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Kolkata: Sold by her family as a teenager, Zarin was beaten, drugged and repeatedly gang-raped—just one of many thousands of young women trafficked in India. Her home state of West Bengal—bordering Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal—is a key trafficking hub where more than 50,000 girls are missing, the highest figure in India, according to the latest national crime records.

Zarin, whose name has been changed, was sold to traffickers by her family after refusing an arranged marriage at the age of 16. “I said ‘no’, and told them I was too young,” Zarin, now 20, told AFP.

On a trip she thought was to visit her sister in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, some 1,900 kilometers away, she was instead handed over to a man. Her captors frequently drugged her to knock her out, and it was only when she hid her drug-laced meal that she realized she was being sexually abused.

“I lay there, pretending to be unconscious... then I saw three or four men entering the room,” she said. “That is when I understood what had been happening to me.” She fought back that time, but was gang-raped in the days to come.

India’s interior ministry registered 2,250 cases of human trafficking in 2022, according to the most recent data, but the real figure is believed to be much higher. Many of the missing girls are trafficked through Kolkata, state capital of West Bengal and one of India’s biggest cities—some into forced labor, others into prostitution.

Zarin’s captors later sold her on—she believes for less than $3,500. “They would beat me up, sexually abuse me,” she said, her voice breaking in emotion. “Speaking about this is painful.” She later escaped, and is trying to rebuild her life.

‘Traffickers exploit millions’

In the world’s most populous nation, the scale of the problem is vast.

A 2023 US State Department report on trafficking said that India is making ‘significant efforts’ but that they still fall below minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. “Traffickers exploit millions of people in commercial sex within India,” the report read, saying some gangs arrange “sham marriages within India and Gulf states” before forcing women into the sex trade. Social media, as well as mobile dating sites, are used to lure victims, it added.

Many are trapped by the long-outlawed practice of bonded labor, dubbed ‘debt slavery’ by rights campaigners, in which victims are forced to work to pay back borrowed cash while interest keeps mounting. It said “significant numbers” of Nepali and Bangladeshi women and girls are also lured to India for sex trafficking with the false promise of a job.

Pallabi Ghosh, founder of Impact and Dialogue Foundation, which works on rehabilitating trafficked survivors, said the numbers reported were far lower than reality due to ‘stigma’.

Families often don’t want to pursue the case once a missing girl is rescued. “Trafficking cases are tough to lodge,” she said. “That is the reason why traffickers are out there at large.”

The problem is acute, said Pinaki Sinha, from Kolkata-based anti-trafficking charity Sanlaap. Poverty is a key cause, said Sinha, saying some parents wanted their daughter to marry into an “economically better off family”.

Instead, the girls were abused. “There is a lack of awareness—and a lack of adequate support,” he said.

‘Tore my clothes’

Ayesha, 18, swapped a life working in a garment factory in neighboring Bangladesh, handing her and her mother’s savings of $285 to a broker who promised to smuggle her into India for better paid factory work. But after arriving in India, she was told the work at the factory was no longer available but that she could instead dance in a bar. Refusing that, and without income or shelter, she stayed with a man who offered her a room—only to attack her.

“I was begging him and crying,” Ayesha said, also not her real name. “He abused and hit me, tore my clothes and assaulted me.” She was then repeatedly sexually abused by two men. “They raped me more than eight or nine times over 18 days,” she said.

Ayesha managed to escape after contacting a neighbor. “I told the police that I want the two men to be punished for raping me,” she said. But officers told her it was her “mistake” for coming illegally to India and dismissed the case. Ayesha has not lost hope, planning to return home and become a beautician. “I want to be self-sufficient,” she said. “I want to forget all about it.”

AFP

As the 29th United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP29) approaches in Baku, Azerbaijan, Nepal’s delegation under President Ram Chandra Paudel is set to represent the nation’s climate challenges. Nepal, one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, faces rising threats from floods, landslides and unpredictable weather patterns. Yet, while Nepal’s participation aims to spotlight these urgent issues, the participation fails to reflect the voices of those most affected. Like always, this year’s COP preparation also exposes the troubling disconnect between official representation and grassroots needs.

Rather than including those directly affected by climate change—the farmers, local leaders and activists who confront these impacts daily—Nepal’s delegation comprises primarily political insiders and elites from NGOs and INGOs. Despite claiming to advocate for the vulnerable, these organizations have not extended a real invitation to those at the frontlines of climate change. Pre-COP meetings are being held in star hotels with closed doors to grassroots representatives, the very people whose insights and lived experiences could bring authenticity and urgency to the global stage. Instead, the delegation’s composition reflects political favoritism, not the inclusivity that should define climate advocacy.

The exclusion of affected communities, civil society and media professionals specializing in climate reporting raises serious concerns. Nepal’s most vulnerable regions are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Yet their voices remain unheard. UN agencies, NGOs and INGOs have largely ignored calls for transparency in the selection process, leaving the delegation stacked with privileged individuals who may lack genuine engagement with climate challenges on the ground.

For Nepal’s participation at COP29 to be meaningful, it must represent more than political interests. The experiences and insights of those facing climate-induced hardships must drive Nepal’s agenda, pushing for adaptive solutions rooted in the realities of vulnerable communities. Without grassroots representation, Nepal risks losing credibility on the international stage and, more critically, missing a vital opportunity to advocate for true climate justice. It is time for a change, ensuring that those directly affected by climate change have a seat at the table.

The cooperative sector of the country has been overwhelmed by fraudulent activities like fake marriages, property transfers and divorces. What’s more, cooperative institutions have been found to prepare fake audit reports and create fictitious creditors and shareholders.

The report prepared by the Parliamentary Special Investigation Committee on Misappropriation of Cooperative Savings reveals various malpractices and illegal activities in the cooperative sector. Among the 40 cooperatives under the committee’s scanner, 22 were declared problematic, while questions have been raised about the governance of 18 others. Six of these cooperatives have transactional links with the Gorkha Media Network.

GB Rai’s role

Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai from Okhaldhunga operated seven cooperatives across the country. He exercised sole decision-making authority in all of them. Some of these institutions were new, while others had merged with existing cooperatives. 

GB misappropriated nearly Rs 8.84bn in deposits from these cooperatives. Funds were misappropriated from Supreme Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Butwal, Sahara in Chitwan, Suryadarshan in Pokhara, Samanata in Banke, Swarnalaxmi in Kathmandu, Sanopaila in Birgunj and Hamro Naya Krishi Cooperative.

Chartered flight for spouse 

GB remains under intense public scrutiny, yet police have not been able to arrest and investigate him. According to the committee’s report, GB chartered helicopters using cooperative deposits to celebrate his wife’s birthday in exotic locations like the Everest Base Camp.

“This is an example of how they misused the depositors’ money,” said committee chair Surya Thapa. “We found various types of misuse of cooperative funds during our investigation.”

The top defaulter  

Shivashikhar Multipurpose Cooperative Limited in Kaushaltar, Bhaktapur, tops the list of cooperatives in terms of misappropriation of deposits. The cooperative now has a total liability of Rs 10.91bn, according to the report. This comprises savings, interest due on savings and various tax obligations to the state.

Shivaashikhar was formed through a merger of Shivashikhar Agriculture Cooperative with Shikhardeep Multipurpose Cooperative some five years ago. Kedar Nath Sharma was the chairperson of both institutions prior to the merger.

Per the report, the cooperative had mobilized savings without proper asset and liability management, resulting in a significant imbalance between assets and liabilities.

According to cooperative regulations, members cannot get new loans till the repayment of initial loans. However, Shivshikhar repeatedly disbursed Rs 674.2m to 24 members through 72 loans.

Other cooperatives that misappropriated billions include Sri Laligurans, Agriculture Development, and Sumeru of Lalitpur; Kantipur, Gorkha, Swarnalaxmi, Oriental, Capital, Gautam Shree, Jestha and Kumari of Kathmandu; and Ideal and Sanopaila of Birgunj.

These cooperatives owe Rs 634.2m in various taxes to the government and Rs 1.38bn in interest to depositors for their savings.

A silver bullet?

Committee chair Thapa has a simple solution to the crisis: the implementation of the committeé’s recommendations.

Since 1967, various state-commissioned committees, commissions, study teams and special committees have ‘studied’ cooperative institutions and submitted their reports to responsible authorities, but their recommendations have largely gone unimplemented. 

This parliamentary special investigation committee is the 13th such committee and the first first committee formed by the parliament whose recommendations were passed unanimously and submitted to the government for implementation.

Submitted in mid-September, the committee’s report has recommended establishing a cooperative authority within three months and, until then, supervising cooperatives with total assets exceeding Rs 500m under the Cooperative Act and Nepal Rastra Bank Act (amended March 2024).

The committee has recommended conducting audits of cooperatives by auditors registered with the Cooperative Authority and classifying cooperatives into A, B and C categories based on capital and financial mobilization capacity for regulation. It has also suggested dissolving the National Cooperative Development Board and Cooperative Department after the establishment of the Cooperative Authority.

Warning of protests 

Meanwhile, Kushalabh KC, central chairperson of the Cooperative Depositors Victim Protection National Campaign, has accused the government of taking no action on cooperative victims’ demands. “No matter how much we shouted, the government didn't listen. We are preparing for decisive street protests on Dec 20,” he said. “No one will return home until concrete decisions are made.”

He said the government hasn’t implemented written agreements made repeatedly.

Kiran Shrestha, chairperson of the Suryadarshan Savings Victims’ Struggle Committee, accused the government of not taking concrete steps to return the depositors’ money. “The government seems occupied only with arrests, actions and controlling protests with no discussion on returning the savings.” 

According to Shrestha, 1,050 people have filed complaints seeking the return of their deposits parked in Pokhara-based Suryadarshan Cooperatives alone.

In response to the concerns about the gobbling up of the depositors’ funds, Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation Balram Adhikari said that preparations are afoot to establish a cooperative authority as per the parliamentary committee’s recommendations. “Work has not gained momentum because there is a lack of clarity on whether the authority will be under the central bank or the government,” he added.

Singapore’s Aditya Birla Global Trading Pvt Ltd has been awarded a contract by Krishi Samagri Company Limited to supply 25,000 tonnes of DAP fertilizer to Nepal. The contract is valued at approximately Rs 2.56bn. Aditya Birla Global Trading Pvt Ltd will deliver the fertilizer to the locations of Birgunj, Biratnagar, and Bhairahawa.

As of Oct 15, 155,689 tons of fertilizer have been imported, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. For the current financial year, the government has allocated a budget of around Rs 28bn to import 500,000 tons of chemical fertilizers.

The Nepali women’s U-19 cricket team made a strong start in the ICC U-19 T20 World Cup Asian Qualifiers, defeating Thailand by 67 runs in Dubai on Wednesday. Defending a target of 103, Nepal bowled out Thailand for just 35 runs.

Rachana Kumari Chaudhary was the standout performer with the ball, taking four wickets for 10 runs, while Puja and Riya Sharma each took two wickets. Krishna Gurung and Manisha Kumari Upadhayay also contributed with one wicket each, keeping Thailand’s score low.

Thailand’s Aphisara Suwanchonrathi was the only player to reach double figures, scoring 13 runs off 23 balls, while the rest of the team struggled against Nepal’s bowling attack.

Nepal, batting first, scored 102 runs for six wickets in their 20 overs. Captain Puja Mahato led the way with 35 runs off 40 balls, supported by Seemana KC and Sonu Pakhrin, who each scored 19. Thailand’s Charukan Saema took two wickets, while Sunisa Bongkodphongampai claimed one.

Nepal is set to face Kuwait on Nov 7 and the UAE on Nov 9 in the double round-robin tournament. Finishing first in the points table would secure Nepal’s spot in the 2025 U-19 Women’s World Cup in Malaysia.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has congratulated Donald Trump on his election as President of the United States. Oli extended his congratulations to Trump through the social network X. The Prime Minister remarked that Trump’s second-term election marks a new chapter in American history. He also expressed his readiness to strengthen Nepal-US relations and promote mutual prosperity and cooperation.

Trump was elected president on Wednesday, defeating Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Gold prices dropped by Rs 4,000 per tola on Thursday. The Nepal Gold and Silver Traders Federation set the price of gold at Rs 164,500 per tola, down from Rs 168,500 the previous day. Silver prices also saw a decrease, dropping by Rs 55 per tola from Rs 2,015 on Wednesday to Rs 1,960 on Thursday.

Globally, gold prices fell sharply by 3.2 percent in just one day. Gold, which was trading at $2,745 per ounce on Wednesday, dropped to $2,657 per ounce by Thursday morning.

This significant decrease is linked to the strengthening of the US dollar following Donald Trump’s election as President.

The strengthening US dollar has also contributed to the drop in gold prices. Historically, gold and crude oil prices tend to move inversely to the value of the dollar.

Today marks the celebration of Chhath, a festival embodying purity, goodwill, and faith, observed with great enthusiasm.

The main ritual will take place this evening, as devotees worship and make offerings to the setting sun.

Though traditionally observed in the Terai districts, Chhath has recently gained popularity in hilly and mountainous areas, including the Kathmandu Valley.

During the festival, participants fast, take holy baths, and offer prasad and argha to the sun while standing in water.

In Janakpurdham, large gatherings are occurring at historic ponds like Ganga Sagar, Dhanus Sagar, Ram Sagar, Ratna Sagar, Bihar Kunda, Argaja, Maharaj Sagar, and Agni Kunda.

Preparations include bamboo fencing, banana trees, and vibrant lighting, enhancing the celebratory atmosphere.