At 7,300m on the perpendicular south face of Lhotse Shar, considered among the most dangerous climbs with the highest fatality rate among all eight-thousander peaks, Um Hong-gil suddenly saw his Nepali climbing companion slip and fall down the mountain.A fall at that altitude and on that face would have been impossible to survive, but miraculously his Sherpa partner only sustained a leg injury and was helicoptered to Kathmandu.It was at that moment that the famous Korean mountaineer remembered his previous failed attempts to ascend the 8,383m peak during which two of his team mates had been killed. He also recalled all the other 15 peaks that he had taken over two decades to climb.On his first attempt of Lhotse Shar in 2001, Um Hong-gil was forced to turn back at 7,600m due to bad weather. In 2003, just 150m below the summit at 8,250m, the team lost two members in an avalanche and the expedition was abandoned. At 8,200m in 2006, the team retreated once again due to avalanche risk.As he clung to the rocky Lhotse Shar recalling his <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-on-k2-make-the-impossible-possible/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mountaineering feats in Nepal and Pakistan</a>,  and a lifetime of narrow escapes with death, Um Hong-gil made a solemn promise to the mountain gods: “If I survive this climb, I will use rest of my time for the service of less privileged people of Nepal.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/6372093d9c7e80680e0b552djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1030" height="670"/><figcaption>Korean climber Um Hong-gil after reaching the top of Lhotse in 2001.</figcaption></figure>On 31 May 2007, Um Hong-gil set a new world record. He became the first mountaineer to climb all the world’s 16 highest peaks. Unlike Nirmal (Nims) Purja and 44 other climbers who have summited 14 eight-thousanders, Um Hong-gil regards Yalung Kang at 8,505m and Lhotse Shar at 8,383m also deserve the status of independent peaks even though they are part of Kangchenjunga and Lhotse-Everest massifs in Nepal.No one else has climbed all 16 peaks since, but this feat came at enormous cost to the Korean. He has lost 10 team members, six Koreans and four Nepalis, during his  mountaineering career. He himself lost the rotational movement in his right foot at the ankle during descent from Annapurna, and has had several toes amputated due to frostbite.Altogether it took 38 attempts and 22 years, 14 of which were dedicated to summiting the 14 highest peaks, unlike <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nims-purja-does-it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nirmal Purja</a> who achieved the same success in a mere six months.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/alpine-style-in-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Alpine style in the Himalaya</a>, Kunda Dixit“There is a distinction between analogue climbing of those days and digital mountaineering of today,” said the stocky white-haired climber in an interview last week in Kathmandu during one of his frequent visits to Nepal.He explains: “We couldn’t tell when it would be best to climb or if the weather would be favourable, all our decisions were based on past experience, and luck. The success rate was extremely low. There was no technology to guide us nor the helicopters there are today to speed things up.”After conquering the 16 highest peaks in 2007, to keep his promise to the mountain gods, Um Hong-gil turned his life around to dedicate it to humanitarian causes. He set up Um Hong Gil Human Foundation in Seoul in 2008.Initially, he didn’t know where to begin. Remembering a lifetime looking up at lofty peaks rising up to the sky, for the first time he turned his attention to those living at the base of the mountains. Inevitably, they were under-served and neglected by society.“I realised that the reason for their intergenerational poverty was lack of access to quality education,” says the mountaineer turned philanthropist.And thus began Hong-gil’s Human School Project in what he calls his second home, Nepal.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/6372093f9c7e80680e0b552ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Humble beginnings Besides his world record, Um Hong-gil also has the unfortunate distinction of being dubbed among the most accident-prone climbers. Yet his love for the mountains and climbing never wavered.In fact, having survived all those near-death experiences, Um Hong-gil is convinced he was saved for a reason: to give back to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/conserving-mountains-for-people-and-nature/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">people of the mountains</a>.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/of-mountains-and-of-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Of mountains and people</a>, Shristi Karki For the native of a country where the highest peak is less than 2,000m, Um Hong-gil says he never set out to climb all the world’s highest peaks. But his inspiration were Korea’s mountains.Born in South Gyeongsang in 1960, at the age of three, his parents took him to Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province where they set up a small shop at the entrance of Mangweol Temple at Mt Dobong.From an early age, he was a natural-born hiker, having to go up and down the slopes every day to get to his school which was one hour away. He resented not having electricity at home until he was in high school, but he was also constantly exposed to weekend trekkers on their way up Mt Dobong – sparking an early interest in mountaineering.The fact that there was a crag only 10 minutes away from home added to his growing fascination with rock climbing. By 14, he had started training professionally on rock, ice and mixed terrain.“I was practically raised by the mountains, maybe that is why I have always felt at ease among them wherever in the world,” says the climber, who looks much younger than his 61 years.During his mandatory military service, Um Hong-gil trained with an underwater demolition team in the Korean Navy. The physical and mental strength required to be deep underwater for long periods was useful for his future mountaineering career.By the time he was 25, Um Hong-gil turned his eyes to the Himalaya – not just the range, but Mt Everest itself in winter. Without any experience of climbing at high altitude and the terrain, he admits it was a foolhardy thing to do to aim for Everest as his very first Himalayan climb -- especially because he was attempting the difficult southwest face in winter. Predictably, his 1985 attempt to climb the difficult southwest face of Everest in winter failed.For the first time, he realised that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/1921-rendezvous-mallory-pumori-and-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">climbing in the Himalaya</a> was not like climbing in Korea. Hong-gil retreated, but returned undeterred the very next year with a better understanding (and more respect) for Nepal's formidable peaks. But once again, he had to abort the expedition when his guide Surdip Dorje fell into a crevasse and his body was never retrieved.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209429c7e80680e0b552fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="457"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The loss of this Pangboche native would play an important role decades later when Um Hong-gil started building schools in Nepal.It was only in his third attempt in 1988 that he successfully summited Mt Everest via the South Pillar. He made it to the top two more times climbing the world’s highest peak from both the north and south sides.Even then, Um Hong-gil had no inkling that he would someday be spoken about in the same breath as<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nims-purja-does-it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner</a>, the first to summit Mt Everest without oxygen in 1978, and to climb all the 14 eight-thousanders in the world.But there would be many failed expeditions and tragedies on mountains before Um Hong-gil could achieve his own record in 2007.Read also: <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-next-for-reinhold-messner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">What next for Reinhold Messner</a>, Kunda DixitClose encountersMountaineering makes for some of the most thrilling works of literature and cinema. That may or may not always be true for real-life summiteers but Um Hong-Gil with 38 attempts, more than half of which were unsuccessful, has had more than a fair share of close encounters with death.The Korean alpinist attempted Annapurna I five times before he finally reached the summit in 1999. It goes to show the tenacity of the man that he kept his focus on the summit despite so many failures.During his third expedition in the spring of 1997, a Nepali team member fell into a crevasse and died right before his eyes. The team eventually recovered his body and he was buried.Exactly a year later in 1998 on his fourth attempt on Annapurna, at an elevation of 7,600m, he saw his Nepali climbing companion slip on ice. Um Hong-gil quickly belayed him with his rope, only for it to wrap around his right ankle and twist it. He fainted, and on regaining consciousness found out that his toes was pointing backward.Another Nepali guide helped him realign his foot, but he had no control over it. He cut his shoe, and bandaged his leg with fabric from his backpack. It took the injured climber three days to descend to Base Camp at 4,500m from where he was helicoptered to a hospital in Kathmandu. He got metal implants for his right foot, and the surgeon told him his mountaineering career was as good as over.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209459c7e80680e0b5530jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="610" height="454"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>But within 10 months, he was back on the Annapurna to finish the job. In March 1999, he finally got to the top from the north face, even as he could still feel the metal implants in his right foot move every time he sat down.From there, there was nothing that could shake his determination which had by then extended to climbing all the highest 14 eight-thousanders as well as Yalung Kang and Lhotse Shar. But before that could come into fruition, Um Hong-gil would have to undertake one extremely painful yet healing expedition.It was in 2005 when the ‘Human Expedition Team’ was formed to bring back the body of a former teammate who had died near the summit a year earlier during an ascent of Mt Everest. Um Hong-gil had previously climbed with compatriot Park Moo-taek on four different occasions.The team located Park’s body at 8,750m and brought him down for a funeral. This heroic tale was later adapted into a 2015 South Korean adventure movie The Himalayas starring Hwang Jung-Min as Um Hong-gil.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/on-screen-mountains/">On screen Mountains</a>, Sahina ShresthaWhile a hit domestically, the film went relatively unnoticed elsewhere -- much like many of Um Hong-gil’s achievements. Looking into the Korean’s impressive mountaineering resume, one wonders if he would have gotten more recognition if he was a Westerner, a sentiment echoed by Nirmal Purja in his 2021 Netflix documentary 14 Peaks.“I never did what I did for fame or recognition,” says Um Hong-gil modestly during a meet-up with Nepali Times last week. “Which is why I am satisfied with what I have.”True to his passion, even after scaling the 16 highest peaks, he continued climbing. In December 2007, he reached the summit of Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica. He has also climbed Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, South America’s highest, many times over.This week he has just returned from Aconcagua (6,961m) with an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-are-sherpas-always-happy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">all-Sherpa team</a> that was climbing South America's highest peak in Argentina.“This time, I stayed at Base Camp,” he smiles.Promise to the mountainsUm Hong-gil used to go from one year to another planning expeditions and climbing the mountains, there was no time for anything else. But after surviving on Lhotse Shar in 2007 and scaling all the 16 peaks, he decided he needed another challenge. And that was to serve the people of Nepal.It was December of 2007 and he had raised $50,000 for his cause. And after setting up a foundation in Seoul in 2008, a year later he did the same in Nepal.He started building schools in remote parts of Nepal, and visited Pangboche, the home of Surdip Dorje, the first Sherpa companion who died while climbing with him. He had decided to build 16 schools for 16 mountains he had climbed, and this would be the site of his very first ‘Human School’. He also supported Dorje's mother until she passed away.“The gods kept their promise, it was time I kept mine,” says Um Hong-gil of the time.The groundwork for the first school was laid on 5 May 2009 and exactly a year later, Pangboche Human School was completed. Since then he has built 17 schools, over-fulfilling his target, with the 18th and 19th already planned in Taplejung and Rasuwa. Each school is completed in a year and in the beginning, they were concentrated in the mountains.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209479c7e80680e0b5531jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">But with the recommendation of the Nepal government, he has now spread out across the country, in areas with the highest need but the least access, from Sankhuwasabha and Taplejung, to Gorkha and Dhading to Lumbini and Banke, directly benefitting nearly 5,500 students.When asked why it was Nepal he chose to focus his humanitarian work on, given his experience travelling globally in his mountaineering quest, Um Hong-gil says: “This is where I gained the most but also where I lost a lot, and where I want to give back to the best of my ability.”He elaborates: “I came to Nepal often, I got to know the people and families of my team. They treated me like their own, so much so that I felt like it was my second home.”And it is through education he wants to make a difference in the lives of people in Nepal. Which is why he does not only construct school buildings, but also supports staff with training, science laboratories, computers and libraries.Human Schools focus particularly on developing reading culture among students and extracurriculars including art and exchange programs to provide exposure to young minds.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209499c7e80680e0b5532jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">In 2017, artwork of nine children from Human Schools in Kaski and Taplejung districts were exhibited in Korea. These students now in high school are still pursuing the craft.Lumbini Sundi Human School built in 2015 has the biggest library with 9,000 books among the 17 schools set up by the foundation, which also conducts an annual book review contest for students to promote reading from an early age.The Human School project is also committed to sharing the learning experiences between Korea and Nepal with retired teachers coming here for an exchange program.Um Hong-Gil Human Foundation’s works also extend beyond education. After the 2015 earthquake, the Korean alpinist led a Red Cross Korea team to Nepal for rescue and relief. And a year later, the foundation set up a fully equipped hospital in Khumbu.It is also taking care of four Sherpa families who lost their sole breadwinners in an accident on Gurja Himal in 2019 that also killed 5 Korean climbers including team leader Kim Chang-ho. He is also taking care of 30 other children of Nepali porters and guides who have died on mountains.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/what-is-it-about-ama-dablam/">What is it about Ama Dablam?</a>, Nepali TimesPost Script In his most recent Nepal visit, Um Hong-gil spent most of his time in Rupandehi district to meet a group of students who have been receiving virtual reality development training through online monitoring supported by the foundation.Immediately after that, he took off to Argentina to mentor a fellow climber attempting Mt Aconcagua. Back in Kathmandu, just a day before his departure to Seoul where he is also A-chair professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, technical advisor at BLACKYAK INC. and consultant with the Korean Alpine Federation, he told us he will be back next March if the pandemic did not keep him away.In 2019, Um Hong-gil was granted honorary Nepali citizenship for his dedication to the country, and contribution to educating children here.Um Hong-gil has been called ‘Tank Mountaineer’ among his peers for his dogged determination, but his goals have shifted. He explains: “I want to continue building schools and contribute to the education of Nepali children for the rest of my time. I have just begun, I’m not stopping anytime soon.”Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/doug-scott-a-giant-among-giants/"> Doug Scott: a giant among giants</a>, David Durkan

Sonia Awale

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Um Hong-Gil’s Project Impossible

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.”

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Languages are both software and hardware

Job insecurity in security forces

Greenbacks for greenery