economic and political options. In Sri Lanka, the economic policies pursued by capitalist President Ranil Wickremesinghe were almost identical to those later followed by Marxist President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
In our case, the 2022 ‘Aragalaya’ movement was much like Nepal’s GenZ struggle. It ended after President Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed power. In the aftermath, the JVP gradually brought the Aragalaya forces under its control.&nbsp;
Their sweeping electoral victory in late 2024 was powered by the hopes of these protest forces. But today, the same question hangs over Colombo as it does over Kathmandu: can a new government really meet the impatient and ambitious expectations of young people?&nbsp;
Already in Sri Lanka, doubts abound — about broken promises, lack of real progress, one-party dominance, and even the risk of yet another national bankruptcy.
Traditionally, governments in South Asia have changed through elections. But recent years show another pattern: pre-electoral uprisings, sudden eruptions triggered not by slow build-up but by specific events.
In Sri Lanka, it was the energy crisis during bankruptcy. In Bangladesh, it was a law granting privileges to war veterans. In Nepal, the crackdown on social media was the trigger.
Social media has become central to all these movements. Those who manage the platforms at the country level hold immense power. Their ability to manipulate algorithms, combined with the small size of their teams, makes their influence even greater.
I personally witnessed Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya closely. From the creation of the #GoHomeGota hashtag to the dramatic ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 9 July, 2022, social media shaped the very reality of our political struggle.
Certain moments in crisis politics prove decisive. In Sri Lanka, the events of 9 May 2022 was one of the most destructive days in the country’s recent history, with the greatest property damage in a short span of time. Mobilisation, arson, violence, and killings were coordinated primarily through social media.
Ordinary people, not usually powerful, became decisive actors thanks to social media. By midday, the momentum of the Aragalaya was fading whereas Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had agreed to resign. The turning point came when a pro-government rally held at Temple Trees, the Prime Minister’s official residence to bid him farewell turned into a march toward Galle Face.&nbsp;
This procession, which could have been stopped by then-Deputy Inspector General Deshabandu Tennakoon, instead broke into the protest site, attacking Aragalaya activists. The violent attack as well as the counterattacks that followed were all broadcast live on social media and television, electrifying public opinion, which had been lukewarm until then, redirecting anger toward counter-violence.&nbsp;
The role of media in this transformation demands deeper analysis. There were clear patterns in social media content in those critical hours, much of which has since been removed by service providers. Even those who originally streamed Facebook Live videos cannot retrieve them today.&nbsp;
One peculiar detail stays with me. A military-experienced friend pointed out that in many of the burned houses, toilets had been deliberately smashed. He explained the symbolic nature: destroying sewage systems could render entire cities uninhabitable. How such symbolism wove itself into the protests remains an unresolved mystery, like many other secrets.
At times, literature steps in to fill the gaps history leaves behind. Fiction can serve as a symbolic mirror of reality. With my novel Arunodakaruwo (Dawnbreakers), I attempted to imagine the political undercurrents of such decisive moments.
Arunodakaruwo has since been published in Sinhala. Its English translation, #Dawnbreakers, was recently long-listed for the Vidarshana Literary Awards. I believe this form of literature — blending political memory with imagination — is an essential intervention.
Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe is a Sri Lankan political activist and writer.&nbsp;

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GenZ and Aragalaya

<figure><img width="1435" height="1065" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07f79c7e80680e0a5feejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Chinese Ambassador Hou promptly called on Deuba after he took office, and announced a further 1.6 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccines as grant.</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-takes-1-step-forward-2-steps-back/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-takes-1-step-forward-2-steps-back/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279890000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF6HCWbHLO4o-MeAb-Ae5tE4gUO9Q">dissolution of the Nepal Communist Party</a>, the slow breakup of the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-court-orders-deuba-to-succeed-oli/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-court-orders-deuba-to-succeed-oli/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279890000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF5CYGE3Ce6ujUEf7dRwRJHJGHipQ">exit of K P Ol</a>i all happened in a year the Chinese Communist Party was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/one-party-two-countries/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/one-party-two-countries/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279890000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGWBmxGvIA0Li8QsX5fRxO6CRF-RQ">celebrating its centennial</a>, sparking concern in China’s social media about instability in Nepal.China has made no secret about the fact that it wants Nepal’s disparate Communist parties to be united, and actually <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/is-china-now-micro-managing-nepal-politics/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/is-china-now-micro-managing-nepal-politics/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279890000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG2i-a1sD01WWONDW-KmzARt5n20w">helped engineer the electoral alliance</a> and later merger of the Maoist Centre and the UML in 2017-18. Despite being elected with a strong parliamentary majority, when the power struggle between Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal threatened to split the party, the Chinese Ambassador <a href="https://twitter.com/prcambnepal?lang=en" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/prcambnepal?lang%3Den&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279890000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHhWNgyixrXOaKVLBo1DiRpcdyAEA">Hou Yanqi</a> tried desperately to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/india-china-and-nepals-political-crisis/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/india-china-and-nepals-political-crisis/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279890000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH3B70i_4kFDeDilGe2NJI3eMXc0A">patch up their differences.</a>And when she could not succeed, Beijing sent <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/india-china-and-nepals-political-crisis/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/india-china-and-nepals-political-crisis/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqjLfalK2lgfofjr0ua9Aj5-rwxA">Guo Yezhou</a>, vice minister in the international department of the Chinese Communist Party, and Defence Minister <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/south-asias-vaccine-geopolitics/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/south-asias-vaccine-geopolitics/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFxNU55qxNCZ-TLjcn_wedpPTaEHA">Wei Fenghe </a>to Kathmandu last year. That did not work either. Now that the NCP is no more, the UML itself is out of power and on the verge of a vertical split, China’s official media and netizens have concluded rather sweepingly that Nepal now has a ‘pro-Indian’ government. <figure><img width="1444" height="1250" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07fa9c7e80680e0a5fefjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>The Global Times ran an op-ed on 19 July calling Nepal’s new prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba a ‘pro-Indian leader’</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1229067.shtml" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1229067.shtml&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF9WZslQLzNlwQT09zcKnS69JVd0g">Global Times</a> that often takes the party line, ran an op-ed by Zhang Jiadong on 19 July calling Nepal’s new prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba a ‘pro-Indian leader’ and urging on him not to change the basic idea of ‘multilateral balanced diplomacy between China, India and other countries’. Since the Chinese public overwhelmingly relies on state media for information on world affairs, the lively public debates on Chinese social media tend to mirror elite discourses, and often match the official narrative.Oli used the nationalist card to get himself elected following the 2015 Indian Blockade, and challenged New Delhi on the Limpiyadhura border dispute last year. But, faced with a mutiny in his own party, he seemingly <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-yam-between-two-indias/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-yam-between-two-indias/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGSk_2N4epd7H_RJQnYvpyXfuAgwQ">made a U-turn</a> to cosy up to India’s ruling <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q=hou+yanqi" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q%3Dhou%2Byanqi&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFzdMx3OGrUSUIu38U_rB-QXajfCg">Hindu-right BJP</a>.This conclusion was echoed in an op-ed on a recent article on 尼泊尔快讯 (Niboer Kuaixun), a Chinese portal reporting on Nepal on We Chat, which said Beijing had found Oli to be an unreliable partner and grown increasingly skeptical of him.‘<a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/FHKVIRYymGgakb72jXfstw" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/FHKVIRYymGgakb72jXfstw&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGoRA8M235cKMTgYfQuG23_Pw_8DQ">China values the unity of the Communist Party of Nepal more than Oli's personal interest</a>,’ the piece said. The Chinese Communist Party had invested a great deal in cultivating ties with Nepal’s Communist parties, and their disunity and political downfall appears to have <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/going-down-with-the-ship/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/going-down-with-the-ship/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGkeELGGJOCN1u6Za0N3Xl0-OFOrw">dismayed many Chinese</a>. A netizen on WeChat pointed out that none of Nepal’s prime ministers since democracy had ever completed a full term, and called this a ‘<a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3ElR7fYtpa9hzHccLqLNpg" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3ElR7fYtpa9hzHccLqLNpg&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEoVXjwy-8v1uvWni3WlevGa3EW1A">national tragedy</a>’. Another post on Weibo called out the Nepal government for being inconsiderate about the sufferings of ordinary people who are impacted by political unrest during the pandemic. <figure><img width="706" height="1580" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d07fd9c7e80680e0a5ff0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>An op-ed on Niboer Kuaixun that concluded that Beijing had found Oli to be an unreliable partner.</figcaption></figure>Indeed, it is worth noting that Chinese netizens seem to echo the official line and are more disappointed with the political instability in Nepal than the people in power. The Chinese official media seems to have already made up its mind that Prime Minister Deuba is ‘India’s man’. Another post had a similar sentiment to the <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1229067.shtml" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1229067.shtml&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF9WZslQLzNlwQT09zcKnS69JVd0g">Global Times op-ed</a>, saying: ‘We welcome a pro-China Nepal, and we are not against a pro-India Nepal. If it can benefit from both, who can blame Nepal? Just don’t be anti-China.’Both state media and netizen perception of Deuba and Nepali Congress as being anti-Chinese appears to stem from the fact that his government in 2017 scrapped a $2.5 billion <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-mega-dam-is-a-mirage/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-mega-dam-is-a-mirage/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHtHGm4n6kK8sJ8ndJPYgDli1yEJw">Budi Gandaki dam</a> contract that had been awarded to China’s <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/reservoirs-of-suspicion/hydropower-geopolitics%20,3991" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/reservoirs-of-suspicion/hydropower-geopolitics%2520,3991&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH9NVxLZHftTxa2AYumTAnYr8qB8g">Gezhouba Group</a> by an earlier Maoist-dominated government.Zhang Shubin, a Chinese scholar had at the time <a href="https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2017/11/30/nepali-congress-government-shows-unfriendly-attitude-toward-china-global-times/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2017/11/30/nepali-congress-government-shows-unfriendly-attitude-toward-china-global-times/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGkf9JfuL7oyD9ZF51LGKtosgAb8g">critiqued the decision saying that such action not only</a> ‘shows an unfriendly attitude towards China, but also demonstrates a tendency to form more intimate relationships with India’. Because the Chinese seek mutual respect in economic cooperation, actions such as cancelling a signed contract is taken as breach of trust and impacts on state or party relations with the country in question. This point of view is then subsequently reflected in reaction on Chinese social media.  <img width="640" height="1024" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08009c7e80680e0a5ff1jpeg.jpg" alt="">The recent<a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3ElR7fYtpa9hzHccLqLNpg" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3ElR7fYtpa9hzHccLqLNpg&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEoVXjwy-8v1uvWni3WlevGa3EW1A"> post on WeChat 尼泊尔快讯</a> in fact quotes the warm welcome in India’s public sphere to Deuba as proof that he is Delhi-leaning. It provides screen grabs from India’s News18 channel describing Deuba as being ‘in India’s good books’. Indian politician Subramanian Swamy’s tweet labelling Deuba’s win as ‘good news’ is also cited (pictured below).  The geopolitical reality is that Deuba cannot afford to be pro- or anti- anyone, and will have to balance Nepal’s relations with its two giant neighbours. Ambassador Hou promptly called on Deuba after he took office, and announced a further <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/vaccines-variants-and-a-third-wave/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/vaccines-variants-and-a-third-wave/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHaO61cOXoagdQQSMOugqxntWlH2A">1.6 million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine</a>s as grant.A Chinese proverb goes 邻居关系相处好，居家生活无烦恼 (If you get along with your neighbours, your home won’t have issues), so Deuba has an opportunity to correct some of the misconceptions in China about his leanings. The perception has also underlined the need for Nepal’s foreign policy mandarins to have a unified voice when dealing with immediate neighbours that is de-linked from regime change in Kathmandu. <figure><img width="1192" height="1488" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151116/636d08029c7e80680e0a5ff2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>Nepal has changed eight prime ministers in the eight years since Xi Jinping became China’s premier. Each new government in Kathmandu showed a different approach with the same leadership in China, reflecting a lack of continuity in Nepal’s dealings not just with China but with the outside world. Chinese social media users have been especially vocal in expressing concerns about the crises in Nepal in recent times, commenting about everything <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/protesting-chinese-in-nepal-told-not-to-tarnish-chinas-image/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/protesting-chinese-in-nepal-told-not-to-tarnish-chinas-image/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEwafnlCTVRIUp9AOoq-eFeHYeCXA">from urging Chinese tourists trapped by the pandemic to not protest in Kathmandu</a> to expressing support for helping Nepal during the Covid-19 crisis. Furthermore, as Chinese netizens comment more critically about developments in other countries, Nepal’s political uncertainty will not only hamper public diplomacy but also the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q=hou+yanqi" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/nepali-times-search/?q%3Dhou%2Byanqi&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1627090279891000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFzdMx3OGrUSUIu38U_rB-QXajfCg">considerable soft power it commands in China</a>.  Aneka Rebecca Rajbhandari is a graduate in political science from Peking University. Raunab Khatri is a graduate student in Chinese studies at Yenching Academy of Peking University.

China reacts to Nepal regime change

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636936e59c7e80680e03fe05jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>PM K P Oli unveiled the contribution-based Social Security Scheme for formal workers amidst a program in Kathmandu last month. Photo: BIKRAM RAI</figcaption></figure>The Nepal government’s announcement of a social security scheme for formal sector workers this month has once again thrust social protection policy into the political spotlight. While such schemes can be important social policy instruments, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/social-insecurity/">significant concerns</a> have been raised about this scheme and previous policies, particularly regarding government’s ability to fund and implement them.Now more than ever, it is important that social protection policies and programs effectively address issues of marginalisation and vulnerability that undergird social insecurity and injustice.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/social-insecurity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Social insecurity</a>, Om Astha Rai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/govt-not-employers-responsible-for-employees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Govt, not employers, responsible for employees</a>, From the Nepali Press Marginalisation is deeply ingrained into Nepali social, economic, and political practice. Lines of exclusion across caste, gender, religion, geography have resulted in complex, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Nepal-%20Multidimensional-Poverty-Index,4115">multi-dimensional poverty</a>. When poverty is entrenched over long periods of time vulnerability graduates from individuals and households to community and government levels. Ultimately, the cost of not addressing vulnerability is borne across society.Vulnerability is exaggerated during times of instability, and in Nepal it is caused and exacerbated by politics, natural disasters, informality of labour and income, and so on. Vulnerable individuals suffer double jeopardy, and tend to enter a downward spiral of wretchedness if left unnoticed by government.Governmental responses to vulnerability through social protection policies and programs have mirrored the trajectory of the country’s transformational politics. Social movements, government restructuring and changes to legal and constitutional frameworks have shaped how marginalisation and vulnerability are addressed.Today, all major parties recognise the political value of adopting social protection elements into their policy platforms. Alongside the recognition of the political significance of social protection policies, there is also growing appreciation of the positive impact of these policies for the country’s development. Despite this, poor policy design impedes social protection efforts in Nepal.It may be useful to analyse the effectiveness of Nepal’s social protection schemes by considering the following three design approaches:<ol><li>Equality-based approaches provide blanket security to the entire population. The best examples are many of the labour market regulations, which regulate working conditions, occupational safety, worker rights, and minimum wages.</li></ol>Equality-based schemes assume that all people are alike and have the same needs. However, this assumption of homogeneity ignores the fact that some groups experience marginalisation and vulnerability more acutely than others.<ol start="2"><li>Equity-based schemes recognise varying types of vulnerability and marginalisation and employ targeted strategies of redressal. An example is Nepal’s Disability Grant, which targets persons with disabilities to ensure greater social inclusion and economic independence.</li></ol>Most of the budgetary allocation in Nepal’s social protection portfolio is directed toward equity-based social assistance and allowance programs. This reflects the evolving political understanding of equality and equity: with policy shapers increasingly seeking to incorporate targeted instead of universal strategies. However, since Nepal’s universal schemes play a significant role in protecting the vulnerable, it is vital that the government pursues both equality-and equity-based strategies.Equality- and equity-based approaches seek to address poverty and marginalisation. However, these social challenges are symptomatic of the underlying root problem of societal injustice. For durable effect, it is important that the root problem is targeted, not just symptomatic manifestations. It follows, therefore, that policies that limit themselves to equality and equity-based strategies are likely to be inadequate.<ol start="3"><li>A justice-based approach seeks to go beyond addressing economic marginalisation and vulnerability, and instead understand and confront social injustice. Social protection policies are but one tool that governments can use to address vulnerability and marginalisation, justice-based schemes are integrated with other programs to transform unequal social structures.</li></ol>There is a decided gap in Nepal’s current social protection framework with respect to well-designed, justice-based schemes. However, there are some encouraging examples that show signs of progress from an equity-based to a justice-based approach in social protection policy.The Emergency Cash Transfer Program,for example, leveraged the government’s existing social assistance registers and provided two cash transfers targeting the people who had likely been left most vulnerable after the 2015 earthquakes. What makes this program significant is that it was formally incorporated into the emergent Social Protection Framework of Nepal, which gives an otherwise isolated transfer program an integrated dimension.Federalism and inclusive nation building introduced by the 2015 Constitution has set a decisive inflection point for addressing social injustice in Nepal. Not only are 31 fundamental rights constitutionally enshrined, Parliament has moved to enact legislation to apply them. The agenda to see social justice embedded throughout society is, at least in theory, a top priority for the government.However, like other public policy initiatives in Nepal social protection has been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/communist-capital/">historically constrained</a> by inadequate policy design and poor integration, resourcing and implementation of policies by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/state-after-multiple-disaster,700">weak and incapable governments</a>. This has significantly hindered the country’s ability to redress injustice through policy instruments such as social protection.Fears surrounding the history of inadequate program implementation arose again last week after the announcement of the private sector social security scheme. The scheme is generous and consequently ambitious. Regardless of intent behind the announcement, the success of the program is contingent on how well it will be implemented. The costs involved are significant and the private sector has not reacted well to the potentially huge increase in wage burden. How the program will be financed remains an unanswered question.As a social security scheme that will decidedly not benefit the informal sector, the majority of Nepal’s workforce, it is hard to see how this additional levy helps reduce injustice in society.Josh Glover attends Melbourne University and interned at Niti Foundation in 2018.

Not just social security

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

How to win friends and influence nations

This is the 91st episode of Diaspora Diaries, a Nepali Times series in collaboration with Migration Lab providing a platform to share experiences of living, working and studying abroad. I have still not come to terms with the reality that my daughter Ruby Thakur is now the Deputy Speaker of Nepal’s Parliament. Sometimes, when I am walking, the thought hits me, and I cannot believe it.&nbsp; Things changed for my daughter in a very short time. I had dreamt that the best my daughter could achieve was a good engineering job. Fate had bigger plans for her. She is no longer just my daughter, she is the nation’s daughter. Nepal’s daughter.&nbsp; My children’s education was always my foremost priority. That is the main reason I went overseas for employment. I realised the value of education while working in Saudi Arabia. In my office, colleagues with good education earn $8,000 per month working on computers. Those with low education toil outdoors in the heat for much lower wages. A good education or skills can change everything. I am in Nepal on vacation and will soon return to my job. Ruby is all set now. But I still have to take care of my other children's education. As the eldest son, I myself never got a chance to prioritise my own education. I dropped out in Grade 7 because I had to take care of my ageing parents and younger siblings. I have done all kinds of jobs. I worked in a landlord’s field for a share of the harvest. Even now my wife and I farm for the land owner and have to give away half of what we grow.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120444_051b61e01a5189af538aa1e011acd3e2b38d5f42825116b2afd325d93d0c519b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260413120444_051b61e01a5189af538aa1e011acd3e2b38d5f42825116b2afd325d93d0c519b" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> <figcaption>Sogarath Thakur during a break in Nepal with wife tending to his farm.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120448_8a1c3ac3fd559026bc6f981cc8dc82cb8ad09a3a4f55fb9f6f7fd5f49c3d5571.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260413120448_8a1c3ac3fd559026bc6f981cc8dc82cb8ad09a3a4f55fb9f6f7fd5f49c3d5571" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>  Then I worked as a barber, my family’s line of occupation. I went door to door cutting people’s hair and later worked in a relative’s saloon. Hairstyles were simple back then, and I got to keep half the fee. I also worked in a brick factory where I was paid weekly. &nbsp; I married when I was 16, and my wife was a year younger. As my family and responsibilities grew, I had to migrate leaving behind my three children including Ruby who was just three months old.&nbsp; I went to Qatar where I continued working as a barber. It was a large saloon and the standards for cleanliness and professionalism were higher. I had to hand over 70% of my daily earnings to the employer. I had to rely on my colleague to translate what the customer wanted. But I slowly became fluent in Arabic. I used to jot down words in Nepali and Arabic and memorise them. In Qatar, customers even came at night for haircuts, and people stayed up late. I would work till 3AM.&nbsp; Communicating with my family was one-way. I would go to Bismillah and ask someone to type out questions to my family about their whereabouts, how the harvest was that season. I would offer very little information about my life in Qatar because it was not easy. What was the point of getting them all worried? What could they do? I never received a letter in return, so throughout my time in Qatar, I never knew how my family was faring. When I appeared in the village after five years without any advance notice, it was a bittersweet reunion, and I had no gifts. I still remember how unfamiliar my village felt when I came home after so many years. I had to ask for directions. When I came home, Ruby was already in school. I had left her in my wife’s arms five years prior. I missed her growing up, and did not even see her pictures. My wife had to introduce her to me as her father. But it took just 15 minutes for her to warm up to me.&nbsp; The Arabic skills I had picked up in Qatar came in handy when I remigrated two years later to Saudi Arabia. I worked as a labourer in the desert heat, but once my company found out I spoke Arabic, I was hired for an indoor job as an office boy. The struggle in Qatar had paid off. I worked in an air conditioned office serving tea or coffee, doing bank runs or getting documents signed and photocopied. I have worked in the same company for the past 20 years, sending money home.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120448_f083fa873a6d77b19c8b0bdde623415c643a151fb550c57ff4e52b3c2431355f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20260413120448_f083fa873a6d77b19c8b0bdde623415c643a151fb550c57ff4e52b3c2431355f" data-rendition-name="original" width="5712" height="3213" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120452_5ccd9a01ee05ce26b71381725108215d0f0d3806508b0cb482aabcfea09bbaef.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260413120452_5ccd9a01ee05ce26b71381725108215d0f0d3806508b0cb482aabcfea09bbaef" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>  My wife is not just my children’s guardian, but also mine throughout the two decades I was away. I trust her with all my earnings, and she manages our household finances well. She makes sure that the children’s school fees and other expenses are paid on time. These days, with video calls, things have become much easier for me to stay in touch with home.&nbsp; When Ruby told me she wanted to do an engineering diploma, I was happy. Later, her friends inspired her to join politics so she started getting involved with Shram Sanskriti Party. I first found out she got the proportional representation nomination through social media while on my work duty in Saudi Arabia. I was so excited, but even more so when she was elected Deputy Speaker. I was back home in Dhanusha on my vacation at the time.&nbsp; We are overjoyed and waiting for her to come back to the village for a visit when she gets a chance so we can celebrate properly with everyone. I plan to go back to Saudi Arabia as originally planned, I have a good job and will work for maybe five more years. Ruby has taken 75% of the load off my back. She can help take care of her siblings.&nbsp; I sleep at 8PM every day and wake up at 5AM to exercise before my day in Saudi Arabia begins – I have stuck to the same routine for the last two decades and it has worked well for me and my health. I have a good rapport with my boss who is an Egyptian. My requests to resign have often been met with counter-offers to stay on. My honesty and hard work have won me the company's trust. I will go back and resume working as I have, despite my daughter’s huge achievements. I am still a farmer’s son, a simple man who has to fulfil his family responsibilities. My colleagues in Saudi Arabia are aware that Ruby is Deputy Speaker in Nepal’s Parliament, they are all happy for me and have congratulated me. This time, when I go back, I have promised them that I will throw a bakhri party to celebrate my daughter’s achievement.

The nation’s daughter

At 6 feet and one inch, Hira Bahadur Ghalan was exceptionally tall for a Nepali. In 1936, when people came to his Tamang village near Tistung looking for porters, they recruited him on the spot. This was no ordinary job, Hira Bahadur would lead gangs of 30 or more porters to carry cars bought by Rana rulers from Bhimphedi to Kathmandu.&nbsp; Those were the days when the only motorable roads in Nepal were in Kathmandu, but the capital was not connected to anywhere else by road. So, before cars could carry people, people had to carry cars. More Nepalis had carried cars than ridden in one. The porters were paid Rs5 for the job, and sometimes the Rana owners gave Hira Bahadur a Rs25 baksheesh. One of the cars his community helped carry was a 1939 Daimler Benz gifted by Adolf Hitler to King Tribhuvan to woo Nepal away from the British. The rusted dusty vehicle is now in the Narayanhiti Palace Museum.&nbsp; Hira Bahadur hauled cars for 25 years until his knees gave way, he died at age 90 eight years ago — the last surviving car porters of Nepal from Chitlang Valley.&nbsp; Hira Bahadur Ghalan had three sons and three daughters, one of them is Maila Kaji Lama, who at age 68, is a chauffeur in Kathmandu. His son, Manjil Lama is a pilot with Summit Air, flying to remote Himalayan airstrips. Three generations of one family worked in professions that followed a century of transportation history in Nepal. &nbsp; After the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-long-and-winding-road-to-india">Tribhuvan Rajpath was finished in 1957</a> and the ropeway upgraded, Hira Bahadur was out of a job. He tilled the family farm, watching trucks and buses headed to and from Kathmandu on the hairpins.&nbsp; As a child, Maila Kaji was fascinated by cars and wished one day to be able to drive one. After he failed Grade 8, he came to Kathmandu in 1975 and got a Rs20/month job at a petrol station in Maiti Devi. “I watched King Birendra’s coronation and was impressed by the glamour of Kathmandu, and decided to stay here,” Maila Kaji says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041816040_a1a41e47dec8500727702f700e43af625f059043cbcd283f13b247344b3a20aa.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2026041816040_a1a41e47dec8500727702f700e43af625f059043cbcd283f13b247344b3a20aa" data-rendition-name="original" width="1974" height="1608" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> <figcaption>Maila Kaji</figcaption> </figure>  Former minister Ramesh Nath Pandey used to bring his Volkswagen Beetle to the station, and Maila Kaji started taking care of his car. Later, he drove a Russian Jeep for former minister and geographer Harka Gurung. Along the way, he fell in love with the daughter of a Brahmin colleague, and married her. “My father back in Tistung did not approve of our inter-ethnic marriage, and not speak to me for five years,” Maila Kaji recalls. Manjil Lama grew up in Kathmandu, and did well in science in school. He had wanted to go the US to become a pilot like his friends, but was denied a visa.&nbsp; “The visa officer told him I did not earn enough,” says Maila Kaji, “so I sold some property and sent Manjil to flying school in the Philippines.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041816040_e9091162840baa6d182de2d7cc6f09e43ec9cfd9a9b6e71e7e7b14bc72da3537.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026041816040_e9091162840baa6d182de2d7cc6f09e43ec9cfd9a9b6e71e7e7b14bc72da3537" data-rendition-name="original" width="1434" height="1754" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> <figcaption>Manjil Lama</figcaption> </figure>  After returning to Nepal, Manjil Lama now flies Let 410s of Summit Air to difficult air strips like Lukla and Simkot, and has logged over 2,000 hours. He has to go to the Czech Republic regularly for simulator training. Says Maila Kaji Lama: “My father worked hard carrying cars to raise us, I started from scratch to become a driver to support my family, and my son is now a pilot with experience in flying in the world’s toughest terrain.” &nbsp; Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvT3iTi8yw4" target="_blank">video clip from S Dillon Ripley here</a>.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260419020448_40f8b1bdaace08106ca5c24819b6e7a34fb2109a9a3ec5c6ac179b3309e686ed.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20260419020448_40f8b1bdaace08106ca5c24819b6e7a34fb2109a9a3ec5c6ac179b3309e686ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="900" height="1582" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> </figure>

political-instability

GenZ and Aragalaya

China reacts to Nepal regime change

Not just social security

How to win friends and influence nations

The nation’s daughter

Grandfather carried cars, son drives cars, grandson flies planes

Nepalis are insured but not covered