For decades, Nepalis have lamented the country’s inability to harness its enormous hydropower potential. Now, the problem seems to be the country’s inability to use the surplus that will soon be generated. Since 1989, 123 large hydropower projects have been constructed on Nepal’s fast-flowing Himalayan rivers bringing the total generation capacity to 2,148.5MW. After new projects come online in the next six years, generation capacity could be 18,000MW during the monsoon and 11,000MW in winter. Our focus now should be not just on generating more power, but finding out ways to boost consumption by making <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-geopolitics-of-nepal-s-water-and-electricity">electricity more competitive and sustainable</a>. Private sector projects generate 51% of Nepal’s hydropower, and the rest are government projects. We also need to decide on these three options: whether to entirely privatise hydropower production, give more ownership to the government, or create a strong regulatory body to let private and public go hand in hand. Private investments in power projects usually revert to government ownership in 30. Given how battery and hydrogen technology is revolutionising the world, it is difficult to say what will happen in the energy sector in the next three decades. Even so, Nepal’s development may continue to rely on hydropower as the primary alternative to petroleum. At present, 95% of Nepali households have access to electricity. But domestic consumption is not likely to keep pace with the increase in generation capacity. As it is, much of the valuable electricity generated in the monsoon is ‘spilled’ in the monsoon while there is a shortage in winter when 30% of power demand is met with imports from India (at up to Rs32 per unit last year). Nepal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-1st-hydroelectric-plant-is-a-museum-piece">first started producing hydroelectricity in 1911</a> with the opening of Chandra Jyoti in Pharping. King Prithvi Bir Bikram Shah ushered in the dawn of the electric age by turning on the first electric lamp in Tundikhel. Nepal was only the second country in Asia to generate hydropower 111 years ago, and it was Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher Rana who brought in British engineers to commission the plant.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230313030336_9ba299ac5298b4ca31bec8e563e7cd6dc8851c4ca31a22adac01b0c7b764ba0c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230313030336_9ba299ac5298b4ca31bec8e563e7cd6dc8851c4ca31a22adac01b0c7b764ba0c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Kulekhani Dam opened in 1982"><figcaption>The Kulekhani Dam opened in 1982, and is still the only large reservoir project in Nepal. Photos: NT ARCHIVE</figcaption></figure>  The intervening decades have been characterised with inaction and wasted opportunities. Nepal now has to play catchup so that electricity is affordable and accessible to increase consumption. One way to do that is to lower the electricity tariff so that it is competitive with the price of LPG. Nepal is still overwhelmingly dependent on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/more-bullshit">biomass for energy</a>, and many rural homes use only one electric bulb for light and cook in firewood. This is largely due to the lack of access to electric stoves, refrigerators and other appliances. In 2021, the government announced that it would shift entirely to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/potholes-on-the-highway-to-nepal-s-ev-future">electric vehicles (EVs)</a> by 2031. But this means investing in the necessary infrastructure as well such as charging stations, and incentives for EVs. Cement and steel industries are the largest consumers of electricity in Nepal. Proper planning is necessary to keep <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-precious-electricity-going-waste">electricity production from going to waste</a>, especially as it is expected to rise almost eightfold by 2030. Sadly, there seems to be no sense of urgency on the part of the government. It costs about Rs200 million to generate 1MW of electricity. A waste of 5,000MW is a loss of Rs1 trillion, and that is money invested by private shareholders and banks. Under such circumstances, loans and interests cannot be paid on time, which could lead to defaults. The trickle-down effect on the rest of the economy could be devastating. Serious economic diplomacy is needed to push efforts to export surplus electricity to India at a meaningful price until domestic demand rises. Despite rhetoric to increase production, Nepal also lacks enough domestic and foreign investment in the sector. Banks do not have enough capital and the interest is too high. We do not have the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/storing-water-reservoir-Nepal,1042">necessary infrastructure</a> either: project sites are accessible only for five months in a year due to bad roads during the monsoon. Extension of transmission lines is sluggish. Local obstruction like in the construction of a substation in Lapsiphedi is hindering progress. A national strategy and consensus is needed to expedite transmission lines. During the Panchayat era, a resettlement company was formed to arrange accommodation for residents displaced by the construction of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/reservoirs-of-suspicion/hydropower-geopolitics%20,3991">large projects</a>. But it was dissolved when democracy was restored in1990. Today, there is no land acquisition body at the national level. Moreover, related agencies are working at cross purposes and have conflicting interests. For example, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) is not only a producer but also the sole buyer of electricity generated by the private sector. It also determines the price of power, and it is often not attractive enough for the private sector. The Electricity Production Company, Hydropower Investment and Development Company and Electricity Development Department were all formed to generate hydroelectricity but there is no effective regulation of these bodies. The Electricity Regulatory Commission does everything but solve the existing problems or prepare for future challenges. Governmental agencies like the Ministry of Energy, NEA, Nepal Stock Exchange, Nepal Securities Board, CIAA, and Electricity Regulation Commission and Parliament committees should all coordinate their activities with a national strategy in mind. With such vested interests, hydropower investors also have to navigate a sluggish bureaucracy. But if we want to secure the future of electricity in Nepal, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-precious-electricity-going-waste">not waste precious power</a>, it is imperative that a single strong regulatory body is formed to streamline the sector in the national interest. Kumar Pandey is General Secretary of the Independent Power Producers' Association, Nepal (IPPAN). Translated from the Himal Khabar <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/134646" target="_blank">original</a>. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-they-kept-nepal-in-the-dark-ages/">How they kept Nepal in the dark ages</a>, Ramesh Kumar <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-geopolitics-of-nepal-s-water-and-electricity">The geopolitics of Nepal’s water and electricity</a>

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Securing Nepal’s electric future

<img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101120/6372091c9c7e80680e0b5523jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>The date for local elections is now set in stone: 13 May to be held at once all over the country. But the path to voting booths is a political minefield.The five-party governing coalition is split right down the middle between the supporters and opponents of the American-funded Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s Nepali Congress (NC) and the JSP are for it, while the Maoist Centre and the Unified Socialists are against.But neither side has the numbers if the MCC’s ratification is put to the vote in Parliament. They would both need the UML, which has been playing coy in the opposition even though its leader K P Oli had backed it when he was prime minister.There are no permanent foes and permanent friends in politics, and this is most evident at election time. In 2017, the Maoists forged an electoral alliance with the UML and swept the elections, but they failed to make good use of the two-thirds majority and spent the better part of the last four years bickering. One of the reasons for the split was Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal using the MCC to bring down Oli.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-house-speaker-embroiled-in-mcc-row/">Nepal House speaker embroiled in MCC row</a>, Nepal TimesIt eventually led to the Communist alliance breaking up into Oli’s UML, Dahal’s Maoist Centre (MC) and Nepal’s Unified Socialists (US). And now, the American project threatens to split the governing coalition too.The MCC is now all mixed up with domestic election politics, and geo-strategic rivalry between the United States and China. Dahal’s MC and Nepal’s US, are both offshoots of a bigger party and are unsure of their electoral prospects if the coalition breaks. But if it does they can whip up the MCC as an election issue against Deuba and Oli.The NC is divided about an electoral alliance with coalition partners. Prime Minister Deuba wants to pass the MCC and hold the coalition together, but powerful NC figures want to field elections for all three levels on their own. The opposition UML has a strong local base, but will not be opposed to an alliance if it can garner more seats.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-damned-if-we-do-damned-if-we-dont/">MCC: damned if we do, damned if we don't</a>, Nepali TimesThis is why the MCC can be a deal-maker or deal-breaker. Only Deuba’s NC and JSP in the governing coalition are for the $500 million infrastructure project. Even within the JSP, Baburam Bhattarai and Upendra Yadav seem to have opposing views, with the former prime minister publicly supporting the grant. The Americans are piling on the pressure, saying they will wait till the 28 February cutoff date for House ratification, failing which they will pull out.Dahal and Nepal on the other hand, seem to be under Beijing’s spell. They have held several virtual meetings with top officials of the Communist Party of China who regard the MCC as a US strategic response to their own Belt Road Initiative (BRI).The media leak this week of a letter to the MCC co-signed by Deuba and Dahal dated 29 September 2021 has put the Maoist leader in hot water. Dahal was assuring Washington that he would work to form a consensus in the coalition, all the while opposing the MCC at home.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-cost-of-no-mcc/">The cost of no MCC</a>, Nepali TimesParliament needs to sit for a ratification vote, but the House has not had a proper session for six months. Oli has been blocking House proceedings because Speaker Agni Sapkota has not evicted breakaway members of the Unified Socialists. And Sapkota, who is a close Dahal confidante, once more pushed a Parliament session slated for 9 February by a week.This gives Deuba more time to cobble together numbers in the House for ratification before the American deadline. If Dahal and Nepal do not go along, he will have to get the UML on board – and that means the collapse of the coalition.In fact, the MCC has now become a bargaining chip for both the UML and the Maoist-Unified Socialists to use against Deuba. But the prime minister knows that Dahal and Nepal need an electoral alliance with him more than he needs them. The Maoists are said not to even have enough candidates to field in local government elections in May.Meanwhile, fringe Communist parties including the Netra Bikram Chand faction of the Maoists have resumed anti-MCC protests outside Parliament. And Mahanta Thakur of the smaller LSP is making an unrealistic bid for local elections to be postponed in Madhes Province by three months.The $500 million MCC compact will be used primarily to upgrade transmission lines to distribute electricity from existing and new hydropower plants in central and eastern Nepal, and also connect to a high-capacity line to Gorakhpur so Nepal can sell surplus monsoon electricity to India.The cost of no MCC equals a loss of Rs142 billion a year for Nepal by 2025 when generation capacity is expected to rise four-fold to 5,000MW. Much of it risks being wasted without the transmission lines to evacuate power. Read more:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/china-lobbying-against-mcc/">China lobbying against MCC</a>, Ramesh Kumar<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/missing-links-in-nepals-mcc-debate/">Missing links in Nepal's MCC debate</a>, Jeevan R Sharma and David SeddonAmerican lobbying for MCC went into high gear on thursday when US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu called Prime Minister Deuba, Dahal and Oli separately to warn that the US would recalibrate its relations with Nepal if they failed to ratify the compact.This followed a slew of visits by high-ranking MCC officials to Nepal in October-November last year to warn Nepal that the MCC contract was timebound.Lu is also reported to have a key message to all three leaders: failure to ratify the MCC would be seen in Washington as Nepal buckling under Chinese pressure. Left unsaid in that warning was that Nepal may have to face a similar predicament to Sri Lanka, which has faced ostracisation after rejecting its own MCC project that has led to the country sinking into a deep economic crisis.

Sonia Awale

The deal-breaker

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151128/636a67779c7e80680e0599dcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="1668"/><figcaption>Illustration: BHANU BHATTARAI</figcaption></figure>Legend has it that the real reason Nepal stayed an independent nation state while all around us were colonised was that our powerful neighbours took one look at the terrain and people here and concluded that the country was ungovernable.In the three decades after 1990, Nepal’s elected leaders have shown even fewer smarts than past feudal dynasties. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/another-decade-to-get-it-right/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biggest let-down has been in the last two years</a>, after the unified Nepal Communist Party swept the country’s first three-tier federal elections. The strongest government in Nepal’s democratic history is showing itself to be more feckless than those fragile do-nothing coalitions.Perhaps the latest example of shooting ourselves in the feet has been the wrangling within the NCP over the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). If there was one vivid example of how not to look a gift horse in the mouth, this is it.The awkwardly-named MCC was launched by President George W Bush in 2004 after the 9/11 attacks to reorient American aid towards the kind of infrastructure projects that USAID or the World Bank would not touch. At first, with an ongoing war Nepal was deemed ineligible for the MCC.But by 2012, with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-will-nepal-develop-in-the-next-decade/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">progress in health and education and economic</a>, political and press freedom, as well as prospects for the rule of law, Nepal qualified for membership. A threshold program in Kathmandu went about shortlisting investments in infrastructure that could jumpstart development.Nepali planners, working with their American counterparts, singled out transmission lines and highways as main economic bottlenecks. But they worried that Nepal did not have a governance track record, transparency or policy continuity to guarantee that the MCC’s $500 million could be effectively spent in five years.Finally in 2017, the Nepal government committed $130 million as counterpart funds, and the Hetauda-Damauli-Butwal 400kVA transmission line, as well as rehabilitation of 305km of highways from Itahari-Kakarvitta and Pokhara-Butwal, were selected for the MCC.These were not chosen arbitrarily — serious homework was done to find catalytic projects that could transform economic growth through quick returns on investment. This was a departure from the way planning is normally done in Nepal: ad hoc, whimsical, wasteful. The MCC also made provisions to ensure transparency and minimise the kind of delays in large infrastructure projects that Nepal has become notorious for.Any other government worth its salt, and one that knows what is good for its people, would have jumped at a deal like this. But not Nepal under the NCP. Members of the party’s central committee have objected that the MCC is part of the US <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/between-two-oceans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indo-Pacific Strategy</a>, objecting to a clause that would require Indian go-ahead on the transmission line, and at provisions for independent outside auditing.It is true that there is rarely a free lunch in official development assistance — even a grant is somehow tied to the strategic interest of the donor. But the MCC predates both China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Indo-Pacific Strategy. Yes, there is a new cold war between Beijing and Washington, the two compete globally for political, economic and military domination, and both superpowers have <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-now-has-to-balance-not-just-india-and-china-but-also-the-west/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strategic concerns in Nepal</a>.But it would be in Nepal’s own strategic interest to take maximum advantage and get both the BRI and the MCC to contribute to Nepal’s infrastructure development. Instead, some sections of the NCP are doing their best to wreck both initiatives so Nepal is left with neither.The reason the MCC needs to be cleared with Delhi is because Nepal’s planners decided to upgrade the transmission line to 400kVA so it can also export electricity to India through Gorakhpur. And having Parliament ratify the compact would ensure political continuity and commitment.Last week in this newspaper we projected an optimistic scenario of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-in-2030/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">what Nepal may look like by 2030</a>. Infrastructure-led development is necessary because jobs will be created during construction, and improved connectivity will have downstream benefits into the future.However, there are good, bad and ugly infrastructure projects. The ‘excavator roads’ that maul our mountains are not just ugly, they are an environmental disaster.  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pokhara-nepals-new-aviation-gateway/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pokhara’s new international airport</a> is too costly for its capacity, but at least it is being built and may help diversify tourism while decongesting Kathmandu.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed airport in Nijgad</a> is an example of ill-advised megalomania. In fact, it is not an airport project but a timber concession. Yes, it is a game changer but only in the sense that it will <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/economy-ecology-of-nijgad-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wreck both our economy and environment</a>.Decisions on large, expensive projects must be taken by technocrats and planners who know what they are doing, not by ignorant, populist politicians with edifice complexes who want to commit <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/megalomania-kleptomania/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">colossal blunders like Nijgad</a> and sabotage a worthy initiative like the MCC.<h2>10 years ago this week</h2>Go back 10 years to read <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/482" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepali Times #482</a>, 25-31 December 2009, and its front page news roundup titled ‘<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16624#.XgRialUzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End on a high</a>’. It shows us that the more things change in Nepal, the more they remain the same. An excerpt:‘A rollercoaster week of recriminations and reconciliations began with a three-day Maoist bandh marked by violence and intimidation across the country. It peaked with a massive Maoist assembly in New Baneswor. Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal then delivered a fiery anti-Indian tirade during which he labelled the rest of the political leadership ‘remote-controlled robots,’ who he would bypass to hold direct talks with Delhi.Amidst widespread condemnation, the Maoist supremo weakly argued the following day that his comments were meant to be a ‘satire’ on the shape of things in Nepali politics.’<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/482"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151128/636a677a9c7e80680e0599ddjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="506" height="807"></a>

A millennium challenge

Nepal has notched notable successes in conserving nature: five years of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2017/01/29/1000-days-of-the-rhino/" target="_blank">zero poaching of rhinos</a> and tigers in national parks, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-many-tigers-in-nepal/" target="_blank">doubling of the wild tiger population</a> in 10 years and protection of plant species. However, roads, irrigation canals, transmission lines and even railways are now threatening to undermine these achievements. Conservationists say that balancing the need for economic growth with ecological protection will be even more challenging than combating poaching. As the country marks National Wildlife Week from 14-20 April, Nepal’s planners need to find ways to build new infrastructure without irreversibly harming the country's biodiversity. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=24334&amp;preview=true" target="_blank">Protecting the last home of the Spiny Babbler</a>, Carol Inskipp and Rupendra Karmacharya <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a35359c7e80680e048299jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"></div> Now that Nepal has domestic poaching under control, it needs to focus on controlling the transit of wildlife smuggling. Nepal is a hub for trafficking of tiger, rhino and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/protecting-pangolins-from-being-eaten-to-extinction/" target="_blank">pangolin parts</a> from India and Africa. Even live chimpanzees and birds have been found at Kathmandu airport. Nepal is now a victim of its own success in conservation. With poaching controlled, protected areas are now getting overcrowded with wildlife, leading to the threat of disease and an increase in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/more-rhinos-means-more-encounter,4045" target="_blank">human-animal conflict</a>. Read also:&nbsp; <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/habitat-destrcution-of-tiger-in-Tarai,3423" target="_blank">Allow tigers to roam more freely</a>, Om Astha Rai <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/its-a-jungle-out-there/" target="_blank">It's a jungle out there</a>, Kunda Dixit <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/more-rhinos-means-more-encounter,4045" target="_blank">More rhinos means more encounters</a>, Alex Dudley <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a35389c7e80680e04829ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1083"></div> <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a35359c7e80680e048299jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"></div> In addition, climate change is leading to weather extremes that have aggravated the problems of water scarcity, flash floods and prey decline. Even though rhinos are no longer poached, for example, there has been a sharp increase in fatalities, with 41 dead in the last 9 months alone in Chitwan. Besides old age, most have died of disease, fights with other rhinos, or poisoning. Last month, a rhino died in Sauraha after falling into the septic tank of a hotel. There has also been an increase in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-humans-can-live-with-wild-elephants/" target="_blank">wild elephants</a> and tigers entering human settlements in search of food due to habitat encroachment in their migration corridors. Last year, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/deep-water,3883" target="_blank">flash floods in Chitwan</a> washed away rhinos: 12 of them had to be rescued and brought back from India. However, the biggest threat to Nepal’s wildlife in the post-poaching era is new infrastructure crisscrossing nature reserves. Major transmission lines have been built or are planned through national parks, the new postal highway slices through nature reserves, new irrigation canals such as Babai, Sikta and Ranijamara have bifurcated areas frequented by wildlife, and the new East-West railroad running parallel to the E-W Highway will fragment many national parks. <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a35389c7e80680e04829ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1083"></div> Nature reserves and national parks make up one-fourth of Nepal’s area. With infrastructure building spree currently underway, experts say the country will soon lose 200,000 hectares of forests. This will result in rampant habitat destruction, and increase in road kills and deaths of animal that fall into irrigation canals, which account for the highest number of wildlife fatalities. New roads have also brought haphazard urbanisation and pollution: a growing number of ungulates and carnivores have been found to have died after ingesting plastic or chemicals. One of the biggest sources of habitat destruction will be the much talked about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/" target="_blank">Nijgad airport near Parsa National Park</a>, which will decimate one of the last remaining hardwood forests in the eastern Tarai, removing a major migratory corridor for wild elephants. “The government has always prioritised infrastructure, which while essential for development, is a major threat to conservation,” says Bishnu Prasad Shrestha of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC). “Our preoccupation therefore is with mitigation measures on the existing roads and finding out ways to make new infrastructure safer for wildlife. If we do not act now, it will be too late. Our tourism industry and economy depend on our conservation efforts.” <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a353b9c7e80680e04829bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="1200">The Sikta Irrigation Canal has several overpasses for wild animals</div> DNPWC and WWF Nepal organised a regional workshop this month in Kathmandu to find ways to promote sustainable green infrastructure. Some of the key recommendations include the study of wildlife movement before mapping the alignment of linear infrastructure, like roads, railways, canals and transmission lines. The good news is that planners at the Department of Roads think the country does not need too many more roads, the existing strategic highways and feeder roads need to be upgraded. There have been initiatives like installing CCTV cameras to monitor vehicles, enforcing time cards on highways that traverse national parks, as well as building over and under-passes so wildlife can cross highways, irrigation canals or train tracks. DNPWC is now planning five canopy bridges for arboreal species in Banke, and contractors have agreed to build new underpasses while widening the Daune-Narayangad section of the East-West Highway. The route for the proposed <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/planned-new-east-west-railroad-and-expressway-threaten-the-Chitwan-National-Park,1079" target="_blank">E-W Electric Railway</a> that would have cut through Chitwan National Park has been changed after protests from activists. But these isolated cases will not be sufficient to minimise the nationwide threat to nature reserves from infrastructure in the long run. Experts say wildlife friendly infrastructure based on biodiversity assessment and species movement is a must. Nabin Gopal Baidhya of the non-government Wildlife Conservation Nepal thinks there may be too much emphasis on the impact of roads on national parks. He says: “We have to go beyond the protected areas and study the condition of forests outside parks. How can villages and community forests work with road contractors to protect trees? Ultimately we have to find a way for humans and nature to safely co-exist.”

In conservation, Nepal is not out of the woods yet

Recent outrage in Sikkim over an Indian Army expedition climbing <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kangchenjunga">Kangchenjunga</a>, the world’s third-highest peak, has spiked attention to the need to balance mountaineering jobs with indigenous reverence for sacred landmarks. Kangchenjunga (8,586m) is not a peak as much as it is a mountain range with 16 peaks above 7,000m on the border between India and Nepal -- the word itself means ‘five treasures of the snows’ in Tibetan. Some of the highest prominences like Kangchenjunga West and Kangbachen are in Nepal, while the Main, Central and South Peaks are on the border. Climbing the peak from the Indian side has been banned since 2001 because the indigenous Lepcha community there regard the mountain as the abode of Dzoe-nga, the patron deity of Sikkim, which was an independent Himalayan Kingdom until it was annexed by India in 1975.&nbsp; Buddhists in Sikkim say their saint, Padmasambhava, recognised the mountain as a protective spirit. The state has declared the base of the mountain Kangchenjunga National Park, which covers an area one-third of Sikkim. ‘The act of scaling this sacred peak is not only a matter of serious concern but also a violation of both the prevailing legal provisions and the deeply held religious beliefs of the people of Sikkim,’ read a letter from Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay) to Amit Shah, India’s Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation.&nbsp; Tamang continued: ‘We further request Your Honour to take up the issue with the Government of Nepal to ensure that no future expeditions are permitted on the sacred mountain, in deference to the deeply held beliefs and cultural values of the people of Sikkim.’ Kangchenjunga was climbed for the first time exactly 70 years ago by a British team who told King Tashi Namgyal, the Choegyal of Sikkim, that they would not set foot on the summit. Since then, there have been about 532 successful climbs of the peaks and 52 have died while trying.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628060616_5c268e08cf49f36b79ef9b31933fc2d9bf9a6f65414e7ca06dd028bf04e7ccc1.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250628060616_5c268e08cf49f36b79ef9b31933fc2d9bf9a6f65414e7ca06dd028bf04e7ccc1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1782" height="1178" loading="lazy" alt="Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb NT"> <figcaption>Indigenous communities in Sikkim held purification ceremonies following the Indian expedition to Kangchenjunga. Photo: THE VOICE OF SIKKIM / FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/peak-climbing-season-2025-s4abrxny">This spring climbing season</a> alone, there were 70 climbing permits for foreigners issued for Kangchenjunga by the Nepal government, and made it to the top while one French climber died.&nbsp; One of the expeditions this year was an Indian Army team led by Col Ranveer Jamwal, who has summited the highest peaks on all seven continents, and Mt Everest thrice. Jamwal’s team was on the final leg of a ‘<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/nimas-summits-mt-kangchenjunga-concludes-historic-har-shikhar-tiranga-mission-successfully/articleshow/121341315.cms?from=mdr">Har Shikhar Tiranga</a>’ (The Tricolour on Every Peak) mission to plant the Indian flag at the highest points of each of India’s 28 states. Kanchenjunga was the last peak they had left, and the hardest, but the expedition put five climbers on the summit. What seems to have incensed the Sikkimese is that while it has banned climbing the mountain from its side, it was an Indian military expedition that went to Nepal to climb the mountain. After news broke of the climb in May, the Sikkim Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association asked people to observe purification ceremonies in temples across the state. Mayalmit Lepcha of the association acknowledged that the Sikkim government was also partly at fault: “I don’t think such an expedition could have gone forward without the state government being informed, so it could have done something to intervene. It shows weakness. What’s done is done, all we can do is carry out these sanctification ceremonies.”&nbsp; In 2000, one year before Sikkim’s ban, the state allowed an Austrian team to attempt Kanchenjunga’s northeast face for a fee of $20,000, on agreement that they would stop 10m before the summit. Despite this, there was outrage over the expedition on the grounds that it violated Indian laws regarding the defiling of religious sites and Sikkim’s rights to maintain its culture after merging with India. The Indian Army expedition was also seen to have circumvented Sikkim’s law and violated religious sensibilities by going through Nepal. While the team may have thought they were respecting Sikkim’s beliefs by finding a way to complete the mission, the people of Sikkim saw it as defilement.&nbsp; The somber mood of the Sikkim people at the ritual contrasts sharply with Jamwal’s sense of accomplishment. “Without a doubt, the most difficult summit of my life,” he told reporters after the climb. “It tested every ounce of our will.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250628060616_ccfe079c78dab788d19fe2080ee8a5d5dcb11de4157316f6d94e5964da097157.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250628060616_ccfe079c78dab788d19fe2080ee8a5d5dcb11de4157316f6d94e5964da097157" data-rendition-name="original" width="787" height="377" loading="lazy" alt="Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb NT"> <figcaption>Prayer flags along the Sikkim-Kangchenjunga trekking route. Photo: TREKKINGININDIA.COM</figcaption> </figure>  The <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-rise-and-fall-of-nims-purja">controversial Nepali-British mountaineer Nirmal Purja</a> was also on Kangchenjunga this spring the mountain, on a mission to summit all 14 8,000m peaks for a third time. He echoed Jamwal about the tough conditions: “The conditions above camp were extremely tough, with deep snow and challenging terrain—more crevasses than usual.” Nepal’s government has not said anything publicly, but it is unlikely that it will ban climbing on Kangchenjunga, since it is becoming popular with expeditions because of its technical challenges, and overcrowding on Mt Everest. Nepal does have bans in place for some of its mountains out of respect for local beliefs. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/to-open-machapuchre-for-mountaineering-or-not">Mt Machapuchre</a> (6,990m) the imposing pyramid that looms over Pokhara, for example, is seen as an icon of purity by the Gurung people and a symbol of Vishnu by the Hindu communities who live at its base. A strict climbing ban has been in place since 1957, when a British expedition led by Col Jimmy Roberts stopped 45m short of the summit – either because the last bit was too difficult or out of deference to local sentiments.&nbsp; Khumbila that stands above Namche Bazar is only 5,761m high, but like Kanchenjunga is considered the protector deity of the Sherpa people. Gauri Shankar on the Nepal-China border, called Chomo Tseringma by the local community, was off-limits between 1965 and 1979 due to its association with Lord Shiva and Gauri, his consort. Although expeditions are now allowed, there are not too many takers. In Tibet, climbing Mount Kailash is prohibited by the Chinese government because it revered by the Hindus, Buddhists and followers of the Bon faith. Even Mt Everest is regarded as sacred, and its Sherpa name is Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the Earth.&nbsp; Economically, climbs on Kanchenjunga bring in decent revenue. This climbing season, the 41 permits, at $1,800 each, brought in $73,800. This is somewhat comparable to Makalu, Lhotse, and Annapurna I, but these numbers are dwarfed by the $4 million in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-everest-industry">Everest permits</a>. Revenue from Kanchenjunga climbing permits is something Nepal could potentially forgo if necessary, but the expeditions also provide jobs to hundreds of high altitude guides, porters, base camp support staff and other logistical costs.&nbsp; As the third highest mountain in the world and the tallest in India, there will always be significant motivation to climb it from the Nepal side, especially as climbers are drawn by the technical climbing at high altitude.

Kangchenjunga: too sacred to climb?

The debate about who is less accountable to the public: politicians or bureaucrats is as old as Nepal’s democracy itself.
Some blame politicians for being beholden to the businessmen who finance their electoral campaigns, and are forced to return the favour with contracts and kickbacks when in power.&nbsp;
Others say it is civil servants who are neither civil nor servants, and know the inner workings of the system to exploit loopholes – they then teach ministers, MPs, mayors, or ward chairs which juicy projects can be squeezed. And everyone gets their share.
In reality, it is probably not a case of either, or. Both have their hands deep in the honey pot. Corruption is now such a given that yet another exposé in the mainstream press, like the latest visit-visa scam, does not raise eyebrows anymore.
We may have to edit Lord Acton’s famous quote to say that in Nepal we do not even need absolute power to corrupt absolutely. The ruling cartel has divvied up the spoils, so that no one ever faces charges. The three parties all know about the skeletons rattling in each other’s closets, and they cancel each other out.
Politicians and bureaucrats get all the blame for taking bribes, but what of the givers of bribes? In this crony capitalism, businesses invariably need political patrons in an elaborate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-only-growth-industry-private-sector-corruption" target="_blank">national network of give-and-take</a>.
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-only-growth-industry-private-sector-corruption" target="_blank">Politicians and businesses work hand-in-glove</a> so that conflict of interest in contracts, insider trading, cartelling, and non-performing assets of banks become the norm. Our survey after the 2017 local election showed that out of the 753 newly-elected local government chairs, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/elected-contractors" target="_blank">nearly 300 were contractors</a> involved in sand-mining, quarrying, or transportation syndicates.
Nepal’s tycoons have discovered that instead of donating to election war chests of politicians, it is a much surer return on investment to spend the money to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-business-of-politics-in-nepal" target="_blank">become legislators and politicians themselves</a>.
In democracies, there are checks and balances to control corruption when it becomes endemic. The Nepal Police and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are supposed to do the detective work without political interference. The courts are required to be independent in dispensing justice and punishing crooks.
But the less said about the judiciary the better. A writ petition in the Supreme Court last week accused our sister magazine <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/" target="_blank">HimalKhabar</a> of contempt of court for two stories: one about how high courts have been overturning a majority of verdicts of district courts in cases of rape, and another about the Biratnagar High Court clearing a self-proclaimed holy man, Krishna Bahadur Giri, of rape despite police presenting physical evidence.
The doctrine of the separation of powers stipulates that it is when the other three pillars in a democracy are compromised that the role of the free press becomes even more vital. The world over, as soon as populist autocrats are elected to the executive, their first order of business is to co-opt the legislature and the judiciary. Then they buy off, intimidate, or neutralise the media with Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP).
Nepal’s officialdom seems to be taking midnight Zoom lessons from other despots on how to gag the media. Last month, popular talk show host Dil Bhushan Pathak was served an arrest warrant by the Kathmandu District Court for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CntsnTrtG8" target="_blank">a YouTube explainer</a> about the alleged involvement of the son of Foreign Minister Arzu Deuba Rana in a reported purchase of Kathmandu’s Hilton Hotel.
The Lalitpur District Court ruled that Pathak could not be arrested without fair trial, but this week the Kathmandu District Court filed another case against the journalist based on a complaint by the Cyber Bureau, and put him on a fugitive list.&nbsp;
Without going into the veracity of Pathak’s explainer, it is deeply problematic that the Electronic Transaction Act has been invoked – proof that politicians are getting the courts and investigating agencies to make an example of a high profile journalist.&nbsp;
The intention is to silence media investigations into the fake refugee scandal in which the main partner in the ruling coalition is implicated, and in which one of its former home ministers was jailed last year.
The Kathmandu High Court has been mysteriously active in targeting journalists these days. <a href="https://bizmandu.com/" target="_blank">Bizmandu</a> and <a href="https://nepalkhabar.com/" target="_blank">Nepalkhabar</a> were served a notice last month <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/no-freedom-after-expression-y4inku06" target="_blank">to withdraw a story they did</a> on the Chair of the <a href="https://www.sebon.gov.np/" target="_blank">Security and Exchange Board of Nepal (SEBON</a>) Santosh Narayan Shrestha allegedly demanding kickbacks from hydropower investors.&nbsp;
Incredibly, the court even asked the two portals not to report on the subject anymore – a ruling so absurd that the Patan High Court overturned it a week later.&nbsp;
The allegations against Shrestha were made in a public meeting of the <a href="https://www.ippan.org.np/members/3060/bungal-hydro-ltd" target="_blank">Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN)</a>, and MPs demanded a <a href="https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/parliament-demands-probe-into-sebon-chairman-over-alleged-commission-demand-40-32.html" target="_blank">Parliament inquiry</a> into the regulator. <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/144523/santosh-narayan-shrestha" target="_blank">HimalKhabar</a> reported this week that while Shrestha was reportedly demanding commissions from private investors for IPOs, he cleared primary share sales in Bajhang’s 10.75MW <a href="https://www.ippan.org.np/members/3060/bungal-hydro-ltd" target="_blank">Bungal Hydro</a> in which his family members have investments, company records show.
And then just on Monday, bureaucrats hoodwinked MPs by deleting references in a bill requiring a two-year ‘cooling off’ period under which retiring civil servants could be barred from holding constitutional positions for two years.
The contest for who is more corrupt: bureauacrats, politicians, or the private sector is on.
Kunda Dixit

SLAPPing Democracy

In 2023, northern India suffered record-breaking heat. In 2024, it broke its own record. In 2025, the Indo-Gangetic plains and the Nepal Tarai suffered a prolonged pre-monsoon heat wave and humidity, forcing closure of schools and workplaces. This week, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/europe-heat-wave-intensifies-as-fresh-warnings-issued/live-73108302">southern Europe is suffering the worst heat wave</a> since temperature records began. Football matches, tennis tournaments have been affected, and tourist sites have been closed off. Qatar has ordered a midday work curfew for Nepali and other migrant workers are the maximum temperature this week touched 45°C.&nbsp; Kathmandu Valley experienced its highest temperature in 25 years in May 2024 at 35.3°C. This year, the maximum temperature exceeded 30°C on many days — heat that till a decade ago would be considered unusual. Rains in early June also meant that towns in the mountains sweltered under high heat plus humidity.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250703090748_6975cfc2ad573f3a09ca301a299a9e92a420da7f1c5c90b8e4d061a2053dcd3e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250703090748_6975cfc2ad573f3a09ca301a299a9e92a420da7f1c5c90b8e4d061a2053dcd3e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1935" height="801" loading="lazy" alt="maximum average temperature in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Source: DHM</figcaption> </figure>  Measuring just temperature does not give a true picture of how hot it is. When humidity is factored in, the heat index this summer has been much higher in northern India and Nepal. Also, the hotter the air temperature the higher the concentration of water vapour in it. “We feel it is getting hotter, and our statistics back that up,” says Shanti Kandel at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, which issued two heat wave warnings this year, compared to 11 last year. “We need more research to analyse how humidity is make this situation worse.” <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/india-faces-alarming-30-rise-in-moist-heat-stress-over-40-years-affecting-wide-swath-of-country-imd-study/articleshow/109376863.cms?from=mdr">A recent analysis</a> by the Indian Meteorological Department has found that heat stress in that country has increased by nearly 30% over the past 40 years. Similarly, India’s Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) noted that cities like Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Lucknow have experienced a 6-9% rise in relative humidity in the last decade.&nbsp; It also states that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/majority-indian-districts-face-high-heatwave-risk-study-shows-2025-05-20/#:~:text=%22About%2057%20per%20cent%20of,usual%20number%20of%20heatwave%20days.">60% of Indian districts</a>, home to three-quarters of the country’s 1.3 billion people face a high to very high risk from extreme heat, with rising night-time temperatures and humidity. The heat index is also called ‘<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/north-indian-heat-wave-hits-nepal">wet-bulb temperature</a>’ and is a measure of how hot the human body feels when humidity levels are also high — usually much hotter than the recorded temperature. For example, a wet-bulb temperature of 35°C is considered the maximum limit of heat and humidity that humans can handle, beyond which the body cannot cool by perspiration, leading to death. One indicator of increasing humidity is a rise in average minimum temperature, and Nepal recorded the highest figure since 1981 last year, with a peak of 15.8°C. Higher minimum temperature denotes warmer nights, which in turn is an indication of heat stress caused by increasing humidity, which in turn is a result of global warming. Aside from higher average temperatures worldwide this year, what makes heat and humidity more unbearable is that cities are always hotter than their surroundings. This is due to the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/preparing-for-kathmandu-s-heat-waves">urban heat island (UHI) effect</a> – for example the temperature inside Kathmandu’s Ring Road can be hotter by <a href="https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/what-are-heat-islands">up to 4°C during the daytime and by 1 to 3°C in the evening</a> compared to the outskirts. “Climate change is one reason for rising temperature, but there are other factors like increased heat in urban spaces due to concrete buildings and infrastructure, emissions from vehicles, industries, and home appliances,” explains urban planner Bhushan Tuladhar. He adds: “Much of this comes down to how we have developed our cities, not just our roads and buildings but also our water system, waste management, culture and customs as well as economy.” There is a feedback loop at work: as it gets hotter, more energy is used for fans, coolers, and air-conditioners which in turn add to the urban heat bubble. The way to reduce the UHI effect is to have more parks, tree-lined streets and water bodies to cool cities down.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212095525002093">A recent study published in the journal Urban Climate</a> by Nepali researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Tribhuvan University, University of Groningen, etc showed that even within Kathmandu, urban forests cooled neighbourhoods by as much as 1.2°C while ponds reduced the temperature by up to 0.85°C compared to nearby houses.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250703090748_e4de75dbdfb5fcfdeb0935eda364dc16b5dca8857ba335ab0f4586ebdc5093a9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250703090748_e4de75dbdfb5fcfdeb0935eda364dc16b5dca8857ba335ab0f4586ebdc5093a9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2580" height="1038" loading="lazy" alt="urban heat island in Kathmandu"> <figcaption>Source: URBAN CLIMATE et al.</figcaption> </figure>  ‘Our results demonstrate that blue-green spaces provide significant cooling benefits across the Kathmandu Valley, with distinct patterns by type, size, design, and urban context,’ concluded the paper, whose lead author is Saurav Bhattarai at Jackson State University in the United States. The old towns in Kathmandu Valley with traditional brick and tile architecture, ponds and trees managed hot summers better. Compact houses around a courtyard gave people just the right amount of sunlight, and use of clay mortar and bricks insulated houses in winter while cooling them in summer. There were open spaces, fertile land along the floodplains for farming, and brick pavements that allowed for seepage. “Our cities were planned taking nature into account,” says Sangeeta Singh, a professor of urban planning at the Institute of Engineering. “Kathmandu Valley is now built up, but we can still reintegrate blue-blue spaces into town planning with vertical gardening, urban forestry, using local material and harvesting rainwater.”&nbsp; Kathmandu’s municipalities have by-laws controlling building design and structure, but strict enforcement of land use and zoning are missing. Extreme heat disproportionately affects the urban poor who may not have access to fans or air-conditioners, exacerbating poverty.&nbsp; Cities in the plains have it even worse. As heat and humidity rise simultaneously, it could <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/garmi-se-behal-chalo-nepal">reverse the current mass migration</a> of people from the mountains to the Tarai, where 53% of Nepal’s population lives. <a href="https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/92fbbbc6180238e18e7b239fad83e38a-0280032024/original/12-DHNT-Temperature-poverty-inequality-September-2024.pdf">A World Bank study</a> put the cost of a 1°C rise in temperature at 17.1% increase in poverty globally. Estimates put the total number of urban poor in developing countries exposed to the worst heat extremes at 26 million presently, this number is bound to grow to 215 million by mid-century, an over eight-fold increase. Meanwhile, 489,000 health-related deaths occur each year, 45% of them in Asia alone. “Heat has to be seen from a class perspective,” says Singh. “Those with money can afford gadgets and appliances to keep their homes and offices cool, but not day labourers or poor families living in cramped housing with poor ventilation.” Climate breakdown is going to widen the class divide in cities, as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/unthinkable-in-the-current-climate">summers become unliveable</a>. Says Singh: “We need policy intervention to address this class injustice. Our building by-laws and new town development must urgently integrate climate and energy efficiency elements.”

In the heat of the moment

She made <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/mira-rai-trail-running,1776" target="_blank">headlines in 2014</a>: a young woman from the mountains of eastern Nepal had just won the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/mira-rai-trail-running,1776" target="_blank">50km Himalayan Outdoor</a> trail race. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/mira-rai-trail-running-nepa,2014" target="_blank">Mira Rai </a>was 23 then, the only Nepali female in the race. She had no training, no proper shoes, just a cotton t-shirt and shorts, and did not even know what trail running was. Two months later, helped by organisers who saw her talent, she won three more international trail races. Mira Rai has been running all her life. She grew up running up and down from her village to the market town in Hile across the Arun River, carrying sacks of salt or rice with her mother. The farm did not grow enough food to feed her five siblings.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250704130720_e5da28789a551276269846e379c971d7dfd185a08dd05b271281f1bfc3d45fe8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250704130720_e5da28789a551276269846e379c971d7dfd185a08dd05b271281f1bfc3d45fe8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1192" height="1386" loading="lazy" alt="Mira Rai"> </figure>  At age 12, Mira was already carrying 12kg on her back, while her mother carried 60kg on the two-day roundtrip from Bhojpur to Dhankuta. One day in 2004, while carrying rice on the trail she was caught up in a Maoist ambush of a Royal Nepal Army patrol. She escaped as bullets whizzed by.&nbsp; At 14, she became a child soldier for the Maoist militia. Although she did not see action, after the ceasefire in 2006 she was sent with other guerrillas to the demobilisation camp in Sindhuli. There was not much to do at camp, and she excelled in running, taking part in the 5 and 10km marathons in the National Sports Championship. But because she was still 17, and a minor she was ‘disqualified’ by UNMIN peacekeepers, and went on to finish high school.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250704130716_ea2110a27490f529bb6081da1f6cf5922caa6280d36770bfa534f1b657f3638d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250704130716_ea2110a27490f529bb6081da1f6cf5922caa6280d36770bfa534f1b657f3638d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1605" height="1050" loading="lazy" alt="Mira Rai"> </figure>  Today, ten years after winning her first race and being catapulted to fame, Nepal’s most famous runner is here in Colorado raising funds from sponsors all over the world for her <a href="https://miraraiinitiative.org/" target="_blank">Mira Rai Initiative</a>, earning money on the side, and running every weekend on trails in the Rockies.&nbsp; In 2020, grounded by the lockdowns and while recovering from a knee injury, she led anti-pollution drives in Kathmandu and launched the Mira Rai Initiative <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mira-rai-racing-to-help-other-runners/" target="_blank">helping other youngsters in athletics</a>. The program trains up to six Nepali trail runners a year, which from November will be conducted from her new Training Centre on the outskirts of Kathmandu. Among runners she has trained in the past are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/sunmaya-budha-stays-in-the-running" target="_blank">Sunmaya Budha</a> and Humi Budha Magar, who have gone on to win in international trail running championships. “First I ran with my mother to support the family, then I ran for my country, now I run for myself and others like me,” Rai told us from across the table at a Nepali restaurant in Denver. &nbsp; Trophies have followed <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-run-maya-run,522" target="_blank">Mira Rai wherever she runs</a>. She won gold medals in the 180km Mustang Trail Race, the 56km <a href="https://www.visittrentino.info/en/guide/what-to-do/events/dolomyths-run-sellaronda-ultra-trail_e_49388311" target="_blank">Selloronda Ultra Trail</a> in Italy in 6 hours 36 minutes and 30 seconds, and came second in the 83km <a href="https://www.vivereilgrappa.it/en/events-schedule/trail-of-the-heroes-2018-edition.htm" target="_blank">Trail of Heroes</a> also in Italy in 9 hours and 16 minutes.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250704130720_4327e578886d24115461e3c9bfd01804349e657faabd62fd5c34baf9bbbccb9a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250704130720_4327e578886d24115461e3c9bfd01804349e657faabd62fd5c34baf9bbbccb9a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1118" height="1672" loading="lazy" alt="Mira rai"> </figure>  She came first in the Hong Kong 50km <a href="https://hkaaa.com/en/comp_details.php?id=258" target="_blank">MSJK HK </a>ultra race and won a silver in the Kings of the Hills. In 2015, just after the earthquake back home, she won the <a href="https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/theredbulletin/mira-rai-interview" target="_blank">Mont Blanc Sky Race</a>, and held up the Nepal flag as she broke the record.&nbsp; In 2017 she won gold again in the 120km <a href="http://www.bennevisrace.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ben Nevis Race</a> on Britain’s highest hill in 14 hours 24 minutes, a new record. That same year, she was also selected to be the National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. A documentary about her, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23k0IjToo0A" target="_blank">Mira</a>, was shown to much acclaim at the Banff and Vancouver film festivals, and she is featured in the Lily Dyu book Fantastic Female Adventurers.

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