<img width="816" height="544" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08dd9c7e80680e0a6041jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Soni is a 13-year-old in Banke district in the western Tarai, and she is the second of eight children in her Muslim family. She has been hearing impaired since she was born.Soni attended primary school as a child but had to drop out because it lacked the resources to support children with disabilities. Her parents, unaware of any institutions that might be able to help their daughter learn, kept her at home, where she helped her parents by doing household work as well as helping out in the fields. At home, Soni communicated with her family through signs that family members taught themselves. But it had become increasingly difficult for her to communicate with people outside her family without learning Nepali sign language.Soni’s life took a turn for the better when she enrolled in British aid group VSO Nepal’s ‘Empowering a New Generation of Adolescent Girls with Education’ (ENGAGE) programme which supports 2,660 out-of-school girls in Nepal, including those living with disabilities.Most are from the Tarai’s marginalised communities, and they get skill-development training, tlearn about sexual and reproductive health, raising awareness about support available for girls with disabilities, and enabling the young participants to rejoin formal schooling through nine-month ‘bridge’ classes. <img width="1430" height="953" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08e09c7e80680e0a6042jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="668" height="445" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08e39c7e80680e0a6043jpeg.jpg" alt="">Photos: MAHIM ARYALStories like those of Soni in Nepal will be the focus of GPE (the Global Partnership for Education) and its two-day Global Education Summit: Financing GPE 2021-2025, co-hosted by the UK and Kenya held 28-29 July online.The summit is the culmination of GPE’s 'Raise Your Hand’ financing campaign to secure $5billion over five years to support education systems across low-income countries. This will help 175 million girls and boys to learn, reach 140 million more students with professionally trained teachers, enroll 88 million more children in school, and help governments save $16 billion through more efficient spending.A key focus of the investment is to reach and support marginalised children across the world, including girls and children with disabilities.Although Nepal has shown progress in female school enrolment over the years, young girls with disabilities find it significantly harder to get a formal education due to a lack of resources and a proper support system.However, young female volunteers have been mobilising across rural communities to support young Nepali girls with disabilities to continue their education.‘Big Sisters’ working within the ENGAGE programme mentor their ‘Little Sisters’ like Soni. The Big Sisters are part of VSO’s Sisters for Sisters’ Education initiative, wherein older girls are recruited as volunteers to mentor younger ones within their communities and guide them through adolescence, ensure they remain within the formal education system and teach them life skills. The project is currently working to support 9,800 adolescent girls to transition from primary to secondary education. Soni’s Big Sister encouraged her to attend the bridge class, where Soni learned basic math and language. Just as she had back in primary school, Soni diligently attended classes. Soni also began to show an interest in drawing and likes to copy the mehendi designs from her workbook.Soni’s parents were initially sceptical about continuing with her formal education since it meant that she would need to stay in the school hostel due to the distance. But her Big Sister, after regular visits to her home, eventually convinced her parents to let her attend school. Now, Soni attends the Rastriya Adharbhut Basic school in Banke’s Khajura rural municipality. At school, Soni could learn Nepali Sign Language, which has significantly helped her learning process. Soni is now a happily adjusted young girl who participates actively in remedial classes, sports, as well as arts and crafts.Sahajan,16, from rural Sarlahi is also hearing-impaired. She has five siblings, and her Muslim family operates a laundry business.Through VSO community volunteers in her community, Sahajan and her parents had been attending preparatory classes organised to teach children with hearing impairments and their families Nepali Sign Language as well as to help the children continue their formal education.The Covid-19 lockdowns stopped the preparatory classes, but Sahajan, who had learned to recognize words from letters by this point, was keen to continue.Her Big Sister from VSO Nepal, along with a national volunteer, helped Sahajan to continue practising learning at home during the pandemic, showing her Nepali sign-language videos created by VSO volunteers.  <img width="347" height="462" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08e59c7e80680e0a6044jpeg.jpg" alt="">During the pandemic, VSO mobilised community volunteers to tailor health advice and other support for people with disabilities in Sarlahi, Parsa and Banke districts. For the hard of hearing, to whom the government’s Covid-related public health messages are largely inaccessible, volunteers developed Nepali sign-language resources, including specially adapted sim cards, with important information about how to stay safe during the pandemic.  Sahajan’s parents can communicate with and support their daughter better at home now that they can communicate with her through Nepali sign language However, like Soni’s parents in Banke, Sahajan’s parents were hesitant to send their daughter to the classes when it was time to discuss continuing her formal education. But regular home visits and advice from Sahajan’s Big Sister helped convince them to send their daughter to Srimati Laxmi Devi School in Sarlahi. “I never thought that my daughter would be able to go to school and have a formal education like other children,” says Sahajan’s mother. Now, Sahajan is looking forward to continuing her higher education, and wants to help teach other children with hearing difficulties Nepali sign languages in the future.

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Sisterhoods empowering education in Nepal

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121156/636a44879c7e80680e04d336jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="800"/>Nepal has made significant progress in raising primary school enrolment, with more than 95% of boys and girls now attending school from Grades 1 through 5. More than half of adolescent girls in rural areas are now in secondary schools; 15 years ago it was less than 30%.Despite this achievement, poverty, family pressure and gender-unfriendly schools mean that the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19596#.XOUa4yAza70">dropout rate</a> for girl students is still high. As a result, adolescent girls from rural areas get caught in a trans-generational cycle of poverty inherited from their mothers, and are more likely to pass it on to their own children.In response, VSO Nepal, in partnership with Aasaman Nepal, the British Council, Global Action and Mercy Corps, is helping girls in districts like Parsa -- where female literacy is low -- through a program called Sisters for Sisters’ Education. Older girls are recruited to mentor younger ones, increase their enrolment and prevent dropouts.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121156/636a448a9c7e80680e04d337jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="800">The older girls are volunteers from the community, who act like Big Sisters to get Little Sisters into school and guide them through adolescence. Big Sisters provide not only academic support but also encouragement and taboo-busting information on sexual and reproductive health to the younger ones.More than one-third (36%) of Nepali women over 15 <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/nepal/literacy-rate-youth-female-percent-of-females-ages-15-24-wb-data.html">have had no education</a>. This rate increases with age, and more than 91% of women ages 60-64 cannot read or write.Sisters for Sisters not only gets Big Sisters to mentor Little Sisters through school and act as positive role models, it works with younger girls, their families and schools to ensure they remain within the formal education system.Although <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/child-marriage-in-nepal-eloped-at-13-mother-by-17/">child marriage is illegal</a>, girls living in rural areas get pulled out of school to be married as early as 13. As girls enter adolescence, this and other pressures increase, resulting in a rising dropout rate: 6% drop out of primary school while 8% percent drop out of secondary school.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121156/636a448d9c7e80680e04d338jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="800">By leaving school, adolescent girls in rural areas fail to acquire a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/not-just-half-the-sky,1178">lifetime capacity for critical thinking and problem solving</a> that can only be learned via secondary education, which goes beyond basic literacy and numeracy skills.As Little Sisters age, VSO supports them to enrol in higher education, which enhances the girls’ confidence and self-esteem, enabling them to take control of their own sexual and reproductive health and rights, and develop life skills.So far, peer learning support funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has helped 8,115 girls in Nepal in 50 schools in Dhading, Lamjung, Surkhet and Parsa.Priyanka Budathoki is with VSO Nepal.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121156/636a44909c7e80680e04d339jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="800">_______________________________________________________________________“Never look back” Sunti Devi is 34 and her daughter is 12, the age she was when she got married. Aged 16 with two babies in her arms and a small bag, Sunti was forced to leave her husband’s home. She does not want her daughter, or other daughters in Nepal, to go through what she did and now mentors female students in her community. Sunti’s story:<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121156/636a44939c7e80680e04d33ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="217" height="193">“I was in Grade 7 when my parents fixed my marriage with someone in a faraway village. I became a mother at 13, and my in-laws taunted me for giving birth to a daughter. A year later I gave birth to a baby boy and hoped to be accepted back to my husband’s house. I returned only to find that he had married someone else.I completed Grade 10 and began teaching in a primary school, renting a room to raise my children as a single mother. I started working in Sisters for Sisters’ Education and have never looked back. I am living in the same community where my husband lives with his second wife, but that does not affect me anymore. I am determined not to let my students be forced into marriage at an early age. As an Auntie Champion I train the girls in life skills, mentor them and increase their confidence.”_______________________________________________________________________“I am proud of my sisters”Apsana Khatun, 19, from Province 2, is a Big Sister community volunteer who mentors four girls (Little Sisters) in a community school. When her relatives wanted her married Apsana’s mother resisted. Her story:<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108121156/636a44949c7e80680e04d33bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="816" height="544">“I am a Muslim. The girls in my community cannot go out on their own, and have to wear veils. My relatives wanted me married off, but my mother allowed me to go to school. Many other girls are not so lucky. After completing Grade 10, I became a Big Sister community volunteer in Sisters for Sisters’ Education in my village.I am responsible for four Little Sisters, whom I mentor with academic guidance and emotional support. At first their parents were not happy with me. But I persisted, and got two of them who had dropped out back in school. Now, the parents treat me like family. I feel so proud when the girls in my school say they want to be teachers, doctors and nurses. My mother never went to school; I want every mother in Nepal to be educated."

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Sisterhood of students

Nepal’s month-long cricket carnival ended on a sunny Saturday in Kathmandu with a final game in which the Lumbini Lions dominated the Sudurpaschim Royals with both bat and ball.&nbsp; The Royals were bowled out for an embarrassing 85, thanks to Namibian Ruben Trumplemann’s three wickets for three runs, and captain Rohit Paudel’s hat-trick in the eleventh over. Only opener Ishan Pandey’s 33 run-innings was of any note.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025121315120_ced9258f9503a03fe53760d5ff420136ea9cfbaf3001512399ec5cafeef25364.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025121315120_ced9258f9503a03fe53760d5ff420136ea9cfbaf3001512399ec5cafeef25364" data-rendition-name="original" width="1366" height="909" loading="lazy" alt="NPL 2"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251213141232_0b712b438a97b49747029e4b3884b0eeba8ec0ff0bfbc5fd3d61cbb2002a16c2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251213141232_0b712b438a97b49747029e4b3884b0eeba8ec0ff0bfbc5fd3d61cbb2002a16c2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1345" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="NPL 2"> </figure>  The Lions came out with virtually no pressure on them, and Dinesh Adhikari’s 42 off 13 including 27 off the first over bowled by Dipendra Singh Airee won the match. Rohit Paudel came in to finish the match calmly, with 11 overs to spare, scoring two stylish fours and a six before holing out with the Lions on 83.&nbsp; The Lions took comically long to get the final two runs to win the game, losing one more wicket. But it was merely a matter of time, and a single ended the Royal’s misery.&nbsp; As dusk fell, the big fluffy lion mascot was on the field dapping up the Lions as red fireworks went off and Lumbini fans leaped from their seats in the packed stands.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251213141232_ba4c4fde1865c583cf324d253563a0fc96002c31e8381ee85850f71c67515ea9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20251213141232_ba4c4fde1865c583cf324d253563a0fc96002c31e8381ee85850f71c67515ea9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1365" loading="lazy" alt="NPL 2"> </figure>  This capped off an incredible run from the Lions who had finished dead last in NPL Season 1, and had only one win and three losses after four games. They won the remaining three, finishing fourth, barely qualifying.&nbsp; This meant that they had to play an eliminator last week against the Kathmandu Gorkhas and then a qualifier against the popular Biratnagar Kings, whose squad included Sandeep Lamichhane, Faf du Plessis, and Martin Guptill. They won both in style. For the Royals, however, this was the second disappointing final in a row after being the best team in the group stage in both seasons of the NPL. National team batsman Binod Bhandari had had an excellent tournament for the Royals, but was in tears at having come this far again and fallen short.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251213141228_a90fd0afaeec366416efe314464d6b1152bd9cca011346b77914c2037b6b156e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251213141228_a90fd0afaeec366416efe314464d6b1152bd9cca011346b77914c2037b6b156e" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="NPL 2"> </figure>  Despite the final being disappointingly less action-packed for the neutral viewer, the final marked the second successful execution of the NPL. The addition of seats and floodlights at the TU Cricket Stadium overlooking Kathmandu made evening games possible and improved the experience for fans.&nbsp; The floodlights also made for some gorgeous photography as the sun set behind Chandragiri, illuminating the Himalaya to the north in gradually fading shades of orange.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251205041256_280bea0db1d097c88d478f5ba7197b5e2faa05623ebf9c0438af46d85bdb891e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20251205041256_280bea0db1d097c88d478f5ba7197b5e2faa05623ebf9c0438af46d85bdb891e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1366" height="911" loading="lazy" alt="Cricket carnival NT"> <figcaption>Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  Adam Rossington’s 323 runs, including a century, and Sandeep Lamichhane’s 17 wickets were the standout individual performances across the tournament in the past month.&nbsp; The tournament brought out characters much loved by the vociferous crowd, including ‘Taklu’ Irish commentator Andrew Leonard who worked in a Dhaka Topi, British presenter Jess Crowe who donned a Sari for the final, and Chitwan Rhinos’ charismatic mascot Mr Gaida who entertained the crowd with enthusiastic nonstop dancing.&nbsp; The tournament was such a draw that the university grounds looked like a carnival with food and merchandise stalls. The capacity 10,000 stadium drew such a crowd that Kathmandu streets were relatively quiet on Saturday with people also watching the game live on tv at home.&nbsp; Kathmandu’s residents were genuinely delighted at being able to talk about <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/cricket-carnival">a Nepali cricket tournament</a>, and not about the Indian or English Premier Leagues. And while everyone appreciated the cricket no matter who was playing, fans showed up for their provinces in loud numbers.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251205041256_e96211da042ec3043940f2feca4cd59dd00351af41a4ca029169871f69f51957.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20251205041256_e96211da042ec3043940f2feca4cd59dd00351af41a4ca029169871f69f51957" data-rendition-name="original" width="1366" height="911" loading="lazy" alt="Cricket carnival NT"> <figcaption>Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  The organisers having proven themselves, future NPLs may need more stadiums in other provinces, even better overseas players.&nbsp; Sambhav Sirohiya of the Kathmandu Media Group ambitiously tweeted that he believes that the league could already become the second most valuable franchise cricket league NEXT SEASON, especially if the government would loosen up its regulations of advertising, especially that of alcohol. Nepali cricketers and fans are now better prepared for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February, with the experience of playing in the NPL and with the access to world-class cricket talent and seeing how they go about excelling at the sport.&nbsp;

Lumbini gets the lion’s share

International Mountain Day on 11 December should inspire celebration, not cynicism. It follows &nbsp;a small but rare diplomatic win: the agreement at COP30 in Belém to hold a dedicated global dialogue on mountains in 2026, and to include mountain-specific indicators in the new climate adaptation framework.&nbsp;
A welcome shift, certainly. But the old narrative lingers — mountains are fragile, disaster-prone, eternally vulnerable. But the uncomfortable truth is that safe and environment-friendly development in the mountains is simply too expensive than anyone wants to admit.
To build a kilometre of two-lane highway in the Tarai costs Rs200 million. That same kilometre on a Himalayan slope with retaining walls, drainage, bioengineering, and landslide protection costs more than Rs1 billion. Add tunnels, viaducts or highways designed for minimum 80km/h speeds and that figure can easily triple.
This pattern repeats across all sectors. A 50MW run-of-river hydropower plant that costs $80 million in low-ling valleys costs four times more in the mountains. The headrace tunnels have to be longer, desanding basins must trap the silt, the access roads cost more than the entire project. And there is no way to prevent the scheme from being washed away by a glacial collapse flood.
Nepal's annual road budget is only Rs150 billion. It is scattered thinly across 753 municipalities, most of them perched on steep, unstable slopes. When resources are inadequate and political cycles are short, the incentives for corruption are predictable &nbsp;— shaving a mountain flank at 70 degrees instead of 45, taking a shortcut on drainage canals, skimping on asphalt thickness, or skipping the Gabion.
In high Nepal, the bulldozer is the engineer. We hang on the prayer that the monsoon will be merciful. July arrives, and reality returns. Mountains fall on roads, flash floods wash away swathes of expensive highways.
The entrance to the Siddhababa Tunnel in Palpa collapses yet again. The Nagdhunga Tunnel faces another landslide delay. The Melamchi headworks go under — again. Each failure costs more to repair than proper engineering would have cost when that infrastructure was built.
We are not just paying once. We the taxpayers are signing up for a subscription to disaster. The real fragility of Nepal’s mountains is of governance, not geology.
This is what the international climate conversation habitually misses. Mountain communities are repeatedly told to ‘respect nature’ and avoid linear infrastructure, often by the same countries proudly announcing new expressways and airports in their own countries.
Mountain people are not anti-development. They want what everyone else wants: electricity that does not flicker, roads that survive the monsoon, schools their children can reach in winter. What they lack is not aspiration, it is the budget required to build things safely that is not stolen by politicians and their crony contractors.
If the world truly wants to protect the Himalaya, Andes or Alps, and the billions who rely on them for water, the answer is not more romantic slogans about fragility of the mountains. It is concessional, patient financing that narrows the gap between cheap and dangerous versus expensive and resilient. And it is transparent government that spends that money wisely.
This means money for tunnels instead of unstable surface cuts. Money for bioengineered slopes instead of naked bulldozer scars. Money for hydropower built for 1-in-100-year floods, not 1-in-25-year budgets.&nbsp;
This is not charity. Mountain infrastructure safeguards global water, carbon, energy and biodiversity systems. It is a global public good, and should be financed as such.&nbsp;
In Syangja, small investments under the Climate Adaptive Equitable Water Management Practices have restored nine community ponds, protected recharge zones and increased dry-season spring flow by about a third. All of this for less than the cost of repairing a single kilometre of poorly built hillside road after the next landslide.
Our experience from the Subnational Governance Programme (SNGP) in some districts of mountains and plains show that when municipalities receive practical guidance backed by scientific research, they can scale these solutions with modest, targeted budgets. Local governments are not the problem — they are the missing link. &nbsp;
The tragedy is not technical incapacity; it is chronic under-financing of the most cost-intensive terrain on earth. Lets stop romanticising mountain poverty on 11 December, International Mountain Day. Let us retire the language of fragility that excuses inaction.
Mountains are not pleading for sympathy. They are demanding fairness: that the true cost of safe development in the world’s steepest geographies be acknowledged and shared. Until that bill is paid, the monsoon will continue to do the accounting, one landslide, one road, one abandoned promise at a time.
Ngamindra Dahal is a water and climate adaptation practitioner based at the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation, Kathmandu.

The Himalaya is not fragile

People like myself were too young during the decade of the Maoist War to remember its horrors. We often wonder what life was truly like back then. Perhaps the closest we have come to experiencing a national crisis of that scale – with the protests, violence, curfews, and political maneuvering – was the GenZ movement in September. How did people cope? What did they fear? What was it like in the cities and &nbsp;villages? How was it that the king still held so much power? What motivated the guerrillas? And, how did &nbsp;ordinary people adjust and endure the war? My curiosity about the war that ended 20 years ago &nbsp;was met with a rollercoaster of emotions with Monica Rana’s debut novel, The Paths We Choose. The novel is not a retelling of events from the vantage of leaders, rebels. It is not about the violence, but a carefully curated perspective of ordinary people caught up in it. It is a glimpse into how the war altered or defined their paths. This is the 'People’s War' from the people’s own perspective. Readers are immediately invested into the lives of two central characters, the sister duo, Sumnima and Rita. The elder radiating from the beginning with her brave and cunning aura, and the latter, more timid and obedient, much of her time absorbed in awe of her sister. The writer’s language flows as effortlessly as the sisters’ strides up the hills to steal mangoes from Dhire Dai’s trees, only to race back down to Rato Mato, carrying us through their journey into adolescence. Amidst the rolling hills, mango trees, life is filled with laughter, adventures, and everyday banter, scenes so serene that they carry an unsettling calm that hints at what lies ahead. Village life is not all painted in romantic hues. The stark reality of poverty, subsistence, and contrast with the comfort of city living are never far away. Amidst these reminders, there runs a humbling truth: happiness once rested on small things, not on the material excess that define urban life. As the pages turn, the title begins to resonate: two sisters, once bound by the same bloodline, shared dreams, and the same roof, are caught in the crosshairs of war and forced onto separate paths. One by choice, and the other by necessity. The story unfolds with the seasons: the relentless monsoon rains, the scorching heat of summer, and a liberating winter that carries bittersweet truths. The year is 2001, as the insurgency intensifies. Against this backdrop, the cousins’ lives diverge. Sumnima is drawn into the rebels’ ranks to 'fight for equality and freedom', while Rita is uprooted, carried across distances, and placed in Seto Bangala as a helping hand among the higher-ups, in her family’s desperate attempt to secure her a better life after their village is reduced to a 'ghost city' by violent attacks. There are betrayals and beginnings, high palaces and humble hills, royals and rurals, identity and ideology, loss and lament, distance and discovery. Through upheavals, tears, and struggles, one thing remains constant: both sisters wonder about the other. They care. They long to reconnect. They hold fast to the dream they once shared to open a guesthouse in their village someday. A dream to simply live with no fear. To be free. To be happy. And, to be together. The writing illuminates vital themes: innocent people caught up in strife, the vast chasm of class from royals dining on silver plates to villagers back home hiding their last grain to save it from looters. And discrimination so stark it was as if people carried labels on their foreheads, marked by caste, skin colour, and gender. The sisters eventually reunite, but their journey is not an easy one, and what lies ahead is far from the future either of them once imagined. One might romanticise it as fate, or might recoil at the harsh reality Monica Rana lays bare: it is often the innocent who bear the heaviest burdens of war. Civilians are trapped between warring sides, enduring hunger, displacement, and violence through no fault of their own. Wars continue to rage across the world. Though the novel does not particularly focus on exposing the horrifying depths of war crimes, it remains a timeless reminder of what the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish once said: “The war will end, and leaders will shake hands. The old woman will keep waiting for her martyred son. And those children will keep waiting for their hero father. I don’t know who sold our homeland, but I saw who paid the price.” &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251213031240_2f7c62e392a430082c1627719e014f82b857118e226299e1590d74503387ae93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251213031240_2f7c62e392a430082c1627719e014f82b857118e226299e1590d74503387ae93" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The paths we choose book review"> </figure>

The war between people

There is nothing like an election to focus the minds of politicians. So, with less than three months to go for the 5 March political parties both new and &nbsp;old are in full preparation mode.&nbsp; The UML and the NC are following a two-pronged strategy: filing separate writ petitions in the Supreme Court for the reinstatement of the House even as they prepare for their general convention to decide on tickets for candidates. election. Following the alliance of Nepal’s left-aligned parties into the new Nepali Communist Party, the RSP and Bibeksheel parties have also joined forces. “Old political parties that were supposed to defend democracy are themselves hegemonic, oligarchic, and exclusive, and patriarchal, and the only strong voices inside political parties seem to be coming from women like Binda Pandey, Usha Kiran Timilsina and Sumana Shrestha,” says political scientist Sucheta Pyakuryal.&nbsp; She adds: “These parties are responsible for Nepal’s political decay, and there is little hope they will mend their rent-seeking ways and become more democratic and egalitarian.” The new post-September political parties are trying to change that perception by projecting themselves as reform minded and clean, and navigating the dynamics of election preparation. There are over 800,000 new young voters, and their ballots will be a key determinant in the outcome in March. Only a few youth leaders have formed their own parties, others are trying to decide which party to team up with. Others have partnered with career politicians who left their mainstream outfits out of frustration with their leaders.&nbsp; “The newly-formed parties are relatively more inclusive, but they are also led by strongmen,” says Pyakuryal. “It remains to be seen how long we can sustain democracy if our only choices are these personalities.”&nbsp; Activist Ojaswee Bhattarai is part of the five-member chair council of the Pragatishil Loktantrik Party launched by former Maoists Baburam Bhattarai and Janardan Sharma. Other members in the council include youth leader Ashok Jaiswal, Durga Sob, formerly of the Nepal Samajwadi Party, former RSP chief whip Pariyar, and another ex-Maoist leader and minister Sudan Kirati.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251211151216_fe46c9dde8ca8680a2264e9cb3340cd005d2f1464e2893b99121cab2cdd99e6b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251211151216_fe46c9dde8ca8680a2264e9cb3340cd005d2f1464e2893b99121cab2cdd99e6b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="GenZ government agreement"> </figure>  Bhattarai told a roundtable last week: “The movement exposed youth exclusion from decision making and resistance of political leaders, who themselves have been part of Nepali politics since their youth, to make space for a new generation.”&nbsp; She added: “It is now crucial for young people to come forward and seek leadership positions, and take part in a process that has so far been limited to the political elite.” It remains to be seen whether seniors in politics want to genuinely do a better job, or if they are simply looking for opportunities that were denied them in their old parties.&nbsp; And not everyone is happy with older leaders pretending that they are with the youth.&nbsp; Janardan Sharma, who left the Maoists after falling out with his former comrade Pushpa Kamal Dahal was heckled this &nbsp;week in his home district of Rukum West. Although there is a youth wave, the three mainstream parties still have their ballot banks among older rural voters. And even in the cities, the disparate new parties and young candidates may dilute the vote allowing the established parties to retain their foothold.&nbsp; Without a clear agenda, ideology, and institutional know-how, the new parties either risk being a flash in the pan or lose momentum after initial success.&nbsp; “There is a huge opportunity for these new parties to onboard young political figures to push the agendas of young and marginalised Nepalis,” says Pyakuryal. “These new parties will also have a better chances in the polls if they unite under a single banner.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251211151216_8126915535a657004bf730b4df98096d1dbaea26959160614b121a96bc660d1c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251211151216_8126915535a657004bf730b4df98096d1dbaea26959160614b121a96bc660d1c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="GenZ government agreement"> </figure>  Former RSP minister Sumana Shrestha is yet to join any political party, but was present at the launch of the Ujyalo Party last week. She also urged new political actors emerging from the September movement to unite.&nbsp; “Not working together will be like rolling out the red carpet for old parties,” she said. There is anticipation about what plans Shrestha and Kathmandu mayor Balen Shah. Also closely watched are emergent figures like Birendra Basnet of Buddha Air, who may be keeping his options open for candidacy through the &nbsp;Gatishil Loktantrik Party he recently formed.&nbsp; Basnet has put forward a strategy to overhaul the aviation sector as a metaphor for a new vision so Nepal can take off &nbsp;in future.&nbsp; Kulman Ghising has faced some criticism for launching his Ujyalo party while still serving in the interim Cabinet. He is reportedly planning to resign as the election approaches to declare his candidacy.&nbsp; Says Pyakurel: “Any new leader who contests the election needs to have political acumen as well as a strong sense of responsibility and ethical accountability, not just charisma. They will need to approach Nepal’s socio-political and economic needs in a more technical, less political manner as they put forward their ideas of reforms before voters.”&nbsp;

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