<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/homecoming-at-election-time" target="_blank">Pappu Mahara</a>'s campaign for RSP began in Malaysia as he came to Nepal with a suitcase plastered with PM Balendra Shah’s photo. 
Last week, after what he considers a “job well done” he was flying back to Malaysia with a suitcase without the election poster but with high hopes for his, and Nepal’s, future.
On Thursday, the day of his flight, the first session of Parliament was underway. Addressing the House, RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane made an apology to Nepal’s Dalit community. 
Pappu was traveling to Malaysia with Lalit and Abhinash and all three are members of the Dalit community working in a factory to provide for families back home. Migration is an equaliser: it connects talent which is universal with opportunities that are not. It allows people a fresh start no matter their circumstances.
What we do not talk about as much, however, is that this <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/valuing-moral-migration" target="_blank">equaliser</a> itself is not equally accessible. Access to migration requires money, networks and information – all of which are unevenly distributed.
Among the three, Abhinash was part of an initiative by Migration Lab and the group International Manpower Recruitment targeted at the Musahar community to make meaningful migration accessible to all. He did not pay a single penny. He got exactly the job he had been promised. 
Abhinash and other Dalit youth may still have migrated despite not having money, but they would have had to borrow to pay hefty recruitment fees to fraudulent agents. The Musahar cohort <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/fee-free-migration-is-possible" target="_blank">included</a> workers who were victims to passport confiscation by middlemen without any job placement. 
As they prepared to fly back to Malaysia after a 45 day break, the three workers were examples of how targeted labour mobility can be designed to ensure migration benefits the poorest.
One answer is scale: reaching more marginalised communities with ethical recruitment pathways so more people can benefit.
The other is to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/social-remittance" target="_blank">link</a> them to countries offering even higher salaries and better protections for migrant workers.
Abhinash and others would have typically gone to India, a low-cost, low-risk and low-return destination, but they went to Malaysia where returns are significantly higher. But returns are relative: a Nepali in a Malaysian factory earns a basic salary of $422. The same factory job in Korea would pay $1,500 per month. In both cases, overtime hours add to the income.
But there is a catch. Barriers to entry are higher for countries like Korea. Workers have to learn the language and pass a test, unlike Malaysia when an employer interview is sufficient. We helped youth prepare for the job interview so they could show up in the best way possible and pass. But helping workers with language preparation is a wholly different proposition.
In interactions with youth from the Musahar community, I have often asked them informally why they do not opt for Korea. Abhinash, Lalit or others could easily pass the Korean language test if they put their minds to it.
There is lack of information (even misinformation) about migrating to places like Korea. Village-based agents will not share information about the Korean labour market in the villages because it is a government-to-government initiative where brokers have no role at all. 
While not a representative sample, many youth I spoke with do not know such details: how to apply, what the benefits are and how much it can cost. Abhinash thought that it costs upto Rs800,000 to migrate to Korea, which is not true. Actually a Korea placement costs just Rs70,000 which can easily be recuperated in less than a month.
There is also a network barrier. Musahar youth I spoke with did not know a single person who had migrated to Korea or Japan. Not knowing anyone who has attempted to go to Korea or Japan makes it daunting and out of reach. 
We have witnessed this first hand in the case of ethical migration in Malaysia. Word of mouth is one of the most important sources of job information for workers. Friends of Abhinash and Lalit ask us if there are similar ethical opportunities. It takes just one cohort to change perceptions of the unknown, we have learnt.
Lalit is setting up a WhatsApp group with peers from his village who also wanted to get jobs without recruitment fees. He already has a friend that he put in a good word about, 
“My friend is very smart and educated, but has never worked in his life,” he says. It was an honest referral, but not a blind one. 
When we create labour mobility initiatives, a part of the wider goal is also to enable such knock-on effects like building networks, role models, mentors, and reliable sources of information. Only then can we eliminate fraudulent actors.
The government’s apology to the Dalit community for historic discrimination has to be followed through with concrete action. This means creating job opportunities, including for foreign employment that are transformational.
This is in line with RSP’s own manifesto. Goal number 80 states: ‘Families from Dalit and marginalised communities who wish to go abroad for employment will be provided with concessional loans through banks based on recommendations or guarantees from local authorities.’
This commitment can be realised in many innovative ways so people from marginalized communities have access to not just any migration but the most rewarding, safe and transformational ones. 
Unlike India, Malaysia and the Gulf, access to high-return markets like Korea and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-japan-jobs-deal-still-stuck" target="_blank">Japan</a> has a more rigorous preparatory and selection stage. What barriers, for example, do youth from underserved communities like the Musahar face in accessing language preparation classes? Are there gaps in finances, social networks or reliable information that can be addressed? Can they access high-quality instruction? Sometimes, the barriers may be invisible like our own limiting beliefs stemming from unfamiliarity and lack of guidance and role models.
Publicly available administrative data on outmigration is not disaggregated for caste and other factors to help who is migrating, and by extension, who is not.
Not all migration is the same, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/labour-mobility/our-great-stories" target="_blank">Nepalis</a> understand this all too well. Some return worse off than when they left, others are engaged in “survival migration”. Some come back having built assets or to build thriving businesses. A successful <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/labour-mobility/helping-migrant-returnees-to-pivot-2urk8oo9" target="_blank">returnee</a> contributing to Nepal is inevitably a function of their migration experience: how much they earned, saved, learned, and were protected.
The earlier we become intentional through better program design, training partnerships, recruitment practices, and employer selection, the more likely it is to create positive and lasting change for migrants and their families. That we have an action oriented, proactive government gives us hope. 
We met Abhinash when he had doubts about whether he could actually migrate without paying fees. Now, back home for a break, he encouraged others to migrate ethically directly through recruiters and avoid middlemen. He has bought land, and now plans to build a house on it within the next two years.
A youth from the Musahar community or someone from Bajura should have the information and resources to migrate for rewarding overseas jobs if they wish to do so and to break out of the broker-trap that puts them in vulnerable positions. The new government should undertake measures to ensure that this great equaliser is also equally accessible to all.
Upasana Khadka heads Migration Lab, a social enterprise aimed at making migration outcomes better for workers and their families. Labour Mobility is a regular column in Nepali Times.

Upasana Khadka

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The great equaliser

A Nepal-based <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/a-few-good-agents" target="_blank">ethical</a> migrant worker recruiter has created waves internationally to be only the second company worldwide to be certified recently under the International Recruitment Integrity System (<a href="https://iris.iom.int/" target="_blank">IRIS</a>). International Manpower Recruitment (IMR) was recognized for its high ethical recruitment standards. &nbsp;This comes as Nepal reels from news involving the misuse of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/labour-mobility/revisiting-visit-visas" target="_blank">visit visas</a> by immigration officials, recruitment related <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/free-visa-free-ticket-policy-in-limbo" target="_blank">corruption</a>, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/migrating-for-domestic-work" target="_blank">bans</a>, and vested interest groups which have overshadowed the role of migration as a powerful <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/migration-is-development" target="_blank">development</a> tool.&nbsp; IRIS is an initiative of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to promote ethical recruitment of migrant workers. It is a bit like fair trade certifications for consumer products like coffee, tea or chocolate that assure conscious consumers that they are not complicit in labor abuses, even if it means having to pay a premium. Certifications like IRIS give responsible companies wanting to ethically hire Nepali workers more confidence that workers will not be cheated. It is remarkable that a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/fee-free-migration-is-possible" target="_blank">Nepali recruiter</a> has been recognised as a global pioneer in obtaining this certification after a rigorous audit process. Only one other recruiter in Singapore has received this global certification so far, and a Kenyan company got it after Nepal’s IMR. All this is happening when the international labour market is <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/free-visa-free-ticket-policy-in-limbo" target="_blank">not yet ready</a> for ethical recruitment. Many employers still do not pay for the costs and fees that workers incur, unhealthy competition among recruiters persists, and individual brokers prey on workers. &nbsp;Complying with ethical practices therefore are not always generous, and can even threaten business sustainability of companies. IMR in Nepal has been one of the biggest recruiters in some years despite being ethical, but there have also been periods when the numbers have gone down to zero. The company was just recovering from Covid-19 impact when I first covered its work in this <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/a-few-good-agents" target="_blank">column</a> in 2021 titled ‘A Few Good Agents’. Just before the lockdowns IMR had lost business because Nepal <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-and-malaysia-rewrite-rules-for-migrant-labour" target="_blank">banned</a> the emigration of Nepalis to Malaysia, its primary destination market. Now, Malaysia has again <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/free-visa-free-ticket-policy-in-limbo" target="_blank">stopped</a> the intake of foreign workers. IMR has faced three big episodes of business downturn after it decided to become fully ethical in 2018. During such times when they sent very few workers—59 in 2019, 166 in 2020, and 75 in 2025 so far—traditional recruitment in which workers pay fees is always convenient and a profitable fall back option. There are many hiring companies looking for Nepali workers, but do not abide by the ‘employer pays’ principle. And many workers are desperate to migrate overseas even if it means by paying unjustifiably high recruitment fees.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250611080648_dc1079727ad0567a9cf457e8014e325b08cb54766bdf6f145021168237824985.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250611080648_dc1079727ad0567a9cf457e8014e325b08cb54766bdf6f145021168237824985" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="Valuing moral migration NT"> </figure>  But ethical recruiters cannot fold to the pressures of business downturns, no matter how easy or tempting. To stay undeterred, what is required is commitment to ethical standards. The IRIS certification to Nepal’s IMR is a reward for precisely that: commitment. But how will this well-vetted stamp translate to jobs for Nepali workers? In theory, we can be hopeful that certifications like IRIS can help responsible hiring companies separate the wheat from the chaff since the industry is full of unethical players globally.&nbsp; It also may not always be practically feasible for employers to conduct their own due diligence as it can be time consuming, costly, and they may not be familiar with the Nepal market. The cost of not doing proper due diligence can also be damning for the reputation conscious brands.&nbsp; Exports from several Malaysian manufacturing companies, for example, were <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/us-ban-on-malaysian-glove-exporter-affects-nepalis" target="_blank">banned</a> after forced labour allegations. UK scheme operators faced sector wide <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/low-hanging-fruit-in-uk-farms" target="_blank">reputation damage</a>, while also losing licenses. All this when there are reliable companies which could have conducted the same recruitment drives in a responsible manner, and there are desperate jobseekers who would excel at those jobs.&nbsp; With standards like IRIS, identifying the ‘few good agents’, will be easier. There is also hope that the business downturns for ethical actors will not come in such frequencies and last so long by making diversification to new markets and sectors easier. Now with certifications like IRIS, good recruiters can distinguish themselves with more authority.&nbsp; Diversification is often difficult as good actors in the space do not have the reach, network or other means to demonstrate that they are indeed a different breed. International certifications like IRIS bring more visibility to the end of the labour supply chain actors. The workers also need to understand what such certifications mean. All overseas opportunities in Nepal are advertised as ‘free visa free ticket’ to abide by the law and misused to an extent that no one takes it seriously.&nbsp; Certifications like IRIS and other ethical accreditations would help migrants identify reliable recruiters, rather than just <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/fee-free-migration-is-possible" target="_blank">relying</a> on familiar but fraudulent individual brokers who they trust more. <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2F-mh1uk3fvQc%3Fsi%3DUhdQFbVY_olM4bg8&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> The value of this stamp of approval cannot be underestimated. After exposes of malpractice, the Nepali recruitment industry in the past has been tarred with the same brush, for example employers have pulled out from the UK seasonal visa recruitment.&nbsp; This is not a positive outcome for job seekers deprived of good recruitment opportunities. With certifications like IRIS, journalists, activists and others can also be more constructive in their exposés by putting the spotlight on ‘alternate’, well-vetted players and good practices.&nbsp; If these expectations from international certifications can translate to practice and ethical recruiters like IMR see their businesses expand, it will have a positive spillover effect across the industry. A strong business case for ethical recruitment standards will inspire more actors to forego ridiculously high profits from the traditional worker-paid model and transition from traditional to hybrid methods, then from hybrid to ethical models. Already, there are a handful of professional recruiters in Nepal who are committed to ethical recruitment and have received other international certifications. A critical mass of ethical actors in the space would raise the standards of the Nepali recruitment industry as a whole. Recruiters serve an important purpose which is often easy to overlook amidst all the malpractices by linking workers from the remotest parts of Nepal to rewarding, jobs abroad. The positive spillover also goes beyond the recruitment industry to achieve larger development goals. For example, <a href="https://www.migration-lab.com/" target="_blank">Migration Lab</a> has partnered with IMR in two projects to send workers from marginalised communities including <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/migration-is-development" target="_blank">Musahar</a> youth and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/quake-survivors-migrate-for-work" target="_blank">Jajarkot</a> earthquake victims to Malaysia at zero cost.&nbsp; These were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mh1uk3fvQc" target="_blank">piloted</a> to making migration accessible to those in the periphery, which <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099951004022532326/pdf/IDU-c2bf0781-1145-4639-8b64-321016ade046.pdf" target="_blank">it is not</a>. Migration is a powerful tool and using it strategically for good is possible, provided recruitment drives are free from the usual malpractice and abuse. We are still a long way from the practice where hiring companies and workers will actively seek out recruiters who are well vetted with internationally recognised certifications. But the fact that a Nepali recruiter has achieved a demanding international certification, and is the second in the world to do so, is promising.&nbsp; Upasana Khadka heads <a href="https://www.migration-lab.com/">Migration Lab</a>, a social enterprise aimed at making migration outcomes better for workers and their families. Labour Mobility is a regular column in Nepali Times.

Valuing moral migration

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1dc9c7e80680e08f8dcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440"/><figcaption>Photo: UPASANA KHADKA</figcaption></figure>At the close of 2020, the Department of Foreign Employment (DOFE) conducted a  <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/labour-recruiter-netted-in-sting-raid/">sting operation</a> on a recruiting agency that was fleecing workers. The raid of its staff was made possible by migrant workers who turned to the public system for help, and it responded efficiently in their favour.This was not a one-off operation, but the eleventh one in December. It sent a strong message to the industry that every vulnerable migrant that is being cheated could be a potential whistleblower.There was nothing exceptional about the way the recruitment agency was operating—similar transactions, potentially of higher amounts, are a norm. Interestingly, there are also a few exceptions at the other extreme: agencies that practice ethical recruitment.One such agency is International Manpower (IMR), a recruiter that does not charge migrants any fees. As one of the largest recruiters in Nepal engaged with over a dozen employers in Malaysia and now diversifying to the Gulf, it has sent over 6,000 workers without charging them any fees.But it is an uphill battle, says Y B Rai from IMR. “We have been around for 17 years but have been practicing ethical recruitment only since 2016. For a couple of years, we adopted a hybrid model before we transitioned to ethical recruitment,” says Rai, adding that there is a steep learning curve.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jki4KlFImHo&amp;feature=youtu.beTo be sure, the path IMR has chosen is fraught with challenges. Employers who want to source ethically, audit closely before partnering with agents and run a thorough check on their background and operation module.In the past four years of operation, IMR has often turned down employers unwilling to pay service fees, even though it comes at a cost of foregoing easy money. The act of turning down business opportunities comes as a surprise to many employers who are used to getting kickbacks for job quotas.And migrants are in disbelief when IMR staff counsel them on not paying a single rupee for the jobs, because migrants when seeking jobs, tend to associate recruitment costs positively with 'job quality'.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1df9c7e80680e08f8ddjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1298" height="1236"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>At Kathmandu airport last week, Kishori Mahara (pictured left) was headed to the UAE through IMR’s support. He said that till the last moment he still could not believe that he had not paid any fees for his job. He had paid agents in the past for jobs in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.IMR staff admit that they are an anomaly in the industry, and they have to forego easy and profitable offers. “To be able to hand over this business to our children with pride is a dream,” says Pranay Rai of IMR, who says the long-term economic gain of building a clean reputation is more important.The experience with both IMR and Manaslu (the agency raided in December) underscores important learning points. Employers are best placed to influence recruiter behaviour, but a big share of employers hiring Nepalis would prefer sourcing Nepali workers through recruiters like Manaslu rather than those with ethical standards.The Ethics Practitioners Association of Nepal (EPAN), an umbrella organisation of recruiters committed to ethical recruitment, has not been able to attract a single employer. Job offers by HR departments of employers are often allocated based on kickbacks received. Employer HR visits to Kathmandu for interviews are often sponsored by recruiters who go overboard to lock in future demand and pass on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-theory-and-practice-of-zero-cost-migration/">the costs</a> to the worker.This unhealthy competition extends beyond borders to thousands of recruiters from the Subcontinent. The extent of unethical practices in the migrant labour industry was exposed <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-workers-stuck-in-no-mans-land/">during Covid-19</a> pandemic.The <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-malaysia-gloves-idUSKBN29208C">Malaysian Government</a> has been raiding its glove companies and exposing incidences of human rights abuse after the companies came to the global spotlight amid soaring profits during the pandemic. But pressure from third countries is still a rarity, while labour law enforcement in destination countries remains lax.There are a number of examples of pressure from third countries that have led to improved working conditions, but it is also a reminder that obtaining a secure working environments is a tall order. Unless recruiters are seen as part of a larger transnational ecosystem involving multiple profit-motivated players engaged in unethical practices, Nepalis will have to continue to be content with the existing provisions.Raids like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tABYP0wlToQ&amp;feature=emb_logo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the sting operation last month</a>, are necessary but not sufficient for systemic changes. Embassies that have the proximity advantage with the destination country players need to be further strengthened. Labour agreements that could form the basis for influencing how migrants are treated abroad need to be implemented.Ethical recruiters like IMR and members of EPAN have received no support from the government. As DOFE ramps up raids and suspends operations of fraudulent agents, it should also emphasise the good examples.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111124/636cd1e29c7e80680e08f8dejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>EPAN and IMR’s experience shows that pivoting to the ethical track requires additional resources and could entail short-term financial losses. Policies that make the system rewarding for ethical agents should be a government priority, and international organisations like the ILO (International Labour Organisation) and IOM (International Organisation for Migration) that have expertise in this area and the global reach need to be leveraged.The ILO, for instance, has piloted a project promoting ethical recruitment of Nepali workers in Jordanian garment factories.With vested interest groups, political interference, regulatory loopholes and profits at the cost of the needy, it is difficult to picture professionalism and ethical beheaviour. But crossborder intermediation services will remain in demand given the attraction for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-year-of-migrant-workers/">overseas jobs</a>, since 90% of recruitment is driven by recruiters.Perhaps the disproportionate focus on just the recruitment costs in Nepal’s migration governance is because it is often the root to subsequent vulnerabilities faced by migrants, and there is some semblance of control as the transaction takes place within Nepal’s jurisdiction. But salaries, associated benefits, and how they are treated all affect the wellbeing of a migrant worker.Sting operations are good examples to help curb fraudulent activities, particularly as the shrinkage in job opportunities due to Covid-19 heightens the risks of unethical practices. Lack of employment opportunities has spurred unhealthier competition among recruiters and more desperate migrants. But a government reward system that recognises and supports pioneer recruiters opting the ethical route is also needed.The migrants at the airport last week said they learnt about IMR through word of mouth and Facebook. They were lucky to land these jobs without paying fees because all overseas vacancies in Nepal are posted as ‘no cost’ in the public domain.The good players in the industry need to be publicly recognised, provided training opportunities and other incentives that will help them attract both employers and migrants. Only then can they distinguish themselves from the lot, build credibility and lead the way.Upasana Khadka writes this column Labour Mobility every month in Nepali Times analysing trends affecting Nepal’s workers abroad.

A few good agents

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101132/636b73a79c7e80680e06234fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="924"/><figcaption>An aspirant migrant worker appearing for a job interview in Kathmandu for Dubai-based positions. Photo: UPASANA KHADKA</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/shared-stories-shattered-dreams/">overseas migrant workers</a> bear high recruitment costs. A 2016 survey by the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) shows that average recruitment costs to the Gulf ranged from $1,083 to $1,172, while workers going to Malaysia had to pay $1,388.Compare this to their average monthly salary in the destination country of $294-$346. Out of a two-year contract, workers therefore spend the first few months worth of earnings just on paying back recruitment costs. This is why zero-cost migration has <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/for-nepals-migrant-workers-good-news-in-small-bites/">received such enormous attention</a> in Nepal.The Government of Nepal <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/manpower-agencies-of-Nepal-are-the-ones-against-zero-cost-migration-policy,2402">has been advocating for zero-cost recruitment</a>, and it is also pushed by the International LabourOrganisation (ILO) which last year approved the definition of recruitment fees and related costs related to the placement of the worker to be borne by employers.The bilateral labour <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-malaysia-labour-pact/">agreements between Nepal and Malaysia</a>, UAE and Mauritius have adopted these principles, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/win-win-migration/">has received accolades</a>. When high-level managers of the same employer get all recruitment-related fees refunded, including generous ‘relocation costs’, it is only fair that Nepali workers at the lower rungs of the ladder be provided a similar facility. On paper, it is against the law of countries like the UAE for a worker to be charged any cost related to recruitment.But implementation of this policy is a whole different story. Workers are not leaving the country without paying, and there are endless challenges like: workers willing to pay for stints abroad, unhealthy competition among recruitment agencies who outbid each other by buying visas from employers and transferring that cost to workers, and transactions between workers and recruitment agencies are difficult to monitor <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/reducing-labour-pain/">in the current status quo</a>. Despite the political will, even the strongest advocates of this principle realise <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/blood-sweat-and-tears/">there are practical challenges.</a><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101132/636b73aa9c7e80680e062350jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="515" height="318"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Province 2 government recently announced a collateral free, low interest loan program for outgoing migrant workers in partnership with the DFID funded Skills for Employment Program and Prabhu Bank. While there are other features of the program such as financial literacy and increasing access to finance, the migrant loan is what is eye-catching in Nepal's context.So far, there have been nine beneficiaries of this scheme. There are merits to this initiative. It recognises that workers are paying interest rates as high as 36% by borrowing from local loan sharks since they do not have access to formal channels. Or, that this cost might be prohibitively high for the poorest segments of society which may not be able to bear the costs of recruitment and benefit from migration. It also takes into account that migrant workers are rationally choosing to pay for the service provided by recruitment agencies. How else would they find a job in Dubai on their own? After all, workers heading to Korea under the government-to-government bilateral program do also end up paying $1,141, although they are guaranteed to recoup this cost in a month, unlike other destinations (see graph).Nepal used to have a government-backed migrant loan scheme which failed because of the high rates of default. Countries like Bangladesh have migrant loan schemes through the Probashikallyan Bank and BRAC. Low cost migrant loan schemes, however, are new today in Nepal where the free-visa-free-ticket policy has dominated the discourse.The reaction in social media is quick. ‘There is a contradiction. Why do we need loan when there is a free visa free ticket policy?’ writes Ashim. Binita comments: ‘Very good. This means even the poor can now go for foreign employment.’Indeed, there are contradictions. For example, will an aspirant worker going to a local government office or a Migrant Resource Center in Province 2  for advice on safe migration  be referred to the loan program or recommended for the central government's  zero-cost recruitment, and to reject any placement offer demanding payment?Do the loan programs undermine other efforts attempting to adopt a zero-cost principle or are these principles just an end goal that we aspire for while in the near term we focus on incremental changes made possible by initiatives like the loan program?The difference between informal interest rates and the low-cost interest rate through the migrant loan scheme can make a visible difference to a worker. So, do we adhere to principles or practice?<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/why-has-zero-cost-migration-not-happened/">Last month in this space</a>, we raised the importance of elevating our discussion from whether the zero-cost principle is being implemented or not (because it is not) to the harder questions on why, how and if it can be enforced. The new loan program presents the opportunity to revisit the issue for a more constructive debate.Upasana Khadka writes this column <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/why-has-zero-cost-migration-not-happened/">Labour Mobility</a> every month in Nepali Times analysing trends affecting Nepal’s workers abroad.

Zero-sum game in zero-cost migration

Home Minister Sudan Gurung resigned on Wednesday following increasing coverage of and criticism over his investment in companies linked to controversial Nepali business figures Sulav Agrawal and Deepak Bhatta, who are currently under investigation for money laundering.
‘I am resigning from the position of Home Minister effective today to ensure impartial investigation into matters associated with me, and to make sure that there is no conflict of interest,’ Gurung wrote, saying that morality and public trust mattered more to him than office.
Gurung ended his message to the nation in English as he invoked the security forces, writing: &nbsp;‘For my country and For the respect of our security forces and For the youths of Nepal.’
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Gurung has become the second member to depart the Cabinet, serving for less than a month, despite the Nepali electorate’s hopes that Nepal would finally get a stable government after the RSP’s sweeping victory in the March elections.&nbsp;
Prime Minister Balendra Shah had sought clarification from Gurung on Wednesday after new details emerged about his shares in two micro-insurance companies, Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life, which are said to have been issued their licence by the Nepal Insurance Authority at the behest of Bhatta and Agrawal.
Gurung denied financial misconduct, saying that his investment in the two companies was included in his asset disclosure and insisting the misunderstanding is because of how the shares have been categorised.&nbsp;
Leaders within the RSP had called for an internal investigation into Gurung as they sought to maintain the party’s platform of clean governance and transparency. As such, Gurung’s position had become increasingly untenable, especially since former Labour Minister was sacked without being given an opportunity for clarification over a disciplinary breach involving his wife’s appointment to the Health Insurance Board.&nbsp;
On social media, Sah on Tuesday seemed to express dissatisfaction over the PM’s request for Gurung’s clarification.&nbsp;
Judging by the comments under Gurung’s resignation post, a significant part of the Nepali public seems to be firmly on Gurung’s side, blaming the mass media and what they call mouthpieces of old parties for driving him out of the Cabinet.&nbsp;
This is a reflection of his meteoric rise and the continued support he has maintained since he stepped into the spotlight as the leader of Nepal’s youth movement in the aftermath of the September protest.&nbsp;
Gurung has made headlines constantly ever since he burst onto the national stage, which includes questions over the degree of his and his organisation Hami Nepal’s involvement in the September 9 unrest, calls to divulge details behind Hami Nepal’s finances, and not paying five years of rent for an illegal lakefront property in Pokhara.&nbsp;
There have also been unsubstantiated claims, despite Gurung’s denial, about his ‘ties’ to the Free Tibet movement, which has made the Chinese— as well as Nepalis— wary.&nbsp;
As Home Minister, Gurung cultivated an image of a tough but approachabe leader, overseeing a series of high-profile arrests of previous political leadership and business figures even as he posted photos of sleeping in a sofa in his office, and engaged with the public on the streets and on social media.&nbsp;
As it stands, the Home Ministry was a bone of contention between Shah and RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane before it was awarded to Gurung, who is a close ally of PM Shah. Analysts had noted that with Gurung in charge, the Home Ministry would be a hook for Shah if Lamichhane, with his share of controversies, stepped out of line.&nbsp;
Following Gurung’s resignation, the Prime Minister’s secretariat has said that the PM would take charge of the portfolio for the time being. But it will be interesting to see if and how fresh negotiations for the Ministry unfold within RSP.&nbsp;
And with his supporter base largely intact, it remains to be seen how much of an impact this setback will have on Sudan Gurung’s political aspirations.&nbsp;

Home Minister Sudan Gurung resigns

Sudan Gurung is dancing. It is 2009. He has an emo fringe falling over one eye and is spinning on a polished floor. His dance shows dedication — moves that take years of bruised elbows to land. The clip is 16 years old, and had been sitting in the dead archives of YouTube and old Facebook pages, watched by almost nobody. This month <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@4gr4j/video/7621892206902725909">it has 1.9 million views</a>. Gurung became Home Minister on 27 March and resigned on Wednesday, barely a month into office. His<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@aayvik/video/7626069452177542408"> pre-political life had been put back into circulation</a> at industrial speed -- the b-boying, the DJ sets, and the YouTube video of him dancing in a music clip.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026042202040_71df4d531423e7c941abde95fb8106346c70ab0afb71bbeb520cc570f14ba178.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026042202040_71df4d531423e7c941abde95fb8106346c70ab0afb71bbeb520cc570f14ba178" data-rendition-name="original" width="2300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit"> </figure>  The youth of Nepal, well-versed in snappy TikTok edits and aura compilations, turned the archive into a meme economy almost overnight. TikTok remixed the footage to trap beats. The comments settled on a nickname that crossed into everyday speech within days: 'Homie Minister'. <div class="embed-block"><blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@yalexthwreal/video/7622325255792512276" data-video-id="7622325255792512276" style="max-width: 605px;min-width: 325px;" > <section> <a target="_blank" title="@yalexthwreal" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@yalexthwreal?refer=embed">@yalexthwreal</a> <a title="sudangurung" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sudangurung?refer=embed">#sudangurung</a> new home minister of Nepal😎 <a title="fyppppppppppppppppppppppp" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyppppppppppppppppppppppp?refer=embed">#fyppppppppppppppppppppppp</a> <a title="sudangrg" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/sudangrg?refer=embed">#sudangrg</a> <a title="home" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/home?refer=embed">#home</a> <a title="minister" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/minister?refer=embed">#minister</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - •⪨н є α я т ❤н α ¢ к є я ⪩• - Music Universe 🎧" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-•⪨н-є-α-я-т-❤н-α-¢-к-є-я-⪩•-7308733170064231170?refer=embed">♬ original sound - •⪨н є α я т ❤н α ¢ к є я ⪩• - Music Universe 🎧</a> </section> </blockquote> <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script></div> As Home Minister, Gurung was in charge of the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Department of Immigration, and the country's internal security apparatus. Calling him 'homie' collapsed the distance between that office and the Discord server where the movement that brought him into power had organised itself. What is harder to explain is why the nostalgic clips did the narrative work for Gurung's political standing right up until the moment the paperwork did not. A teenager on a dance floor in a Thamel club, filmed before smartphones had decent cameras, was functioning as political currency for a powerful home minister, while a share registry was quietly filling the other column. The footage was not an argument. Gurung was not doing anything in it that related to home affairs. He was just dancing. The comments compared him to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@4gr4j/video/7621892206902725909">Korean film heroes</a>. A separate <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@tandavyt7/video/7622151050128018708">48,000-like edit</a> was captioned 'Our New Home Minister Aura'. The replies were full of people saying they got chills listening to him speak. Even after his resignation, most comments on his Facebook page were supportive, saying he had been punished for pursuing truth and justice.&nbsp; Political legitimacy in Nepal has been built out of many things over the last 70 years, but it has never been built out of this. The question was always: what happens when the job starts demanding things his style, boldness, and swag cannot provide. Political aura in Nepal used to be a slow harvest, now it isn't. B P Koirala spent eight years in prison under the Panchayat. He wrote fiction at Sundari Jal. The writing survived, the prison sentences survived, and that experience became the template for what a serious Nepali politician looked like: someone the state had tried to break and failed. Legitimacy was accumulated by having their lives taken away, and refusing to bend the knee. The old mechanics of legitimacy produced politicians who could be audited. The record was made of words, dates, votes, and years behind bars. A voter who wanted to know what a leader stood for read his writings. A journalist digging for inconsistency could find it. The system was slow, often corrupt, and frequently boring. But boring was part of the job description. A minister was supposed to be slightly dull — evidence that the person was doing the unglamorous work of reading files and sitting through committee meetings. Today, boring is a disqualification. The attention economy rewards velocity and visual charge, and a politician who cannot generate either does not exist in the feed, and that means does not exist at all. The legacy parties are still issuing press statements criticising the new guard in the grammar of paper trails and procedural failure. But the audience has stopped reading, users scroll for their next viral bite. Sudan Gurung, unlike the old parties, understood exactly which grammar the feed rewarded. On his first evening as Home Minister, he posted a photo of himself sleeping on a sofa inside the ministry. Caption: creation cannot be greater than the creator, government is not above the people. The image travelled further in 12 hours than any ministerial press release has ever done.&nbsp; A minister napping on a sofa, phone-shot, zero production, read by the public as evidence of a minister who had skipped the motorcade and got straight to work. Gurung used Facebook to announce the names of former ministers and businessmen he intended to arrest. The feed was used to pre-announce state security action.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260422010456_2fa1918e1dd031d01f38b4001ee306d9414073cec0b795fa43a75cb5a8deb8c7.png" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20260422010456_2fa1918e1dd031d01f38b4001ee306d9414073cec0b795fa43a75cb5a8deb8c7" data-rendition-name="original" width="926" height="868" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit"> </figure>  INFLUENTIAL INFLUENCER This is not how the Ministry of Home Affairs has ever operated. It is how a YouTuber releases a series. Sudan Gurung was a political content creator. As home minister, he was an influential influencer kinetically doing something in the visual medium. Much like Prime Minister Balendra Shah's sunglasses, Gurung's aura, authenticity and swag were a brand asset, instantly recognisable at thumbnail size. Balen's rap career supplies a pre-political archive that authenticates him the same way Gurung's DJ sets and b-boying clips authenticated him. The aesthetic is doing the work a manifesto used to do. The work is authenticity, and the strategy is auramaxxing. The emo fringe predates the ministry. The DJ sets predate Hami Nepal. The b-boying predates the earthquake, the NGO, the September uprising, the interim cabinet, all of it. Whatever Gurung is now, he was already that person before the office existed. This was the real spectacle of the Homie Minister: authenticity. Nepal's youth have grown up watching heavily-polished, talking-point ministers speak in a language aimed at nobody in particular. But that grainy archival clip of the Home Minister from 2009 was honest.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260422010456_5d6dff3a09e8b7e77dc60c3aa567c9e02b6bd5f90f94e20737ec05cc9a09023b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20260422010456_5d6dff3a09e8b7e77dc60c3aa567c9e02b6bd5f90f94e20737ec05cc9a09023b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="When aura meets audit NT"> </figure>  The effect transcended GenZ. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ektapokharel/video/7623242573481561365">A TikTok trend</a> captioned NOT ONLY OUR HOME MINISTER, WE ARE ALSO FROM THAT ERA <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sonykhadka/video/7624106790266948872">has millennials posting their own</a> archive photos from the same period, aligning themselves with Gurung's pre-political aesthetic. The aura did <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@_thakuri/video/7623397397556645141">cross-generational work</a>. It was a shared legibility, spanning at least 15 years of Nepali youth culture, with the Home Minister standing at its centre.&nbsp; The traditional politician's entire adult life is a performance of identity. Every photograph is lit for the media, every statement is vetted. The persona is the product, and the product has been in development for 30 years. This makes the old guard legible but suspect in the attention economy. A generation raised on authenticity-as-currency reads the decades of careful performance as evidence of something to hide. The polish is the problem. The nostalgic Sudan Gurung party clips inverted this. The polish was absent. The footage could not be performance aimed at the viewer, because the viewer did not exist in 2009 and neither did the political stakes. The clip was therefore read as real, in a way a press conference can never be. It was just a kid dancing, and he happened to grow up to be the Home Minister. But Sudan Gurung's job was never to go viral. The Ministry of Home Affairs requires the person running it to file a complete asset declaration and to avoid holding financial interests in crony entities.&nbsp; None of that work is content. A correctly filed asset declaration does not get remixed into a trap beat. A functioning immigration database is not a TikTok. The paperwork that constitutes actual governance is structurally boring in exactly the way the old parties are structurally boring, and for the same reason. It is the slow, procedural, checkable apparatus that the old system was built to produce and that the new system has not yet learned to replace. And it is painstaking follow-the-money paper trail investigative journalists in the legacy media who uncovered the evidence. You cannot auramaxx your way out of a share registry. You cannot post your way past a conflict-of-interest statute. No amount of fire outfits and wild DJ transitions does anything for you when a journalist pulls the initial shareholder list of Star Micro Insurance and finds your name at number 49, with Rs2.5 million in shares alongside investors linked to Deepak Bhatta and Sulav Agrawal — two men currently at the centre of a Rs 3.7 billion money laundering investigation. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@blox.drop/video/7622173520981658900">Auramaxxing was engineered</a> for the mechanics of reaching office. It is the reason Sudan Gurung became Home Minister and Gagan Thapa did not. The question that had not yet been tested, until this week, was whether the same weapon works when the terrain changes. The terrain does change when you assume power. This week, the answer arrived. TWO CLOCKS Two clocks had been running, and they did not sync. The first clock was built for auramaxxing. A clip posted at eight in the morning peaked by noon. A sofa photo was remixed before the minister had left the building. The feedback loop is fast and legible, and a politician playing this clock gets real-time data on what to post next. The old guard never learned to read it, which is a large part of why they lost the election. The second clock was the one the ministry actually runs on. It measures in quarters, court calendars, and the slow grind of investigation files moving between offices. A share registry takes weeks to pull. A money-laundering case moves at the speed of the prosecutor's office, which is to say, it often does not appear to move at all, until one morning it does. The legacy mass media is fed leaks, and the second clock does not care whether the minister is currently trending. The two clocks collided this week, and the second clock got there first. Faster than anyone expected. The first clock put Gurung in the Home Ministry in weeks. The second clock put him out of it in less than a month. On Sunday evening, Diyopost and Janaastha published documents showing Gurung as a founding shareholder in Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life — companies licensed by the Nepal Insurance Authority in 2022 following what reporting identified as political lobbying by Bhatta and Agrawal. A photograph also surfaced of Hami Nepal, the NGO Gurung chairs, honouring Bhatta as a donor on 21 December 2021. Gurung's first response was auramaxxed. A Monday Facebook post distinguishing ‘rumours’ from ‘facts’, insisting the shares were disclosed within his broader Rs20 million securities portfolio, promising to cooperate with any investigation. "Allegations and truth are not the same thing," he wrote. "Decisions should be based on evidence, not sentiment." It was a coherent clip, but it did not stop the clock. By Wednesday, Prime Minister Balendra Shah had sought written clarification. Leaders within the RSP itself were calling for his resignation. The opposition Nepali Congress had framed the question as one of democratic transparency.&nbsp; Gurung resigned, posting his decision to Facebook as he did everything else. Ethics, he wrote, hold more weight than any position. There is no power greater than public trust. He ended in English, invoking ‘my country … the respect of our security forces … the youths of Nepal’. Even the exit was content. And this is the asymmetry the office exposed. A politician whose legitimacy is built on fast 30 second videos is structurally exposed to a process that runs slower than the news cycle, because the archive of aesthetic proof was not engineered to answer documentary evidence.&nbsp; It was engineered to displace the demand for documentary evidence in the first place. When that demand returns, as it always does once a politician takes office, the digital archive keeps performing, but the documents keep getting uncovered. And the two tracks do not communicate. The old guard knew this clock because they had no other clock to know. What they lost in charisma they gained in durability: a politician built over 20 years of parliamentary record is harder to dislodge with a single document because they have already survived thousands of documents. The new guard has not been stress-tested against its own paper trail. Sudan Gurung has now been tested, and the test is over, and the template has been written in his exit rather than his survival.&nbsp; A politician can enter office on the strength of a dance clip, and the same class of evidence — share registries, company filings, founding-shareholder lists at number 49 — that would have ended the career of a politician in a previous era of Nepali politics has ended his. The second clock got there. The feed did not save him. Or not entirely. Because the resignation itself is now in the feed. The Facebook post. The 46 brothers and sisters. The epic sign-off. Within hours of stepping down, Gurung had already re-enrolled his exit into the same register that put him in office. The clip of the Home Minister dancing in 2009 is still in circulation. The sofa photo still reads as sincerity. The investigation into the micro-insurance shares will move at the speed of Nepal's prosecutor's office, which is to say, at a speed the feed has long since outrun. The movement that installed Gurung in the name of ending elite capture has had its answer about whether its own hero is subject to the same audit it demanded of everyone else. He walked — or was walked — before the audit ran its course. The resignation was framed as moral choice rather than forced exit, and the framing is already winning. Whether that framing holds is the next test. Auramaxxing, it turns out, is a weapon that works in one direction only: it got him the job, and when the documents arrived, it did not save him. But it may yet save the person. These are not the same thing. If the technique is wounded, it is not yet dead. The next Nepali politician with a pre-political archive and a phone is watching how Gurung exits, not just how he entered. And the answer is: you exit the same way you entered: on Facebook. In your own voice. Before anyone else writes the caption. Whether he comes back is the thing to watch. Whether the technique does is already decided. &nbsp; &nbsp;

When Aura meets Audit

Just three weeks in, Prime Minister Balendra Shah has already shed two ministers, and is having to contend with the economic fallout of the West Asia war plus the global order that it has upended.&nbsp;
The new dispensation in Nepal has aroused interest in New Delhi, Beijing as well as Washington. The ouster of Home Minister Sudan Gurung, whose first act in office was to arrest former prime minister K P Oli, has foreign policy wonks scratching their heads.
The US sent Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Samir Paul Kapur on a special mission to figure out what is happening in Kathmandu. In town at the same time was Cao Jing, Deputy Director General of the Asian Affairs Department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And Prime Minister Shah is preparing for an official visit to India.
For the Americans, it is mostly about containing China and looking after the welfare of Tibetan refugees, while pushing its own MCC Compact and State Partnership Program (SSP). Beijing is mindful of the post-Dalai Lama era, and does not want instability in Nepal to encourage free-Tibet activities. India lately seems more wary of American activity in what it considers its backyard.
The Chinese appear relieved to see Sudan Gurung go. Only last week, Ambassador Zhang Maoming met Gurung during which he raised the issue of Tibetan and Taiwanese activities in Nepal, seeking firm commitment that Kathmandu would not harbour activities hostile to Beijing.
“Geographically we are close to Tibet and not to the Mainland, so China remains suspicious of us, especially after the TOB and free-Tibet components that emerged from the GenZ protests,” says geopolitical analyst Indra Adhikari.
Kapur, for his part, met RSP Chair Rabi Lamichhane, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal. Although investment and infrastructure was on the agenda, the main issue seems to have been about Tibetan refugees. In nearly parallel meetings with ministers, Cao Jing warned Nepal not to be too cosy with the Americans.
For Indian academic and Nepal watcher Sukh Deo Muni, all this harks back to American activity in Nepal during the height of the Cold War. He tweeted: ‘US senior diplomat Paul Kapur's statement in Kathmandu must be understood carefully in New Delhi. He said the US does not want China or any other country to dominate Nepal.’&nbsp;
‘Any other country’ could be a pointed reference to India, and what this means is that Nepal may now have to navigate even more carefully a tri-polar world order reshaped by the West Asia war.&nbsp;
Nepali journalist based in New Delhi Akanshya Shah agrees that the United States may not be seeing Nepal through the Indian lens anymore, while New Delhi does not want heightened US activity in what it considers its sphere of influence. All this is further complicated by recent frostiness in Washington-New Delhi ties.
“New Delhi doesn’t have that familiarity factor it used to with old leadership in Nepal, but it is curious about what the young Balen Shah will do and what kind of relation he will pursue with India,” she adds. “Certain decisions of the Balen government such as ending VIP culture and delivering passport at homes have hugely resonated with the Indian people, he has in some ways become a role model among the youth in India as well.”
India has invited Prime Minister Shah for an official state visit, which will be his first foreign trip as per tradition. Shah graduated in structural engineering from a college in Bengaluru, and knows India well. Shah has injected religious elements into his public exposure as prime minister and this could help project Nepal’s ‘soft power’ in dealing with India.
But he has also been a nationalist on the Limpiyadhura map dispute, and there are other thorny issues like air connectivity, river projects and power exports that need to be ironed out.&nbsp;
Sukh Deo Muni warns that the old Indian diplomatic approach based on religio-cultural stakeholders in Kathmandu may not work anymore. He wrote: ‘India's Modi government must prepare itself well to deal with new Nepalese leadership and their empowered support base, which is self-confident, highly nationalist, aspirant and impatient.’
The RSP’s 22-page National Commitment document said Nepal should abandon its historical ‘buffer state’ identity to serve as a ‘vibrant bridge’ between regional and global powers. Much of this debate is theoretical, and there is much navel-gazing that distracts from regional realpolitik.&nbsp;
“Whether we are a buffer state or a vibrant bridge, in today’s heightened geopolitical scenario we have to have good relations with good neighbours,” explains Akanshya Shah. “What is of paramount importance is that our ties are based on the aspirations of the young generation, so that they are engaged.”
Indra Adhikari goes as far as to say that the concepts of “buffer state” and “vibrant bridge” have both failed and Nepal is neither. “We have had zero roles in mediating or de-escalating the tensions between India and China to call ourselves a buffer state. As a vibrant bridge, we cannot facilitate trade of the two countries. The new government should have researched and consulted more before proposing the same outdated and failed foreign policy concepts.”&nbsp;
What will be much more important for Prime Minister Shah is to continue Nepal’s traditional policy of ‘equidistance’ and convince his interlocutors that it is not an anti-Indian stance.&nbsp;
“At a time when there is increased interest of big powers in Nepal, we need to do a bit of our own homework for the systemic reforms we want,” says Akanshya Shah. “As for India, we first need to clearly define what we want on connectivity, energy and culture. But most importantly, we have to capitalise on the goodwill of India which we haven’t been able to in the past.”
Adds Indra Adhikari: “When it comes to fundamental aspects of foreign policy that ensures and enhances the well being of our citizens, national parties should all have one unified voice that doesn’t change when the government does. Only then the future generations can own it.”

Love thy neighbours (and America)

Prime Minister Balendra Shah sought written clarification from Home Minister Sudan Gurung following news of his investment in two companies linked to controversial Nepali business figures Sulav Agrawal and Deepak Bhatt, who are currently at the centre of a Rs3.7 billion money laundering investigation.
Home Minister Gurung's secretariat said that it has responded to the PM and submitted a written explanation. This comes after Home Minister Sudan Gurung issued a public clarification about the new developments regarding his investments on Monday.&nbsp;
Gurung is listed as a founding shareholder of two micro-insurance companies Star Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life, having acquired shares amounting to Rs2.5 million. The two companies are said to have been issued their licence by the Nepal Insurance Authority at the behest of Bhatt and Agrawal. Family members and close aides of both Bhatt and Agrawal have stakes in the two companies.&nbsp;
Bhatt, chairman of Infinity Holdings, is a power broker accused of using his political connections to secure and manipulate public procurement contracts, influence policy changes ass well as leadership appointments to regulatory institutions including the Securities Board of Nepal and Nepal Insurance Authority.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, Shanker Group vice-chair Sulav Agrawal was also arrested earlier this month as part of a broader money laundering probe as well as an investigation into the group’s finances. Agrawal was previously arrested during the Covid-19 pandemic after he was found selling &nbsp;67 infrared thermometers from a vehicle with diplomatic credentials. At the time, Bhatt is said to have used his connections to facilitate Agrawal’s release.&nbsp;
Critics have raised concerns the lack of detailed disclosures on Gurung’s part about investments tied to the very figures that his Home Ministry is in charge of investigating. There are also questions as to the source of his investment, which Gurung said in his clarification were raised through loans.
In his clarification, Gurung denied concealing his investments, saying that his shares in the two companies are part of in his over Rs20 million portfolio included in his asset disclosure and insisting the misunderstanding is because of how the shares have been categorised. &nbsp;
On his name and portfolio being associated with controversial figures, he responded, ‘There are hundreds to thousands of shareholders in a company. Buying shares does not constitute a partnership with anyone.’&nbsp;
He continued: ‘If that is the basis, then everyone with investments in those companies must be held accountable, which is not fair. Investments in the companies include those from media houses and banks. Are they all guilty?’
Leaders within the RSP have called for internal investigation into Sudan Gurung, to maintain the party’s platform of clean governance and transparency.&nbsp;
This comes after the sacking of Labour Minister Dipak Sah earlier this month after the RSP found him to be in breach of the party code of conduct following the reappointment of his wife to the Health insurance board. Sah was not given the opportunity for clarification prior to his departure.&nbsp;
Critics have said that the party is reverting to the patronage-driven politics of previous leadership following the appointment of figures close to RSP leadership in various key positions.
Many influential business owners elected to the House with direct stakes in the business, finance, tourism, and infrastructure sectors sit in Parliamentary Committees that would directly benefit their interests. &nbsp;
On Monday, RSP appointed Bhupdev Shah, who previously was a part of Balen Shah’s secretariat during his tenure as Kathmandu Mayor, as the party’s general secretary. Some have questioned the party’s decision to appoint Shah without going through an election process in its upcoming general convention.&nbsp;
Shah’s appointment comes as there is increased public attention over members of the Prime Minister’s inner circle being appointed to key advisory positions as well as to head governance reform committees.

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