There are alternative truths and it is our duty to objectively report them as well. But, as they taught us in Morale Science class: to err is humane, and forgiveness is the devil’s workshop — or words to that effect.
Which is why when we know we have made an error of judgement, or got our facts wrong, our journalistic Code of Ethics and Press Council rules mandate us to lie low, hope no one noticed, and slyly correct it in the online version.
No erratum is too small to be correctum. It may be a small typo or it could be a major gaffe like mixing up the name of a notorious smuggler with the name Minister of Finance, but we make it a point to set the record straight, warn the unsuspecting public, say sorry, and learn from our mistake so that we can go on to make even bigger blunders in future.
Let us acknowledge that one cannot live life to the fullest without making mistakes, so let us go boldly forth and commit major faux pas, déjà vu and je ne sais quoi. The important thing is to make it a point to rectify the errata retroactively, like these corrections of recent errors in this paper:
* Our Editorial team cannot not make head or tail of the power struggle in the ruling coalition, which is why we goofed up on the name of the prime minister in our op-ed, and referred to him as Sher Kamal Dahal. As everyone knows, the current prime minister’s name is actually the Right Horrible Pushpa Bahadur Deuba. We offer our sincere apologies to both prime ministers.
<ul>
 <li>We have learnt that a headline in last week’s edition of this paper that read ‘PKD Is a Chinese Stooge’ may have caused offence to Comrade Awesome of the Communist of Party of Nepal (Centrist Maoists). The headline should have read ‘PKD Is an Indian Stooge’.</li>
 <li>We have received a complaint from Prof (Dr) Chintamani Ghoos that a list of CIA deep penetration agents in the upper echelons of the Nepal government in our expose based on Wikileaks last week left out his name. We regret the omission. - Ed</li>
 <li>Deeply sorry that the headline ‘Nepal Badly Beaten’ caused Comrade Madhav Kumar Nepal of the Communist Party-goers of Nepal (US) deep anguish. The news item was actually about the ongoing One Day International Match of Tri-series under the ICC Cricket World Cup League-II in Windhoek in which Nepal was bowled out for a paltry 140 runs in 40 overs.</li>
 <li>The Ass regrets that several readers have needed hospital treatment for taking literally a recent column that advised drinking Kathmandu tap water as a guaranteed way to lose weight. Hope you have your shit together now. Any incontinence is regretted.</li>
</ul>
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/self-driving-in-kathmandu/">Self-driving in Kathmandu</a>, Ass
<h5> </h5>

The Ass

Errata, etc

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111120/6372170b9c7e80680e0ba9c9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHETTRI</figcaption></figure>This year, Nepal leapfrogged to 76 among 180 countries, up from last year’s 106, in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/internet-in-everything/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Press Freedom</a> Index. Reporters without Borders ranked India 150, down from 142 last year. Pakistan slipped to 157.Nepal has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/himal-media-mela-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the freest media in a region</a> where the mediascape is increasingly constricted by state and corporate control. But this does not mean it will stay that way. Nepal has seen periods of direct <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/censuring-censorship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">press censorship</a> in the past when successive governments tried to regulate the public sphere.The state has left the mainstream press alone, but there are ongoing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/gagging-the-press-in-installments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">attempts to restrict freedom of expression</a> through draft bills and laws, often in the guise of controlling hate speech, fake news, or mis-and dis-information on the internet.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/digital-discrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Digital discrimination</a>, JB BiswokarmaTo be sure, Nepal’s cybersphere is rife with harmful and often manipulative interaction, misogyny, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-social-media-contagion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">misinformation</a>, incitement to violence, conspiracy theories, and content with toxic overtones. These have <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/online-trolls-bots-snoopers-imperil-democracy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">real-world implications for democracy</a>, as we have seen recently in neighbouring countries.But the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-message-is-the-medium-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">internet is double-edged</a>. Social media provides a platform for the traditionally neglected and discriminated to be heard. It has leveled the field so <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/social-movement-through-social-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">everyone has a voice</a>. The downtrodden do not have to fight for access to the national press anymore.However, those voices are often lost in the long tail of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/digital-discrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">digital information</a> overload. Search engine algorithms still give priority to mainstream sites and blue ticks.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/internet-in-everything/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Internet in everything</a>, EditorialSocial media is now the primary source of raw information, serving as both a producer and a disseminator of content. This reliance on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/so-you-want-to-quit-facebook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">social media</a> has also meant that, for better or worse, it has affected how journalists and their media outlets perform their job.For news publishers and readers, social media has decreased market entry costs and expanded reach. But at the same time, there is no distinction between the role of content creators and news curators.Whereas <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/journalism-is-not-a-crime/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">journalism</a> draws a clear line between news and views, the same is not true for internet content. Still, most Nepalis do not draw a distinction between comments on Facebook and links to news pieces on the Facebook wall of mainstream outlets.Read also: <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/himal-media-mela-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Himal Media Mela 2022</a>On the other hand, print-centric attitudes pervade newsrooms. Many editors and reporter regard digital content as being of inferior quality, not as credible and not ‘serious journalism’.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-message-is-the-medium/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Surveys</a> may show that the Nepali audience has high trust in print and broadcast outlets, but most get their news and information through the social web.Journalists often bemoan the rise of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mobile-nepal-is-hooked-on-youtube/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">YouTubers</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/huge-uptick-in-tiktok-during-nepal-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TikTokers</a> and other influencers, but rarely analyse why that is happening. On online social spaces, people now have the power and platform to discuss issues that are ignored by the mainstream press, and set their own agenda.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-death-of-print-is-exaggerated/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s legacy media</a> still has one foot in print or tv, and a toetip on the internet. Most have not yet figured out whether their digital identity is a continuation of their traditional role, or a transformation.For legacy media to gain trust and traction in the digital space, it needs to shift focus from attention grabbing sensational headlines to credible insight, explainers, and a focus on what users want and need to make sense of what is happening around them. Call it public service media in the digital age.To maintain public trust and keep its numbers up, we need to engage with users, make news production more inclusive, participatory, transparent and human.Sahina Shrestha is Editor Online of Nepali Times.

Sahina Shrestha

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Press for people

I'm so old that I remember a time — back in the hoary 1990s — when you couldn’t expect flair, or at times even fluency, from Nepal’s English-language media.My grasp of the Nepali language was poor then. I had to rely entirely on the English-language media to understand my society. This put me at a distinct disadvantage vis-à-vis my peers who could read the Nepali-language press. They  understood not only what was happening in the nation, but how everyone—and they—felt about it. Their intellectual lives were rich with nuances I could not begin to grasp.The Nepali Times stands as testament that those days are gone. Thanks to this paper, The Kathmandu Post, and more recent publications such as The Record, English-language media has finally come of age in Nepal. And we are all more intelligent for it.Nepali society has always suffered from a cultural chasm between those who are fluent in the national languages and those who are limited to English. The former group is grounded in the complex lived reality of this society, and can draw upon local histories, languages, knowledge bases, and intelligence systems to understand and analyze the contemporary moment. The latter group has money.English has been a hothouse language here -- the language of diplomats, aid industrialists, expatriates, foreign academics, travelers, and a handful of nationals educated in private schools or, like me, abroad. Together, these people wield vast power.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101148/636b77f59c7e80680e064668jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="544" height="1000"/><figcaption>#124 20 - 26 december 2002</figcaption></figure>It would seem obvious that they try to learn the national languages, but this has not been the case. Neither has it been easy. When I decided to learn Nepali, I took year-long lessons and diligently pored over shelves of Nepali-language literature. (I then began to translate what I was reading for a biweekly column in this newspaper.) This investment of time and effort paid off for me: reading the work of my peers in the original language has enriched my own writing.To expect everyone to do the same is unrealistic. What the country needed — and has now produced — was a critical mass of bilingual Nepalis to help bridge the chasm between English and the national languages. This could happen only after the 1990s, with the proliferation of English-medium schools and, crucially, with the right to free expression.Today, when I read the Nepali Times , I do so for the multifaceted examination of a complex society. I read <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/author/muna-gurung/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Muna Gurung’s interviews with contemporary women writers</a> whose work I crave to read. I linger over Diwakar Chhetri’s smart, stylish cartoons. I scan through the listings to pick out cultural events that interest me. I read about the latest political fiasco and ongoing outrages, and, inevitably, I marvel at The Ass: how does the Donkey  maintain such a robust sense of humour after all these years?I also always stop to appreciate the diversity of voices in the Nepali Times, and in particular, the vibrant presence of women writers, reporters, columnists, and editors. It is the presence of all of these women that has always made this paper feel like home to me.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101148/636b77f79c7e80680e064669jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="474">This, truly, is something the paper can teach the Nepali media, which, like Nepal’s polity itself, suffers from a vast overrepresentation of men, particularly of the so-called high castes. The resulting group-think, echo-chamber uniformity, and insularity do great harm in politics. In the media, they prevent the public discourse from reflecting Nepal’s extraordinary diversity of experience.Freedom of expression — so late to arrive in Nepal, so hard won, so very precious—only strengthens from vigorous exercise. As in many other parts of the world, in Nepal, the polity is giving in to authoritarian impulses. It falls on Nepal’s media to defend the rights and freedoms of citizens. This is best done when all of the media—in all languages — speaks out in its diversity.Onward.Manjushree Thapa wrote the fortnightly ‘Nepaliterature’ column in Nepali Times 2000-2004 with translations of Nepali-language writers.

Onward

It was easy for me to get in the door of the Nepali Times after I first moved to Nepal in 2005: Editor Kunda Dixit and I shared ties with the Inter Press Service News agency – me from North America, he from Asia.What I liked about the Nepali Times then is what I still admire it for now: its reporting is issue-based. It does not focus on the what happened? of daily news but tries to get at the why is it happening? Other English papers in Nepal are increasingly adopting this approach, and I often see Nepali Times stories echoed in their pages.The downside of this, I see as I click through the archives, is that it reveals that things change slowly. It is frustrating to read 15-year-old articles about <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12644#.XmDQrHIzbIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">famine and malnutrition in the Karnali</a> that could have been reported yesterday. So little has the situation in some parts of the region advanced.Deficits in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">maternal and child health</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/after-quantity-nepals-education-needs-quality/">quality education</a>, reliable water supply and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/new-constitution-lays-bare-misogynistic-patriarchal-psyches,591" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gender equality</a> still make headlines 20 years after the Nepali Times started reporting on them. But I need to temper my impatience -- statistically, progress has happened, it just takes longer than I want it to.When I arrived in Nepal 15 years ago we were a larger group in the newsroom than we are today, which is hard to believe considering that the 2020 team produces the paper version and a continuously updated news website. Back then, we printed out the pages on Thursday and each of us took turns reading each one for errors. Today, copy-editing is done mainly online, by one or two staff, while others rush to put the finishing touches on a video or update social media channels.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101148/636b77f19c7e80680e064667jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1123"/><figcaption>#983 8 - 14 November 2019</figcaption></figure>When I returned in 2016 it was slightly annoying to see the written paper was not the centre of everyone’s attention on deadline day, but I have come to admire the online/offline juggling done by the current writers and editors. And my disappointment that space previously reserved for text had been reduced by larger images and graphics over the years, is now balanced with the appreciation that online versions of articles can run much longer than in the paper.As befits its name, the Nepali Times  keeps changing as the years pass, adding columnists — women and men — and deep-diving into topics, like <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-lottery-of-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">labour migration</a>, that other media simply skim. It has benefitted from its sister publication Himal Khabarpatrika and from cross-border projects with other media in Asia. Yet despite these changes, I know that if I approach Kunda Dixit with (yet another) article about <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/malnutrition-stunting-wasting,3603">malnutrition</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/born-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">maternal deaths</a>, he will find a place for it because it remains an important issue.Such relentlessness is unique. I would probably have thrown in the towel years ago if I found myself writing eerily similar editorials about the corruption and incompetence of official Nepal decades apart, or editing again a story about shortages of medicines at health posts. Nepali Times tenaciously takes a spotlight to these issues year after year after year. That is worth celebrating.Marty Logan is a writer, editor, and communications all-rounder who is lucky to call both Canada and Nepal home

Marty Logan

Times change, but the Nepali Times stays the same

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101124/636b71f59c7e80680e0600fcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="592" height="1500"/><figcaption>Illustration : BHANU BHATTARAI</figcaption></figure>While citizens in Western democracies try to get their governments to combat the misuse of their private data by internet companies, here in Nepal the concern is about the state itself <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/spooking-nepalis-by-snooping-on-them/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prying on citizens</a>.Silicon Valley companies whose values exceed the GDP of medium-sized countries thrive in collecting and selling data in the free market of surveillance capitalism. As these companies become more powerful, governments, especially in Europe, are under pressure to protect the privacy of citizens. Nepal, on the other hand, seems to want to practice surveillance communism.What alerts us to this looming danger is the recent convergence of the Criminal Code penalising social media content, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/long-shadows/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Media Council Bill</a>,  and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/rule-by-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Information Technology Bill</a> with the Special Services Bill and the acquisition of sophisticated eavesdropping technology by the state.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/no-freedom-after-expression/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No Freedom After Expression </a> , Kiran NepalNo doubt, all governments need surveillance technology to control crime and terrorism by giving the intelligence community the proper wherewithal. But in all democracies, there are legal safeguards in place to protect unwarranted spying on citizens that would infringe on their fundamental right to privacy.What is worrisome in Nepal is that the state security apparatus and investigation agencies are not just being allowed to import surveillance technology: the government is simultaneously pushing legislation that would remove current restrictions on their use.This is made even more dangerous by the fact that it is happening at a time of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/14-years-after-conflict-no-closure-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unprecedented impunity, the collapse of accountability of public officials</a>, an epidemic of extortion and corruption, and an open <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/crushers-of-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">politico-criminal nexus</a>. The past record of the hacking of Nepal government agency websites and the rise in cybercrime does not inspire confidence in confidentiality safeguards.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/gagging-the-press-in-installments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gagging the press in installments</a>, Sewa BhattaraiNepal’s spy agencies have been on a shopping spree to import Russian, Chinese and Malaysian speech forensics technology, CCTV cameras, SIM locators, Digital Information Systems, Mobile Device Management Systems, and International Mobile Subscriber Catchers.The Central Investigation Bureau has acquired SIM locators that will allow it to pinpoint where the user is without having to go through a telecommunication provider and obtain a court warrant.The National Investigation Bureau which has been brought directly under the Prime Minister’s Office this month called for bids to establish a Digital Information System to integrate the data flow of various security and intelligence agencies. The Nepal Telecommunication Authority is soon getting a Rs1 billion Mobile Device Management System to keep track of phone users from the Malaysian company Nuemera (M) Sdn Bhd, which was linked in 2017 to a data leak involving 46.2 million Malaysian mobile phone accounts.Read Also:  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-undermining-free-expression-hrw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal undermining free expression</a>The government has also loosened regulations governing the use of CCTV cameras, and the import of these devices doubled in 2019 to Rs970 million from the previous year. The Special Services Bill in Parliament would also allow International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) ‘Catcher’ that can intercept and tap phones. The use of these surveillance devices is so sensitive that the European Court of Justice has actually outlawed them.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/spooking-nepalis-by-snooping-on-them/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Special Services Bill</a> gives the chief of the National Investigation Bureau the sole authority to tap phones, without a court permission. Given the prevalence of blackmail and extortion against political and business rivals, the risk of abuse of this spyware is unacceptably high in Nepal. For example, police last week leaked CCTV footage of an altercation at Kathmandu domestic airport between a female police officer at the security check and singer Astha Raut. A state agency that has no qualms about flouting rules about proper use of footage has no right to be tapping phones.Putting together these recent decisions, new laws and pending bills in Parliament, the ruling NCP seems intent on extending control, spying on citizens to intimidate them, and silencing dissent. In most democracies, governments make laws to protect the privacy of citizens. Nepal makes laws to snoop on them.Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/11/21/the-surveillance-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Surveillance State</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/creeping-control-over-the-press-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Creeping control over the press in Nepal</a> Ajay Pradhan<h2>10 years ago this week</h2>Prime Minister Oli last week accused editors of “not having a heart”, and his ruling NCP is trying to push laws restricting press freedom. Not much different than ten years ago when it was the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led Maoists who were doing it. Looks like the ex-democratic UML is no fan of a free media. Excerpt from an editorial in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/486" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#487</a> of 29 Jan-4 Feb 2010.Pushpa Kamal Dahal has done it again. He is once more blaming the messenger, the ‘big media houses’ for undermining his party. Usually when a politician repeats his accusation, it reinforces its significance. But with Dahal, the ranting now seems to have the opposite effect. He has cried wolf so often that the remark made during a speech in Sindhuli on Monday went either unreported, or was relegated to the inside pages.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101124/636b71f79c7e80680e0600fdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="515" height="800">Yet there is a sinister undercurrent here. The Maoists have made no attempt to hide their contempt for the notion of a free press, just as they have for nonviolent pluralistic politics. Dahal went on to accuse the media of being ‘anti-nationalist.’ This has always been the Maoist method.

In a surveillance state

It is beginning to worry us in the journalism profession that the press gets bad press. Without beating the bush around, it would be fair to assert that in certain quarters the media has, ummm, a public relations problem. Or to put it more politely: people hate our guts.Even if we live in an age of alternative truth, it is factually incorrect to call us presstitutes, or to state that we are self-important mercenaries, holier-than-thou hypocrites, annoyingly preachy, morally repugnant nosey parkers, arrogant hacks who hunt in packs, and smug skunks. Actually, we are much worse. And if you have any problems with that, well, tough luck.Blaming the messenger is not new. The Right Honourable Genghis Khan was known for his draconian Media Council Bill which allowed his junta to legally hang reporters up by their own petard at strategic points along the Belt Roadway to Kashgar.We have, of course, moved away from such crude and ruthless methods of controlling information. Today, our rulers are governed by international covenants such as the Universal Declaration of Humane Rights and its Article 11 which states, inter alia: ‘Every citizen has the right to freedom of expression, but no freedom after expression. Citizens can propagate and believe in fake news without let or hindrance and regardless of class, caste or creed. Media has the inalienable right to impart gossip, innuendo and cat videos to an unsuspecting public.’Modern newspersons today exercise much greater self-confidence, self-esteem and self-censorship. The Ministry of Dictation and Doublespeak has made it abundantly crystal-clear that journalists must report verbatim on official pronouncements, even when they bend the truth a bit.This rule will henceforth be strictly enforced so that if any domestic or international hack is caught red-handed spreading the truth during a national crisis, they could have their Media License revoked. The Minister of Misinformation and Communicable Diseases now requires journalists to acquire a license to lie, which must be renewed every calendar year after passing a written exam.They will have the option of applying for a Smart License, for which there will be tougher questions like: ‘Do editors have a heart? If so, prove it.”Journalists can also opt for a Not-So-Smart License, which allows reporters special privileges like writing under the influence of the ruling party.Interns can avail themselves of a Learner’s License that allows them to learn on-the-job to make things up.

License to lie

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6ffa9c7e80680e060052jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1100" height="1269"/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHHETRI</figcaption></figure>Prime Minister K P Oli spent 14 years in jail for opposing the Panchayat absolute monarchy. He was one of the main drivers of the democratisation of the UML party, always speaking out in support of human rights, press freedom and pluralism.Whether it was to oppose Maoist violence during the conflict, or its anti-democratic behaviour after 2006, Oli was the outspoken one in the party. During constitution drafting, his was the loudest voice against ethnicity-based federalism, and later against the Indian blockade. The people rewarded him for his stance by giving the unified party a majority in 2017.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=38680&amp;preview_nonce=5c160a3237&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rule by law,</a> Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/spooking-nepalis-by-snooping-on-them/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spooking Nepalis by snooping on them</a>, Mukesh PokhrelBut once in power, Oli has lead the charge to curtail democracy, muzzle the media and to constrict open society. After he became prime minister, he moved  the anti-money laundering office, the Revenue Investigation Department and National Investigation Bureau under the PMO.His administration has taken one step after another to introduce bills that go against everything he has stood for: the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/culture-revolution/">Guthi Bill</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/long-shadows/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Media Council Bill</a>, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepals-human-rights-act/">Human Rights</a> Bill, among others. But after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/own-worst-enemy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strong protests</a> on the streets and media, the government was forced to withdraw those bills.However, the controversial <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/spooking-nepalis-by-snooping-on-them/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Special Services Bill</a> will allow investigation agencies to eavesdrop on citizens and tap phones without court order. This not only goes against the fundamental right of every citizen for privacy, but such surveillance is prone to misuse.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/zip-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zip up</a>, Rameshwar Bohora<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-creeping-coup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A creeping coup</a>, EditorialThe other Information Technology Bill tries to curtail the citizens’ right to free expression by legislating stiff penalties for posts on Facebook or YouTube, and has been voted by a parliamentary committee. (<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/rule-by-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">See editorial</a>)  This bill is against the Constitution, and the way it has been voted on without taking into account amendments and changes suggested by stakeholders, is undemocratic as well.Both bills are delayed because the winter session itself has had to be pushed back by the deadlock over the choice of the new speaker to replace <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-rise-and-fall-of-comrade-mahara/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Krishna Bahadur Mahara</a>. Parliament is a casualty in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/which-way-nepali-politics-in-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">power struggle at the top of the ruling NCP</a> between Oli and his co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, which is also affecting ratification of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Millennium Challenge Corporation</a> (MCC) project and other legislation.Oli’s attempts to ram though the laws shows that he is increasingly on the defensive, and wants to strengthen his grip on power. Asks one NCP Central Committee member: “Oli is being criticised more from within his own party more than from the opposition. So who is he trying to defend himself from?”

No freedom after expression

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6ffd9c7e80680e060053jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1058"/><figcaption>Illustration: SUBHAS RAI</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s ruling unified Marxist-Leninist-Maoists have in the past year <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/gagging-the-press-in-installments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">incrementally constricted freedom of expression</a>, thinking no one will notice if they do it bit by bit.It <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/zip-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has not gone unnoticed</a>. There is an uproar in social media and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ifj-asks-nepal-to-revoke-media-gag/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">journalists have been speaking out</a>, but the government is using its numerical might in Parliament <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/suppressed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to pass bills that blatantly flout</a> constitutional guarantees of basic individual freedoms.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=38663&amp;preview_nonce=77341ce79f&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No freedom after expression</a>, Kiran nepal2019 saw <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/creeping-control-over-the-press-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">censorship in installments</a>, and it started with a revision of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/strongman-rule/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Penal Code</a> that criminalised ridicule, satire, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/press-freedom-must-be-defended-by-its-maximum-application/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">photoshopped images of politicians</a>, and even banned reporters publishing personal information of public figures. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-undermining-free-expression-hrw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Media Council Bill</a>, a brainchild of Information Minister Gokul Banskota, sought to criminalise free speech on vague grounds.The latest attack is the Information Technology Bill which was passed by a Parliament committee this week, and is sure to be voted through when the winter session begins. It has hefty fines and jail terms for any content deemed ‘offensive or demeaning’ -- infringement of Clause 83 is a fine of Rs1 million and/or jail term of up to five years, and any content that violates Clause 94 (ridicule and hate speech) carries a fine of Rs1.5 million and/or 5 years in jail. Strangely, the punishment for social media infractions are in fact much heavier than physical assault, libel or defamation in the legacy media.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/spooking-nepalis-by-snooping-on-them/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spooking Nepalis by snooping on them</a>, Mukesh Pokhrel<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/censuring-censorship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Censuring censorship</a>, Editorial'It is wrong for this bill that is supposed to regulate Information Technology to be misused to address issues for which there are existing laws,' wrote Kantipur in a strong editorial on Wednesday. 'Since the definition of defamation is so broad, this law will have a dampening effect on free expression, and foster self-censorship.'Indeed, what constitutes objectionable content is intentionally so broadly defined that anyone can be hauled in for any online post at any time. There is even a new directive against satire painted in the backs of trucks. The government has not even waited for this Act to be passed to arbitrarily put people behind bars for Facebook posts, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-has-press-freedom-but-no-freedom-after-press/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube satire</a>, or beat up someone for posting a video that painted an unflattering image of the Tourism Minister.For formality’s sake, the bill was put to debate in the parliamentary committee, and the opposition Nepali Congress did push several amendments, none of which were accepted by NCP lawmakers. Now, the arithmetic of the full House means that the IT Act is sure to become law. Fundamental rights of citizens, guaranteed by the 2015 Constitution, are going to be severely curtailed.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/creeping-control-over-the-press-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Creeping control over the press in Nepal</a>, Ajay Pradhan<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/gagging-the-press-in-installments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gagging the press in installments</a>, Sewa Bhattarai“It is the government that will decide what you can say and what you cannot,” says NC MP Gagan Thapa in an online video. “Just because a government has a majority, it does not mean it can violate the basic principle of the Constitution.”But Thapa is a voice in the wilderness, none of the other opposition politicians have bothered to speak up in defence of freedom of expression even when the attack is so systematic. Under the new law, internet service providers will be liable for content of users, and global platforms like Facebook, Twitter and TikTok would be required to register in Nepal.Other provisions of the IT bill would <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/spooking-nepalis-by-snooping-on-them/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allow the state to snoop on anyone’s data</a>, tap phones and intercept emails. Politicians want their privacy protected from media, but do not respect the individual’s right to privacy.The ruling NCP seems to have decided that it can pressure the press by withholding advertising, making media moguls beholden to it for business, and tightening regulation.For example, the NCP-affiliated Press Organisation surprised many by being inaugurated this week at the prime minister’s residence, where journalists took oaths to follow the party line on socialism. At least they did not swear by communism.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/zip-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zip up</a>, Rameshwar Bohora<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-creeping-coup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A creeping coup</a>, EditorialThe state sees the free-wheeling nature of the Internet and its impact on public opinion as more of a threat. Hence the attempt to restrict critical content on social media <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-message-is-the-medium/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as its reach grows</a>. More than 90% of Nepalis now <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/new-news/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have mobile phones</a>, half of them are smart phones, and this proportion is growing. The Internet has become synonymous with Facebook as almost everyone with a smartphone has an account on that platform.Why is Nepal’s kakistocracy in such a tearing hurry to pass this bill when much more urgent legislation on federalism and other laws languish in Parliament? Journalists and citizens may not be arrested right away, but clearly the intention is detention. This is not rule of law, but a draconian rule by law.<h2>10 years ago this week</h2>Ten years ago Nepali Times marked the end of a year and a decade of war, and tried to be hopeful about the future. As feared, the 2010-2019 was a lost decade. Excerpt from a publisher’s note on the front page of issue<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/483" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> #483 </a>of 1-6 January 2010:Back in 2000, we had no idea just how dramatic the decade ahead was going to be. The first (nearly) 500 issues of this newspaper coincided with a period of great transformation. Guerrillas went from the bullet to the ballot and emerged as the single largest party, and the most inclusive assembly in our country's history was elected. Nepal became a model for non-violent political change: a case study that proved revolutions don't necessarily have to be bloody. Imagine how much more progress we would have made if there had been a stable political climate and a more accountable government committed to basic needs. Let's hope that in the next decade we will live in less interesting times.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fff9c7e80680e060054jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="332" height="500">That our coverage will be less obsessed with the political quarrel of the day, and celebrate the ability of individual Nepalis to overcome adversity. We hope that by 2020 we will have made up for lost time.

Rule by law

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a959a9c7e80680e05dc18jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1026"/>Now that all three festivals are over, it is time to remind ourselves of where we left off before the holidays. Lest we forget, in late September we saw a series of crackdowns on freedom of expression that had a dampening effect, especially on Internet content.Elected demagogues worldwide learn fast: they have discovered that there is no need to kill journalists anymore — it is much more effective to kill journalism.By destroying the credibility of the media, citizens are no longer able to tell the difference between truths and lies, allowing rulers to get on (and get away) with wrongdoing. In this post-truth, fake news universe, the social web allows instantaneous spread of falsehood, rumours and manipulated information. This creates an environment for self-censorship, and the silencing of independent voices.One would have thought that with its landslide victory in the 2017 elections, the ruling Nepal Communist Party would be able to perform, deliver services and upgrade infrastructure. The media would have automatically heaped praises. But since it has not been able to deliver on its promises, the party with the thickest majority in Nepal’s democratic history has the thinnest skin.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/gagging-the-press-in-installments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gagging the press in installments</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<a style="background-color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-has-press-freedom-but-no-freedom-after-press/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal has press freedom, but no freedom after press</a>, Shashank GautamIn the past year, the NCP has taken incremental steps to suppress the press. There has not been any sudden, swift crackdown — the pressure has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/gagging-the-press-in-installments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mounted in instalments</a>. The intention seems to be to take our freedoms away bit by bit so that we won’t even notice when they are all gone — rather like the traditional Chinese practice of torture and execution known as lingchi, death by a thousand cuts.The story so far:<ul><li>Nepal’s new penal code last year criminalised the use of images deemed derogatory (section 295), slapped hefty fines and jail terms for recording conversations (section 293) and announced strict punishment for sending, receiving or using online data (section 298). It even banned Photoshopped images for the purpose of satire.</li> <li>Parliament introduced a bill to prohibit journalists from publishing personal information of public officials, ostensibly to protect officials’ privacy.</li> <li>Editors of mainstream newspapers were unceremoniously summoned to the Press Council for intimidating interrogations.</li> <li>Journalists at the RSS news agency were questioned for filing a story on the Dalai Lama being discharged from hospital in New Delhi while President Bidya Devi Bhandari was on a visit to Beijing.</li> <li>The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology is backing a draconian Media Council Bill through Parliament, which would criminalise speech on vague grounds.</li> <li>In June, vlogger Pranesh Gautam was jailed by police for five days for an irreverent review of a new Nepali movie.</li> <li>Satire singer Pashupati Sharma was threatened by ruling party toughies to take down a music video ridiculing the culture of corruption in high places.</li> <li>A person was tracked down and arrested earlier this year for poking fun at the Prime Minister on Facebook.</li> <li>The Information Technology Act can sentence people for 5 years in jail and levy a fine of up to Rs150,000 for ‘improper’ social media posts. What constitutes ‘improper’ is so broad that anyone can be hauled in on any pretext.</li> <li>Gyanendra Shahi, who posted a video on Facebook of Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai being berated by passengers for delaying a flight in Nepalganj, was so badly beaten up he had to be hospitalised.</li> <li>Last month, rapper VTen was arrested for a music video deemed obscene.</li></ul>After each of these arrests social media exploded with virulent criticism of the government. Ordinary citizens poured scorn on the state for ‘jailing rappers but letting rapists to go free’.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ifj-asks-nepal-to-revoke-media-gag/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IFJ asks Nepal to revoke media gag</a><a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-undermining-free-expression-hrw/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal undermining free expression: HRW</a>Politicians seem confident they can handle criticism in the legacy media, but are afraid of the free-for-all on the Internet. The high profile arrests for posting on social media are meant to warn the public, and any infraction is so loosely defined that just about anyone can be hauled in for anything.The government’s intolerance for criticism seems to be a reflection of worries about Prime Minister Oli’s health, which has led to jostling for succession within the NCP. The former UML component of the NCP, which at least paid lip service to liberal democracy, is being subsumed by more authoritarian comrades in the party with erstwhile Maoist credentials.The emperor does not like it when it is pointed out that he is naked. Power does not like it when you speak truth to it. So, the knee-jerk reaction is to harm the messenger. The threat to freedom of expression today is not from despots, but elected leaders who have co-opted the legislature, judiciary and the security apparatus.The crackdowns in Nepal are not as bad as in the rest of the region. But that is not saying much, and it is hardly a consolation. Our goal must be to strengthen the four pillars of democracy, separating their powers and fortifying them to be more transparent and accountable.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/suppressed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Suppressed</a>, Om Astha Rai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/hornets-nest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal PM stirs hornet’s nest</a>, Kunda Dixit<h2>10 years ago this week</h2>A <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/475" target="_blank" rel="noopener">front page analysis in #475 of Nepali Times, 6-12 November 2009,</a> shows that nothing much has changed in the Indian media’s depiction of Nepal:‘Nepal and China suddenly loom large in the Indian media, and often both are mentioned together in jingoistic coverage that is said to be fed by leaks from hawks. After an incident on a border lake in Ladakh in mid-September, TV news channels aired alarmist coverage titled ‘Enter the Dragon’.Another channel labelled Nepal the ‘Number Three Enemy’ of India after China and Pakistan. The main reason for the suspicion is the belief that Nepal’s Maoist government is getting too cosy with China.“Silently but speedily China is spreading its wings in the erstwhile Hindu kingdom, mainly to unleash anti-India propaganda,” wrote the Times of India last week.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181144/636a959e9c7e80680e05dc19jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="781">Several factors have contributed to a new cold war across the Himalaya: the recent geopolitical alignment between India and the US, Beijing’s insecurity about Tibetan nationalism and competition between the two countries over water from Himalayan rivers.'

CENSURING CENSORSHIP

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a56e29c7e80680e0547adjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="439"/>The surest sign that Nepal has already become an online society is the spreading practice of ‘digital detox’, where <a href="Nepal%20is%20becoming%20a%20nation%20of%20net%20addicts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">addicted users</a> completely abandon connected devices, or at least take steps to drastically limit their online time.When checking, then rechecking, devices becomes such a daily distraction that it starts to disrupt our work, sleep or relationships, it is time to take a step back and evaluate the benefit of clicking yet another link to reveal the umpteenth bit of information for the day and ask: ‘Is it really necessary?’To be sure, there are many benefits also of the digital world for Nepal. The internet has democratised information flow, levelled the playing field, and in many cases turned citizens into actors and content providers themselves. #occupywallstreet morphed into <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2013/04/06/solidarity-for-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#occupybaluwatar</a> and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-women-take-to-media-to-expose-abuse/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#Metoo movement</a> encouraged long suppressed revelations about sexual assault in Nepal.Whether we see <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-nepals-media-landscape-is-being-transformed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">growing digitalisation</a> as positive or negative, one thing is sure: it is both, and Nepal will be even more digitised in the coming decades. A recent survey showed that 90% of Nepalis now own mobile devices, with half of them producing smartphones when asked, 95% of households have mobile phones for an average 2.5 devices per home<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/facebook-nation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">, 88% of us use Facebook frequently</a>, and a whopping 8.5 million Nepalis are on the platform today. 45% are on messenger, 35% use IMO for instant messaging and 34% are regularly on YouTube.Read also:<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32527&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> So, you want to quit Facebook?,</a> Reeti KC <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32537&amp;preview_nonce=96e6eb44eb&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal’s new digital landscape,</a> Sonia Awale<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=32431&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Message is the Medium</a>, EditorialThese trends already have a major impact on where Nepalis get their information, what information they believe, and how that affects the trust between individuals and the institutions at the heart of a democratic society, including media and government.The survey found most Nepalis still consider mainstream media as generally reliable, as opposed to information on the Net, which very few believed. But as recent cases of Rabi Lamichhane, protests against heritage destruction, violence against women and corruption have shown: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/social-media-and-democracy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social media content is now driving mainstream media coverage</a>. It is setting the agenda, and with it the potential for manipulation is growing.The Nepali Net is affecting politics because the young middle-class is now wired. Half of Nepal’s population is under 21, and this networked youth bulge will have huge political implications in the 2022 general election. Where new voters get their information, how they get it and what kind of information it is, will determine who rules Nepal and how in future. If the information is correct and credible, exposes wrongdoing, is fair to all concerned, and lets voters make up their own minds, the New Media will strengthen Nepal’s fragile democracy.If not, expect to hear more cries of ‘fake news’ and the growth of a digital media landscape that is likely to fuel the ‘digital detox’ trend.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepalis-are-drifting-to-digital-media/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepalis are drifting to digital media</a>, Madhu Acharya and Bhumiraj Chapagain<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-nepals-media-landscape-is-being-transformed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal's changing media landscape</a>, Sharecast Initiative<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/new-news/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New news</a>, Editorial

Digital detox

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.