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The recent India-China rapprochement has been intrigu­ing to observe from here in India. Open a random news­paper or flip through the TV news channels, and there is bound to be a news story on how India and China have decided to ‘cooperate’ rather than ‘compete’. Most recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue forum in Singapore, made it clear that India pursues an independent foreign pol­icy and does not believe in joining any (read: pro-US) bloc. But in the next breath, he added that India is firmly in favor of unhindered and open navigation in South China Sea. This was in reference to what India and the West see as China’s ‘militarization’ of this vital global trade route.

Interestingly, the very next day, He Lei, a top Chinese general who was heading the Chinese delegation at the forum, termed Modi’s rather blunt statement on South China Sea ‘positive’. There clearly are renewed efforts to defuse old Indo-China tensions, even if the leaders of the two countries sometimes have to say provocative things to please their domestic constituencies. These efforts stem largely from the realization that only if the two Asian powers work together can they effectively counter Donald Trump’s protectionist tendencies.

As Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is set to embark on his official trip to the northern neighbor, what does this thaw­ing of Indo-China ties entail for Nepal? If there is a level of understanding between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on how to deal with other smaller countries in the neighborhood, it could mean India would have fewer qualms about Nepal reaching out to China.

But therein lies the danger. As happened with the 2015 Indo-China bilateral agreement on the Lipulekh tri-junction, vital issues of Nepal’s interest may increasingly be decided in Beijing and New Delhi. In the dealings between big powers, the interests of smaller players can often be ignored. This is why the Nepali foreign policy apparatus as well as PM Oli will have to be proactive in maintaining open and extensive channels of communication with both India and China.

In his second term as prime minister, Oli has been largely successful in performing the delicate balancing act between India and China. But unless our foreign ministry apparatus is also strengthened to quickly respond to emerging foreign policy challenges, and to come up with long-term strategies to back the prime minister’s international outlook, his efforts alone may prove inadequate o

Information Security Response Team Nepal (NPCERT) is organizing the Global Cyber Security Summit (GCSS) 2018 in July 27-28, with the theme “Building Global Alliance for Cyber Resilience”. The summit is intended to empower professionals and organizations to build security resilience by bringing in contemporary issues of cybersecurity, mitigation strategies, and solutions with comprehensive Cybersecurity infrastructure.

GCSS 2018 will highlight the silos between business objectives and cyber security readiness in changing landscape of security threats. Some of the main objectives of the summit are to analyze roles of Cyberlaw, Cyber policy and Cyber security practices in today’s world, to identify the areas in Cybersecurity that needs to be further enhanced to meet the expectations and needs of businesses and to build a global alliance for cybersecurity resilience among others.

The GCSS also invites abstracts of presentations from cybersecurity experts, practitioners, and researchers. GCSS provides a platform to share knowledge and experience on new cybersecurity trends, technologies, practices, and innovations. For more information: http://npcert.org/callforpaper.html

Nepal: Then and Now juxta­poses historical and contem­porary photographs of Nepal to examine how the physi­cal and social landscape of Nepal has changed over time. The exhibit started on May 25 inside the premises of Bikalpa Art Center, Lalitpur. Bikalpa is a non-profit devoted to bring­ing art to the general public.

The photo exhibition shows the changes Nepal has under­gone in the past 100 years. The displayed photos repre­sent perspectives of eight dif­ferent photographers, each comparison representing dif­ferent interpretations of the theme of a Nepal in flux.

The participant pho­tographers were Shisang Khyungba Lama, Fritz Berger, Bipin Raj Tiwari, Katherine Cheng, Pablo Lopez, Shrijana Shrestha, Peter Gill and Ram Paudel. The exhibition ends on June 1.

Sometimes you don’t want to eat within the confined walls. But then you also don’t want to drive to the outskirts of the busy city just for a meal close to nature. This is when you can go to The Yard by Oasis Garden Homes at Sanepa and enjoy delicious food while marveling a beautiful garden. Located in the quiet neighborhood of Sanepa (near Nick Simmons Institute) The Yard is a continental cafe serving delicious Mediterranean and Continental cuisines. A cozy patio and picnic benches make for a casual setting for The Yard, which grows its own herbs and organic vegetables. These in turn are turned into mouth-watering dishes by its female chef Senu Ranjeet Shrestha, one of the very few women heading a restaurant kitchen in Nepal.

THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

Grilled Salmon fillet with pesto sauce

Peri Peri Chicken Wings

Chicken Scallopini

Opening hours: 12 pm-10 pm

Location: Sanepa

Cards: Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 2,500

Reservations: 5532965/9851095046

To promote tourism of East Nepal, the first East Tourism Mart is being organized on June 7-9 in the eastern town of Dharan. It is the first B2B (Business to Business) event for the promotion of the ‘Virgin East’ of Nepal, which offers pan­oramic views of Mt Everest, Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Makalu. As popular in this region is the Rhododendron Trail (Tinjure-Milke-Jaljale). East Nepal has enormous tourism prospects and a big presence is expected from different states of India, as well as from Bhutan, Bangladesh, and China. Among those attending will be buyers, sellers, national and international media, travel industry professionals and delegates. Even casual observers are most welcome. For more informa­tion visit: welcomenepal.com

Applications are open for the Social Business Challenge 2018, on August 22, an initiative of Yunus Social Business Center Nepal, King’s col­lege. The program is being held in collaboration with likeminded organizations to promote social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship and job creation in order to help the country achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The objective is to develop the basic insights and understanding of social enterprise as a mech­anism to solve the socio-economy inequality and to invite participants to “Social Business Challenge” to design, present and implement the most feasible venture ideas to achieve the SDGs. The thematic areas are ICT, Sustainable Tourism, Agriculture, Renewable Energy & Environment, Education, Gender Equality, Water and Sanita­tion, Health for 2018

For details: [email protected]

Radio Annapurna Nepal 94.0 MHz celebrated its fourth anni­versary on May 29 by conferring senior singer Yogesh Baidya with its annual ‘Dirgha Sadhana Sam­man 2075’. The prize comprises of a commemorative plaque and a purse of Rs 25,000. Chairman of the Annapurna Media Network Captain Rameshwar Thapa con­ferred the honor on Baidya.

On the occasion, senior musi­cian Yadav Kharel lauded the AMN for honoring someone “who has tirelessly contributed to Nepali music for over five decades”.

AMN’s Group Editor Vijay Kumar Pandey said the AMN felt honored to be able to felicitate someone as accomplished as Baidya, who has not only enriched his field but also contributed to the strength­ening of nationalism. Likewise, Radio Annapurna Nepal’s Sta­tion Manager Thakur Belbase on the occasion informed that Radio Annapurna Nepal will soon be heard around the country via the 96.8 frequency “in the next two or three months”.

As their tokens of love, Suraj Thapa and Rita Maharjan, two young singers, sang renditions of two of Baidya’s songs.

For the first time in almost a mil­lennium, Dalits in the northeast­ern district of Dolpa have gained entry into the famous Balatripu­rasundari Bhagwati temple. Local priests claim that the shrine was built before the year 1057. Dalits, a traditionally downtrodden commu­nity, belong to the lowest rung of the Hindu caste hierarchy and continue to face discrimination even though the country’s laws ban any form of caste-based discrimination.

Local Man Bahadur Sarki says that Dalits had failed to gain entry into the temple despite repeated efforts to do so. Although there is a Dalit settlement adjacent to the temple, never before had they been able to worship in it.

“It was a huge struggle to make it possible for Dalits to worship col­lectively in the temple,” says Lila Tamata of Ked, a local NGO.

Local Dalits are extremely hap­py about the change. “In a district where caste-based bigotry is rife, the change marks an important mile­stone in the movement towards Dalit emancipation,” says Kali Chalaune, chairperson of the district interpar­ty women’s network.

BY TEK BAHADUR SHAHI | DOLPA