Prime Minister K P Oli appears to have decided that since an invitation to visit India is not forthcoming, he will go to China instead. This breaks the tradition of Nepal’s prime ministers flying off to New Delhi first after assuming office.&nbsp;
The Indian media has labelled Oli as ‘pro-China’ so often that most of India seems to believe it. Having a pro-China public persona suits Oli fine since it bolsters his nationalist credentials at home, while privately he keeps his trust with Indian leaders.
“India not inviting Nepal on a state visit does not need to be made into such a big deal. The success or failure of our common national interests do not hinge upon whether or not Nepal and India’s leaders visit one another,” says political commentator Indra Adhikari. “And it is unproductive to believe that Nepal’s government will fall just because India has not invited Oli for a state visit.”
To be sure, Oli and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met in New York in September at the UN General Assembly, so he has partially kept to the tradition.
Not much has been divulged about the agenda for China visit, but it is expected to include Chinese aid projects in Nepal under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This is largely symbolic, since it does not really matter on the ground whether Pokhara’s airport is BRI since the Chinese-built facility predates the initiative.
Amidst widespread perception that Pokhara airport is a white elephant and straddled Nepal with a $220 million Chinese Exim Bank debt, Oli could be trying to turn that loan into a grant if calling it ‘BRI’ is all it takes.
Pokhara airport has seen no regular international flights almost two years after it was inaugurated. India has balked at granting flights between Indian cities and Pokhara, and neither Nepal’s nor China’s airlines have shown much interest in connecting it to Chinese cities.
Despite signs of perennial strain in inter-governmental ties between New Delhi and Kathmandu, people-to-people and military-to-military relations appear to be as healthy as ever. India’s Board Security Force head Amrit Mohan Prasad will be in Kathmandu on Friday, and Indian Army Chief Upendra Dwivedi isset to make a visit next week.
As it stands, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Kathmandu, and Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba was feted in Delhi in August. India’s Army Chief Upendra Dwivedi and Border Security Force head Amrit Mohan Prasad are also visiting Kathmandu in the coming days.
Foreign Minister Rana’s relationship with India has been amicable, and she was received warmly by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in New York in September. Rana who is flying to Beijing in the coming weeks to prepare for Oli’s visit has also been tasked with managing the visit through an unusual bipartisan mechanism made up of top leaders from the UML and Nepali Congress. &nbsp;
UML spokesperson Pradeep Gyawali clarified: “The bipartisan mechanism was not just made to set the groundwork for the prime minister’s visit to China, but also to foster collaboration between the two parties on important domestic issues.”&nbsp;
Says Adhikari: “This two-party mechanism could perhaps be the leaders trying to send a message that they are united and that their partnership will sustain as well as to assure the public that they are serious about working on their promises including amending the constitution.”
While Oli and his UML comrades have tried to gloss over the absence of an invitation from India as no big deal, there have been the usual signs of bilateral friction. Just as the Indian press portrays Oli as ‘pro-Chinese’, the Nepali media often highlights Indian high-handedness on trade, river sharing, and refusal to allow air routes that would facilitate more flights to Pokhara and Bhairawa airports.&nbsp;
Nepal has gone ahead and forced some international airlines to start flying Bhairawa to reduce congestion at Kathmandu airport, which is seeing taxiway upgrades till April next year.
Another irritant has been non-tariff restrictions on Nepal’s exports to India like cement, textiles, and other consumer goods that use Chinese-made raw materials — just like India refuses to buy electricity from hydropower plants built by Chinese contractors, even though the power is all fed into Nepal’s national grid.
Meanwhile, Maoist chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been campaigning at the grassroots in Kirtipur’s by-elections next month. And RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane remains in custody and was brought to Bhairawa from Pokhara to be investigated in the cooperatives scam. &nbsp;

Shristi Karki

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Oli’s oscillations

Parliamentary proceedings were brought to a halt on Wednesday in Kathmandu after a heated exchange between the UML and opposition MPs over the use of the word ‘violence’ to describe the Maoist conflict.&nbsp; The real peacetime violence being perpetrated on Nepalis is actually political failure to control <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking">lethal air pollution</a>. Figures from the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) survey released this week, and the<a href="https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/2024-06/soga-2024-report.pdf"> State of Global Air (SOGA)</a> in June, show just how dirty the air is. Any government accountable to the people would act, after all, the prime minister breathes this same air. Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-pollution"> Epicentre of pollution</a>, Sonia Awale Summary from the reports: <ul> <li>Nepal’s 30.7 million people are exposed to air much worse than the <a href="https://www.iqair.com/nepal/central-region/kathmandu">WHO threshold</a>.&nbsp;</li> <li>19% of deaths in 2021 were due to contaminated air.</li> <li>Bad air cuts the average lifespan of Nepalis by 3.4 years. Tarai residents live 5 years less. For comparison, heavy smokers lose just 1.9 years of their life.&nbsp;</li> <li>Sooty indoor air will kill nearly 34,000 Nepalis this year, and 12,700 will die from ambient air pollution.&nbsp;</li> <li>More than 6,000 deaths, mainly in the cities, were linked to ozone exposure.&nbsp;</li> <li>75% of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in Nepal is caused by breathing bad air. Air pollution is also the cause of 39% of all lung cancer cases.</li> </ul>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160812_081b9558dee7b656f87f5d4e5af7923780ec8455f9d33402f38844a992ce5471.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240829160812_081b9558dee7b656f87f5d4e5af7923780ec8455f9d33402f38844a992ce5471" data-rendition-name="original" width="1376" height="729" loading="lazy" alt="AIr pollution Nepal NT"> </figure>  Air pollution is now the biggest threat to human health in Nepal, shortening lives by 3-5 years in Kathmandu Valley and the Tarai with the worst concentration of particulate matter. A new <a href="https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Nepal-FactSheet_2024.pdf">report by Air Quality Life Index (AQLI)</a> released this week ranks Nepal as the third most polluted country in the world with its entire 30.7 million people living in areas where the annual average particulate pollution level exceeds the WHO guideline. Even where outdoor air is clean in the high mountains, families are exposed to excessive indoor pollution due to soot from burning firewood, especially in winter. The State of Global Air (SOGA) Report published in June has even more shocking figures: more than 50,000 Nepalis died from air pollution in 2021, accounting for 19% of all mortality, just behind high blood pressure. The study also linked 75% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 39% of lung cancer deaths to dirty air.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160812_d9ccb69192498c91f4b5be762eb073dceb2c7b7cbf01a284ae21654ab1ca9041.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240829160812_d9ccb69192498c91f4b5be762eb073dceb2c7b7cbf01a284ae21654ab1ca9041" data-rendition-name="original" width="1172" height="722" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution in Nepal NT"> </figure>  Levels of<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/warning-breathing-is-hazardous-to-health"> surface ozone and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) </a>are also increasing due to vehicular emissions, triggering development of childhood asthma.&nbsp; Appalling as these figures are, they should come as no surprise. What is more appalling is the lack of political will to clean up. “The political apathy to prioritise action against air pollution is the crux of the problem,” states environmentalist Bhushan Tuladhar, adding that solutions like stopping open garbage burning, and cutting vehicular and brick kiln emissions are easy to implement solutions.&nbsp; Just as the media and public <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-safety-to-hit-nepal-tourism">call for action against floods and landslides</a> after the monsoon starts, air pollution also becomes a topic when winter has already set in. Action on both should be a year-round effort. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/100-101-102-hh5uvzf9">100, 101, 102</a>, Shristi Karki&nbsp; Prashant Khanal works on air pollution and climate mitigation and was recently in Paris, where the mayor is pedestrianising streets to curb emissions and improve health.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160812_e11b11cdee3ed917497deefb4f624c0c3d15c5fac16359801bbc2e2aec51369b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20240829160812_e11b11cdee3ed917497deefb4f624c0c3d15c5fac16359801bbc2e2aec51369b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1107" height="881" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution in Nepal NT"> </figure>  He says: “We simply do not have that kind of leadership nor political will. Awareness and individual action are all well and good, but we need regulatory measures to improve air quality.” Vehicular and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/blueprint-for-a-net-zero-nepal">industrial emissions</a>, open burning, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/wildfires-ravage-nepal-mountains">wildfire smoke</a> and crossborder transport of pollution are the main culprits. Most can be reduced by strictly enforcing national air quality measures, while we have to wait for India and Pakistan to clean up their act for transboundary pollution to go down. Madhes and Lumbini provinces have even higher pollution levels than Kathmandu, especially when prevailing winds are from the south. This has worsened in recent years by longer-lasting winter fog. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-transboundary-haze-affects-nepal">How transboundary haze affects Nepal</a>, Prabhakar Shrestha If Nepal were to reduce particulate pollution to meet the WHO guideline, residents in the Tarai would gain 4.8 years of life expectancy, Kathmandu residents would live 2.6 years longer, and tens of thousands of lives would be saved every year. The SOGA report puts deaths linked to household air pollution due to cooking with solid fuels at 33,900 compared to 12,700 by ambient suspended particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5).&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160816_5f7804d0407f8988fee6b44d8ca5e6f775b5ffcecccc53030372f27250b72385.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240829160816_5f7804d0407f8988fee6b44d8ca5e6f775b5ffcecccc53030372f27250b72385" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="2667" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution in Nepal NT"> <figcaption>Photo: KONSTANTINOS SOFIKITIS</figcaption> </figure>  More than 6,000 other deaths have been linked to exposure to toxic ozone, mainly coming out of the tail pipes of motorcycles. Climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are now getting more media attention, but the air pollution crisis does not seem to be waking politicians to the dangers although its impact on citizens is more immediate and localised. Says Khanal, “Air pollution is not just a public health or environmental issue but has huge social and economic implications, the government needs to allocate money for its mitigation just as it is now doing for climate change.”&nbsp; Electrification of public transport and cooking are common sense solutions to improving air quality and public health in Nepal, with the country now generating <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/rivers-be-dammed">more than 3,000MW of hydropower</a>. This is set to double in the next five years. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hefty-fines-fail-to-deter-polluting-vehicles">Hefty fines fail to deter polluting vehicles</a>, Sushila Budathoki Instead of prioritising export of surplus energy, increasing domestic demand in transportation and household appliances would yield greater dividends in terms of public health, and reducing the petroleum import bill.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160816_e4a78b2b4d55edb805060a899cef6a9297e5bff7b54d4a7aeea7b1f78fd60d84.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20240829160816_e4a78b2b4d55edb805060a899cef6a9297e5bff7b54d4a7aeea7b1f78fd60d84" data-rendition-name="original" width="1290" height="799" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution in Nepal NT"> </figure>  As the ongoing NADA Auto Show in Kathmandu proves, there has been a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/evs-hybrids-and-plug-ins">spurt in the sale of electric vehicles</a>. Of the nearly 18,000 vehicles imported in Nepal last year, 12,000 were battery-powered. These are mostly private electric vehicles, but it is public transport and in electric stoves where the focus should be. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/rev-your-car-and-charge-it-too">Rev your car (and charge it, too)</a>, Vishad Raj Onta “Air pollution ranks as a huge concern to people living in Nepal, and the country also has some of the most open data for air quality information across South Asia,” Christa A Hasenkopf of the Clean Air Program at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago told Nepali Times. But she added, “It is challenging to make progress on long term levels of air pollution when there is not a long-term goal in place, like a national annual standard for PM2.5.” Despite shortcomings, there have been notable local initiatives. Lalitpur has been promoting itself as a ‘cycle city’ while Hadigaon has been working on pedestrianisation. Changunarayan has come up with an Air Quality Management Plan while Chandragiri wants to invest in controlling wildfires to reduce pollution levels. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/cleaner-air-with-greener-buses">Cleaner air with greener buses</a> Says Bhushan Tuladhar, "Local leadership and community ownership is what’s missing from a lot of our government initiatives. That is why pedestrianisation of Hadigaon worked and not <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/kathmandu-s-balen-phenomenon">Mayor Balen</a>’s New Road expansion which was a top down directive with little community participation.” &nbsp; <h2>Transcontinental contamination</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240829160816_e6d3a88220290318118466a3932332828f0ff89a03426175cd8bb5d8cf3a61d1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_22" data-image-id="20240829160816_e6d3a88220290318118466a3932332828f0ff89a03426175cd8bb5d8cf3a61d1" data-rendition-name="original" width="450" height="683" loading="lazy" alt="Transcontinental pollution NT"> </figure>  There is an anomaly in the new Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) report released this week. Particulate pollution in Nepal and South Asia in 2022 was 18% lower compared to 2021.&nbsp; Scientists are not sure why, but it is probably due to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/more-monstrous-monsoons">more rain that year </a>which washed down pollutants from the air. If this decline is sustained, an average Nepali could live 10 months longer than what they would have if they were exposed to the 2021 particulate pollution levels. “True progress on air pollution can’t be measured from one year to the next, it must be measured over several years,” says Christa A Hasenkopf of the Clean Air Program at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/blueprint-for-a-net-zero-nepal"> Blueprint for a net-zero Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale Indeed, longer-term pollution trends suggest that Nepal’s average annual particulate matter concentration in the air increased by 49% from 1998 to 2022. Warns Tanushree Ganguly of AQLI: “Despite the <a href="https://www.indiaspend.com/earthcheckindia/indias-air-quality-improved-in-2022-but-still-at-concerning-levels-921940">18% decline in South Asia’s PM2.5 levels relative to 2021</a>, people in South Asia are still likely to lose more than 3.5 years of their life as a result of breathing polluted air. This reinforces the need for sustained regionwide action.” In addition to vehicular and industrial emissions, farm stubble burning after autumn harvest in India and Pakistan is now emerging as a major source of suspended particulates that are carried by prevailing winds to Nepal and Bhutan.&nbsp; When deposited on ice and snow, the soot particles add to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">melting of glaciers </a>caused by global warming. Some studies suggest that 30% of glacier thaw in the Indian Himalaya is caused by pollution-related loss of albedo effect on snow. “Air pollution is a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9224398/">transboundary issue</a>, and at least in South Asia, a coordinated regional approach can move the conversation towards joint solutions,” Pallavi Pant of the Health Effects Institute, which publishes the annual State of Global Air report, told Nepali Times. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/polluted-politics">Polluted Politics</a> Joint efforts to strengthen local technical and scientific capacity can help countries in the region establish and run advanced air quality monitoring systems, and use the data for decision-making. Pant adds: “We can leverage available data and expertise to identify relevant solutions that can lead to cleaner air and better health. Air pollution can be related to policies addressing prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.” Back in 1998, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka came together to sign the <a href="http://www.sacep.org/pdf/Declarations/05.Male-Declaration-on-Control-and-Prevention-of-Air-Pollution-and-its-Transboundary-Effects-for-South-Asia.pdf">Malé Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and Its Likely Transboundary Effects for South Asia</a>. That collective is now mostly dysfunctional, but reviving it would be in the mandate of regional organisations like ICIMOD and SAARC, both headquartered in Kathmandu and working in a geopolitically volatile but seriously polluted region. Ganguly has an idea about where to start: “South Asian countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have similar PM2.5 levels, but different PM2.5 standards. Harmonisation of PM2.5 standards could be one way to foster regional collaboration.”

Sonia Awale

Bad air and polluted politics

Late last week, under pressure from banks and big business, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari unveiled a new monetary policy.&nbsp;
The policy expands credit of banks and credit sector, relaxing several regulatory provisions. But the Rastra Bank is careful not to allow banks to resume reckless lending.&nbsp;
“A cautiously accommodative monetary policy,” is how Adhikari described it.
The private sector has welcomed the policy, and the NEPSE soared steeply into two circuit breaks on Sunday, the first trading day after the policy was announced. &nbsp;
NRB has set a target for credit expansion to 12.5%, up from 11.5% last year. Excluding the last two fiscal years, credit has expanded at an annual rate of 20% in the last three decades, against an economic growth rate of about 4%.&nbsp;
Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/despite-politics-nepal-s-stock-market-is-bullish"> Despite politics, Nepal’s stock market is bullish</a>, Santosh Pokharel and Sudyumna Dahal
This is proof that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-care-economy">Nepal’s economy</a> has not benefited from private sector credit expansion.
NRB tried to ease interest on loans following the pandemic but revised it to slow credit expansion due to economic turbulence.&nbsp;
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) also blamed an anaemic economy on the post-pandemic monetary policy, and its effects linger. &nbsp;
NRB’s decision to signals that it wants to further reduce the lending rates of banks. However, Nepal’s banks and financial institutions at present are flush with cash, and do not need to borrow from the central bank.&nbsp;
The policy change therefore will not affect the market interest rate. The deposit collection rate, which is unchanged at 3%, will ensure that the interest rate on bank deposits will not go down.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/central-role-of-the-central-bank">The central bank </a>has chosen to make the monetary policy more liberal through regulatory arrangements rather than monetary instruments to ease the pressure on the capital funds of financial institutions.&nbsp;
The existing loan loss provision of 1.2% on good loans has been reduced to 1.1%, which is estimated to increase the profits of the banking and financial institutions by up to Rs5 billion.&nbsp;
Similarly, the regulatory retail portfolio limit has been increased to Rs25 million lessening the strain on bank capital and making it easier for them to provide loans.
In addition, the new policy includes concessions to the construction sector with struggling businesses after builders complained about being blacklisted for not paying billions owed to the government.&nbsp;
Contractors will not be blacklisted for bounced cheques. The deadline for the loan interest payment has also been extended till mid-December.&nbsp;
But while NRB says it will review existing credit notice and blacklisting directives, a no-penalty policy for dishonouring checks would increase the risk for businesses.&nbsp;
All this is proof that<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/democracy-s-sidekicks"> the new NC-UML coalition</a> is beholden to business. This week, the prime minister ordered NEA to resume electricity supply to industries which have not paid power bills worth millions.&nbsp;
NRB also stated that it would ease the current working capital loan guidance, as well as revise the working capital limit (short-term financing extended to businesses to cover its day-to-day expenses) for micro, domestic, small and medium enterprises.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/soaring-debt">Soaring Debt</a>, Ramesh Kumar
The bank also announced that Nepalis who had obtained<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/speaking-the-language-of-overseas-work"> overseas work</a> permits would be able to obtain loans without collateral, increasing the possibility for such people to borrow at a cheaper rate.&nbsp;
The IMF has also suggested that Nepal amend the 2002 Rastra Bank Act to guarantee its independence. It is neither theoretically nor morally appropriate for every change in government to interfere with NRB policies. &nbsp;
Under pressure from big business, Prime Minister Oli, as soon as he assumed office, made direct comments about changing the monetary policy to make it more flexible.&nbsp;
Governor Adhikari had no choice but to give in to that pressure, but he has been equally careful not to repeat the mistakes of the past. He opened the door to credit expansion through his first monetary policy as governor enabling borrowers to obtain billions in refinance and working capital loans.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-cash-rich-nepal">Poor cash-rich Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale
Although he has increased the target for credit expansion, Adhikari has been more prudent than before.&nbsp;
The governor has emphasised that seeking economic growth through monetary policy will not work as long as jobs, investment, and productivity do not improve.
“Seeking short-term solutions through a flexible monetary policy poses a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/state-sponsored-economic-crisis">challenge to achieving long-term economic stability</a>,” Adhikari said.&nbsp;
In recent years, Nepal’s government and the private sector have pushed for economic revival through monetary policy. But that has allowed real estate and share market speculators a free rein.&nbsp;
The positive impact of such directives have been short-lived, and point to structural problems with the economy.&nbsp;
Economic opportunities in the country are limited because little has been done to create jobs, increase production, and encourage investment — factors that would contribute directly to long-term economic stability.&nbsp;
More than 850,000<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-long-way-to-europe"> Nepali youth left the country for foreign employment</a> and further education in the past year alone.&nbsp;
The biggest problem in Nepal’s financial system is credit abuse. And although NRB has accepted this it has not done much to curb it. The new monetary policy therefore may be ‘flexible’, but does not fix the economy’s old problems.
Ramesh Kumar

Monetary politics

K P Oli and his coalition partner Sher Bahadur Deuba have been prime ministers of Nepal a total of nine times between them. This gives them the joint responsibility of allaying widespread public perception that it is time to pass on the baton.
The fact that Nepal’s two biggest parties, the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal (UML), are in government together has made some hopeful that this coalition will be more stable.&nbsp;
However, the two have their work cut out to a) prove that it is indeed a more stable partnership, and b) that it will govern better. The sole criteria on which this government and its leaders will be judged before the next election will be if it improves the economy.
During his address to Parliament before his floor test last week, Prime Minister Oli acknowledged that the Nepali people were “in deep despair” about the current direction of the country’s politics and economy.&nbsp;
“Our politics must ensure development and prosperity, which is impossible without a strong government,” Oli said.&nbsp;
However, the circumstances that led to the UML pulling away from its partnership with the Maoist Centre was in part propelled by the two biggest parties trying to thwart investigations of their top leaders in two scandals.&nbsp;
That, and the lack of inclusiveness in the new cabinet populated by tainted public figures hints that it is going to be pretty much business as usual. There are only two women in the Council of Ministers, and no ministers from the Dalit community.&nbsp;
If the NC-UML leaders wanted to show that amending the Constitution (the coalition’s major agenda) would strengthen inclusion in government, they are not off to a very good start.&nbsp;
The Cabinet’s decision this week to override the Nepal Electricity Authority and resume power supply to industries that had not paid their dues just proved everyone’s worst suspicions.
Oli’s Cabinet must heed his own words in Parliament that his government would discontinue the culture of leaving development half-finished, and not dismantle some meaningful work done by previous governments.&nbsp;
And even as Deuba places his trust in Oli for the time being, not everyone within the coalition partnership is in the mood to coddle Oli. Leaders of the rival faction within the Nepali Congress which includes NC General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Shekhar Koirala have made it clear to Oli that their votes of confidence given to Oli does not mean carte blanche support.&nbsp;
But because of its size and influence, this coalition has more responsibility and reason to be stable and deliver the goods in the next three years before elections.&nbsp;
If the biggest two parties coming together cannot successfully address the country’s stagnant economy, kickstart development and create jobs and address widespread public disillusionment and apathy, voters are going to turn to untested populist leaders in 2027.&nbsp;
The Maoists and the RSP are now in the opposition and licking their wounds, and their check and balance role in questioning the NC-UML establishment will be crucial for a functioning democracy in the coming months. &nbsp;
But while a main opposition party with a strong presence is supported by its numbers in Parliament, that is not the case now. The Maoists and the RSP, which are the third and fourth largest parties, together do not have the numbers equal to either the NC or UML in Parliament. Furthermore, both the Maoists and RSP have internal problems of tarnished leadership and disunity.&nbsp;
Maoist chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal must now address discontent within his own party and answer criticism about handling things better with the NC to prevent the UML ‘coup’ last month. He must also analyse what his ouster means for his party’s diminishing popularity at the polls.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, the RSP’s reputation, popularity and support which have taken a major hit, mainly because of party leader and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane being embroiled in multiple scandals, is now at the centre of another allegation of corruption and abuse of authority.&nbsp;
The RSP’s Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar is facing calls to resign after a letter she allegedly wrote to the US embassy to expedite visa dates for herself and five others earlier this year. Visa-related correspondence for members of the House is usually handled by the Parliament Secretariat, but this instance involved five people who are not MPs and Rana Magar is facing allegations of trafficking.&nbsp;
The RSP was quick to call the letter being made public an attempt by the new governing coalition to tarnish the reputation of the Deputy Speaker and the party. But even though her party is backing her for now, Rana Magar’s changing statements have not helped.&nbsp;
The RSP’s unique selling point to the public is that it is not like the old parties, and given to old practices of corruption and nepotism. Now, the question being asked is: how are the RSP and its leaders any different?
Perhaps it is too early to write the new coalition off, but the signs so far are not encouraging. &nbsp;

Democracy’s sidekicks

Ask random pedestrians on Kathmandu’s sidewalks to name the current prime minister and prominent party leaders, and there is a high chance they will scratch their heads. It is probably worse in Kosi, where the provincial chief minister has changed five times in two years.&nbsp; It is a foregone conclusion that K P Oli will become Nepal’s Prime Minister for the fourth time on Friday after he dumped Dahal and his four-month-old coalition following a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-government-changes-again">clandestine midnight power-sharing deal</a> with Sher Bahadur of the Nepali Congress (NC).&nbsp; Oli promised to be in Baluwatar for the next one-and-half years, hand over to Deuba who will head the government for the sixth time till the next elections in 2027.&nbsp; That the NC and UML <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rapid-fire-governments-in-nepal">double crossed Dahal</a>, whose Maoist Centre had taken advantage of being a ‘kingmaker’ party in Parliament to swap parties just to gain and remain in power. But Oli and Deuba seemed to think enough was enough, especially since Dahal was letting his Home Minister from the RSP to go after the top leaders in the NC and UML on corruption charges. The two leaders also said constitutional amendments on electoral laws are necessary to “ensure political stability”. This would mean scrapping proportional representation and makes it more difficult for smaller parties to gain seats in the House.&nbsp; These amendments will be easier said than done because even the NC and UML cannot muster the two-third majority required to revise the Constitution without support from the Maoists and the Unified Socialists in the National Assembly. Both are now seething against Oli or Deuba.&nbsp; On Friday, national attention will focus on who gets which ministry in the new government. Oli and Deuba cut a deal for the NC to have 10 ministries, and the UML getting 9. They already decided that the home ministry should go to NC and finance the UML. Deuba’s wife, Arzu, is said to be eyeing the Foreign Ministry. &nbsp; Like we wrote in this space last month, Nepal’s international diplomacy is just an <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/pre-paid-excellencies">extension of' power sharing that rewards party loyalists</a>. The decision of the UML-Maoist government in June to recall 11 ambassadors and propose eight new ambassadors under the UML, Maoist, and Unified Socialist quota now hangs in the balance.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071103078_d9be5d7db93df78e14512854ed7e5a9d893dbeaebffe3b256fa6f484accdf763.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024071103078_d9be5d7db93df78e14512854ed7e5a9d893dbeaebffe3b256fa6f484accdf763" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1350" loading="lazy" alt="Araniko Highway bikes NT"> <figcaption>Two-wheelers stuck in the mud in the Araniko Highway after heavy rainfall. Photo: RAJKUMAR PARAJULI</figcaption> </figure>  It is likely the Maoist and Unified Socialist ambassador nominees will be crossed out, and it will be interesting to see who gets critical missions to India, China, and the US.&nbsp; This was in essence a joint power grab to stop <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heads-roll">investigations into scandals</a> that both their top leaders are implicated in: the NC in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, and the UML in a land grab of a state-owned tea estate in Jhapa. And most Nepalis seem to be aware that this is a marriage of convenience that will not make their lives better. Some experts have argued that a NC-UML alliance would be the best bet for relative political stability. Deuba and Oli, now have to prove that to be true.&nbsp; The NC has been demanding that RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane be investigated for his <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepals-home-minister-vs-the-media">alleged involvement in misappropriating funds from co-operatives</a> he was involved in. The two parties in power must now ensure that ongoing probes into corruption scandals are fully looked into and the perpetrators held accountable, whichever parties they may belong to. Given the premise that this coalition was the result of the NC and UML trying to prevent probes, there is little chance of that happening.&nbsp; The Maoists and the RSP must now be an effective opposition front. Given the tit-for-tat nature of Nepali politics, it is a no-brainer that the RSP will keep going after NC and UML leaders implicated in scandals.&nbsp; The RSP will also have to clean up its own image before the next election, but that will be hard when it is imitating the political culture of the same parties it vowed to be an alternative to.&nbsp; This week, the party stripped General Secretary Mukul Dhakal of all responsibilities after he leaked a scathing report accusing Lamichhane of putting himself above party &nbsp;interests.&nbsp; Nepal’s politics has been dominated by the whims of the same three ageing politicians and their parties since 2006. While they have been engaged in political theatre and trading barbs, 80 people have died across Nepal in floods and landslides since the beginning of monsoon.&nbsp; Vehicles mired in the mud on Nepal’s highways this week are a fitting metaphor of the nation’s politics. Shristi Karki

More things change, more they remain the same

The climate crisis is upon us today, whether we like to believe it or not. It is going to destroy much of what humanity has built in the last few hundred years, as well as the biodiversity that nature has bestowed on the planet. It is going to wash away our livelihoods in our lifetime.
Freedom of expression and democracy are the most important adaptation mechanisms to climate breakdown. If we cannot freely express our views and elect leaders, we will continue to build the wrong dam, the wrong roads, the wrong embankments in the wrong place, at the wrong price.
&nbsp;We already see bridges bridging nothing. Roads to nowhere. Airports not used, and vanity projects of politicians all built through our debt. This is because we are unable to speak out, because we do not have a say in what our governments do.
We take loans to build a bridge, a house, a school and bad weather destroys them. But the debt remains and we have to pay back the money without receiving the benefits from the loans we took.
The amount of money flowing out of our countries will amount to $900 billion in the next two years, mainly for debt servicing and repayments. Many climate vulnerable countries are in debt distress, and more than 15 will go into default this year. These countries have lost 20% of their GDP because of extreme weather events.
The environment, therefore, is no more a dispatch from environment correspondents. It is a major financial story. The impact extreme weather due to climate change has on the economy is tremendous.
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I now work for the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), an intergovernmental organisation of 68 countries established in 2009 initially with nine countries including Nepal. I quit as the Speaker of the Maldives Parliament last year to set up the secretariat in Accra in Ghana.
Among other things, the CVF develops what we call Climate Prosperity Plans which are low carbon development strategies that would give the same outcomes of GDP growth of high employment and low inflation, but without damaging the planet.
To become resilient you must be prosperous. Being poor makes you less resilient, reduces your choices. So we are looking at new methods of farming, irrigation, harvesting, fertilisers, transport, and building cities and homes.
I have been attending COPs for nearly 30 years. We have been talking about Loss and Damage by using the ethical human rights argument of climate justice. But I do not think anyone ever listened, and nothing much has come out of the last 28 COPs. They are just talking shops.&nbsp;
The CVF wants to find solutions to the climate crisis, and one of the things we do is advise member countries on debt.
Sri Lanka is going into the IMF’s ‘Debt Sustainability Analysis’ program for the 17th time and Bangladesh for 24th. Year after year, the IMF bails them out on condition that they increase taxes, fire half the civil servants and reduce spending. These austerity prescriptions are not our way out of the debt, we cannot do so by suppressing growth.
More and more countries now want debt-for-nature swaps wherein those who want to protect the environment are willing to guarantee the new bond which asks the government to do more on specific environmental issues such that there is a conservation agent with, for instance, a forest management plan. The money is paid per usual, but you are also protecting nature while doing it.
We also encourage countries to do carbon exchanges. Most of the forests are in climate vulnerable countries today, capturing most of the carbon the world is emitting. At the same time, if we do not have forests, our very survival will be jeopardised. But we need money to look after our forests and our natural assets. Carbon exchange, therefore, can also be a mechanism to finance development.
Simply because industrialised countries have taken us to the brink, we cannot do the same. If we do, it is going to be the end of us all. We must find sustainable development paths that will also deliver prosperity.
People in the Maldives perhaps feel I have abandoned them. But to save the Maldives, I had to leave it. The Maldives cannot be saved unless the planet is saved. We had to do something else so that island nations and climate vulnerable countries have a better chance.&nbsp;
This is an excerpt of the keynote address by Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives, an ex-journalist and a climate campaigner, at the Himal Media Mela 2024 on World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. He is now the Secretary-General of the Climate Vulnerable Forum. Watch his complete speech on our YouTube channel.
Mohamed Nasheed

Climate, Democracy and Media

The third Himal Media Mela 2024 continued on Friday following the keynote speech from Mohamed Nasheed, climate activist, writer/journalist, and former president of the Maldives.&nbsp;
The day-long symposium included four workshops and two panel discussions ranging from possibilities of AI usage in newsrooms to threats faced by investigative journalists in environmental reporting, to climate finance.&nbsp;
In the first session of the day, Naresh Newar gave a workshop on AI in the Newsroom with a presentation about how media practitioners can responsibly use Large Language Models (LLM) and Generative AI to ease their workload.&nbsp;
“One main way AI can lighten the burden of journalists is by using it on small repetitive tasks that could lead to burnout,” said Newar, adding that newsrooms can use AI in such tasks as proofreading, transcription, review, and research.&nbsp;
“However, one must not claim AI-generated content as their own,” cautioned Newar. &nbsp;
The workshop also delved into the rapid advancement of AI technology, as well as its limitations. There was also discussion surrounding the ethics of AI use, and the need for newsrooms to be careful in identifying AI-generated content that might be posed as human-generated media.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, during the workshop on Data Mining to Tell Compelling Stories, data journalists Mohan Mainali and Arun Karki shed light on formulating stories from available data sources, and the importance of interactive data in storytelling.
“A single set of data can generate multiple stories and analyses,” said Arun Karki. “The key is to know how and where to look.”
Sharing his experiences while reporting for a three-part series published in Nepali Times analysing meteorological, hydrological and demographic data from eastern Nepal, Mohan Mainali emphasised on the importance of data visualisation.
“Like the expression, ‘show, don’t tell’ goes—it is the journalist’s responsibility to visualise and present data in the most easily apprehensible way for audiences,” said Mainali. “And although numbers by themselves do not have much to say, visualising those numbers reveals trends.”
The speakers also encouraged journalists to make the most out of open-source and freely available data while reporting on environmental issues, adding that climate-related data are more accessible than most. &nbsp;
“When media is under a financial crisis, data journalism lets journalists form a story without actually having to go to the field,” added Mainali.
Later in the day, water expert Ajaya Dixit during the workshop Media for Early Warning of Disasters discussed how Nepal can move to a disaster-resilient future. He highlighted that Nepal’s policies recognise that it is prone to multi-hazards, and must be prepared for them.
“The media must proactively communicate relevant messages before, during and after disasters, but attributing all environmental issues to climate change is not enough,” he said.
“Furthermore, no disaster is natural,” added Dixit, giving an example of how poorly built houses kill people, not earthquakes themselves. “Media coverage must stop referring to disasters as natural.
“We need to recognise the events within our borders—such as the soot from wildfires that are expediting the melting of the mountains— that contribute to the climate crisis,” remarked Rama Parajuli of the BBC.
Dixit also pointed to the need for collaboration between media practitioners, researchers, and development partners, and that knowledge and information need to be cross-validated.”
“Disaster, hazard, vulnerability, and risk are used interchangeably in Nepal. These terms need to be contextualised, disaggregated, and used appropriately,” he further added. “Reporting has to be based in science.”
The workshop Investigating Climate Finance led by economist Rashtraraj Bhandari of the Asian Development Bank was a crash course into climate finance, as well as jargon journalists must understand while reporting on climate finance.
The economist during his presentation emphasised the need for nations to generate their climate funds.&nbsp;
“Foreign grants and funding are never going to be enough to combat climate crises, and expecting external funding for them is more costly in the long-term— both economically and &nbsp;socially,” said Bhandari, “We as a country must identify what ‘green’ means for us, not what is dictated by grant-giving countries or projects.”
Bhandari also urged the journalists that storytelling should look beyond numbers. “Real stories are the ones that visualise the impact of crises,” he added.
The Media Mela continued into the second half of the day with two panel discussions.&nbsp;
In the session Threats against Environmental Journalists, &nbsp;moderator Bidhya Rai, as well as panellists Ramesh Bhushal and Ramu Sapkota narrated personal experiences in the field while discussing the dangers that Nepali reporters who investigate environmental exploitation and crimes face.&nbsp;
“Our rich natural resources are being exploited by those in power, and is part of our economic activity,” noted moderator Bidhya Rai said during the session’s introductory remarks.&nbsp;
Ramesh Bhushal, Nepal editor of The Third Pole, remarked that environmental journalism had long been attributed to travel and luxury, and simply writing about nature.
“Environmental reporting is political reporting—it involves reporting on corruption, and those exploiting resources for their self-interest,” said &nbsp;“It is thus people-based reporting,” added Bhushal.
Bhushal added that environmental journalists have been under threat from the moment that environmental reporting began in the 70s, soon after the exploitation of natural resources became part of the mainstream discourse globally.
There are not just threats to journalists’ physical safety. The increasing fragility of the environment also means that reporters face the risk of experiencing disasters like landslides and floods while in the field.&nbsp;
“While there is information that can be accessed remotely, one cannot report about the environment entirely from the desk, it has to be done from the field,” said independent journalist Ramu Sapkota.
Journalists also face possibilities of legal repercussions, from local-level leaders to powerful political cronies. And it is not just journalists who risk their safety. The panellists also spoke about how sources become hesitant to communicate with reporters when their lives and safety are threatened.&nbsp;
“The climate of fear in the community is increasing,” said Bhushan.
“Independent journalists and local reporters are under more risk than reporters who have support from and are in communication with their newsrooms,” added Sapkota. &nbsp;
The panellists further discussed how maintaining constant communication with newsrooms, as well as friends, and family can mitigate risks to media practitioners who investigate environmental exploitation.
Also present in the session were Laxmi and Sangam Mahato, the sisters of Dilip Mahato, an activist who was murdered by contractors extracting sand from the Aurahi River in Dhanusha. Dilip had been protesting illegal sand mining in the river and organising the local community to conserve the Chure Hills.&nbsp;
His sisters have continued their brother’s fight to save their river and village from illegal sand mining even as they continue to get threatened by their brother’s killers.&nbsp;
The panelists also spoke about what they called a ‘grey area’ between environmental journalism and environmental activism.
“While we should not be engaging in activism, we should provide information that enables activism,” said Bhushal.
Sapkota agreed. “We need to provide space to and encourage those who want to take up activism.”
Meanwhile, public interest litigator Sanjay Adhikari during the panel Economics of Ecology also touched upon the need for environmental activism. “Environmental activism is not a want for us, it’s a need,” said the lawyer.
Adhikari also spoke about what he called “absurdities” in the plans for the Nijgadh airport, including the scale of the trees cut down to make way for the project, and claims that animals would “retreat into the forest from the runways when planes landed.”&nbsp;
Environmentalist Bhushan Tuladhar, who was also part of the panel, also offered critique of Nepal’s environmental policies while championing electric public transport as a public good— reminding the audience that over half of the households, even in the Kathmandu Valley, do not own private vehicles.&nbsp;
Tuladhar also noted how environmental issues disproportionately affect some communities and groups over others. “Indoor pollution is a major part of air pollution in Nepal that directly affects women and children,” he said.
Tuladhar highlighted the economic and health costs of environmental issues such as pollution, reminding that air pollution costs the world 6% of its GDP —$8.1 trillion— every year, on healthcare costs.&nbsp;
Tuladhar asked: “What would we be willing to pay for an extra 1.2 years of life, which would be possible if the air pollution decreased by only 30%?”

The political economy of environment

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. When the other pillars of democracy fail to act as check and balance, the press has to step in to hold power to account. 
Which is why authoritarian and elected autocrats around the world who have co-opted the judiciary, legislature and executive are now targeting the media. Journalists are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/in-a-surveillance-state">surveilled</a>, threatened and even murdered for doing their job. 
The ill-gotten wealth of demagogues is mostly derived from licensing the exploitation of natural resources. Often, it is only <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/investing-in-investigative-journalism">investigative journalists</a> who stand in the way of greed and ambition.
UNESCO’s theme for World Press Freedom Day this year is ‘Press for the Planet’. Climate breakdown, mining, or illegal logging are no longer just ‘environmental’ features — they are stories of political crime.
Nepal is one of the most <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-should-be-open-for-south-asia">open societies in Asia</a> at present. But it was not always like this. Nepal has had its dark periods: 1960-90, 2005, 2016. Even at present, it is not smooth sailing for the mass media here. 
Successive governments in the eight years since the new Constitution have tried to squeeze the press. People posting on Facebook have been arrested, YouTubers taken to court, and last year the government banned TikTok.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rattled-by-criticism-nepal-bans-tiktok">Censorship in instalments</a> is a way to test the waters to see if the backlash from freedom activists can be handled before imposing stricter restrictions. 
Local reporters, who do not have the protection enjoyed by more high-profile journalists in the capital, are threatened and gagged from reporting on activities that harm nature and livelihoods. 
Rabi Lamichhane has been under a cloud ever since he was Home Minister last year. A former tv anchor, Lamichhane is open about his contempt for the mainstream press, which he calls the ‘Dirty Dozen’.
Soon after becoming minister this time, he directed local officials to monitor news and social media posts in all 77 districts to keep track of content critical of the government.
He was forced to withdraw this daft idea after a backlash, but is now employing other channels to hit at Big Media mainly through portals, police and the investigation bureau he commands. The man obviously has much to hide, and is blaming the messenger.
Mayors Balen Shah in Kathmandu and Harka Sampang in Dharan who were propelled to office by social media propagation of their populist personas have shown thin skins, and a disdain for journalists critical of their methods. 
The draft Media Council Bill will allow a government secretary to select its chair and members. The Council is supposed to ‘advise’ the government in formulating media policies and code of conduct, much like a fox guarding the chicken coop.
Journalism in Nepal is already in crisis because of the collapse of the business model of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-new-news-age">legacy media</a>. Just when we need an independent press to safeguard freedoms, it is more exposed to corporate and political pressure. There is a steady erosion of democracy in South Asia with varying degrees of censorship. Nepal has flourished as a place for the meeting of the minds, where nationals of neighbouring countries come for free and open discussion. But that space could close if journalists here do not fully defend our constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of expression.
Some of our neighbours have decided that democracy and a free press keep them economically backward, and have adopted the East Asian authoritarian model. We in Nepal have tried strongman rule before, and it failed quite spectacularly. 
Media has an agenda-setting role in a democracy. It amplifies the public voice so people are empowered to demand action from elected officials against wrongdoing. Lack of accountability lies at the root of everyday problems like underdevelopment, lack of jobs, air pollution, or environmental degradation.
The current wildfire emergency in this country is a result of decades of official neglect, political apathy and fatalism. 
Journalists reporting on the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-crisis-drought-food-deficit-migration">climate crisis</a>, natural resource exploitation or biodiversity loss have shown great courage and sacrifice to get the truth out. Many have been killed. Others have been threatened and silenced. Climate deniers troll science journalists. 
Here in Nepal,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-nation-built-on-sand"> illegal sand mining</a>, quarrying and logging have destroyed ecosystems. The climate emergency is now magnifying the impact of such wanton destruction on Nepal’s economy. 
Disasters like <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-valley-suffers-quadruple-disaster">Melamchi</a> and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/sikkim-flood-is-warning-to-nepal">Sikkim</a> could hit cascade projects along the Marsyangdi, Sun Kosi and Arun rivers. Journalists cannot just wait for disasters to strike any more, they must warn of them.
This week, even as smoke from wildfires blanketed the country, the Tarai is reeling under a heat wave. Jhapa was 43°C with 40% humidity, that is very near the lethal wet bulb temperature. 
What media chooses not to report, what to report on and how much prominence is given to it determines whether action is taken in time to mitigate danger. 
These ‘environmental’ stories are political stories: 
<ul><li>The government banned plastic bags three times but had to lift it because of lobbying by powerful pellet importers.</li><li>Air pollution can be reduced by incentivising electric transport, but there are vested interests in the fossil lobby.</li><li>Nijgad is not an airport project, it is a logging concession controlled by political cronies. </li></ul>
The job of a free press is not just to name and shame crooks, but also to restore the people’s faith in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/populism-vs-pluralism">democracy and pluralism</a>. It is the democratic system with freedom of speech and fair elections to reward performance that makes this system work. 
We may have no expectations from our tried, tested and failed politicians, but let us not blame the system that they have abused.

Press under Pressure

Nepal’s rulers have been suffering from an affliction called Serial Coalition Syndrome. Symptoms include: inability to see beyond personal greed and ambition, amnesia about the national interest, serious addiction to personal power, OCD about money, and wanton political promiscuity.&nbsp;
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal once again pulled the rug from under his main coalition partner to go off with a former ally whom he has ditched twice before. With this, Nepal has had eight governments in seven years.
The Maoists and the UML had an electoral alliance ahead of the 2017 election, after which they merged their parties. Then they divorced, and now are once more joined in holy matrimony. The country, meanwhile, is back to square one, not that it was faring all that well anyway.
The Nepali Congress (NC), its patriarch and five-time prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba got blindsided once more by Dahal’s checkmate, just as he had been twice before by King Gyanendra.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/catapulting-to-singha-darbar">Catapulting to Singha Darbar</a>, Kunda Dixit
Dahal and Oli now have a new deal of two years each as premier before the 2027 elections. In all likelihood, there will be another coalition shakeup when it is time for Dahal to hand over power to Oli. But this coalition has just 138 votes in Parliament, only enough to win a confidence vote and may not last that long.&nbsp;
However, the crux of the matter is that these coalition reshuffles are of no real concern or significance to ordinary Nepalis, and adds to public disillusionment with the mainstream parties. The RPP and independent mayor Balen Shah have been saying, “Didn’t we tell you there is no hope from these clowns?”
Even the RSP has squandered much of its goodwill because of its leader Rabi Lamichhane's impatience to be Home Minister again so he can launder his tainted image. Dol Prasad Acharya has also been reinstated as Labour Minister despite allegations of conflict of interest over his involvement in a migrant recruiting agency. The only saving grace for the RSP is that MIT-graduate Sumana Shrestha is now Education Minister.
Nepalis will have to continue trying to survive on the brink. Inequity in healthcare will persist, thousands of young Nepalis will migrate overseas every day, only to be fleeced by recruiters and state agencies.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-just-happened-in-nepali-politics">What just happened in Nepali politics?</a>, Nepali Times
The new alliance just ensures that Dahal will continue to be prime minister a bit longer. He also gets to put the blame for his government’s failures, underperformance, and major corruption scandals on the NC.&nbsp;
There are only four female ministers in the new Cabinet as coalition partners keep powerful portfolios for the men. It is even worse in the provinces: of the 67 chief ministers and ministers in the seven provinces before the coalition reshuffle, only 16% were women, mostly state ministers.&nbsp;
Women and minorities continue to be useful only to fill quotas. Even so, there are no Dalits in the Cabinet. Token women are handy like this week in the run up to International Women’s Day on 8 March.&nbsp;
And why must provincial governments have to mirror what happens at the centre? Just because there is regime change in Kathmandu, there is no reason why it has to change in Dhangadi. Why does the NC have to sack Maoist ministers from provinces it governs?&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/old-wine-in-old-bottles">Old wine in old bottles</a>, Editorial
The provinces have been given neither the authority nor revenue to govern properly, while corruption has been decentralised. Federalism so far has been a colossal waste of precious resources, where the centre’s inefficiency, incompetence, poor governance is multiplied by seven.
Top leaders are loath to decentralise, and as this week demonstrated, are more power-hungry than ever before. This is against the spirit of federalism and devolution.
Fortunately, many local governments of municipalities have shown accountability and are trying to improve services. If provinces are just going to be rubber stamps of the centre, then we might as well have a two-tier government with the federal government and local municipalities.&nbsp;
Anything goes in Nepali politics, and in power struggles, all is fair. Governance, transparency and accountability are of no consequence. The lives of ordinary Nepalis do not matter. Prime Minister Dahal and his comrades, new and old, could not have made it clearer with the coalition reshuffle.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/whose-country-is-it-anyway">Whose country is it anyway?</a>, Editorial
Sonia Awale

What difference does it make?

Dairy farmers have been dumping milk on the streets because they are owed Rs6 billion by buyers. Victims of loan sharks and cooperatives have stormed Parliament.&nbsp; And that was just this week. Nepalis are increasingly exasperated with a government formed just a year-and-a-half ago, and with three more years to go for the next elections. The problem stems from the third largest party, the Maoist Centre, having the prime ministerial and other powerful posts in government. The Nepali Congress (NC), the biggest party by far in Parliament, is behaving like a minor partner.&nbsp; Last week, there were vociferous demands at the NC General Committee meeting to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/unconventional-convention">abandon the coalition in the next election</a>, and this week the Maoist standing committee also decided to go it alone in the 2027 election. &nbsp; While both parties say they will not leave the current coalition, it is clear that the alliance is fraying at the seams.&nbsp; “The Maoists and Congress threatening to contest elections independently is more an election strategy than a signal that the coalition is falling apart,” says analyst Indra Adhikari.&nbsp; She adds, “It was more a reassurance to party members at a time of dissatisfaction and uncertainty within parties. Forming electoral alliances and forming coalitions are different matters.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240301030312_679e8cb5b9a920810276d7820eb5d11e49d326b1218f39c2ae1e254fc75fb126.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240301030312_679e8cb5b9a920810276d7820eb5d11e49d326b1218f39c2ae1e254fc75fb126" data-rendition-name="original" width="3600" height="1848" loading="lazy" alt="Coalition collision NT"> <figcaption>Victims of loan sharks and cooperatives during a protest Pradarshani Marg. Photo: HARRAM BHETUWAL</figcaption> </figure>  The current coalition of erstwhile extreme Communists with a centre-right Congress could not be more ideologically different. It was cobbled together after the 2022 elections just so that the Maoists would not unite again with the opposition UML to form a powerful leftwing government. The NC, Maoists and the UML’s commitment to contesting the election independently pertain to electoral alliances formed before the polls, not coalitions formed after, Adhikari adds. The Maoist Centre’s two-day standing committee meeting discussed the anti-secular views of some NC members and Deputy Prime Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka's criticism of Maoist guerrilla excesses during the war. &nbsp; There is also mutual suspicion between the Maoists and NC over a deal that fell through involving the NC’s Krishna Prasad Sitaula as National Assembly chair in exchange for a Maoist heading <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/kosi-now-kathmandu-next">Kosi Province</a>. The NC did not back the Maoist candidate, so the Maoists are not supporting Sitaula.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024030103038_f04c9614d05be89a523282bcf253578166a2163880de41c7fe567098dab92702.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024030103038_f04c9614d05be89a523282bcf253578166a2163880de41c7fe567098dab92702" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1199" loading="lazy" alt="Coalition collision NT"> <figcaption>Nepali Congress leader Krishna Prasad Sitauls spoke at the NC Mahasamiti meeting last week. Photo: MADHV PRASAD GHIMIRE / RSS</figcaption> </figure>  According to a coalition power-sharing pact, Prime Minister Dahal is supposed to hand over the premiership to Sher Bahadur Deuba of the NC and Madhav Kumar Nepal of the Unified Socialists later this year. &nbsp; “Coalitions in countries like ours are at risk of falling apart from the moment they are formed, they do not work without compromise between parties that have different ideologies,” explains Adhikari.&nbsp; UML chair K P Oli is already campaigning for 2027 with a ‘Mission-84’ slogan and likened the coalition to “a lump of ash that will crumble whether it is dry or wet”. Prime Minister Dahal appears to be mulling a Cabinet reshuffle in a bid to keep the coalition together. But his attempt to replace Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat of the NC is getting no support from Deuba.&nbsp; The opposition UML, RSP, and the RPP have all demanded the resignation of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala of the Unified Socialist, Health and Population Minister Mohan Basnet of the NC, as well as the Maoist Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati. Minister Jwala was caught up in a riot on the Ring Road in December in which protesters set fire to his car, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/karnali-to-korea-dream-dashed-in-kathmandu">and two people were killed </a>when the police fired at the crowd. An investigation found he disregarded security concerns. Health Minister Basnet is being probed by the anti-corruption bureau over a 2021 procurement of surveillance equipment for the Nepal Telecommunications Authority. And Kirati is implicated in a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/lharkyal-lama-s-lumbini-inc">scandal involving a private contract in Lumbini</a>.&nbsp; There were heated exchanges in Parliament this week as coalition MPs accused the opposition of the pot calling the kettle black. The UML has skeletons in its closet too, and the RSP’s Rabi Lamichhane is embroiled in controversies involving a cooperative and his citizenship. Says Indra Adhikari: “There is absolutely a need for leaders to reflect, take responsibility for the consequences of their actions, and be held accountable. The country's crises are too important.”

Coalition collision

Nepal’s only international aviation gateway, at Kathmandu airport, will cut night-time operation hours to allow construction of taxiways, and airlines have been told to curtail flights. This is expected to lead to more than normal chaos during the height of peak autumn and spring tourist seasons at an airport that is congested even at the best of times. The airport will close from 10PM to 8AM from 8 November-31 March 2025. The taxiways will now connect to the thresholds at both ends of the runway, making the airport more efficient in handling higher frequencies of landings and takeoffs. The parallel taxiway extension will allow international flights to land every 4 minutes instead of the current every 7 minutes. At present planes have to wait to land until a plane taking off backtracks along the runway.&nbsp; Kathmandu is Nepal’s only airport with international operations, and it has only one runway that is only one way in from the south over the mountains. With the taxiway improvement, the airport will be able to handle 42 aircraft landings and takeoffs per hour — double the current capacity.&nbsp; The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has been trying to entice international airlines to also start flying to and from the other two international airports at Pokhara and Bhairawa (Lumbini) by slashing landing and handling charges. But so far only Nepal Airlines operates a weekly flight to Bhairawa from Kuala Lumpur.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241018161016_046569e53d1d66cd445cc66c697c0ef724810aec9f54bdf827481e3cd6b80c32" data-rendition-name="original" width="2356" height="1134" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport expansion"> <figcaption>Kathmandu Airport Expansion plan with extension of taxiways to the thresholds of runways 02 and 20 that will limit airport operations from 8 November 2024 - 31 March 2025. Areas in blue are existing structures, including the international terminal which in future will be the domestic airport, and the new international terminal near the north end of the runway,</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241018121028_6e17cc2ee87c1b02d78cb54905825b7aa15299b7a00f5eddb01a59579ab85c1a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1353" height="1328" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu airport NT"> </figure>  CAAN has reportedly told international airlines to cut their flight frequency to Kathmandu citing the shorter operation hours and has told budget airlines to shift some of their flights to Pokhara or Bhairawa, or face cuts. Many airlines currently operate regular flights to and from Kathmandu between 10PM and 8AM: Air Arabia to Sharjah, Fly Dubai to Dubai, Jazeera Airways to Kuwait, Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, Singapore Airlines, several Nepal Airlines flights, and one of four daily flights by Qatar Airways to Doha. Jazeera Airways, FlyDubai, and Thai AirAsia have applied and got permission from CAAN to begin regular flights to Bhairawa’s Gautam Buddha International Airport. Starting 9 November, FlyDubai will start making a stopover in Bhairawa before flying on to Kathmandu. Immigration, customs and security are all fully functional in Bhairawa. In Kathmandu, the next phase of the airport upgrade includes converting the current international terminal for domestic operations, the construction of a new international terminal where the domestic departure area is now, as well as moving the hangars and the Nepal Army Air Wing to the eastern side of the runway. The apron area will also double its parking space for widebody jets. This is part of a Airport Capacity Enhancement Project that was initially funded through a $80 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the entire masterplan is expected to cost $800 million. This project is the latest upgrade to Nepal’s only international airport since it saw its first flight in 1949. The current international and domestic terminals are too small to handle the current annual traffic volume of 8.5 million passengers a year that is growing at 20% a year.

Kathmandu airport to cut flight hours

As Kathmandu becomes more congested and polluted, and with remote online work becoming the norm, many professional Nepalis are planning to retire in Pokhara, or move there.&nbsp; With its stunning mountain panorama, balmy winters and proximity to a profusion of wilderness areas, builders are responding to this demand with new townhouses, housing development and apartments. One such block of flats is the 10-storey <a href="https://sungavaapartment.com/">Sungava Apartment</a> located at Phulbari above the Seti River, near the point where it flows into and under Pokhara. The imposing structure near Manipal Hospital is almost complete, and on a recent visit the site was strewn with huge boulders unearthed while digging the foundation.&nbsp; The Seti brought down these boulders during a gigantic flood that geologists estimate happened 800 years ago when a chunk of Annapurna IV broke off and ploughed into the glacier below. Today, Sungava (means ‘orchid’) sits safely on a high terrace, 100m above the blue-green Seti and commands a view of Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Machapuchre, Annapurna III and IV.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024102411104_5f8fc736c86ea3c08d7bef43bb727081d3cc1a2caa55ae2b441717e6044de7e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2016" height="1512" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  The soil here is conglomerate that has solidified like concrete, and the boulders were extracted by heavy earthmovers. It is intriguing to think that these metamorphic rocks as big as cars, rounded by glacial grinding, were once a part of a much higher Annapurna IV. Even for those with little interest in geology, Sungava is an ideal place to contemplate the tectonic forces that pushed these peaks into the sky to be sculpted into delicate shapes by wind, snow, earthquake and avalanche over millions of years. The view of the Himalayan panorama from Sungava’s many balconies are breathtaking when not obscured by clouds, or the haze that drifts in from across the southern border. On most days, just watching the towering pyramid of Machapuchre (Tamu name: कतासुँ क्लिको) play hide and seek with the clouds is mesmerising. There are rocks aplenty at Phulbari, and it is probably the flowers that grew along the flat terraces e that gave the place its flowery name. The boulders will hopefully be turned into a rock garden while landscaping. An nearby restaurant complex is making the best use of the stones in its design, using flat rocks as outdoor benches and tables. Sungava was designed by the husband-wife architect team of Deepak Sherchan and Jyoti Joshi of <a href="https://thedarkmermaidamarbshrestha.blogspot.com/2013/12/creative-builders-collaborative-cbc.html">Creative Builders Collaborative (CBC)</a>, which also built Heritage Plaza, Indreni Apartment and numerous other projects in Nepal. Sadbhavana retains CBC’s trademark Newari-style masonry and here it borrows from the orange brickwork of the old town of Pokhara, integrating it with modern design elements. A few of those heritage houses are still standing in Ganesh Tole and Ram Krishna Tole in Pokhara’s old quarter.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024102411108_5eb64a4885961b6d30781cefeb1e8a313da313ac5227c7a66b60f0c7d48d6fab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1362" height="595" loading="lazy" alt="High living below the Himalaya NT"> </figure>  About 400m from the apartment past a bend on the river, and down below three tiers of terraces in the canyon is a suspension bridge. Below it, the Seti is still swollen with post-monsoon flow as it tumbles away in a hurry to head down south.&nbsp; Back at the apartment, it is quiet, far away from the hubbub of Lakeside a 15 minute drive away, and in the lap of greenery. There are 52 units at Sungava and it already has a close-knit prospective community of professionals, including doctors, publishers, engineers, and businesspeople from the renewable energy and IT sectors.&nbsp; Some residents say they opted for a second home in Pokhara to make it a ‘base camp’ to explore the Annapurnas with its many hiking trails made newly accessible with new roads. With the NRN citizenship law, overseas Nepalis can now also buy the flats. &nbsp; The floor plans include options for north and south-facing 3-bedroom apartments with verandas, and the facility has underground parking has EV charging, heated pool, sauna and gym. There are still some unsold apartments with panoramic views of the mountains and one can imagine oneself at the kitchen with its huge window, humming a ditty while preparing breakfast: “खाना पकाउँ हिमाल हेरेर...”

High living below the Himalaya

When the United Nations held its Summit of the Future at its headquarters in New York in September, many world leaders, including Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Oli, highlighted the effect of climate breakdown in increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. What did not get as much attention was the long term impact of the climate crisis on food production. In fact, heat stress, weather extremes and the consequences on rain-fed agriculture is already being felt worldwide, undermining the chances of the <a href="https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/">UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a> being met by 2030.&nbsp; The SDG’s 17 targets commit countries like Nepal to reduce poverty and inequality, end malnutrition, protect the natural environment, and ensure that citizens all enjoy health, justice and prosperity without leaving anyone behind.&nbsp; However, besides the impact of climate breakdown on agricultural production, in Nepal the area under cultivation is impacted by urban expansion, falling productivity and the need for expensive inputs like fertiliser and pesticides.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241019041052_626413c5baf4dae407ac9579231b41daeb51510aa636b75aeb7489d94cca6a62" data-rendition-name="original" width="999" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Kathmandu's urban sprawl is eating into its fertile cultivable lands. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  Now, a new study led by Nepali researcher Prajal Pradhan at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands looks at how urban agriculture may offer a solution to falling food production and meeting SDG targets. The researchers evaluated 1,450 publications exploring the contributions of urban agriculture with both positive and negative effects, and published their findings in the journal Cells Report Sustainability. Urban agriculture can help achieve 17 SDGs, positively influencing 81 targets. However, it could also undermine 51 goals.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-vanishing-land">The vanishing land</a>, Taylor Mason “Urban agriculture offers immense potential for sustainable development, but realising this potential depends crucially on adopting practices that minimise its adverse effects while maximising its benefits,” Pradhan explains. Urban agriculture can substantially enhance urban food security, provide employment to the urban poor, serve as ground water recharge in built-up areas, and preserve open spaces that can serve as safe havens during disasters like earthquakes. However, it also presents problems like the potential health risks from contamination and the need for expensive inputs. &nbsp; “Urban agriculture plays a definitive role in advancing the SDGs, but achieving this requires tailored, context-specific solutions that address the unique challenges of different regions,” says Yuanchao Hu of Wuhan University in China and who is a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. “But it needs equitable access and rigorous management of environmental risks.”&nbsp; Rapid urbanisation is eating into Nepal’s most fertile agricultural land, which means farming in remaining open spaces inside cities can be a viable alternative, especially as food prices rise.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241019041052_7b7c9413086226fbdc630d45acf772cfa1ced77a8970b9056ec5ec7e5226fdf8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>A vegetable patch in between new houses in Thimi. Photo: TAYLOR MASON</figcaption> </figure>  “The conversion of Nepal’s most fertile land into cities is a severe problem,” Pradhan told Nepali Times. “Crop cultivation, horticulture, agroforestry, beekeeping, livestock rearing, or aquaculture can all be farming activities within and around cities.”&nbsp; The study makes recommendations for sustainable practices that build on the positive aspects of urban agriculture while mitigating the downsides, thereby promoting more resilient cities in future. Research shows that urban agriculture has been helping many countries attain SDG targets by enhancing food security and biodiversity while helping education and preservation of open spaces.&nbsp; Indeed, many farmers from the hinterland who have settled in Kathmandu Valley or other urban areas of the country have been practicing urban agriculture, leasing neighbourhood patches or cultivating roof gardens both out of necessity because of inflation and falling income to grow their own food, and also as a fulfilling hobby. Saurav Dhakal, a sustainability advocate with Story Cycle and now research fellow at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand, says there are socio-economic and environmental benefits of urban agriculture. “It provides benefits to all urban dwellers, regardless of their income status,” says Dhakal, “families get fresh food, and there are many other benefits like water retention, heat regulation and biodiversity. These are all public goods, so special government incentives may be needed.” It is not unusual to see vegetable patches and even paddy fields within inner city Kathmandu where an older generation of farmers are using available fertile land and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rooftop-gardens-kathmandu,1415">roof gardens to produce fresh, nutritious food </a>to reduce their dependence on food items that have to be bought after being trucked in from large distances.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024101905100_1291ce98dbbb8caed8702ac4b1d469b3e13016d7ecaaf3bfd5f91c974d3c0c77" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>An older generation of farmers are using any available fertile land to continue farming but it is getting more and more difficult. Photo: TAYLOR MASON </figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s urban population grew rapidly from only 3.6% in 1991 to 25% today. There is large outmigration from the mountains to peri-urban areas of the Tarai, to Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara, with many young men then moving abroad for work. Kathmandu Valley’s population has swelled to nearly 3 million, and is growing at 6.5% a year. Dilip Shrestha, 71, used to work for Nepal Food Corporation, so he knew firsthand about inflation, shortages and vegetables with pesticide residue. So, when he designed his new house in Kathmandu, he built a spacious roof where he grows cucumber, ginger, garlic, coriander, onions, tomatoes, chili, beans, okra, pumpkin and lettuce. His family eats healthier, and he has reduced dependence on the market.&nbsp; The co-author of the Cell Reports Sustainability journal article, Daya Raj Subedi who is a PhD candidate at Beijing Forestry University, says urban agriculture also promotes inclusion and psycho-social wellbeing.&nbsp; He says, “A crucial finding of the study is the identification of opportunities and challenges associated with urban agriculture, it can promote sustainable transformation of society.” In Banepa, 55-year-old Bijaya Manandhar in her lifetime has watched the fertile farms of her neighbourhood that used to supply vegetables to Kathmandu, now completely built up with no open space left. The pandemic lockdown prompted her to turn to the family’s <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world">ancestral livelihood by growing food</a> not on terrace farms, but on the roof terrace. Manandhar is now a part of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/rooftop-agriculture-on-the-roof-of-the-world%5C%5C">कौसी खेती र करेसाबारी क्रान्ती</a> (Rooftop Farming and Garden Revolution) which has an online membership of 52,000, and awards annual prizes to women who excel in urban agriculture.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241019041052_7257f5def8f823f35a799fa6f6825e153f2ffa406ac11325d4fe74049b79e96d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="736" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Rooftop farming is gaining popularity as a form of urban agriculture. </figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241019041052_beff1a4494ce896dd8fd383ee1f518e5448bcf7ea8bb138255391c7bcb9769ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="3000" loading="lazy" alt="urban agriculture in Kathmandu"> </figure>  Pradhan says the challenge now is to upscale such examples of successful urban agricultural practices so they support Neal’s efforts to meet SDG targets. He adds, “Crop cultivation around cities can be protected by land use plans and regulations. Promoting community-based agriculture, including rooftop gardens, requires community engagement and public-private partnerships across the food value chain.”&nbsp; Such support would accelerate the popularity of existing rooftop farming and community gardens in Kathmandu Valley, or kitchen garden initiatives in Pokhara, and building on traditional farming practices that are preserved and integrated into urban settings like in Bhaktapur and Banepa. In Lalitpur, the Women Entrepreneurship Facilitation Center promotes urban farming enhancing both sustainability and empowerment.&nbsp; Another co-author of the report, Yuanchao Hu from China says followup research of the team will aim to identify good practices in local urban agriculture practices. He adds, “There are examples of urban agriculture that optimise sustainability, ensuring that it remains a viable solution for cities globally while countries try to meet SDG targets.” Prajal Pradhan, Daya Raj Subedi, Kshitij Dahal, Yuanchao Hu, Prakriti Gurung, Sijal Pokharel, Sagar Kafle, Biplav Khatri, Sudeeksha Basyal, Monika Gurung, and Aruna Joshi. Urban Agriculture matters for sustainable development. Cell Reports Sustainability, 1:100217, 2024. [DOI: 10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100217] Prajal Pradhan (<a href="mailto:p.pradhan@rug.nl">p.pradhan@rug.nl</a>) This article is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240630110640_30c3782f9c09219bf1c249b51483a3cfb7a53a06d117d2aebd23ca7080d12758" data-rendition-name="original" width="680" height="103" loading="lazy" alt="SDG logo"> </figure>

Back to the land in the cities

The 700-year-old Lakshmi Narasingha temple in Bhaktapur houses a rare half-lion and half-human incarnation of Lord Vishnu carrying the Goddess Lakshmi. The temple was destroyed in the 1934 mega earthquake that killed 10,000 people and destroyed many monuments in Kathmandu Valley. It was rebuilt by a German project in the 1980s, but as a single-storey structure instead of its original two-tier pagoda design.&nbsp; With new findings from in-depth research, Bhaktapur municipality began re-restoring the temple in 2021, preserving its original architecture.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241017131016_2fae38cce543ad7b1f6de632feb3e212e08ed1acedd747830e949d7b8e878f18" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “Our temples and heritage sites hold deep meaning. It is disheartening to witness how often they lose their original elements, whether by design or accident,” explains Kumar Chawal of the Consumer Committee of Bhaktapur. “There is a need to preserve our architecture and protect its historical value for future generations. Otherwise, we risk losing a vital part of our identity.” The Laksmi Narsingha restoration is similar to the Bhai Dega temple in Patan Darbar Square which also collapsed in 1934, but was rebuilt with a Moghul-style dome by the Rana government at the time. Only two months before the 2015 earthquake, heritage conservationists had started to rebuild Bhai Dega as the original three-tier based on early photographs. But priorities shifted when four other temples in the square were brought down by the 7.8M earthquake on 25 April 2015.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241017131016_697ea707d9ad163be5de5f2efbf5b70d3cab771adcc22f0fae6bf937c6cb0130" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  This showed how damage to monuments in Kathmandu Valley spanned from one earthquake to the next. Bhai Dega restoration remains half-complete to this day because money for its restoration ran out.&nbsp; Whereas Bhai Dega restoration was done by the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust with grants from western embassies and international foundations, in Bhaktapur it is the municipality itself that allocated the Rs30.7 million needed to restore the Lakshmi Narasingha temple. The expected date of completion is early 2025. The municipality and local communities are focusing on two main aspects: preserving the past and promoting localisation. The restoration team has designed a blueprint for the temple by using historical photographs and insights from older generations.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241017131016_182882fdc393c99e70d1d0490319e415229563666c4934e3a582426ebf00ca30" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="560" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “At first, the Lakshmi Narasingha temple had only one entrance, but during the demolition process, we uncovered the foundations of four doors. Now, we are restoring all of them. This is an example of how our ancient structures have changed over time, often without our knowledge,” says Chawal. “Constructing temples is not like building houses. They carry historical and spiritual values, which is why they hold a special place in our hearts,” he adds. By replicating ancient design elements and rebuilding the temple as accurately as possible to its original form, the team has stayed true to Bhaktapur’s soul. But the restoration also revived ancient techniques that were in danger of being forgotten, generating employment for woodcarvers, masons, and contractors. The community of Bhaktapur’s Gahiti neighbourhood near the famous Nyatapola Temple has also set aside specific days for locals to volunteer in the reconstruction work. This has encouraged young people to take pride in ownership of their heritage. Families have also supported the effort by donating funds for bells, the temple pinnacle, and other structural features to the temple.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241017131016_db850ec0c084cdbe54f65bee92dad2ad8122d20fd60ec87ec086fbb9d2f72bd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="In with the old in Nepal NT"> </figure>  “I feel at peace knowing I have contributed my sweat to restoring this temple,” said one volunteer. “It is our duty to preserve our temples and heritage. The Nyatapola area will look magical once this temple is completed.” Community mobilisation is a long-standing tradition in Bhaktapur. In the past, locals have actively participated in the restoration of other temples in the city, such as Bhairav and Nyatapola fostering a strong sense of ownership. This collective engagement has not only been crucial in preserving the city's historical monuments but also in strengthening the bond between local communities and their heritage, says officials at the municipality. While securing funding is essential, and the municipality showed it values heritage conservation, the Lakshmi Narasingha restoration is proof that active involvement and sense of responsibility of the local community is as important, if not more. Local involvement also means that the monuments will be cared for into the future, When locals take ownership of these efforts, the restored monuments are not only protected in the present but are also cared for in the future.