Time to rewrite the constitution
“It is time to move beyond the idea of political stability to the idea of constitutional stability.” Prime Minister KP Oli’s move to dissolve Parliament has unleashed a phase of political uncertainty which could devour more than the legislative body. Oli’s political endgame is not clear; it has brought into play internal political conflict, foreign…
Is Nepal Prepared to Take On the Novel Coronavirus COVID-19?
The Scare of COVID-19 The Nepal Embassy in Beijing has reported that as of February 2, 2020,[i] 180 Nepali students in the Hubei province of China including 62 from the Wuhan City have applied for immediate evacuation from the province that is currently reeling under the scare of coronavirus.[ii] The worldwide death toll continues to…
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Overambitious Campaign
With the share of foreign tourists standing at 49 percent, the target of two million is doomed. Visit Nepal Year 2020 targets two million international tourists. However, looking at the decreasing rate of incoming tourists in 2019, the campaign may be at a great disadvantage. The tourist growth was merely 2 percent last year. For…
Donor Complicity: A troubling Emergence in Nepali Politics
Donors and multilateral institutions must not continue to ignore corruption to fulfil their own objectives. Nepal currently has unprecedented opportunities for economic development along with establishing practices of good governance. These opportunities include a changing demography, the availability of cheap resources, political stability, federalism, geopolitical competition, and remittance. But this window of opportunities will last…
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Cyber Insecurity: Catastrophe in the Waiting
The vulnerabilities of Nepal’s banking system came to the fore on the night of August 31, 2019,[1] when five Chinese nationals were arrested in the capital, who were on ATM hacking spree in different places in Kathmandu. The hackers had come to Nepal on August 20 and had planned to return on September 2; their…
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News Digest: National Security & Climate Change (September 30 – October 6, 2021)
Center for Investigative Journalism Nepal (CIJ) through the documents provided by ICIJ has revealed that sixteen Nepalis have illegally invested in offshore companies and tax havens to avoid paying taxes. Some of the prominent names include Chaudhary Group and Golchha Organization. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on October 5 has endorsed security features…
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News Digest: National Security, Climate Change and Covid-19 (September 23 – 29, 2021)
National Security and Climate Change In an event on September 23, organized at the Nepal Army (NA) headquarters, PM Deuba has urged the NA to identify national security concerns and move forward with proper strategy. He applauded the role played by NA in disaster management especially during Covid-19 and expressed his commitments to support them…
News Digest – National Security, Climate Change, and COVID-19 (September 16 – 22, 2021)
National Security and Climate Change SAARC meet which was proposed to be held on September 25, has been cancelled on September 21 after it failed to receive concurrence from all member states. Two government officials confirmed that the meeting was cancelled after at least one SAARC nation raised the issue regarding the participation, or lack…
News Digest: Security and Hot Button Issues (September 08 – 15, 2021)
Covid-19 Issues Nepal Health Research Council is preparing to study the safety and efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines currently administered in the country. The study will help understand the efficiency of vaccines by testing the neutralizing antibodies. The neutralizing bodies are pro duced as an immune response to both infection and vaccination and are responsible…
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News Digest – National Security & Climate Change (September 2 – 8, 2021)
As of September 7, Nepal’s Covid-19 tally stands at 857,895 and the death tally has reached 10,568. There are 30,303 active cases of infection in the country while 731,000 people have made a recovery. The country recorded 1,677 new cases and 21 deaths. According to reports, the overall daily positivity rate stands at 11.54 per…
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August Analysis: National Security and Climate Change
The performance of the agencies involved in Covid-19 pandemic response in Nepal: Given the steady rise in the number of hospitalizations and slow rate of recovery in Covid-19 patients, public health experts suggested that another lockdown was unavoidable. However, Government of Nepal, disinclined to enforce a lockdown, announced prohibitory orders instead. Authorities decided to restrict…
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July Analysis: National Security & Climate Change
Taliban Takeover in Kabul Creates Unease in Kathmandu President Joe Biden’s announcement to withdraw all U.S troops from Afghanistan by September 11 not only marks the end of America’s longest fought war, it will also remove Taliban’s most formidable hurdle in its takeover of Afghanistan. While the move will create obvious geopolitical impacts and shifts…
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June Analysis: National Security and Climate Change
Nepal Battles with Layers of Crisis Nepal has been struggling to mitigate the crisis created by the COVID-19 virus but in combination with the chaos unleashed by the onset of monsoon, it has posed a considerably higher multi-risk situation. As the country continues to reel under the virus, districts like Palpa, Manang, Pyuthan, Syangja, Lamjung, and…
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May Analysis: The Effects of Politicking in a Pandemic
As the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the country and daily death tolls climbed to well over a hundred, Prime Minister Oli and his adversaries continued to spend their time politicking rather than focusing on crisis response. Despite the Prime Minister’s claim that the pandemic is under control, the situation began to unravel…
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Monthly Analysis: March 2021
MONTHLY ANALYSIS March 2021 Table of contents: A. Domestic Politics: Mahesh KushwhaaB. Governance: Shaleen ShahC. Federalism: Phiroj ChaudharyD. International and Foreign Affairs: Ajaya Bhadra KhanalE: National Security and Climate Change: Shuvangi Poudyal. A. DOMESTIC POLITICS 1. Timeline of Important Political Events in March, 2021 1.1 The Communist Party(ies): Dates and events:March 3: Nepal Communist Party…
Disputes on the Northern Border of Nepal—The Case of Humla
Photo: RSS Centre for Social Inclusion and Federalism (CESIF) held an event on February 9, 2021, focusing on ‘Disputes on the Northern Border of Nepal – The Case of Humla’ at Hotel Summit, Sanepa, Lalitpur. Jiwan Bahadur Shahi, Karnali Province’s opposition Nepali Congress leader and lawmaker, was the chief presenter at the event. Former Director…
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Covid-19 raises questions about the future of the Nepali state
Nepal will have to debate and talk about our ideas about the nation-state. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was discharged from the hospital Friday following a kidney transplant for the second time. Instead of resting as advised, he was eager to promote an optics of good health and political control. But he stumbled. While he…
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