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The Open Nepal Initiative (ONI) highlights the increasing number of incidents of online violence targeting women politicians in Nepal.

The report published by the ONI reveals how this pervasive issue undermines democratic participation and silences critical voices in public discourse.

Based on monitoring the social media accounts of 12 prominent women politicians over three months (August–October 2024), the findings expose alarming patterns and underscore the urgent need to create safer digital spaces.

The report documents a disturbing upward trend in online violence against women in politics. In August alone, 24 incidents were recorded, with "Insult and Hate Speech" accounting for 67% of the cases. The following month saw 35 incidents, with 74.3% falling under the same category, along with cases of physical threats and sexualized distortions. October witnessed a record 44 incidents, with "Insult and Hate Speech" maintaining a 70.5% share. “These attacks not only target women’s political stances but also degrade them based on their gender, attempting to diminish their credibility and silence their voices,” states the report.

The study identifies Twitter as the primary platform for online abuse, responsible for most incidents during the three-month period. The anonymity and reach of social media platforms enable perpetrators to launch coordinated attacks, spreading disinformation and gendered hate speech against female politicians.

The most targeted female politicians included Toshima Karki and Sumana Shrestha of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Arzu Rana Deuba of Nepali Congress (NC). Lawmaker Karki, a former State Minister for Health, faced the highest volume of abuse for advocating disaster preparedness and addressing corruption allegations. Similarly, Shrestha, known for her anti-corruption stance, experienced sustained online harassment, particularly for defending her party leader against fraud allegations.

Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba became the target of misogynistic comments and false corruption allegations, with users associating her with scandals despite her diplomatic achievements. “These cases highlight how female politicians, regardless of their political affiliations or contributions, are disproportionately targeted with abuse and disinformation,” according to the report.

Lead researcher of the report Deepak Adhikari noted that women politicians are often attacked not for their policies but for their gender, with perpetrators questioning their competence and motives to undermine their credibility. “Twitter’s prominence in these cases underscores the need for platform accountability in addressing gender-based online violence,” he said. “The constant barrage of abuse discourages women from participating in public life, weakening democratic representation and diversity.”

The study recommends several measures, including strengthening cyber laws, organizing public awareness campaigns, establishing support mechanisms, offering legal and psychological support for women politicians experiencing online abuse, and ensuring social media accountability.

Adhikari stressed that the findings highlight a digital-age crisis where platforms intended to foster dialogue have become tools for silencing women. “Online violence against women in politics threatens not only their personal well-being but also the democratic principles of equity and representation,” he said, urging governments, social media companies, and civil society to collaborate in creating safe, inclusive digital spaces where women can lead without fear.

The CPN (Unified Socialist) has made it clear that it would not forward the unification bid with any political party for now.

The ongoing Standing Committee meeting of the party concluded that it would not be unified with any other parties until there were similarities in future action plan and principles.

The meeting passed the proposal presented by General Secretary Ghanashyam Bhusal.

The party further decided to field party leaders as candidates in the coming election across the country. It also underlined the need for consolidating party organisation. Bhusal presented a report on the party's future programs and policy.

The meeting continued at the party central office, Aloknagar, since December 11 witnessed views from all leaders on the action plan the party needs advancing.

Vice Chairman Jagannath Khatiwada shared the information that the party would conduct a programme named ‘party with village people’ in a bid to consolidate party organization.

The taskforce led by party Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal will present the division of portfolios among leaders, which would be endorsed by the meeting, said Khatiwada. It is said the only competent leaders would be picked for heading various departments and sister organizations.

The Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (Nefej) has drawn the attention of the government towards the haphazard use of dozers in the name of infrastructural development in the villages without paying attention to environmental and other issues.

As a result, the land has loosened and become weak not only in the rainy season but also in the dry season.

Issuing a statement on Monday, the Nefej said that not only the local government, but also the local political parties and other stakeholders need to be serious to stop the reckless use of dozers in the name of development, stressing that the general public also needs to raise their voice on such issues.

The Nefej said that it would like to draw the attention of the government to stop such destructive activities being carried out in the name of development just to spend the allocated budget and to secure votes.  Mainly, the federal government needs to pay attention to such issues.

“There was a water crisis in many districts this time due to floods and landslides. The destruction of traditional water sources and drawing water from rivers and streams through pumps are the key reasons. The crisis was a result of floods and landslides sweeping away the pumps and wells and lacking of traditional water sources,” reads the statement, underscoring that the concerned authorities need to pay special attention to the protection of traditional water sources in the villages while carrying out reconstruction.

The issue of illegal extraction of riverbed materials and operation of crusher industries all over the country has been in discussion for a long time. But the concerned authorities have not been giving attention.  The earth is being weakened by the operation of crusher industries on one hand and on the other hand the haphazard dumping of dust and granules from mines and crushes have been causing a huge damage to the environment.

The crushers being operated illegally and haphazardly could not be brought under the law owing to the protection from the political and administrative levels. The issue was discussed for some time soon after the floods, but now the relevant authorities have forgotten this issue and the crushers have started operating again without paying attention to the environment. The concerned authorities need to pay serious attention to the matter, the statement further reads.

“The reconstruction work is progressing gradually. It is high time that the local governments need to formulate policy in such a way so that the damage that may occur in the future before the common people build their houses and other structures could be minimized. People should not be allowed to build houses in steep places and to leave a certain space while building houses on the river banks among others.”

At least 246 people died, 178 were injured and 18 are still missing in the floods and landslides that occurred on September 26, 27 and 28 across the country.

The government is preparing to set a limit of Rs 2.5m on individual deposits in cooperative institutions, citing increased risks stemming from large deposits driven by high-interest incentives.  

The government plans to introduce the savings cap and a host of other reform measures through an ordinance, according to an official of the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation.  

This is in line with the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Special Committee on the Investigation of Misuse of Cooperative Deposits led by lawmaker Surya Thapa. The committee made a slew of recommendations ranging on limits on savings and loans in cooperatives, as well as forming a regulatory authority and credit information center for the sector.  

The official said the ordinance also proposes creating a Cooperative Regulation Commission and a Credit Information Centre, among other institutions, as recommended by the committee.  

This, however, is not the first time that the government is preparing to introduce a savings cap in cooperative institutions. Two years ago, the government had proposed to introduce an individual savings cap of Rs 2.5m in cooperative institutions through an amendment to Article 52 of the Cooperative Act, 2017. However, the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the lower house rejected the proposed amendment.  

The committee also rejected a proposal for the regulation of cooperatives with capital above Rs 250m and an annual turnover of over Rs 500m by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).  

Lawmakers from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) had expressed dissatisfaction with the decision to reject the amendment proposal. Interestingly, RSP President Rabi Lamichhane has been in the custody of Kaski police since Oct 18, under investigation for his alleged role in the misuse of deposits from the Pokhara-based Suryadarshan Saving and Credit Cooperative.  

The number of troubled cooperatives unable to return public deposits has been on the rise, mainly due to a lack of strong regulatory and oversight mechanisms. To address this, the ministry drafted the ordinance, proposing measures to regulate savings and credit cooperatives.  

Earlier this year, parliament amended the Nepal Rastra Bank Act, 2001 and the Cooperative Act, 2017, granting Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) the authority to regulate, inspect, and issue directives for cooperatives involved in savings and loans. This paved the legal way for the central bank to regulate cooperatives with capital or annual turnover exceeding Rs 500m.

The government has announced to honor 35 people from the sports fraternity for their stellar victory in various international competitions.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung shared this while unveiling the decisions of the cabinet meetings convened last Thursday and Friday.

Among the key decisions made in the meetings, the government decided to honor award winning players and their coaches, managers and physiotherapists who brought home medals in the international-level football, karate and beach volleyball competitions.

Minister Gurung, also the Spokesperson of the government, informed that the government has approved in-principle for advancing the compensation and addressing problems related to the under-construction Nagdhunga Tunnel Project.

The other notable decisions of the last two cabinet meetings are accepting the grant assistance worth USD 100 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Green, Resilient and Inclusive Development Programme, ADB's USD 170 million concessional loan and USD 15 million grant assistance for the project related to improvement of drinking water supply in the Kathmandu Valley.

The meeting also decided to accept USD 3 million grant assistance from the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific in addition to the USD 85 million from the ADB for the project concerning modernization of irrigation.

Other important decisions included appointing Devraj Dgungana in the Executive Director of the Security Print Press Centre and nominating Dr Rajendra Prasad Baral and Deepakraj Sapkota as the Board of Directors of the Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre.

The government approved the fourth period report to be submitted by Nepal to the Committee of the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Furthermore, the MoU to be signed between the governments of Nepal and India for projects related to the development of water, sanitation and hygiene has been approved.

Additionally, the meeting approved the Electronic Good-Governance Commission (Formation and Operation) (First Amendment) Order and Guideline on the usage of domestically produced goods in the public offices.

The government also approved the Micro, Cottage and Small Enterprises Promotion Policy, the Industrial and Investment Promotion Fund Operation Procedure and National Urban Development Policy-2081 BS.

Nirmala Sharma has been elected the Chair of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ). She is the first female figure to head the umbrella organisations of journalists.

As per the announcements of the final vote's counts made by the FNC Central Election Committee on Sunday late night, Sharma secured 4,282 votes against 3,203 of her nearest competitor Ramesh Bista to win the election. 

Devi Prasad Sapkota, the third candidate for the chair post, obtained 270 votes while another contender Lal Singh Lama got 96. 

Similarly, Deepak Acharya has won the election for the Senior Vice Chair by receiving 4, 230 votes against 2,886 of his nearest competitor Roshan Puri.

Towards the Woman Vice Chair, Nitu Pundit obtained 4,705 votes to win the election while her rival Gangal Baral got 2,644.

Umid Bagchand won the post of Vice Chair (Inclusive) with 4292 votes while his nearest rival Susbhash Prasad Sah secured 2,080.

Ram Prasad Dahal has been elected the General Secretary with 4084 votes   and his nearest competitor Lekhnath Neupane got 1,929 and Ramesh Khatiwada has been elected as the Secretary from open with 3400 votes.

Other elected office bearers are Soni Sharma (Secretary, Woman- 4347), Sabin Priyasan (Secretary, Indigenous Nationalities-3,535), Ashok Kumar Tiwari (Secretary, Madheshi-3,858), Prakash Dhaulakoti (Secretary, Dalit- 4,110) and Baikuntha Raj Parajuli (Secretary, Associate-3,645).

Ramkrishna Adhikari has been elected on the post of treasurer with 3,847 votes.

Kamal Rimal, Shankar Kharel, Raju Bishwakarma and Rajesh Kumar Karna have been elected the central members representing the Koshi, and Madhesh provinces respectively.  Each province has two members on the central committee.

From the Bagmati Province (except the Kathmandu Valley, Nawaraj Pathik and Narayan Prasad Adhikari have won the election for the posts of central members while Krishna KC and KB Rana represent the Gandaki Province on the central committee.

Ramraj Pokhrel and Bikash Banjade are the newly elected central members from the Lumbini Province while Tularam Pandey and Nagendra Prasad Upadhya represent the Karnali Province.

Arjun Pant and Surya Subedi are from the Valley Province to get elected as the central members while Birendra Oli and Sabita Sharma represent the Corporate Province.

Pabitra Mudbhari and Menuka Kunwar have been elected from the Associate Province while Chhabilal Tiwari, Bhupendra Acharya, Mukunda Prasad Bhandari, Rameshwor Karki and Labadev Dhungana have won the elections for the central members through an open category.

 Ruby Kumari Rauniyar (Madhesi Woman), Mala Palungawa (Indigenous Nationalities), Leela Shah Yogi (Khas Arya Woman),   Rita Budhathoki (Dalit Woman-unopposed) are the newly elected members on the FNJ central committee, representing various clusters.

 Sikendra Paswan (Dalit), Sabitri Rasaili (Dalit-unopposed), Bharat Jargha Magar (Indigenous nationalities), Devika Gharti Magar (Indigenous Nationalities woman-unopposed), Raj Karan Mahato (Madheshi), Lalita Kumari Shah (Madhesi woman), Bhuparaj Basyal (person with disabilities) and Laxman Thami (minorities) have been elected the FNJ central members.

KC Lamichhane has won the election for the FNJ Public Committee Coordinator while Keshab Prasad Bohora has been elected as the members on the same committee and Rukmini Pokhrel has been elected as the member from the committee.  The FNJ elections for all the three-tier leadership were held simultaneously on Friday, December 13.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 51. 37 points to close at 2,9630.91 points on Wednesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 6. 93 points to close at 451. 28 points.

A total of 12,745,777-unit shares of 304 companies were traded for Rs 5. 93 billion.

Meanwhile, Kutheli Bukhari Small Hydropower Limited (KBSH) was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Likewise, Janaki Finance Company Limited (JFL) was the top loser as its price fell by 9. 58 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 4. 36 trillion.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) in association with the Consulate General of India (Birgunj, Nepal) and Chamber of Commerce & Industry-Chitwan (CCIC) and under the aegis of its bilateral economic Think Tank “India-Nepal Centre”, organized the “India-Nepal Economic Partnership Summit 2024” on December 14, 2024 at CCIC Headquarter, Chitwan, Nepal.

The Summit was organized to create a uniquely important platform for discussing a forward looking bilateral economic partnership agenda.  

The deliberations supported by the decision-makers' will help in opening new avenues of business engagements in the key sectors of economy besides giving a much needed boost to the economic hub of Chitwan and trade near the crucial India-Nepal border in Birgunj.

The main objective of the summit was to create a platform through joint action for deeper economic engagement between India and Nepal (with focus on remittance, imports, exports and Balance of Payment (BoP) challenges in Nepal), to channelize investment from India to Nepal and other ways round, to re-establish the India-Nepal bilateral relations as the core strength of the sub-regional co-operation in South Asia, to create a sustained convergence of industry and government, for thriving on the mutually beneficial India-Nepal bilateral relations in all crucial realms, to bring-in to notice the hidden potential in the Border Area Development Program and paving the way for India’s major involvement in helping the infrastructural facelift of Nepal’s bordering districts in Bihar and making them the gateways of India-Nepal Trade Connection, to discuss and ideate for making Cluster-based Economic Zones across Nepal and to further relax the cross-border trade norms to secure and sustain the greater economic engagements, reads a statement.

While setting the tone of the Summit with interpreting the existing macroeconomic scenario of Nepal, the Session Chair Atul K Thakur, Secretary, India-Nepal Centre, PHDCCI reflected on the necessity for having a collaborative approach among the stakeholders in the government and industry to tap the rich potential and also cope the challenges in post-pandemic times through India-Nepal economic cooperation. With emphasis on the Summit’s dwelt discussion points (New Roadmap for Accelerating India-Nepal Bilateral Cooperation; Promoting Industrial Development in Nepal and India; Revisiting Bilateral Trade Policies; Expanding Bilateral and Sub-regional Economic Cooperation; Improving Border Area Development and Connectivity), the discussions took place during the Summit.

 In his opening remarks, Suman Shrestha, President, Chamber of Commerce & Industry-Chitwan (CCIC) acknowledged that industrial development of Nepal is affected by the adverse economic fundamentals and that it necessitates closer collaboration between the business communities of India and Nepal.

He dwelt on CCIC’s remarkable contributions for the sustainable industrial development in Chitwan region and reassured for further deepening of India-Nepal bilateral economic cooperation with keeping the industries in Chitwan open for closer business partnerships, according to the statement.

 Anil Kumar Agrawal, President, Birgunj Chamber of Commerce & Industries (BICCI) recounted Birgunj’s achievements as a major trade hub of Nepal and how BICCI has been contributing over the decades in making the industry and trade, the mainstay of this place crucially important for India-Nepal economic relations. He said that, with the PHDCCI India-Nepal Centre, such bilateral economic forums will be a regular exercise to help the bilateral economic ecosystem between India and Nepal.

Devi Sahai Meena, Consul General of India, Birgunj, Nepal reassured India's support to accelerate the economic cooperation between India and Nepal. Through policy and implementation, India has been a key development partner of Nepal. He said, “Government of India is providing assistance for development of cross-border trade related infrastructure. It includes up-gradation of four major Integrated Check Posts at Birgunj-Raxaul, Biratnagar-Jogbani, Bhairahawa-Sunauli and Nepalgunj-Rupaidiha to international standards; upgrading approach highways to the border on the Indian side; broad gauging and extending rail links to Nepal. Integrated Check Posts at Birgunj and Biratnagar are fully functional.

Nepalgunj-Rupaidiha ICP was inaugurated by the Prime Ministers of both the countries on June 1, 2023, construction work of the integrated check post at the Sunauli-Bhairahawa border started at the same time. The Jaynagar–Janakpur–Bardibas cross border railway line between India and Nepal has been reopened after upgradation. This line is operational now between Jaynagar and Kurtha and will be extended upto Bardibas.  Motihar – Raxaul-Amlekhganj petroleum pipeline is transporting diesel to Nepal. 

This pipeline project between India and Nepal is the first of its kind in the entire South Asia and was jointly inaugurated by Prime Ministers of India and Nepal on 10.9.2019. 

Muzaffarpur – Dhalkebar 400 KV power transmission line built with Govt of India’s grant assistance was inaugurated by Prime Ministers of both the countries in 2016. 

The line is operating at its full capacity.  Similarly, Raxaul – Parwanipur Cross Border Transmission line built with Govt of India grant is also operational.” He added that the India-Nepal relations are supported with complementarities and people-to-people, something that should be counted as strong foundational support. He also shared an overview of the main constituents of economic cooperation and challenges at policy level that need to be tackled.

 Among others, the “India-Nepal Economic Partnership Summit 2024” was also addressed by the leading expert on Nepal affairs Mahesh Kumar Agrawal, Bihar State Coordinator, Seema Jagran Manch; Atul Koirala, Board Member, BP Koirala India-Nepal Foundation & Techno-Entrepreneur and Anand Jha, Vice President (Head of Government Engagement: India & South Asia), Visa.

Well-timed and meant to foster the border trade with emphasis on bilateral and subregional economic cooperation, the second edition of “India-Nepal Economic Partnership Summit 2024” concluded at Chitwan with providing business linkages and partnerships.