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Arthur Larok is Secretary General, ActionAid International, a global federation working in 46 countries to achieve social justice, gender equality and poverty eradication. He was previously Federation Development Director, ActionAid International for 4 years, Country Director, ActionAid Uganda for six years. He is also a member of the Transitions Assistance Practice Group (TAPG) hosted by the Institute for Integrated Transition (IFIT) in Barcelona, as well as Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Civic Research Network (CRN). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Sociology from Makerere University Kampala, Uganda and master’s in governance and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK. He has coedited a Book on Uganda’s Civil Society and authored several papers, including ‘Protecting the Tree or Saving the Forest’: A Political Analysis of the Legal Environment for NGO Operations in Uganda” (2009) and ‘Uganda’s New Civic Activism: Beyond Egos and Logos’. Why do you think we should care about climate justice? Climate justice is a matter of utmost concern that demands our attention. It has a profound impact on the poorest and most marginalized groups, especially women, who bear the brunt of climate change. Their lives and traditional ways of living are at risk, exacerbating the cycle of poverty they face. At its core, climate justice is a question of human rights. It is crucial to hold accountable those responsible for contributing to the current dire state of our planet in order to safeguard the lives and dignity of those already affected or at risk due to climate change. The goal of climate justice is twofold: to prevent disproportionate harm caused by climate change on vulnerable groups and to provide them with the necessary resources to adapt to its effects. It also entails holding individuals responsible for their role in climate change accountable, urging them to take action to reduce their emissions. By promoting fairness, equity, and accountability, climate justice aims to address the challenges of climate change and its consequences comprehensively. What types of strategy should ActionAid International build to put pressure on big investors who finance toxic agribusiness and fossil fuels-based impacts? ActionAid International can employ various tactics to exert pressure on major investors supporting harmful agriculture and fossil fuel-related activities. These tactics encompass engaging in evidence-based policy dialogues with both state and non-state actors, including the private sector. They involve establishing agencies within impacted communities to foster the movement for climate justice. Encouraging civil society movements to exert pressure on national governments, facilitating the participation of communities, national governments, and activists in relevant global forums to advocate for divestment, demonstrating solidarity with climate activists, and engaging in legal battles are all part of the strategy. Furthermore, it is crucial for ActionAid International to prioritize the dissemination of knowledge concerning the detrimental impacts of toxic agriculture and fossil fuel-related consequences on the environment and human beings. This can be achieved through education campaigns and targeted lobbying efforts directed at decision-makers and the wider public. Collaborating with other groups and stakeholders is also essential for generating innovative solutions that mitigate the effects of climate change and promote sustainable development. How is ActionAid International advocating for the economic development of countries by transforming extractive practices into regenerative methods? ActionAid International is actively engaged in advocating the transformation of extractive methods into regenerative approaches, with the aim of fostering economic growth in nations. One of our primary objectives is to advance agroecology, which encompasses holistic and environmentally beneficial farming practices. Moreover, we strive to encourage the adoption of sustainable energy technologies to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and combat climate change. Recognizing the pivotal role of women in building resilient communities and driving economic progress, we focus on empowering women-led initiatives for community resilience. ActionAid International ensures the integration of green, inclusive, and resilient development principles in its initiatives and endeavors, prioritizing sustainability and long-term well-being. We collaborate with governments to formulate effective policies that support regenerative economic practices. What do you think should be done to mobilize youths who may not yet be aware of the importance of climate issues across the globe? There are various initiatives that can be implemented to engage young individuals who may not fully comprehend the significance of global climate challenges. Firstly, it is crucial to emphasize that climate change is a concern for future generations and that it directly impacts their rights. Secondly, integrating climate change education into the formal education system is essential. By incorporating climate-related themes into the curriculum, young people can develop a deeper understanding of the issue and its relevance. Empowering youth is vital as it enables them to comprehend the impact of climate change in their own surroundings. One approach to achieve this is by providing young people with opportunities to conduct their own research on the effects of climate change. It is also crucial to facilitate access to local, national, regional, and global forums to allow young people to express their concerns, contribute to conversations, and participate in discussions on climate change at all levels. Lastly, fostering South-South cooperation can encourage collaboration and shared learning among young people worldwide, while also promoting solidarity in the pursuit of climate justice.

The program ‘Education for All-02’, organized by Trinity Alumni Association Nepal (TrAAN), has been successfully completed. TrAAN conducted a social program targeted to the distribution of educational materials in various schools and to students in difficult areas of Nepal. Similarly, this year TrAAN distributed educational materials to Simigaun Primary School in Gaurishankar Rural Municipality-9, Simigaun, and Gaurishankar Higher Secondary School in Bigu Rural Municipality-1, Jagat.  The organization distributed educational materials to 346 students from Playgroup level to Class 10 at Gaurishankar Higher Secondary School. TrAAN provided students with bags, copies, pencils, and other educational materials. TrAAN also distributed various educational and sports materials to 30 students from playgroup level of Class 5 at Simigau Primary School. Besides these, the organization also provided two computers to the school.

In today’s digital age, cybercrime is one of the most hot and most discussed topics. The concept of hacking which is part of cybercrime involves the use of modern technology and computer systems, cybercrime is a relatively modern phenomenon that emerged with the advent of computers and the internet in the late 20th century. In this 21st century there is a rise in the phenomenon of internet use, computer systems and modern technology which is connected with the internet. The more there is advance in technology, the more there is rise of cybercrime or in simple, cyber hacking. Cybercrime is a modern crime which is performed using technology which is connected to the internet and performed to those who are connected to the internet, it might be any equipment, any system which requires the internet to function. In cybercrime, the most performed crime is hacking. Hacking is one the most performed cybercrime, which involves cracking passwords, finding sensitive vulnerabilities and getting unauthorized access and leaking the data in various forums. Current status Nowadays, seeing the overall world, daily there is one news regarding cybercrime. Mostly in the case of Asian countries it is more observed in countries like Nepal, where after Covid-19 pandemic, there is a rise in cybercrime to a sufficient level. Nepal has one of the weakest cyber security. The country lacks ethical hackers to prevent the system from getting hacked. Every nook of the website has vulnerabilities, which leads hackers to take over sensitive data and leak it. Mostly it can be said Nepal has become an area for hackers to test their skills, moreover hacking skills. In covid pandemic and After covid pandemic there has been huge rise in cybercrime , most over hacking attacks in websites , sometimes at national and international airport servers gets hacks , twitter of PM gets hacked, supreme court bar associations website hacked and defacement in website of government and non-governments , Vianet hack, huge DDos attack in website of Nepal and many more other cases where individuals and organizations are hampered. These are the reasons which show among Asian countries how weak there is in the cyber security of Nepal. It doesn’t mean that other Asian countries' cyber security is strong but in the context of Nepal it seems weaker. It shows the government of Nepal isn’t serious regarding protecting the digital freedom of citizens, their privacy and moreover the confidential document which is stored in various governmental websites of Nepal. Not only crime status, the law also doesn’t seem to be able to deal with today’s upgraded cybercrime. Factor that makes security of Nepal weak There are several factors that make the security of Nepal weak. The major factor is the lack of seriousness of the government in regard to the protection of privacy and digital rights of citizens. It is more observed that there is great weakness of the government in the rise of cybercrime in Nepal. Likewise another factor is the role of citizens. The citizens are well trained to use the devices in perfect ways, they click on any links and installations of apps which are not useful which lead them to hackers to hack into their accounts and devices. Similarly, it has been observed that there is a huge bug in the website of Nepal, in a simple sense, which leads to hackers to hack into their websites and steal sensitive information. The admin of websites are not aware in regard to upgrading their system, updating the current version of websites, it might be plugins, themes and many other security measures. Moreover the root cause is lack of resources and expertise. There is a lack of resources and experts to curb cybercrime and enhance high cyber security measures in Nepal. Need of defense system Moreover, the current status shows that there is a requirement for a defense system to handle cybercrime in Nepal. A defense attacker is a cyber-security professional who is trained to think like an attacker and identify potential vulnerabilities in the system before they can be exploited. In general, cybercrime cannot be controlled but as it is said “prevention is better than cure”, prevention can be performed by individuals or any organizations in order to protect oneself from being in the trap of cyber hackers. In field of cybercrime, prevention is only the options, cure merely doesn’t work, because for example you mobile is hacked and there is important data in your mobile but once your device is hacked and data is leaked and supply, there is no more chance to retrieve the that from anywhere, once it is leaked it is leaked, so there is no cure, it is half impossible to delete the data from whole server and retrieve it. So one way of protecting is from using the theory of prevention. Likewise, as crime is increasing there is a huge need for a defense system. If there is an army to protect the country, then there should also be a cyber army in order to defend the country from cyber-attacks.  Likewise, there should be a special police unit which is active for 24 hours for action in cybercrime. The government should start by hiring hackers because they can guide them in order to improve and enhance the system. Inviting foreign cyber experts is also a good idea as they could train our own cybersecurity team. Cybersecurity and technology should also be incorporated in our school curricula, so that our children are aware about cybercrime and are able to protect their personal data and privacy. Cybercrime cannot be completely controlled, but it can be minimized with use of proper security tools.  Bibek Chaudhary BA LLB, Nepal Law Campus, Kathmandu

“Buddha was born in Nepal”, a Nepalese might not know their ABCs but will know this statement with all of their heart. From what I can make of it, this statement symbolizes the ever so dull nature of Nepali identity. Particularly, the perception of Nepalese towards gender, the way our identity is molded to remain stagnant towards gender and sexuality outside the norm. Time leaves no stone unturned and Nepal is no exception; while countries have flourished from sand to urban marvels, people have transformed from creating fire to questioning the need of fire, mindsets have flourished to accept new horizons and endless possibilities, Nepalese identity has remained stagnant. Considering the sphere of gender and sexuality, I find gender identity in Nepal to be in a quicksand. On the surface, the legal acceptance makes Nepal seem as though it lies on the far left of the political spectrum; however, the reaction of most towards gender expression outside the norm is hateful, disguised as acceptance by legal boundaries. Hatred that was prevalent in the late 60s in the USA, hatred that fueled the derogatory of word for the gays, the same hatred is fueling Nepali identity to this date, making it ever so stagnant. I ask the readers if their parents would happily accept the fact that their child is a homosexual and would readily post pictures of them like they would if the partner was of the opposite sex. Now, let us look at it through the eyes of those that are indeed expressing their identities outside the norm. How do they feel? Now, as subjective as feelings are; for this case, they are relative too. Relative to other countries and how gender identity and its perception has changed over time. While efforts have been made to remove the stigma of being a homosexual, such as pride parades, communities and so on, they are redundant in removing the mindset that exists. The stagnant mindset attached to the Nepalese identity. Comfortable is one word that a Nepali queer person will never speak of when asked about how they feel expressing their sexuality to other people. People outside the subcultures that accept them of course. Outside the norm sexuality expression had to be kept a secret by the military in both the world wars, outside the norm sexuality expression had to be kept a secret in Nepal. Nepalese identity, ever so stagnant. The discrepancies among legal framework, ideology, morality and societal acceptance towards alternate gender and sexuality expression are under the guise of the law, negligible movement and short lived acknowledgement. While legal protocols do make it necessary for people to accept alternate expressions, the thought of forcing people to accept a thing as trivial as expression itself is wrong at all levels. The acceptance is not innate, people are learning to hate but accept.  In and out of the quicksand, I find gender and sexuality expression in Nepal to be in a crisis. Sakshat Pant, A2 level, Chelsea International Academy

The Supreme Court has issued an interim order directing the government not to implement the Citizenship Bill authenticated by President Ram Chandra Paudel immediately. Hearing the writ petitions filed by senior advocate Surendra Bhandari and Bal Krishna Neupane on Sunday, a single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma issued a short-term order directing the government to not implement the Citizenship Bill certified by President Paudel. The apex court has called both sides for the discussion. The government has already published the Citizenship Bill in the Nepal gazette. Earlier on Friday, senior advocate Bhandari and Neupane had registered separate writs against the authentication of the bill. The writs were filed at the Supreme Court after President Paudel certified the controversial Citizenship Bill on Wednesday. On August 15, 2022, President Bidya Devi Bhandari had returned this very Bill to the House of Representatives for a review, in accordance with a constitutional provision, 15 days after its submission for authentication after endorsement from the House of Representatives and the National Assembly on July 22 and July 28, respectively. But the Parliament had again sent the legal instrument to the President’s Office for authentication without incorporating presidential concerns. Subsequently, President Bhandari kept the Bill on hold, courting controversy with a section of the legal fraternity pointing that it was a breach of authority on the part of the head of the state. Amid a continuing controversy, the country went for federal and provincial elections on November 20, 2022 and a new Parliament took shape along with new governments and a new President. This meant the expiry of the old Bill, per experts. But the Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led coalition government chose to press ahead with the same Bill and got an express seal of approval, without the President bothering to send it back to the HoR for review. When the then President Bhandari refused to authenticate this Bill, some parties accused her of violating the Constitution. Later, the government chose to submit the Bill to the President instead of tabling it to the House of Representatives or the National Assembly for approval. Subsequently, the President authenticated it. Meanwhile, the main opposition CPN-UML obstructed the Parliament meeting today over the authentication of the bill.  

The Ministry of Health and Population has directed health facilities across the country to allocate 10 percent of beds to indigent, helpless and neglected patients for free treatment. The Ministry dispatched a separate letter to health facilities at each local level and to all the government, community and private health institutions across the country to set aside 10 percent of total beds they each have for providing free treatment to the target groups. This is the third time the Ministry is sending instructions to hospitals at 753 local levels to implement the provision mandated by the Clause 64 of Public Health Service Act and the Clause 70 (D) of Health Facility Operation Standard-2077 BS. The standard mandates each health facility to allocate 10 percent of beds for free treatment of poor, helpless and neglected people. The Ministry has said it would be monitoring whether its directive was endorsed by hospitals.  

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 53. 03 points to close at 1,919.37 points on Sunday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 9. 49 points to close at 365. 10 points. A total of 4,557,169-unit shares of 270 companies were traded for Rs 1. 65 billion. Meanwhile, IGI Prudential insurance Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, ICFC Finance Limited Debenture was the top loser with its price dropping by 1. 96 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 80 trillion.

President Ram Chandra Paudel has appointed ambassadors to various countries on Sunday. The Head-of-the-State has appointed six resident ambassadors and non-resident ambassadors to various countries in accordance with the Constitution of Nepal, said the Office of the President. The newly-appointed resident ambassadors are Dilli Raj Poudel for Malaysia, Nirmal Raj Kafle for Brazil, Bharat Kumar Regmi for Austria, Milan Raj Tuladhar for the Russian Federation, Prof Dr Ram Swartha Raya for Denmark and Sushil Kumar Lamsal for Egypt. Similarly, the President has designated Paudel as the non-resident ambassador to Brunei Darusalam, Kafle the non-resident ambassador to the Republic of Chile, Regmi the non-resident ambassador to Croatia, Tuladhar the non-resident ambassador to Kazakhstan, Raya the non-resident ambassador to Lithuania and Lamsal the non-resident ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Algeria, the President's Office said.