<img width="1500" height="886" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151128/636a678d9c7e80680e0599e3jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>For<ol><li>Kathmandu airport is congested and saturated. It is now surrounded by the city and is not safe. Nepal urgently needs an alternative international airport.</li><li>Kathmandu is one-way-in, one-way-out for large jets. Planes have to circle for hours to land in Kathmandu, because poor visibility forces domestic flights to also line up for instrument approach. Nijgad would solve that problem and ease congestion.</li><li>Kathmandu airport is at 1,338m elevation. This forces load penalty on large jets, which cannot carry full passenger and fuel load at takeoff.</li><li>Steep terrain makes Kathmandu dangerous and unsuitable for the Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach. Nijgad is located in the plains 15-30km away from the Chure and Mahabharat ranges.</li><li>Nijgad lies along the proposed Himalaya 2 air route over Nepal, which will shorten flying distance between west and east Asia, and reduce congestion along north Indian air corridors. Having an airport on that route would improve safety.</li><li>Nijgad can be a prime ‘hub’ airport like Singapore, Dubai or Istanbul, which airlines can use for refuelling and stopovers. Nepal Airlines can pick up transit traffic, and thus prop up the country’s tourism.</li><li>International experts looked at Simara, Janakpur and other sites for a new international airport, and selected Nijgad because of its proximity to Kathmandu, terrain, distance to the Indian border and other factors.</li><li>Nijgad’s catchment area will include northern Bihar, and Indian nationals in that area will find it more convenient to take international flights from there.</li><li>Nijgad is located 30-40km from the Indian border, allowing planes to make approaches over Nepali territory.</li><li>The environment impact assessment (EIA) of Nijgad by the Department of Forests and Environment gave it a clean chit.</li><li>As a national pride project, Nijgad will transform Nepal’s economy in the coming decades, acting as a catalyst for employment and downstream services.</li><li>It is not true that 2.5 million trees will be cut for the airport. In the first phase, only 195,000 big trees and 575,000 small ones will be felled. For every tree cut, 25 more will be planted.</li><li>Nijgad is the most suitable site for an alternative airport because fewer people will be displaced, reducing the cost of compensation.</li><li>You cannot have an omelet without breaking eggs. You cannot have development without lopping off a few trees.</li><li>Tree-hugging activists sabotaged Arun III for a few butterflies, and now they want to sabotage Nijgad for a few elephants which can always find another way.</li></ol>Against<ol><li>The existing Kathmandu airport is already handling 7.3 million passengers per year. It can accommodate 10 million if properly managed and with simple upgrades. A three-phase, $240 million ADB-funded upgrade has been allowed to lapse to make Nijgad a fait accompli.</li><li>Extending existing taxiways to thresholds of RWY02 and 20 would streamline takeoffs and landings. Moving most short takeoff and landing (STOL) traffic to Ramechhap, or rehabilitating the old RWY34-16 for small planes, would reduce congestion and increase passenger capacity.</li><li>The proposed 300m extension of RWY02 would have solved that problem. Low fuel burn on new generation aircraft like the Boeing 787 and Airbus 350 would make long-haul flights possible.</li><li>Radar installations at Kathmandu and Bhattedanda have improved safety. Most international airlines flying into Kathmandu use the new RNAV approach, which is superior to ILS.</li><li>Himalaya 2 was first proposed in 2005, it is not yet operational. Even if it was, Nijgad would just be a waypoint on that air way. There are plenty of other airports within 15 minutes flying time in India for emergency landings.</li><li>The ‘hub’ model is now obsolete. International aviation has moved to the ‘point-to-point’ model because advances in technology allow longer-range planes. Besides, Nepal Airlines is not Emirates.</li><li>Nijgad is 80km from Kathmandu city centre. Even with the new expressway, passengers will incur additional travel time. Passengers catching a 8PM flight from Nijgad will have to leave Kathmandu latest at 3PM because of traffic.</li><li>But why would Indians want to go through Nepali customs and immigration?</li><li>Top of Descent (ToD) for planes flying at 36,000ft is 150km away from a destination. Nijgad would still require flights to coordinate with Indian air traffic control.</li><li>The EIA was a greenwash, and hurriedly copy-pasted from a hydropower project in Dolakha, according to a report in Kantipur.</li><li>Nijgad is not an airport project but a logging concession. A corrupt state that cannot even upgrade the Nagarkot road in 5 years has no right to take on a $6.5-billion project.</li><li>Nijgad is the last remaining native hardwood forest in the eastern Tarai. It is on the migratory route of wild elephants and is a critical corridor for other wildlife. This forest is unique and irreplaceable.</li><li>A valuable nature sanctuary will be destroyed, this has a cost. Simara airport 10km away can be expanded to accommodate 2 east-west runways without much logging.</li><li>It is not necessary to clear 80sqkm of forest and prevent 22,500 tons of carbon from being sequestered every year. There are alternatives.</li><li>The main argument against Nijgad is not environmental, although protecting wild elephants is important. It is an economic argument against a white elephant.</li></ol>Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Does Nepal need a 4th international airport?</a>, Om Astha Rai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/chaos-at-airport-due-to-runway-repair/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chaos at airport due to runway repair</a>, Sharad Ojha<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pokhara-nepals-new-aviation-gateway/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pokhara: Nepal’s new aviation gateway</a>, Kunda Dixit<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/sick-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sick airport</a>, Dipak Gyawali

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15 points for and against Nijgad Airport

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101136/636a233e9c7e80680e0417d8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1026"/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Charles Shobhraj once claimed that he could pass an elephant through Nepal’s customs, and that is still true at Kathmandu airport, where inadequate facilities are compounded by what insiders say are wide-open loopholes for big-time smugglers while innocent passengers are hassled.After outrage from passengers, Tribhuvan Airport is getting a facelift, but most of it superficial. As a $100 million upgrade lies in limbo, Nepal’s only international air gateway gives a poor impression to passengers.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=20463&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathmandu Airport is Nepal in a microcosm</a>, Anil ChitrakarTourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari says not everything at the airport is under his ministry, and it is difficult to coordinate between the 171 government, security and private entities there. His effort to turn TIA into a ‘boutique airport’ is being ridiculed as it takes hours to get through visa lines, customs x-ray bottleneck, and luggage carousel. Then passengers are forced to negotiate an obstacle course to a new parking lot 200m down without trolleys, and a tourist broke his leg last month after slipping in the dark.Chief of airport customs Gajendra Kumar Thakur passes the buck to the ministry: “We have only half the staff we need, and that means we are overwhelmed when many planes land together.”Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/incompetence-of-kathmandu-airport-magnified-during-shutdown,2086" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bad just got worse</a>, Om Astha RaiOne afternoon last week, angry passengers muttered profanities as they waited for 45 minutes to be checked if they were ‘metal free’ at the arrival x-ray (photo, above) supposed to detect passengers bringing in more than the allowable 1 litre of liquor, or 50g of gold ornaments. Two passengers are apprehended every week, but the x-rays do not seem to have deterred smugglers who pass gold by the kilogram.The airport’s reputation as a den of smugglers was spotlighted anew after the scandal involving 33kg of seized gold that went missing last year. A Parliamentary committee recommended plugging loopholes, but the passenger bottleneck remains, inconveniencing passengers ahead of Visit Nepal Year 2020 by when the country hopes to bring in 2 million tourists.“We found that the biggest problem lay in the customs mechanism,” Janakraj Joshi of the parliamentary sub-committee revealed. The report was presented to Parliament’s Good Governance and Monitoring Committee last year, but Joshi says nothing happened.Airport officials promise the arrival concourse will have two more conveyor belts by May. Spokesman Pratap Babu Tiwari says the runway and apron expansion will resume soon, the terminal will have free WiFi and “soothing music.”After waiting hours at immigration and customs, the last thing passengers want to hear is blaring muzak.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/sick-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sick Airport</a>, Nepali Times<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Does Nepal need a 4th international airport?</a>, Om Astha Rai

Try Visiting Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110714118/636904019c7e80680e037cf8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1050"/><figcaption>TURKISH AIRLINES</figcaption></figure>Turkish Airlines<a href="https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-br/flights/flights-to-kathmandu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> will soon resu</a>me daily flights on the Kathmandu-Istanbul sector for the first time since the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/04/25/massive-earthquake-rattles-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">April 2015 earthquake</a>, indicating that tourist traffic is on the rebound three years after the disaster.The only European airline to fly to Kathmandu currently operates five flights a week, and will fly every day from 24 September, during the forthcoming autumn and spring peak tourist seasons.After 2 September 2019, the flights will be daily all year round to mark the 6th anniversary of start of Turkish Airlines flights to Kathmandu, and to cater to the growth in passenger volume during <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bringing-in-two-miilion-tourists,3551" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Nepal Year 2020</a>.“Nepal has set the target of 2 million tourists by 2020, and to accommodate the expected volume, we are increasing our number of flights in phases,” explains <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/interview/turkish-airlines-four-years-in-kathmandu,3973" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Country Manager Abdullah Tuncer Kececi</a> (pictured). “With introduction of daily flights, we hope to fulfill tourist demand for travel facilities.”The daily flights will operate as per the current summer schedule: arriving at 6:20AM from Istanbul and departing from Kathmandu at 7:35AM. However, the schedule will revert to winter timings with arrival in Kathmandu at 11:30AM.Turkish says the increase in frequency shows robust growth in passenger volume of tourists, Nepali diaspora and students travelling to and from Europe and America via Istanbul. From August of 2017 to 2018, Turkish Airlines carried 110,000 passengers on its Kathmandu-Istanbul sector, and 90% were transit passengers.This year, the airlines has introduced a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/extra-luggage-for-students/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">special student fare, with 10kg extra luggage</a>, and a free one-time flight change offer. The airlines is also offering stopovers for transit passengers, and hopes that traffic to Istanbul will get a boost after its brand new airport is inaugurated on 29 October.However, there are challenges. Kathmandu airport management is planning to close the airport for 10 hours a day for urgent runway repairs and this will add to congestion that is already delaying many international flights.“It would be advisable for the airport to open at 5:00AM for domestic flights so that peak morning congestion does not delay international arrivals,” Kececi told Nepali Times.Tribhuvan Airport has announced that it will open the airport 30 min earlier at 6AM for domestic flights from 1 September.“The increased costs from long holds are a burden, and this is in addition to high fuel costs and ground handling charges in Kathmandu,” Kececi said, “we are excited about the increase in traffic, but there are obstacles that need to be overcome.”With just a year and half to go for Nepal tourism year, the growing number of flights and passengers is an indication that Nepal’s tourism industry and economy are springing back after the disaster.However, it is clear that for Turkish and other international airlines serving Kathmandu, infrastructure bottlenecks are a concern.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Does Nepal need a 4th international airport?</a>, Om Astha Rai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-jam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Air Jam</a>, Om Astha Rai

Turkish Airlines goes daily

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107111144/6368e2419c7e80680e033319jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1359" height="823"/>In 1994, when Nijgad was identified as the site of Nepal’s planned new international gateway, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Air-jam,4196">traffic congestion at Kathmandu Airport</a> was not as bad as it is today. It was difficult then to justify a new international airport so far from Kathmandu.So, Nijgad was projected to be not just an airport serving the capital, but a regional hub for international destinations like Doha, Dubai and Singapore. Like everything else, the war and political wrangling delayed the project for decades.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/gigantism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gigantism</a>, Editorial Today, ultra long-range airliners do not need refuelling and transit stops. The trend is towards point-to-point service with equipments like the Boeing 787 or Airbus 350. However, traffic volume today has exceeded the Tribhuvan International Airport’s current capacity, and Nijgad may be feasible as a destination airport for Kathmandu if there is a new expressway to cut travel time.The Communist government came to power with the promise of prosperity, and it is reviving the $6.7 billion Nijgad airport project as a catalyst for growth, and to take the pressure off of Kathmandu.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/groping-in-the-dark/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Groping in the dark</a>, Om Astha RaiLast week, the government approved the airport’s Environment Impact Assessment report, even though 2.4 million trees need to be axed in 7,000 hectares of hardwood forest where the airport will be. In his budget speech on Tuesday, Finance Minister Khatiwada allocated Rs19 billion for the aviation sector, including Nijgad.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107111144/6368e2449c7e80680e03331ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="450"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In an interview with Nepali Times (see below), Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Rabindra Adhikari announced that the bidding process will start in six months, and the construction site will be cleared and readied for construction in just two years.Adhikari claims Nijgad will be “bigger, busier and more advanced” than Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. “It will be a game changer for Nepal’s economy,” he said.Aviation analyst Hemant Arjyal says: “Nepal can build a hub airport, but whether it will actually evolve into a hub depends on how convenient international airlines find it.”Arjyal argues that any international airport needs a big enough catchment area, and for Nijgad that will be Kathmandu. “If passengers cannot reach Kathmandu within one hour after landing at Nijgad, this multi-billion dollar airport will fail,” he says. “So, the key to Nijgad’s success will be how fast the fast-track to the Tarai will be.”Minister Adhikari argues that only 10% of passengers flying into Nijgad will be to or from Kathmandu, the others will be using it to fly on to international destinations, or reach domestic points. But aviation experts are skeptical, and say the whole hub concept is outdated and misplaced.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107111144/6368e2469c7e80680e03331bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1248"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Retired Nepal Airlines captain Y K Bhattarai calls the plan to develop Nijgad as an international hub 'a flight of imagination'. He says the government should have considered geopolitical realities, and the modern aviation market in the Asia-Pacific.“Let us build Nijgad, but only after taking into account that Nepal’s air space is enclosed by a country that does not give us anything easily or freely,” he says. “Nijgad’s future as an aviation hub is in India’s hands, and building a mammoth airport without taking air routes into account is like putting the cart before the horse.”Bhattarai is a member of a task force that will recommend ways to improve aviation sector. He has experience of Indian air traffic controllers restricting elevation and route clearance for flights to and from Nepal. India has refused inbound air routes through Bhairawa and Janakpur because its air force base is near the Nepal border. This is unlikely to be resolved in talks with the Airports Authority of India next month.Meanwhile, congestion at Kathmandu is being used as <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/incompetence-of-kathmandu-airport-magnified-during-shutdown,2086">a justification for Nijgad</a>. Some critics say the airport’s $100million ADB-supported expansion project is being deliberately delayed to justify Nijgad. Apron, taxiway and terminal building extensions and better air traffic management could ease the present congestion, and keep Kathmandu airport viable for decades more.Despite its cost, however, Nijgad now seems to be a political fait accompli. Even infrastructure experts like Surya Raj Acharya say: “We should have built Nijgad at least a decade ago.”<h1>The last patch of Char Kose Jhari</h1><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107111144/6368e2499c7e80680e03331cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="844"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Char Kose Jhari used to be a strip of dense malarial jungle in the Tarai separating the Chure Range from the Indian plains. After the eradication of malaria, the forests were cleared by settlers from the mountains and from India. Construction of the East-West Highway in the 1970s, transmission lines, the 1980 referendum, all helped shrink this primary hardwood forest to a few remaining patches.Nijgad airport and the expressway linking it to Kathmandu will decimate the last remaining expanse of this once-vast jungle. In all, the Nepal Army is preparing to fell 2.4 million sal trees in a swath of 80sq km – wiping out <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/habitat-destrcution-of-tiger-in-Tarai,3423">the last remaining migration corridor for endangered wild elephants and tigers</a>, depleting the buffer zone of the Parsa Wildlife Reserve, and removing vegetation that recharges groundwater. Conservationists also worry that a huge busy airport right next to a nature sanctuary will also disturb wildlife.Although the government claims that selling the valuable timber from the site will fetch nearly Rs70 billion, it will prevent 22,500 tons of carbon from being sequestered in the vegetation annually, which in turn will deprive Nepal of earning Rs160 million annually from the global carbon fund. The economic value of oxygen lost due to deforestation for Nijgad airport is huge: Rs 230 billion, and that is not counting the airport’s own carbon footprint.Biodiversity expert Prabhu Budhathoki, a former member of Nepal Planning Commission, explains: “This is going to be the most serious deforestation of the Tarai in the last 50 years, it will affect wildlife, and also damage hydrological ecosystem and agriculture.”Budhathoki argues that clearing the forest for Nijgad Airport will set a bad precedent: and show that jungles are expendable and have to make way for new physical infrastructure.The airport is the latest example of the need to balance economic needs with environmental protection, even though the main argument against the project is its cost and economic viability. The airport has pitted ecologists against economists: infrastructure expert Surya Raj Acharya maintains that the airport is so necessary that felling 2.4 million trees is “nothing compared to its economic advantage”.<h1>“Nijgad airport will be a game changer”</h1>Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Rabindra Adhikari is a man in a hurry. He wants Nepal to make up for its lost decades in aviation infrastructure. He spoke to Nepali Times this week about why he feels so strongly about Nijgad. <figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107111144/6368e24d9c7e80680e03331djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="887"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Nepali Times: After 20 years, the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report for Nijgad has finally been approved. What is next?We will sign an MoU with the Nepal Army in a few days. The military will fell trees and build periphery roads. It may take two years to clear the construction site. But we will initiate the international bidding process within six months. We will finalise land acquisition and resettlement of the 1,400 families living at the site, either providing them with cash or a relocation site. We will even resettle those who do not have land titles. The project will not face any more delays, and the airport could be ready in less than 10 years.Why this sudden urgency?We badly need a second international airport. The only international airport we now have in Kathmandu is congested, and cannot be expanded.But there are two more international airports coming up in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19515#.Ww_5WFUzbIU">Bhairawa and Pokhara</a> …You cannot compare Bhairawa and Pokhara with Nijgad. Not even Kathmandu will match Nijgad Airport’s scale and scope. It will be an international air hub -- a real game changer for Nepal’s economy. International flights from over two dozen cities will be landing every day, tens of thousands of passengers will catch connecting flights. Planes will also be making stopovers for refueling. It will be bigger, more advanced and busier than any other airport in Nepal.Why not upgrade nearby Simara airport instead of clearing valuable forests?Nijgad is Nijgad. It is an ideal place for an international hub airport not just from a business standpoint, but also because of climate. This is one place in the Tarai which remains largely unaffected by fog even in winter.But Simara is just 10 km away from Nijgad.Yes, but even that short distance makes a huge difference.Over 2.4 million trees have to be cut to clear the site.We will plant 25 saplings elsewhere for every single tree that is felled. We are also looking at minimizing the felling. One option is to not build the adjacent airport city planned for the second phase.What is the economic viability of an airport so far away from the capital?Nijgad Airport’s future depends on Kathmandu-Tarai fast-track highway. But this airport will be a hub, as I said, and will not depend solely on Kathmandu traffic. In fact, we think only 10% of the total traffic will be for Kathmandu.Nepal has only one entry point for international flights from Indian air space. Don’t we need more two-way routes for Bhairawa, Pokhara and Nijgad?We are not just a land-locked but also air-locked country at the moment. But we are negotiating with India for more air routes. A technical team from the Airports Authority of India will come to Nepal next month for talks, India is amenable to new entry points through Biratnagar and Nepalganj, and we are are also seeking Mahendranagar, Bhairawa and Janakpur.Are you serious about a domestic airport in Kavre?I am serious because it will ease traffic congestion at Kathmandu Airport by 31% . I am also pushing for inter-provincial air connections with Pokhara-Bhairawa, Pokhara-Biratnagar and Pokhara-Nepalganj flights.People think I am connecting Pokhara to other cities because I am an MP from there, but Pokhara has huge growth potential. The airport will service flights to Lukla, Tumlingtar and other mountain destinations, and we can double the capacity for mountain flights, and help the tourism industry.Readers write<a dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/avista.rijal?fref=ufi&amp;rc=p" target="_self" data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;;&quot;}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=100000986481016&amp;extragetparams=%7B%22is_public%22%3Atrue%2C%22hc_location%22%3A%22ufi_admin%22%7D">Avista R-Rizal</a> In my opinion after TIA one more international airport is far more than enough. But inter connectivity is required.<a id="js_axw" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/rkldeo?fref=ufi&amp;rc=p" target="_self" data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;;&quot;}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=100001426015274&amp;extragetparams=%7B%22is_public%22%3Atrue%2C%22hc_location%22%3A%22ufi_admin%22%7D" aria-describedby="js_axv" aria-owns="js_axs">Radhakrishna Lal Deo</a> By upgrading Biratnagar or Janakpur it can be postponed for few decades!<a id="js_b3s" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010222925192&amp;fref=ufi&amp;rc=p" target="_self" data-ft="{&quot;tn&quot;:&quot;;&quot;}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/hovercard.php?id=100010222925192&amp;extragetparams=%7B%22is_public%22%3Atrue%2C%22hc_location%22%3A%22ufi_admin%22%7D" aria-describedby="js_b3r" aria-owns="">Darryl Mason</a> Spend the money on TIA and the surrounding area and another airport won't be needed

Does Nepal need a 4th international airport?

The last four minutes of conversations between the US-Bangla Flight 211 pilot at the TIA Air Traffic Control indicates a possible confusion in the mind of the pilot about the Runway 02 (the southern end) and Runway 20 (the northern end). Even as the Bombardier aircraft is on approach, the Nepali pilots of other aircraft are heard warning the ATC that the US-Bangla pilot seems disoriented and that he should be assisted by radar and taken out of harm’s way, and that the visibility in the hills is bad (‘almaliyo jasto chha’, ‘disoriented bhae jasto chha, yo kata jaala’, ‘surrounding dandakanda ma ramro chhaina visibility’).https://youtu.be/oDAvHQJZK_MAt the very outset of the tape, the control towers is heard warning the pilot, “I say again, do not proceed towards Runway 20.” And later, he is warned to remain on hold and not to land because there is another aircraft on approach. After the Bombardier has apparently taken a right orbit, the ATC asks the pilot whether he wants to land on Runway 02 or 20. The latter responds and says “We would like to land on 20”; he is cleared to land on that end of the runway.The Bombardier pilot is then asked if he has the runway in sight, to which he replies, “Negative”. He is asked to turn right. But then immediately thereafter, the Flight 211 pilot says “Affirmative”, that the runway is in sight. At that point the pilot says, “Cleared to land Runaway 02” (even though he had sought permission for 20). However ATC too now clears him to land on Runway 02. Meanwhile, while talking to the Army 53 aircraft which is on hold about ten kilometers away, the ATC says that the Bangladesh aircraft is “on final for 20”.The last recorded words of the US-Bangla pilot is: “[Unintelligeble ] said sir, are we cleared to land?” After some silence, the clearly alarmed ATC controller shouts, “I say again, turn…!”. There is silence for a while, then a ‘Fire One’ calls the tower, indicating that a crash has occurred and the airport fire tender has been activated. One Nepali pilot comes on to ask if the runway is closed, and the ATC confirms, “Runway closed.”Photos: Gopen Rai<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141136/6365162e9c7e80680e02c1ffjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516319c7e80680e02c200jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516359c7e80680e02c201jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516389c7e80680e02c202jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/6365163c9c7e80680e02c203jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/6365163f9c7e80680e02c204jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516439c7e80680e02c205jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516469c7e80680e02c206jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516499c7e80680e02c207jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/6365164d9c7e80680e02c208jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141140/636516509c7e80680e02c209jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">

Confusion in the cockpit

<figure><img width="2048" height="1536" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141136/636516289c7e80680e02c1fdjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photograph taken by the scholar Bishnu Sapkota.</figcaption></figure> Update 6 The death toll from the crash has reached 49, including 22 Nepali nationals. At least 14 Nepali students studying MBBS in Bangladesh were on board the ill-fated plane. Update 5 Several Nepali pilots in the air at the time are heard warning the ATC in Nepali language that the Bangladeshi pilot sounded disoriented and to keep away from the traffic.“He might hit a mountain there is poor visibility all around,” one pilot is heard on the ATC radio saying.Update 4Three hours after the US-Bangla plane crash, Kathmandu Airport reopens. Update 3Of the 67 passengers, 33 were Nepali nationals, according to a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).Update 2According to a reliable eye-witness who was present at Sinamangal, just west of the Airport terminal, he saw the Bombardier aircraft coming in from the south, then rather than landing taking an unexpected steep turn to the left.  According to the eye-witness, the aircraft came very close to the control tower while it did the turn, then flew over a Buddha Air ATR and a Yeti Airlines Jetstream and went out of sight. "In a couple of seconds I saw a pall of smoke rise from the other side of the runway."It is possible, according to one flight expert, that the aircraft while coming in for landing may have had a need to abort. In such a circumstance, there is a set procedure for the aircraft to fly outward before starting another descent. In this case, the aircraft for whatever reason took a very sharp turn, and it may have lost lift, leading to the crash.Update 1Of the 67 passengers and 4 crew members on board, 14 have been rescued so far.  <figure><img width="1024" height="768" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141136/6365162b9c7e80680e02c1fejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Photograph by Suraj Dahal</figcaption></figure>A turbo-prop passenger aircraft of the US Bangla airline has crashed upon landing at Tribhuvan International Airport this afternoon at 2:18 pm. The aircraft, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 crashed after having crossed the threshold of Runway 02 (south-to-north) and after having apparently touched down. A plume of black smoke marked the site of the crash at the start of the runaway.US Bangla BS-211 is a scheduled four-times a week flight that departs Dhaka at 12:30 PM, arriving Kathmandu's TIA at 2:15 PM. No information is yet available on number of passengers on board or of casualties.Unofficial transcript of ATC Tape by Jay Sata on <a href="https://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/606439-plane-crash-nepal-s-kathmandu-airport.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/606439-plane-crash-nepal-s-kathmandu-airport.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520949735712000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEgyt786omaJtjF_2ZOcA7m4c-9TQ">https://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/606439-plane-crash-nepal-s-kathmandu-airport.html</a>BS211(female voice): "Good day, BanglaStar211 final runway 02.“ KTH-Tower: "BanglaStar211, tower. Wind 220 degrees eight knots, tailwind component seven knots, continue approach.“ BS211(female voice): "Continue approach BanglaStar 211.“ .. KTH-Tower: "BanglaStar211, wind 220 degrees seven knots, tailwind component six knots, you’re cleared to land.“ BS211(female voice): "Cleared to land, BanglaStar 211.“ .. KTH-Tower: "BanglaStar211, tower?“ BS211(female voice): "Go ahead, sir.“ BS211(male voice): "Go ahead, mam." KTH-Tower: "BanglaStar211, you were given a landing clearance to runway 02." BS211(male voice): "Affirmative, mam.“ KTH-Tower: "You are going towards runway 20.“ BS211(male voice): ...(garbled transmission)..to runway 02.“ KTH-Tower (different voice): "…211, runway 20, cleared to land.“ BS211(male voice): "..cleared to land..(unintelligible)." .. KTH-Tower (different voice): "BanglaStar211, Kathmandu Tower" BS211(male voice): "Go ahead“ KTH-Tower (different voice): "BanglaStar211, request your intentions.“ BS211(male voice): "..(unintelligible).." KTH-Tower (different voice): "BanglaStar211, that would be VFR." BS211(male voice): "Affirmative" KTH-Tower (different voice): “ 211 join a ri…ehm..right downwind to runway 20." BS211(male voice): "Copied." KTH-Tower (different voice): “ …right downwind runway 02..“ .. Tower cleares another aircraft (Buddha282) to land on runway 02. .. KTH-Tower: "And BanglaStar 211, traffic at final eh..runway 02 at two miles, report sighting." BS211(male voice): "Copied, Sir. We’ll be at (..) runway 02." KTH-Tower: "Confirm you’re tracking towards runway 20 ?" BS211(male voice): "Affirmative." KTH-Tower: "Right..left, right downwind runway 02, I say again Bangla 212 traffic is on final runway 02 landing on runway 02." BS211(male voice): "Copied Sir" .. Tower confirmed landing clearance for the other aircraft (Buddha282) to land on runway 02. .. KTH-Tower: "211 I say it again, do not proceed towards runway 20. Cleared to hold at your current position." BS211(male voice): "Okay, we’re making an orbit to the right, copied ?" BS211(male voice): "Tower, 211, making a right holding, right holding for runway 02." KTH-Tower: "Okay that’s good but do not land. Traffic is on short final runway 02." BS211(male voice): "We have that, Sir copied. (unintelligible) we’re cleared to land" .. KTH-Tower: "..BanglaStar211, runway..eh..cleared to land. Runway is vacated, either runway 02 or 20 ?“ BS211(male voice): "Yes Sir, we like to land on 20.“ KTH-Tower: "Okay runway 20, cleared to land. Wind is 270 degrees, six knots.“ BS211(male voice): "260 copied, cleared to land.“ KTH-Tower: "BanglaStar211, confirm you have the runway in sight?“ BS211(male voice): "Negative, Sir.“ KTH-Tower: "BanglaStar211, turn right and ah..you have the runway, confirm you have the runway not in sight, yet ?“ BS211(male voice): "Affirmative, we have (..) runway in sight. Requesting clear to land, Sir." KTH-Tower: "And BanglaStar211, cleared to land.“ BS211(male voice): "Cleared to land runway 02, BanglaStar212." KTH-Tower: "Roger, ruway 02, cleared to land, BanglaStar211." .. BS211(male voice): "..sir, are we cleared to land ?“ KTH-Tower: "BanglaStar211, I say again..turn… (yelling in background).“

US-Bangla plane crashes at TIA

The daily 10-hour curfew at Tribhuvan International Airport from 8 November that will last five months has affected tourism during Nepal’s peak season, with some hotels and trekking agencies here reporting cancellations into spring next year. The reduced hours at Nepal’s main aviation gateway till 31 March means that a third of all flights have been cut. This has also caused ticket prices to surge by up to eight times of normal fares. For example a Kathmandu-Delhi ticket that used to cost Rs12,000 is now listed at Rs50,000, and even then seats are not available.&nbsp; “Especially if they are here to trek, change in flight dates can cause tourists to miss their connections,” says Jagan Timilsina, who runs a trail running and outdoor education business. &nbsp; Pokhara is feeling the brunt as hotels report last-minute cancellations for November because of flight disorders. Some hoteliers also say although there have been some cancelled trips, most itineraries have been rescheduled.&nbsp; Hari Prasad Sharma Gaire of the local chapter of the Hotel Association of Nepal says the Kathmandu airport closure should have been timed for the off-season. He told us: “Starting construction during the peak tourist season was a mistake and will cause the tourism industry to lose a lot of business. The upgrade could have been spread out over a longer time but closed for fewer hours at night so that disruption was minimal.”&nbsp; Nearly a third of the 1.2 million tourists who visit Nepal annually come to Pokhara, which is also the gateway to Mustang, the Annapurna treks and pilgrimage tourism to Muktinath. Located by scenic lakes with a range of adventure sports like hot air ballooning, paragliding, canyoning, bungee and ziplines, Pokhara is also popular among diaspora Nepalis. “Besides its own attractions, Pokhara is really the hub for central Nepal, and we have been trying to get visitors to extend their stay here,” says Timilsina, who started out as a trekking porter and rose up the ranks to be an expedition guide and entrepreneur. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111603114_0e071ce63ea9b0a9a7ee76f8c3cea0ff08c6767c41dd09f6bc4413d2db067a60.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024111603114_0e071ce63ea9b0a9a7ee76f8c3cea0ff08c6767c41dd09f6bc4413d2db067a60" data-rendition-name="original" width="3500" height="2333" loading="lazy" alt="Pokhara's tourism woes NT"> <figcaption>Tourist arrivals in Pokhara have slumped since the disruptions at Kathmandu airport due to upgrading work. Photo: KRISHNA MANI BARAL/NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption> </figure>  Even without the Kathmandu airport closure affecting tourist arrivals, Pokhara was already suffering from a decline due to many factors like the poor state of the Prithvi Highway, the shortage of luxury accommodation for high-end tourists, and the reluctance of international airlines to start direct flights to Pokhara despite an expensive new airport that was inaugurated two years ago.&nbsp; “There was a lot of initial excitement on the construction of the international airport,” says Timilsina, “but it hasn’t delivered as expected due to politics. People have invested in nearby businesses, and have faced losses.” India has blocked direct flights from its cities to Pokhara because the facility was built by a Chinese company. Although tourists and pilgrims from India hit record levels this year, the poor state of the highways and the Indian bus accident on the highway to Kathmandu in July that killed 27 pilgrims from Maharashtra state dampened arrival figures. Gaire says, “While tourist arrivals to Pokhara are now approaching pre-Covid levels, we haven’t seen the improvement we were expecting. We need a better marketing strategy. What are our embassies abroad doing?”&nbsp; Indeed, Pokhara used to be a favourite destination for Chinese tourists. There was a boom in arrivals from China before Covid, especially after a popular Chinese tv serial was shot on location here. But arrivals from China have not really recovered since the pandemic because of the economic slowdown there. Promoting Pokhara airport to handle direct flights from Chengdu or Kunming could revive Chinese arrivals.&nbsp; Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAN) has used the Kathmandu airport closure as an excuse to arm-twist international airlines to start flying to Bhairawa, which has barely been in operation for two years since it was inaugurated. So far, Fly Dubai, Thai AirAsia, Jazeera and Qatar are flying to Bhairawa, but most use it as a hop before flying on to Kathmandu, which does not reduce congestion at Kathmandu.&nbsp; An ideal situation could have been to get Pokhara to run to full capacity while Kathmandu is partially out of action. Pokhara entrepreneurs are puzzled why the CAAN and the national government have not taken more interest in promoting Pokhara as an alternative to reduce the congestion in Kathmandu. Nepal’s football team that was flying to Dushanbe this week couldn’t get tickets via Delhi, and took a domestic flight to Bhadrapur, crossed over to Bagdogra and flew on to Delhi to catch their flight to Tajikistan.

Pokhara’s tourism woes

An excerpt of a conversation between an anthropologist and linguist Mark Turin, PhD and Lava Deo Awasthi, PhD, the first Chairperson of the Language Commission of Nepal. Nepali Times: What is the role of Nepal’s Language Commission and when was it formed? Lava Deo Awasthi: The Constitution of Nepal (2015) created a Language Commission (LC) with the following four core mandates: (a) to develop eligibility criteria for gaining status as an official language and offer recommendations to the Government of Nepal about the official language(s) in each province; (b) to offer recommendations to the Government about measures to be taken for the conservation, promotion, and development of languages; (c) to suggest possible ways of using mother tongues in education by assessing their stage of development; and, (d) to conduct studies, carry out research and perform monitoring functions about the response to the constitutional provisions for the federalisation of languages in Nepal. The Commission was founded in 2016 and I was appointed as the Chairperson of the Commission in September of the same year by the Cabinet of Ministers. What in your own professional and educational background helped to prepare you for the role? I have worked with the Government of Nepal for about 30 years, alongside holding teaching appointments at universities in Nepal. Prior to assuming the role of the Chairperson of the Commission, I served as permanent Secretary to the Government of Nepal and worked as the Chief Administrator of the Central Development Region. I was appointed as Director General of the Department of Education and completed my assignments as Joint Secretary at the Planning, Monitoring and Educational Administration Divisions of the Ministry of Education.&nbsp; In addition, I have taught courses as a visiting professor at Tribhuvan University and Kathmandu University for more than three decades. Later, I also started supervising MPhil and PhD students at the Far Western University in Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur. My PhD project from the Danish University of Education was dedicated to making sense of Nepal’s social construct and commitment to multilingualism, exploring the persistence of monolingual school practices in the face of constitutional promises and state commitments to multilingualism. I conducted a survey of Nepal’s languages and carried out a qualitative study of the Tharu language in the district of Bardia. I analysed language policy statements and explored classroom pedagogies in schools. I documented how teachers showed a tendency to resist change and maintain the status quo because they were not consulted when new educational language policies were introduced. Teachers also exhibited a deeply-held adherence to the Gurukul education system which appears to have been harnessed as a way to resist newer pedagogical ideologies imported from the West. Recognising how engrained these rich traditions of knowledge transmission are, I wanted to know how students’ engagement in the learning process appeared to have dwindled, creating a gap between children’s home languages and the language(s) of the school. Whilst statutory provisions for education in the mother tongue were oriented towards promotion, classroom pedagogies remained resolutely monolingual and exclusionary. The result was that multilingual education policies that had been introduced in Nepal did not result in meaningful changes in classroom practices. My research was also a reflection of childhood traumas I had experienced at the earliest stage of formal education. My home language, Baitadeli, has a strong oral tradition and no written literature. English is my fifth language in terms of exposure and competence, and my home district of Baitadi is well-known for its loyalty to the local language. I had to drop out of school after completing my sixth grade. Staying at home, I received much attention from my family and had much greater exposure to my native language, culture and environment. My overall impression is that dropping out of school had a surprisingly positive impact on my life. The opportunity offered a surprising dividend for me as I gained mastery in my mother tongue and received extensive exposure to folk literature and Indigenous knowledge and survival skills, cultivating my interest in language, culture, literature and local cosmologies.&nbsp; Now that I reflect on it, I appreciate how language has always played a key role in my life. I grew up in a multilingual environment: brought up with Baitadeli, Hindi, Sanskrit, Nepali and English. Language played a major part in my decision to leave school and my later success is closely linked to my competence in several languages. It was rewarding to be at home with my family as I deepened my understanding of native language and culture, which in turn helped me to harness and refine my art of living. Languages matter so much to me because they are both software and hardware. Later, when I was in secondary school, I realised that my command of my home language contributed significantly to enhancing my Nepali and English. I used my mother tongue as a form of linguistic capital to strengthen my competence in both English and Nepali.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111811110_5400ba54792bf9e4854e1c1effde8bf09804e99647f23513700b450cc49adc4a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024111811110_5400ba54792bf9e4854e1c1effde8bf09804e99647f23513700b450cc49adc4a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Dr Lava Deo Awasthi"> </figure>  In your term as the Commission’s first Chairperson, what were your strategic goals and objectives? My first strategic goal was to create an environment conducive to implementing the provisions of the Constitution of Nepal in relation to language. My priority was to prepare a detailed action plan for my six-year tenure in consultation with language stakeholders, including language experts, professionals, activists, Indigenous community members and representatives of relevant national and local-level institutions. The Commission formed a body of high-level advisors to ensure that the Chairperson’s work was well-informed and credible. The advisors to the committee had highly visible professional and social reputations in Nepal and had much experience in the field of language conservation, promotion, research and development. Another strategy we adopted was to establish close institutional linkages with federal, provincial, and local level governments for collecting opinions and disseminating information widely.&nbsp; What critical issues did you have to consider while discharging your duty? When Nepal’s new Constitution was drafted, a number of concerns could not be adequately addressed. These related to the conservation of languages, the recognition of official languages at the provincial level, and the use of mother tongues at federal, provincial, and local levels. These unresolved issues and matters pertaining to the federalizsation of Nepal’s languages were passed on to the Language Commission to address and resolve.&nbsp; Regarding the recommendations for official languages, a five-year timeline had been set by the Constitution. With great effort, we succeeded in having all provinces agree to recognise their official languages as per the recommendations of the Commission.&nbsp; What were your greatest achievements during your term? One of the greatest achievements was that we succeeded in setting a language agenda at all levels. Nepal’s language communities and other stakeholders expressed the view that this was the first time their languages were recognised and their voices heard by the state. People participated in debates and discussed issues relating to language that in all likelihood had never before happened in their lifetimes, at least not in ways that were supported by the state. We encouraged people to speak in their own language(s) and provided translators during plenary sessions and group discussions. Another major achievement was developing criteria for the status planning of languages at federal, provincial, and local levels, and to recommend 11 province-level official languages, in addition to the Nepali language. Similarly, a notable achievement was recognising Indigenous languages spoken by smaller communities, all of whom faced ongoing marginalisation and high levels of endangerment. The Commission identified 9 new languages that had not been reported in the 2011 census, and provided a framework for recognising official languages within a municipality. The commission emphasised the need for documentation and digitisation of languages for developing corpora and archives at national and sub-national levels.&nbsp; Languages of historical importance as well as classical languages were given recognition for their protection, growth, and development. Recommendations were made for the conservation, promotion and development of Nepal’s marginalised languages that are threatened by majority languages and for those languages that hold particular power at local and global levels. Recommendations were also made for how best to safeguard Nepal’s languages from the ever-growing spread of English and other powerful, globalising languages.&nbsp; A further important aspect of the Commission’s work was to emphasise mother tongue medium instruction in schools across the nation. Recognising the role of language in children’s cognitive, socio-emotional and academic development, the Commission suggested strategies for linking schools with ward-level language clusters for use in the classroom. The importance of nurturing and respecting a child’s first language was reiterated in the Commission’s recommendations for children’s learning and all-round development. By the end of my term, a remarkable change could be observed in terms of building trust within and across Nepal’s diverse language communities. A network of language groups and stakeholders across the country proved to be a powerful way of bringing all language communities under one roof for a collective review of and response to the process of federalising language policy. The many language stakeholders across Nepal appreciated the opportunity to work within a coordinated framework, and—feeling empowered by this—seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the initiatives taken by the Commission.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024111811114_b45297fdd2fedf17bdb6313e495a1062c0d87f1a19fa5349f871f220b75f93ab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024111811114_b45297fdd2fedf17bdb6313e495a1062c0d87f1a19fa5349f871f220b75f93ab" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Dr Lava Deo Awasthi NT"> </figure>  What were the most significant challenges for you as Chairperson? One of the major challenges was winning people’s trust in advocating for the mission of the Language Commission. I faced considerable resistance as I sought to emphasise the use of native languages in families and communities. While the Commission advocated for multilingualism and promoted linguistic diversity, the prevailing policy circles and central level institutions had been deeply influenced by a one-language discourse and ideology of Nepali only. The spread of English also poses a huge threat to Nepal’s languages. However, people in power do not seem to see this as a problem. They tend to abandon their own languages in preference for English. The way that Nepal’s municipalities are increasingly introducing English as a medium of instruction at the earliest stage of a child’s school-based education has proven to be detrimental to their cognitive development, socio-emotional wellbeing and academic success. Most of Nepal’s elites have been heavily influenced by the spread of English and remain unaware about its impact on their home languages as well as on the inter-generational transmission of Indigenous languages in the country. I wish that we could have produced more compelling evidence to show the consequences of making poor policy choices for our children’s education. Demystification calls for a collective response. To make change happen across this entire, complex and federalising country was daunting work and left like a race against time. I feel that I could have done more to offer concrete examples in favour of using the mother tongue as a medium of children’s education at the earliest stages of a child’s education. What do you see the Language Commission achieving in the next 5-10 years? The Language Commission will have to ensure that all of its key recommendations are implemented at all levels of government. In 10 years’ time, all seven of Nepal’s provinces will have their official languages in place. These languages will also be recognised as languages of federal business, alongside Nepali. I anticipate that all official languages in the federal and provincial systems will have a national portal for inter-language corpora using machine translation to fulfil their federal, provincial and local level language functions, and that all languages spoken in Nepal will be represented through a digital database in the national archive. The Office of Statistics will monitor the status of Nepal’s languages over time. By the end of the next decade, each municipality in the country will have recognised one or two official languages at the local level, based on speech populations. Other local languages will have received community-level legal recognition and official status to fulfil their functional roles. Languages that are highly endangered or at risk will be entitled to receive state grants for enhancing local level capabilities to encourage families and young learners to speak the language. Incentive schemes will be introduced in municipalities that promote language within the family and at home. Inter-generational transmission of languages will have received welcome and timely attention across Nepal. It is my hope that all schools—public and private—will have introduced mother tongue medium instruction at the earliest stage of school education, at least up to class five. Nepali, English and other national as well as classical and foreign languages will be taught as subjects. The existing policy of English medium education at the early stage of education will be abolished. The Government of Nepal will be held accountable if the number of speakers of any language decreases or if local communities face language loss and greater endangerment. Under the aegis of the Language Commission, a Centre for Language Research and Innovation will be created with world-class facilities for language documentation and archiving in collaboration with Tribhuvan University’s Central Department of Linguistics and other relevant institutions. Harnessing the vastness of Nepal’s linguistic diversity, the Language Commission will morph into a centre of excellence for national and international communities to engage in collaborative language research, to share experiences and document best practices at in service of global linguistic diversity and Nepal’s many Indigenous languages.

Languages are both software and hardware

Nearly 750,000 Nepalis went abroad for employment in the past year, and more than 100,000 left on student visas. Most of them were young Nepali men and women, and the number has been increasing every year. As with other sections of society, Nepal’s security agencies also face a recruitment crisis. Nepal Police opened recruitment for 64 inspectors in September, and received 2,239 applications, compared to 2,718 candidates last year. Police also invited candidates for 256 assistant sub-inspectors this year for which it received 17,756 applications – down from 19,932 last year. It is the same story in the Nepal Army, the number of applicants for the post of Officer Cadet (Second Lieutenant) went down from 6,144 for 400 open seats in 2019 to 4,390 in 2020. Meanwhile, applicants in the paramilitary Armed Police Force went down from 857 applications for 75 posts in 2021 to 536 applicants for 99 posts last year. While the number of applicants appears higher than the demand, the data shows a significant decrease in applications for vacancies in Nepal’s law enforcement agencies. Security personnel are recruited on the basis of rank and age in Nepal, and the age cutoff for entry into Nepal’s security agencies is typically 25 years. Sociologist and migration expert Ganesh Gurung says that the demographic of young, physically fit Nepalis emigrating abroad in search of better opportunities has impacted recruitment into law enforcement and the military here at home. “The returns from working in Nepal’s police and army are minimal, whereas overseas job opportunities are more attractive,” Gurung says. “The work may be physically demanding abroad, but the pay is a lot higher.”  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241116041148_a7e477e0ee2f56acf16c2559fdb24d8f0377f7bc1f9e56138bc40108fc4fa33f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241116041148_a7e477e0ee2f56acf16c2559fdb24d8f0377f7bc1f9e56138bc40108fc4fa33f" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="534" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal Police"><figcaption>Nepal Police</figcaption></figure>  Nepal Police spokesperson DIG Dan Bahadur Karki agrees that the physical and mental demands of a law enforcement job is incomparable to the income that security personnel earn. “A young Nepali who works in Dubai earns enough to build a home in the village within four years, while a Nepali with the same qualifications and physical ability in a security agency here barely makes enough to survive,” says Karki. “Obviously the youth prefer foreign employment.” Security agencies are now worried about the quality of inducted manpower. “There is a difference in work ethic between an applicant chosen from a competitive pool of 50 candidates versus one chosen from a pool of three candidates,” explains Gurung. “Unmotivated employees hamper the overall performance of the state apparatus.” Nepal Army spokesperson Brigadier General Gaurab Kumar KC says recruitment has not been hampered by outmigration: “We have still been getting more than three times the applicants than there are open posts, so we are not yet worried.” Even so, the passing rates of aspirants have gone down for security forces after the Public Service Commission began examinations for military recruitment in 2015. In fact, the Nepal Army complained about the Commission’s involvement in recruitment. Still, the number of vacant military posts tends to exceed the number of passing candidates. Nepal Army’s KC says that the military will not compromise on intake criteria even if there are fewer passing applicants. “Unqualified persons will not be admitted even if there are less-than-required passing candidates. We will re-advertise if that is the case.” But Nepal’s security forces now also have to worry about retention of existing personnel. About 900 Nepal Army, 600 Nepal Police, and 300 Armed police personnel resign every year before the completion of their tenure.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241116041148_b8cd62f70eea3aac7d3d3778615a5b70b1e20550c9bd76321f051f9c766fd2a9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241116041148_b8cd62f70eea3aac7d3d3778615a5b70b1e20550c9bd76321f051f9c766fd2a9" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="378" loading="lazy" alt="Armed police forces"><figcaption>Armed Police Force</figcaption></figure>  In 2020, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa recalled almost 1,000 police personnel who had been deployed for the security of VIPs after long-standing criticism that security forces were being misused to cater to political and bureaucratic leadership. However, security personnel have continued to be assigned to high-ranking officials as glorified housekeepers. In December 2022, Rabi Lamichhane’s Home Ministry had instructed its offices to recall unauthorised security personnel assigned to high-ranking officials, following which 500 officers from Nepal Police and Armed Police Force were withdrawn from their details. But the Nepal Army does not have to follow such rules, and the practice of army personnel serving high-ranking active-duty and retired military personnel remains. Conditions here are dire enough that many active duty officers in Nepal’s military and police forces have chosen to leave their jobs to serve in the Russian Army to fight in the Ukraine war. The hierarchical culture and chain of command of politics, bureaucracy, law enforcement and military has also meant that abuse and mistreatment of subordinates is rife in Nepal’s security forces. “Feudalism is alive and well within our security institutions,” says Gurung. “When soldiers and security forces who swore to protect and serve the nation are made to be at the beck and call of politicians and bureaucrats, it is easy to understand why they are disillusioned with their jobs and why they choose to quit and find jobs abroad.”

Job insecurity in security forces

Earlier this month, Nepal received Rs1.6 billion from the World Bank as part of its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/will-nepal-ever-be-paid-for-saving-trees">Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF)</a>, rewarding the country for increasing its carbon sink capacity. Nepal is the first in South Asia to benefit from this facility, and it is specifically to recompense the country for increasing forest cover in 13 Tarai districts between 2018-2024. “We are also trying to get another Rs13 billion from the facility while also preparing for free market-based carbon trading in the international market,” says Nabaraj Pudasaini of the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) Implementation Centre. Big emitters of greenhouse gases are under pressure to reduce their carbon emissions, and many have signed agreements to do so by investing in decarbonisation projects in developing countries. Countries that emit more than a specified amount of carbon would be able to buy emission rights from countries that emit less. Nepal is internationally known for its community forestry program which has been largely credited for <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous">increasing tree cover to over 45%</a> in less than three decades. But this achievement had not been adequately recognised or rewarded internationally before. Forests, especially in the tropics, absorb and store large amounts of carbon while releasing oxygen in a process known as photosynthesis. <a href="https://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/en/">Preventing deforestation</a> and increasing canopy cover is considered a much more achievable goal than reducing emission in the scale necessary to limit global average temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. COP11 in Montreal in 2005 first proposed reducing carbon emissions by improving forest quality by halting degradation. By 2015, a new mechanism of financial assistance was created to help less developed countries with sustainable management of forests <a href="https://www.un-redd.org/">(called REDD+)</a>. Under this new mechanism, countries receive aid based on their efforts to prevent forest degradation and increase carbon sink, and in 2021 the World Bank was entrusted with implementing it. Nepal’s FCPF receipt this month was calculated on the basis of 2.4 million tons of carbon stored at a rate of $5 per ton. In the second phase, Nepal will receive more than Rs4 billion within the next year for storing an additional 7 million tons of carbon. Eighty per cent of this amount obtained from carbon trading needs to be spent on local beneficiaries and indigenous communities.&nbsp; But carbon trading is not easy, Nepal needs to prove that protected forests will not be destroyed in future.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241121091132_c8a381c9a95aa86fec558951650d97bb87914741f01766982ba2b086af001f16.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241121091132_c8a381c9a95aa86fec558951650d97bb87914741f01766982ba2b086af001f16" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="Greenbacks for greenery NT "> <figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  Explains carbon trading expert Yugan Manandhar. “Forests should be handed over to the community and shown that they are managed sustainably. Proving this will be particularly challenging; forest encroachment and degradation is rife in the Tarai.” <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke">Deliberate forest fires</a> have also added to the challenge because they increase carbon emissions and reduce the sink capacity of forests. The basis for the amount that Nepal received was set five years ago by calculating the carbon reserves of forests in the 13 Tarai districts. In the meantime, sustainable forest management, tree plantation, forest destruction and erosion control were prioritised to increase carbon reserves in those forests. Nepal is signing another carbon trading agreement during the ongoing Baku climate conference. The <a href="https://www.leafcoalition.org/">Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF Coalition) </a>proposes to sell the carbon stored in the forests of Bagmati, Gandaki and Lumbini provinces. For this, Nepal signed the letter of intent three years ago at COP26 in Glasgow. The target is to store 70 million tons of carbon in 32 million hectares of forest in the three provinces per which Nepal will receive Rs13 billion in four years at $10 per ton with provisions to increase the rate if various conditions are met. However, the agreement in itself doesn’t guarantee the amount. According to the targets set by Nepal, forest degradation should be stopped and carbon reserves increased by protecting tree cover. Preparations are also underway for clean air carbon trade because it has offset fossil fuel use by introducing 30,000 electric vehicles. Nepal has been selected for the first round to receive $40 million within one and a half years through the Clean Air System of the World Bank. Given that most of Nepal’s energy mix is from biomass, replacing them with electric stoves can significantly improve health by reducing indoor pollution as well as strengthen the country’s capacity for carbon trade. “Nepal's goal now is to sell carbon in the free market where carbon credits are bought and sold based on supply and demand in an open and transparent manner,” adds Pudasaini of the REDD Implementation Centre. “Nepal can now set its own price and bargain with interested buyer countries and organisations.” Lately, India has been discussing setting up a carbon market. Nepal has exported Rs12.72 billion worth of electricity to India so far this fiscal year, which can be traded under Nepal’s carbon market. “Carbon trading can create significant economic benefits for Nepal, which will help reinvest in development and environmental protection projects,” says Manandhar. “But we must prioritise sustainable management of forests, cutting older trees and allowing regrowth as well as promoting electric stoves and electric vehicles.”